Patent GB-464133-A (GB)
Abstract: 464,133. Postal-franking and like machines. SOC. ANON. DES ETABLISSEMENTS CUTTAT. Aug. 6, 1935, Nos. 22243 and 22244. Convention dates, Jan. 24 and Feb. 18. [Class 100 (ii)] In a machine for stamping and franking postage matter, insurance cards, or other documents, the printing-element, which falls to effect the stamping under the influence of gravity accelerated if desired by resilient means, is released solely by the normal actuation of the machine and its direction of movement at any time is controlled by the position of the operating-members of the machine. The values to be stamped are set by actuation of levers 1, Fig. 2, which are first pressed inwardly to cause a block 6, normally held in engagement with teeth 9 to prevent unintentional movement, to enter slots in corresponding wheels 18 whereby they can be rotated by the lever. A plunger 12 is carried in a recess in a shaft 4 and engages in internal teeth in the wheel 18, the stem of the plunger in the inoperative position of the machine lying opposite an aperture in a spindle 5 supporting the shaft 4. During setting, the stem can enter the aperture to permit the teeth to pass over the plunger, but when operation of the machine commences, the shaft 4 rotates relatively to the spindle 5, so that the stem and aperture are out of register and fraudulent resetting is prevented. The setting of the wheels 18 is communicated to totalizers 35, 40 visible through apertures in the machine casing, to printing-wheels 25, and to printing-wheels 143 which print on a web of record paper 139 retained in the machine. The printing-wheels 25 are mounted in a vertically reciprocable block 65, Fig. 3, and are locked in set position, except when the block is withdrawn into an inaccessible position, by a spring-pressed frame adapted to be released by the engagement with a fixed abutment of a cam surface on the frame. The block 65 is normally held in raised position by a cam 69 on a shaft 64 driven from the shaft 4, and on release by the cam falls under the influence of gravity and springs 71 to effect the stamping. The block also carries dating-wheels 106 set by external handles which are locked during operation of the machine by a pawl 110<1>. The cam 69 also rocks a lever 90 connected to a double pawl 83 adapted to engage a rack 82 on the block 65, the pawl being rocked to prevent upward or downward movement and permit downward or upward movement respectively of the block according to the position of the cam. A second cam on the shaft 64 controls the movement of a lever 119 connected to mechanism for totalizing the number of operations of the machine, and a lever 118 which serves to draw an inking-roller 123 over the face of the printing-wheels. A spring-pressed flexible lever 129 carrying a hammer 128 is mounted beneath the block 65 ; the hammer is not inked so that no impression is produced unless an attempt to obtain a carbon copy is made. Printing on the web 139 is effected by means of an ink-ribbon 153 and a hammer carried by a lever 148 connected to a lever 145 rocked by a cam 144a on the shaft 4. The paper is fed forward by a cylinder 155 actuated by pawl-and-ratchet mechanism from the lever 148, and the ink-ribbon is moved by a roller 163 driven from the cylinder 155. Modified mechanism for preventing the obtaining of fraudulent impressions comprises fingers 167, Fig. 6, slidable in the block 65 and carried by a lever 168 acted on by a spring 183 tending to push the fingers into projected position, although in inoperative position the fingers are withdrawn duo to the engagement of the lever 168 with a fixed stop 186. The lever is provided with a projection adapted to engage in notches 173, 174 in a bar 175 suspended by a slot 176 on a pin 177 and acted on by a spring 184 tending to pull it into vertical position. The bar is formed with a second pair of notches 178, 179 engageable by a spring- pressed pawl 181, the bar being held out of engagement with the pawl and the lever 168 by a fixed stop 187. When the block 65 is depressed, the fingers 167 are projected, an the bar 175 swings into vertical position where the pawl 181 engages the notch 178, and the lever 168 engages the notch 173. The fingers are not inked so they produce no impression except on a carbon-paper duplicate. When the block reaches impression point, the fingers are pushed inwardly, thus raising the bar 175 until the pawl 181 engages the notch 179. In return movement of the block, the fingers are again projected by the spring 183 and the lever 168 engages the nctch 174 to prevent retraction so that if the block were again depressed no impression of the stamping-wheels could be obtained. In final return of the block to inoperative position, the stops 186, 187 again set the parts for action on the next operation of the machine.