Patent GB-335061-A (GB)
Title: Machine for printing on articles, such as bottle-stoppers, bulbs, ampulla and the like
IPC: B41F17/00
Filed: 1929-09-24
Abstract: 335,061. Bornkessel, P. Sept. 24, 1929. Printing on tubes, electric-light bulbs, and stoppers; tripping-arrangements.-In a machine for printing on glass or ceramic articles such as bottle stoppers, bulbs, ampulla, and tube-shaped articles, printing is effected by the offset method, the printing member being either a roller 7, Fig. 1. or a pad a, Fig. 5, carried by a reciprocating member. In the first form, at the end of the movement of the reciprocating carriage 8 in one direction the roller 7 is depressed into printing position and on the return movement picks up an impression from the inked printing-surface 6 and transfers it to the glass &c. article which is adjustably mounted in a carrier 55. The roller 7 is mounted in bearings normally raised by a spring 58, but the bearings are depressed by an adjustable pin 33 on a lever arm 30 attached to a rod 29 normally raised by a spring 32 but depressed periodically by a lever 36 oscillated by a cam 40 on a shaft 22. This shaft 22 also reciprocates the carriage 8 by means of a cam 20 which oscillates a lever 17 having a lost-motion connection with a link 14 attached to the carriage 8. When the pin 33 depresses the roller 7 to printing position, it is held in this position by a lever 63 acted on by a spring 64 which pulls the lever over a pin 65 attached to a supporting-plate 47 of the cylinder bearings. The lever 63 is released by a fixed pin after the roller 7 has transferred its impression to the article. During the printing operation the roller 7 is rotated by a pivoted rack 51 raised by a spring 68, or a rack arranged above the roller may be used geared to the shaft of roller 7 by intermediate gearing. The printing- surface is inked by rollers 10 detachably pivoted to the carriage 8, and receiving its ink from a table 5 intermittently rotated by ratchet gearing. In the modification, Fig. 5, the pad a is mounted in a reciprocating carriage t which is reciprocated similarly to the carriage 8. The carriage rests while the pad is over the printing surface d and also over the article e, and in these positions the pad is depressed against the action of springs by pressure-pieces o, p on a crossbar n carried by a vertically reciprocating rod m actuated by a cam-operated lever r. The actual printing pad is formed of a hollow rubber stamp w fitted with a spring-loaded piston y which yields when the pad engages on a curved surface. The article to be printed on may be supported on a plate 2, Fig. 8, fitted with adjustable stops 3; the plate 2 is carried by a pair of inverted U-shaped supports 6 which can slide in-angularly adjustable bearings, and be fixed in the required position by screws. Tapered bottles can be supported as shown in dotted lines to present a horizontal surface to the printing-pad. In a further modification the article is supported at each end in a pair of discs which are adjustable longitudinally in slides which are also vertically adjustable on supporting posts. The discs can be staggered relatively to one another. The printing-stamp may be reciprocated horizontally by rack-and-pinion mechanism operated by an eccentric.