Patent GB-190512529-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to Addressing and Sorting Machines
Filed: 1905-06-16
Granted: 1906-06-16
Abstract: 12,529. Lake, H. H., [Agnew Auto-Mailing Machine Co.]. June 16. Stencilling - apparatus. -Relates more particularly to addressing- machines for fixing to newspaper folding and wrapping machines. The wrapped papers are fed by rolls to beneath a presser, and above stencil printing- plates, which are taken from one box and delivered in order to a box of similar construction. After printing, the papers are delivered on to an endless band, from which they are pushed into mail bags or other receptacles by gates placed at an inclination across the bands, and operated electrically through devices on some of the stencil plates to change the course of each series of papers for a particular district. The wrapped papers are fed to the machine by gear - driven rollers under the spring-controlled rollers 30, Fig. 1. They pass under a presser 65, Figs. 1 and 3, on an arm 64, worked by a cam on the shaft 34 through an arm 66 and pin 67. By this means, the papers are depressed through a hole in the plate 24 between the guide 24b, against stencil plates carried by an endless steel band 58, having openings 59 beneath the stencil plates. The ink is pressed through the stencil plates by several spring-controlled outwardly-pressed rollers 77 mounted on a frame revolving with the shaft 34. The rollers receive their ink from a ductor roll 73 intermittently rotated by a star-wheel 74 engaging with a pin on the back of the cam which reciprocates the lever 66. The ink is distributed on the inside of a fixed drum, through an opening at the top of which the rollers are pressed against the stencils. After being addressed, the papers are caught by the hooked end 32 of a pivoted delivery plate 31, and, with the aid of fingers 24<a> working through slots 31<a>, the papers are delivered printed side uppermost on an endless travelling band 143 working over two pulleys. By this band they are carried against gates 168,169, &c., pivoted to the brackets 148, 171, and operated by cams 150, 151 on the shaft 149. These gates deflect each set of newspapers for a particular district past a guide 145 into a separate mail bag or other receptacle 147, held on bars 146. The shaft 149 is actuated to shift the gates at the right time through an electro - magnet, which actuates a pawl and a ratchet - wheel on the end of the shaft, the current being controlled by contact - strips on certain stencil plates, as described below. The stencil plates are held in file drawers such as 44, Fig. 3, each one having a follower 51 working on a rod 50 to keep the stencils upright when the drawer is horizontal, and also a gate at the front, which has in it a hole through which the first plate, which acts also as an index card, can be seen. To supply stencils to the machine, the drawer is put on end, with the gate lowermost, on a feeding compartment 38, and is held there by the pivoted rod and hook at one side and latches 42 with pins 43 at the other side. The stencils are let down by removal of the sliding gate, and are then pulled forward one by one by short upwardly-extending lips 60 on the band 58. This band is intermittently driven by a wheel 54 actuated through pin-and-slot mechanism as shown. The stencil plates, after addressing the papers, pass along a box guide 39, into another filing-drawer monnted on a carriage on the inclined slide 104. A rack is fixed beneath the carriage, and engages with two pawls 117, alternately actuated by cams on the shaft 121, reciprocated by a rod from the shaft on which the wheel 54 is mounted, so that, as the box fills, it gets a stepby-step movement downwards. The first stencil in each box is provided with a transverse piece of metal riveted or otherwise fixed on to act as a contact - piece, to couple the terminals of an electric circuit as it passes under contacts on the block 128. By this means an electro-magnet 127 is caused to withdraw both pawls from engagement with the rack under the carriage, just after the last plate for that drawer has been delivered. The drawer slides down the incline until it is stopped by the spring-controlled buffer 106. At the same time another drawer, which was supported on a carriage above the previous drawer, slides down to receive the stencils. As each drawer may contain several groups of stencils for different localities, the first stencil plate for each group has a longitudinal piece of metal fixed to it, to actuate in a similar manner to that described above with reference to the magnet 127, an electro-magnet 167, to divert the newspapers to different mail bags, as before explained. The terminals for this circuit are also fixed on the block 128. The machine is driven from 'a 'spurwheel 81 on the main shaft, through a clutch controlled by the handle 83. The pin for driving the wheel 54 is mounted on a crank on the shaft 92. The shaft 34 is driven through spur and chain gearing 97, 98, 99, 100, 101. The belt 143, Fig. 1, is driven through spur and belt gearing 81, 86, 87, 137, 138.