Patent GB-190626729-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to Mechanism for Printing Circular Letters.
Inventor: SINCLAIR HARRY CARLTON
Filed: 1906-11-24
Granted: 1907-09-05
Abstract: 26,729. Sinclair, H. C. Nov. 24, 1905, [date applied for under Patents Act, 1901]. Platen presses; feeding-apparatus for webs; inking- apparatus; cutting-apparatus; typewriters; feeding sheets.-Relates to a machine for automatically printing circular.letters each having the name, address, and appropriate salutation of the recipient, and for printing envelopes with the names and addresses and the business card. The head, body, emphasized matter, and signature of the latter are printed by platen presses D, E, F, G respectively, and the name, address, and salutation are printed, a character at a time, by a typewriter mechanism H controlled by perforated cards. The letters are printed on a web of paper drawn from a roll A by feed-rolls B, and the envelopes are fed from a hopper in a direction parallel with the web, and are printed with the business card by a platen press connected to the press E. The typewriter H is in duplicate, and prints the names and addresses on the letters and envelopes simultaneously. The feed-rolls B are connected with the driving-shaft N in such a way as to give the web first a long feed and then a series of short intermittent feeds. The long feed, which is effected by mutilated gearing, brings the paper into position to receive the permanent matter from the presses D, E, F, G. The short feeds, which are then effected by means of a mutilated worm and worm-wheel, enable the name, address, and salutation to be printed by the typewriter H, the lines of writing being parallel to the length of the web. The envelopes, and the perforated cards which control the typewriter, are fed synchronously with the web by similar gearing. The presses D, E, F consist of stationary platens and vertically-moving printing-surfaces carried by a single bed D<1>, which is connected by levers and links E<4> with the crank-shaft N. The printing- surface of the press D is inked by travelling rollers D<3> actuated by the rise and fall of the bed. The rollers are inked by a disk which is intermittently rotated by a pawl-and-ratchet mechanism. Ink is supplied to the disk from a fountain D<13> by a vibrator roller D<14>. The press which prints the business or return card on the envelope is inked by similar mechanism. The presses E, F, which print an imitation of typewritten matter, are inked by ribbons F<1> which are fed by a ratchet-and-pawl mechanism actuated by motion of the bed. The direction of feed is reversed by mechanism controlled by the varying diameter of the spools on which the ribbons are wound. The signatureprinting mechanism G, which is adjustable transversely of the web, has preferably a facsimile rubber printing - surface, carried by an ordinary reversible reciprocating bed and inked by a pad placed above the bed. The web is guided through the machine and supported above the platens by adjustable guides A<10>. On leaving the machine, the web is cut by a knife C pivoted at one end and depressed against the action of a spring by a projection on the shaft N. The name and address printing-mechanism H comprises four independent sets of radially-sliding type-bars which print in different lines, one set printing the addressee's name, two the address, and one the salutation. Each type-bar is connected by a lever h<9> and link h<10>, Fig. 26, with the armature of a pair of electromagnets h<13>, h<14>, one of which raises and the other depresses the type-bar. The circuits of the magnets are connected to two contact-pieces L<3>, L<4> between which projects a movable contact L<2>. The contact L<2> is depressed and the type-bar actuated when a perforation in the controlling- card J registers with one of a row of ports t connected with a compressed-air reservoir t<1>. The perforated cards are divided into four sections which actuate the four sets of type-bars siniultaneously. The names and addresses are printed on the envelopes by three sets of type-bars actuated by the same cards and circuit-closing devices, the set for printing the salutation being omitted. The cards are withdrawn from the bottom of a hopper by a reciprocating bar having pins on its upper surface, and are fed forwards by grippers on a pair of endless chains. The grippers are spring-closed and are opened to receive and release the cards by inclines. The envelope-feeding mechanism is similar to that for feeding the cards, but the sides of the hopper and the endless chains are movable to accommodate envelopes of different sizes.