Patent GB-618060-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to printing machines
Filed: 1946-04-26
Abstract: 618,060. Punching machines. JENNINGS, H. W. K. (Addressograph-Multigraph Corporation). April 26, 1946, No. 12715. [Class 31(ii)] [Also in Groups XVI and XIX] In a machine for recording information on cards, each card passes through the machine at the same time as a related control and printing device which is sensed to control punching of data representations in the card and is used also to print on the card. Specification 572,360 and U.S.A. Specifications 2.002,772 and 2,265,133 are referred to. In the described embodiment a machine 20, Fig 1, is adapted to produce cheques in the form of record cards C, Fig. 3, under the control of devices D, Fig. 4. The identifying information 27 and amount 28 are printed on each cheque C from an embossed plate 31 of each device D. The numerical amount is also represented in a card 38 of the device D by perforations 40, arranged according to the code shown in Fig. 5, and these perforations control the punching of corresponding perforations in the card C, and also the entry of the amount into a totalizer. The serial number 29 is pre-punched in the card C in columns 29<1>. Feeding means. The cards C are fed from a hopper 47 by a slide 307, Fig. 20, actuated by a flexible wire or band 305 anchored to a drum 301 which is oscillated by rack and pinion and is provided with an automatic release in case of overload. The slide 307 pushes the card between rollers 285, 286, Fig. 2, and these, together with a belt 48, carry the card into engagement with a stop finger 85, by which it is held during the punching operation. A lever 87 detects the presence of the card at this position, being prevented by it from closing contacts beneath the card which would stop the machine Similar card detecting levers 81, 97 are provided at other positions. The stop finger 85 is lifted clear after punching by a cam 83 on a camshaft 80 controlling levers 81 and 87 also, and the feeding of the card is continued by belts 48, 49 and co-operating pressure rollers 294. The card is held a second time by a stop finger 77, controlled by a cam 79, while printing takes place, and then the card is passed on to a hopper K, Fig. 1. The printing and control devices D are fed at right angles to the cards C from a hopper 56. An eccentric on the main shaft actuates a lever 132, Fig. 7, which reciprocates a rack 140 driving a pinion 145 to which is fixed an arm 175 pivotally connected to a guide channel 172. An arm 170 sliding in the guide 172 is integral with a disc 161 which is coupled to an L-shaped arm 150 by means of an overload release comprising a lever 165, pivoted to an extension of the arm 150, and carrying a roller 162 spring-urged into driving engagement with a notch in the disc 161. The end of the arm 150 is connected to the printing device feeding slide 122 by a pin- and-slot arrangement 154. Reading meams.-The perforations 40 in the device D, Fig. 4, are sensed by a device S, Fig. 12, comprising a hinged frame 220 carrying a battery of spring-urged pins 230 which are pressed downwards through a link 221 actuated by a cam-operated lever 222. Those pins which pass through perforations depress the plunger ends of Bowden cables 75 to transmit a representation of the data to the punching mechanism and the totalizer. Totalizer mechanism. - The sheaths 75, Fig. 28, of the Bowden cables from the sensing mechanism are secured to a plate 432 and the cables 75A serve to lift one or two (according to the code, Fig. 5) of the pins 430 in each row. The left-hand pin 430 which corresponds with the position a in Fig. 5, is actuated for each odd number and, in the mechanism shown, it then abuts a plate 433 and prevents an initial sliding to the left, by a distance equivalent to one unit, of the plate 425. Slides 400, having rack teeth 410 for driving the totalizer AC-1, now move towards the pins 430 and this movement is arrested when the lever arm 435 of each slide abuts against the first raised pin 430. The rack 410 thus drives the totalizer an amount equivalent to the number represented by the raised pins 430. A 50- toothed ratchet wheel 270, Fig. 1, is stepped on by a pawl operated by an eccentric on the main shaft 70, and at each complete revolution (i.e. when each 50 cards have been dealt with) closes contacts which energize a solenoid 490 to pull the machine stopping lever 63. This indicates to the operator that a total should be taken, and a lever 451 is set and a key 460 depressed to cause the total to be punched in a special card, this amount also being transferred to a grand totalizer AC-2 and the totalizer AC-1 cleared in a known manner. A grand total is taken in a similar manner. These total cards are ejected from the sheet guideway separately. Punching mechanism.-The upper teeth 405, Fig. 28, on each rack 400 engage a sector 406, Fig. 23, having an extended arm 408 to which is pivoted an interposer 366 which is positioned over the appropriate punch 348 by the movement of the rack 400. A camshaft 375, which is coupled to the main drive by a one-revolution clutch under the control of a solenoid, carries two cams 391, 392 which co-operate with upper and lower followers 394, 395, integral with the slidable frame 355 carrying the punch head 357 to depress the punches 348 situated below the interposers 366. The card C is located in a slot 346 below a stripper plate 344, and and punchings are conveyed away by a channel 354. Certain of the interposers 366 may be set manually, in which case they are adapted to slide horizontally with an upwardly extending lug engaging in a slot in the plate 357 for manual operation. A scale may be provided adjacent the slot and a toothed member co-operating with a spring pawl would locate each interposer correctly. In a modification, a web of paper is fed by pawl and ratchet mechanism under the punches 348 above the cards, so that a duplicate record of the amounts is punched in the web.