Patent GB-190112848-A (GB)
Title: An Improved Machine for Sealing Envelopes, and for Affixing Stamps to Envelopes Cards and the like
Inventor: MARKS GEORGE CROYDON
Filed: 1901-06-24
Granted: 1902-04-24
Abstract: 12,848. Marks, G. C., [Nielsen, L. M.]. June 24. Counting-apparatus.-Relates to a machine for damping and closing envelopes, for affixing stamps to envelopes, cards, &c., and counting the stamps used. Fig. 1 shows a side elevation of the mechanism, Fig. 6 a vertical section looking from the opposite side, and Fig. 7 a view of the stamping- apparatus. The envelope is placed face downwards and flap open on the table 51, Figs. 1 and 6, with the edge of the flap between the rollers 8. The bent lever 125 is pulled forward till the lug 133 strikes one of three projecting pins on the outer side of the gear wheel 44, the pawl 131 drives the three-toothed ratchet-wheel 121, and with it the gear-wheel 44, which is provided with two discontinuous sets of teeth in side-by-side zones for intermittently driving the feed-rollers 8, and the rollers 9, 10 respectively. A sheet of stamps placed on the table 49 is fed over the cutter bar 72 and support 64 by the rollers 52 driven at proper intervals by stop-motion gears 150, 151. The gear 151 has ten teeth or pins on one face, which are driven in a step-by-step motion by a pin 144, Fig. 7, on a rotary barrel 143 fixed on the shaft 139 driven by gears 138, 142, 43, Fig. 1. The rows of stamps (ten in each) are severed from the sheet by the cutter 74 on the bar 73, carried by the spring-held bars 75 attached to the bar 78, which is raised by the arms 92 carrying a roller 94 actuated by arms 100 on the rock-shaft 99. The arm 158 on the shaft 99 carries a link 160 provided with a lug adapted to rest in a broken flange 154 on the side of the gear 151. When the lug passes out through the break in the flange 154, the hook 162 on the link 160 falls into the path of the pin 132 on the lever 125, the shaft 99 is operated, and the cutter 74 raised. The hook 162 is disengaged from the pin 132 by a cam 184, and the springs draw down the cutter and sever a row of stamps, the parts being so timed that the teeth 152 operate the gear 150 and rollers 52 to feed the stamp sheet forward the width of one row while the cutter is raised. When inserting a sheet of stamps, the roller 52 is raised by operating the lever 163, which turns the shaft 60 and levers 98, lifting the roller 96 on the levers 92. The row of stamps lying on the support 64, Figs. 6 and 7, is gripped between the roller 69 journalled in the support 64, and the roller 82 journalled in the frame 81 secured to the bar 73. The plunger 84, carried by means of side plates 85 and rod 86 suspended from the lever 87, is operated by the link 166 to separate the end stamp and impress it on the envelope lying on the table 48. The link 166, Figs. 1 and 7, is drawn down by the spring 168, and carries a pin 169 adapted to be engaged by a pin 145 on the barrel 143, which lifts it at suitable intervals. The link 166 is connected by the lever 172, link 174, and lever 175 with a counting-device 176, which registers each stamp affixed. The rollers 69, 82 are driven by stop gears 66, 67, and the parts are so timed that the row of stamps is moved forward the required distance, and stops just before the plunger 84 descends. The gong 110 is rung by the hammer 109, operated by the spring-held lever 103, actuated by the arm 101. on the shaft 99. The stampaffixing mechanism is put out of operation by pulling the shaft 139 outwards against the pull of the spring 141, disengaging the gear 138 from the gear 142. The button 147 is rotatably mounted on the shaft 139, and carries pins, which, when drawn out from openings in the plate 46, may be turned against the plate to keep the shaft 139 in its disengaged position.