Patent Abstract:
Various embodiments of an ink roller assembly include a capillary ink metering unit and a surrounding porous ink retaining sleeve, wherein the unit is comprised of a pair of capillary sections connected to each other and wherein capillary sections include a hollow shaft and discs with intervening ink capillary chambers interconnected by passages. In another embodiment, a capillary ink metering unit includes discs on a solid shaft, wherein there are passages interconnecting capillary chambers. In yet other embodiments, separate sections are provided to enable inks of different colors, viscosities and/or types to be applied to printing members. There is also provision to meter ink to printing members having different faces or areas in accordance with or as function of the sizes of those areas. The ink roller assembly with separate sections can carry both visible ink and visually alterable ink for coding purposes.

Full Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/988,256, filed Dec. 10, 1997 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,906,161. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to the art of printing and ink roller assemblies. 
     2. Brief Description of the Prior Art 
     The following are made of record: U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,269 to W. T. Wagner; U.S. Pat. No. 3,783,083 to W. A. Jenkins; U.S. Pat. No. 3,812,782 to T. Funahashi; U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,957,562; 4,280,863 and 4,334,470 to P. H. Hamisch, Jr. et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,246,842 to L. E. Willams et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,751 to J. R. Kessler; U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,201 to J. R. Kessler; U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,452,141 and 4,478,145 to J. D. Mistyurik; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,421,869, 5,516,362 and 5,774,160 to A. Gundjian et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,910,227 to J. D. Mistyurik et al. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is a feature of the invention to provide an improved ink roller assembly capable of providing a uniform application of ink over an extended period of use. 
     It is a feature of the invention to provide an improved ink roller assembly which supplies ink in quantities according to the inking requirements for different printing members. 
     It is a feature of the invention to provide an improved ink roller assembly which holds ink in quantities according to the inking requirements for different printing members. 
     It is a feature of the invention to provide an improved ink roller assembly which meters ink to printing characters in accordance with or as a function of the surface areas of the printing characters. 
     It is a feature of the invention to provide an improved ink roller assembly which has capillary sections of different lengths. 
     In accordance with a specific embodiment of the invention, there is provided an ink roller assembly with a first section comprised of molded plastics material, wherein the first section has a first axial shaft and a series of first discs on the first shaft, and wherein the first discs are closely spaced to provide first capillary chambers. A first porous sleeve is in contact with and spans the outer peripheries of the first discs. There is a second section also comprised of molded plastics material. The second section also has a second axial shaft and a series of second discs on the second shaft. The second discs are closely spaced to provide capillary chambers. There is a second porous sleeve in contact with and which spans the outer peripheries of the second discs. The first and second sections are axially aligned and are connected to each other. 
     In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, there is a first section with capillary chambers and a porous sleeve and a second section connected to the first section which has a porous sleeve but no capillary chambers. 
     In another embodiment of the invention, the invention provides an ink roller assembly which can be rotatably mounted on an inker shaft of an inking device. The ink roller has first and second sections connected to each other by a connector. Each of the first and second sections has a flange, a hollow shaft and a series of closely spaced discs which provide capillary chambers for retaining ink. The first section further includes a flexible resilient spring finger for releasably holding the ink roller on the inker shaft. There are preferably passages through the discs which allow for some flow of ink between capillary chambers and pressure equalization. The hollow shafts of the first and second sections have aligned openings for a receiving the inker shaft. The inker shaft has an annular groove for receiving the spring finger. There is a separate flexible resilient porous sleeve of ink retaining material in contact with and spanning the outer peripheries of the discs of both the first and second hub sections. 
     In yet another embodiment of the invention, a capillary section includes a series of closely spaced discs which provide capillary chambers for retaining ink. Passages interconnect the chambers to provide for some flow of ink between chambers and pressure equalization. A flange is disposed between the discs and a stub end. A porous sleeve of ink-retaining material is in contact with the outer peripheries of the discs. 
     In all the embodiments, varying the peripheral configurations of the discs can enhance the distribution of ink to the outer surface of the sleeve of ink retaining material. 
     It is preferred to have different inks in each section of the ink roller. One ink in one section can be a visible ink which can be readily seen following printing without activation or excitation, while the other ink in the other section can be a visible ink activatable or excitable following printing for coding purposes. Alternatively one ink in one section can be of one color and the other ink in the other section can be of a different color. In the event an ink is used which is visible but becomes invisible following printing, such an ink is considered to be an invisible ink in the context of this disclosure. 
     According to a specific embodiment, there is provided an improved method of printing on a record member, which comprises providing a print head with first and second printing members, providing an ink roller with a first porous ink-receptive sleeve containing a visible first ink and a second porous ink-receptive sleeve containing a visually alterable second ink, rolling the ink roller across the first and second printing members to cause the first sleeve to ink the first printing member with the first ink and to cause the second sleeve to ink the second printing member with the second ink, and simultaneously printing with the inked first and second printing members to produce printing with both the first and second inks on a record member. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a rotated exploded perspective view of an ink roller assembly in accordance with one embodiment of the invention; 
     FIG. 2 is an assembled mainly sectional view of the ink roller assembly of FIG. 1 mounted on an inker shaft of an inking mechanism; 
     FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of a portion of the ink roller assembly shown in FIGS. 1 and 2; 
     FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line  4 — 4  of FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of an ink roller assembly in accordance with another embodiment of the invention; 
     FIG. 6 is a top plan view of the ink roller assembly of FIG. 5, but omitting the sleeve; 
     FIG. 7 is a partly broken away end elevational view taken along line  7 — 7  of FIG. 6; 
     FIG. 8 is a vertical sectional view of the ink roller assembly taken along line  8 — 8  of FIG. 6; 
     FIG. 9 is a fragmentary sectional view showing an alternative construction for the discs of the embodiments of FIGS. 1 through 8; 
     FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along line  10 — 10  of FIG. 9; 
     FIG. 11 is a developed fragmentary view showing another manner in which the discs of the embodiments of FIGS. 1 through 8 can be constructed; 
     FIG. 12 is an assembled sectional fragmentary view of an alternative form of ink roller assembly; 
     FIG. 13 is an assembled mainly sectional view of another embodiment of an ink roller assembly mounted on an inker shaft; 
     FIG. 14 is a sectional view taken generally along line  14 — 14  of FIG. 13; 
     FIG. 15 is a sectional view taken generally along line  15 — 15  of FIG. 13; 
     FIG. 16 is a fragmentary sectional view of a portion of the ink roller assembly of the embodiment of FIGS. 13 through 16; 
     FIG. 17 is a bottom plan view of a print head with a row of small dialable printing characters and a row of large dialable printing characters; 
     FIG. 18 is a view similar to FIG. 13, but without the inker shaft, and showing an alternative embodiment of the invention; 
     FIG. 19 is a view similar to FIG. 18, but showing another alternative embodiment of the invention; 
     FIG. 20 is a view similar to FIG. 17, but showing a fragmentary portion of yet another alternative embodiment; 
     FIG. 21 is an elevational view of a print head and platen and an intervening web of record members; 
     FIG. 22 is a view taken along line  22 — 22  of FIG. 21; and 
     FIG. 23 is a top plan view of a label printed according to the method of the invention, but showing a code which has been activated. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to the embodiment of FIG. 1 through 4, there is shown an ink roller assembly generally indicated at  20 . The assembly is shown to include a first capillary section  21 , a second capillary section  22  and a porous ink retaining sleeve  23 . The capillary section  21  is connected to the capillary section  22  by a connector generally at  24 . The capillary sections  21  and  22  provides a capillary ink metering unit U. The capillary section  21  has a handle  25 , a flange or bearing roll  26 , a series of closely spaced discs  27  and a shaft portion or hub  28  with a connector portion  28 ′. The shaft portion  28  has a tapered bore  38 . The connector portion  28 ′ of the connector  24  is annular and has an annular external bead or tooth  29  with a lead-in or taper  30 . The capillary section  22  has an annular internal bead or tooth  31  and a lead-in or taper  32 . The capillary section  21  also has two abutment faces  33  and  34  which cooperate with respective abutment faces  35  and  36  on the capillary section  22 . The connector  24  is of the snap-type so that when the connector portion  28 ′ is moved into bore or passage  37 , the connector portion  28 ′ snaps into a locked position with the annular bead  31 . In the locked position, the abutment faces  33  and  35 , and  34  and  36  abut each other. Because of this construction there is an ink-tight seal between ink I and the bore or passage  37  on the inside of the hub section  22 . Thus, ink I will not migrate onto grooved inker shaft  40  of an inking mechanism (not shown) but shown in U.S. application Ser. No. 08/701,259 filed Aug. 22, 1996, incorporated herein by reference. The shaft  40  is shown to be stepped with a large diameter portion  41  and a small diameter portion  42 . The small diameter portion  42  has an annular external groove  43  near its terminal end  44 . The capillary section  21  has an integral flexible resilient spring finger  45  shown to be engaged in the groove  43 . To insert an ink roller assembly  20  onto the shaft  40 , the ink roller assembly  20  is slid onto the shaft  40  until the spring finger moves into the groove  43 . To remove the ink-roller assembly  20 , the user grasps the handle  25  and pulls the ink roller assembly  20  off the shaft  40 . 
     The capillary section  22  has a flange  46  and a hollow shaft portion or hub  47  with a series of outwardly extending closely spaced discs  48 . The discs  27  and  48  provide a long series of capillary chambers  49  extending between the flanges  26  and  46 . Supported by the discs  27  and  48  is the flexible resilient ink-retaining porous sleeve  23 . The sleeve  23  is under hoop-tension and makes direct contact with and spans across the outer peripheries of the discs  27  and  48 . Some of the capillary chambers  49  are on the capillary section  21 , but a greater number of the capillary chambers  49  on the capillary section  22 . 
     The capillary sections  21  and  22  have passages  27 ′ and  48 ′ through the discs  27  and  48  in the form of radical slots or cutouts. The passages  27 ′ and  48 ′ provide for some flow of ink between the passages and pressure equalization within and between the chambers  49 . 
     With reference to FIG. 5, there is shown another embodiment of ink roller assembly generally indicated at  50 . The assembly  50  is shown to include a shaft or shaft portion generally indicated at  51 , closely spaced discs  52  on the shaft  51 , a flange  53  on the shaft  51  and a stub end  54  which is a part of the shaft  51 . The flange  53  has an integrally molded annular projection or shoulder  55 . It is preferred that the shaft  51  and its stub end  54 , the discs  52 , the flange  53  and the shoulder  55  be of one-piece molded plastics construction and provide a capillary ink retaining unit U 1 . The flange  53  is disposed between the discs  52  and the stub end  54 . A flange or disc  56  having opposed projections  57  and  58  is shown to have been press-fitted onto the shaft  51  in FIG. 5 through 8. An end portion of the shaft  51  is considered to be a stub end  59 . The flange  56  has an annular central hole  60  provided with straight flutes  61  which compress when the stub end is received in the hole  60 . The flange  56  is likewise of one-piece molded plastics construction. 
     There is ink in capillary chambers  62  between the discs  52 . A flexible resilient porous ink-retaining sleeve  63  is shown in FIG. 8 to be in contact with outer peripheries  64  of the discs  52 . The sleeve  63  is in hoop tension. As shown, there are passages  65  between the discs  52 . Each passage  65  is shown to be a radial through-cut or slot. The passages  65  are shown to be aligned in the axial direction. The shaft  51  is shown to have an axis A′ and the discs  52  are coaxial with the axis A′. The passages  65  provide for equalization of the pressure between the capillary chambers  62  and also promote some flow of ink between adjacent chambers  62  and to the sleeve  63 . This is beneficial both when charging the chambers  62  and the sleeve  63  with ink I and during use of the ink roller assembly  50 . 
     The charging of the chambers  49 ,  62  or  74  can be performed by placing the unit U or U 1  and the respective sleeve  23 ,  63  or  75  in a vat of ink and drawing a vacuum; and this charging can be accomplished either when the unit U or U 1  and the respective sleeve  23 ,  63  or  75  are apart or when they are assembled. 
     With reference to FIGS. 9 and 10, there is shown an alternative form of discs  65  and  66 . The discs  27 ,  49  and  52  can be modified as disclosed in FIGS. 9 and 10. The discs  65  and  66  have different outside diameters, with the discs  66  having a slightly larger diameter than the discs  65 . A sleeve  67  is like the sleeves  23  and  63  in that it is under hoop tension and is ink receptive. The purpose of the different diameters is to promote the transference of ink from the capillary chambers  68  to the sleeve  67 . There are aligned passages  69  through the discs  65  and  66  as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. By way of example not limitation, the difference in the diameters of the discs  65  and  66  is on the order of 0.005 inch. 
     FIG. 11 shows a developed view of a series of discs in which alternate discs  70  and  71  have undulating peripheries having high points  72  and low points  73 . The discs  70  and  71  also have passages  74  like the passages  49  and  62 . By way of example not limitation, the high points  72  have a pitch P of 20 degrees and consequently the low points also have a pitch of 20 degrees. Thus, there are eighteen high points and eighteen low points per disc. Every other disc  70  and  72  is offset as illustrated in FIGS.  11  and  12 . FIG. 11 shows the high points  72  of the discs  70  aligned, and out of alignment with the high point  72  of the disc  71 . The provision of discs with a variable peripheral edge configuration as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 is applicable to the embodiment of FIGS. 1 through 4, the embodiment of FIGS. 5 through 8, the embodiment of FIGS. 13 through 16, and the embodiments of each of FIGS. 17,  19  and  20 . Such variable edge configurations promote flow of ink from capillary passages  66  to the porous sleeve  67 . 
     With reference to the embodiment of FIGS. 13 through 16, there is shown an ink roller assembly generally indicated at  75  rotatably mounted on the shaft  40 . The ink roller assembly  75  is shown to have sections  76 ,  77  and  78 . The section  77  has a shaft or shaft portion  79  and a series of parallel discs  80  extending radially outwardly from the shaft  79 . The discs  80  are closely spaced to provide a series of capillary chambers  81 . The discs  80  are located between flanges  82  and  83  which provide annular lands  84  and  85 . A porous ink-receptive sleeve  86  is received about or spans the discs  80  and the flanges  82  and  83 . Ink I shown by short generally horizontal lines in FIG. 16 is received in the capillary chambers  81  and in the porous sleeve  86 . The sections  77  and  78  can be considered to be ink-carrying sections. The sleeve  86  before being applied over the section  77  has a small inside diameter than the outside diameters of the discs  80  and the flanges  82  and  83  so that the sleeve  86  is under slight tension. The sleeve  86  seals against the lands  84  and  85  to obviate ink I escaping from adjacent capillary chambers  81 . The section  77  also has a flange or flange portion  87  against which one end of the sleeve  86  abuts. As is apparent from FIGS. 13,  14  and  15 , the shaft  79 , the discs  80 , the flanges  82 ,  83  and  87  and the sleeve  86  are annular. The shaft  79  is shown to be hollow with a larger inside diameter than the outside diameter of the shaft portion  42 . One marginal end portion  88  of the shaft  79  is tubular and has an annular external tooth  89  which is tapered or has a lead-in as shown at  90 . The entire section  77  is of one-piece molded plastics construction. 
     The section  78  has a shaft or shaft portion  91  which has an annular internal tooth  92  which engages the tooth  89  to hold the sections  77  and  78  securely to each other. The plastics material of which the sections  77  and  78  are constructed can yield resiliently to enable the tooth  89  to snap over the tooth  92  during connection of the sections  77  and  78 . The teeth  89  and  92  hold the sections  77  and  78  securely locked to each other. The teeth  89  and  92  provide a snap-fit connection. The shaft  91  has a notch  93  which receives an abutment or shoulder  94  on the shaft  79 . The section  78  also has a series of closely spaced parallel discs  95  which provide a series of capillary chambers  96 . The capillary chambers  96  are disposed between the flanges  97  and  98  which provide respective lands  99  and  100 . A porous ink-receptive sleeve  101  is received about the discs  95  and the flanges  97  and  98 . Lands  99  and  100  provide a seal against seepage of ink I′. The sleeve  101 , like the sleeve  86 , has a lesser inside diameter than the outside diameter of the discs  95  and flanges  97  and  98  before assembly onto the section  78  and is thus under slight tension. The sleeve  101  abuts against flanges  87  and  102 . 
     As best shown in FIG. 14, there are aligned passages  103  through all the discs  80  and as best shown in FIG. 15 there are aligned passages  104  through all the discs  95  for reasons stated above. 
     The section  76  has similarities to the section  21  although it does not have any capillary passage. The section  76  has a shaft or shaft portion  105  with a tubular marginal end portion  106  having an annular external tooth  107 . The tooth  107  has a taper or lead-in  108 . A flexible resilient spring finger  109  projects outwardly from the other end of the shaft  105 . The shaft  79  has an annular internal tooth  110  which engages the annular tooth  107 . The tooth  110  has a taper or lead-in  111 . The plastics material of which the sections  76  and  77  are constructed can yield resiliently to enable the tooth  107  to snap over the tooth  110  during connection of the sections  76  and  77 . The teeth  107  and  110  hold the sections  76  and  77  securely locked to each other. The teeth  107  and  110  provide a snap-fit connection. The shaft  79  also has notches  112  and  113  which receive respective shoulders  114  and  115 . The teeth  107  and  110  hold the sections  76  and  77  securely locked to each other. The section  76  also has a flange  116  which abuts the flange  82  and one end of the sleeve  86 . The other end of the sleeve  86  abuts the flange  87 . The section  76  also has a handle  117 . 
     The shaft  40  also has a tapered portion  42 ′ which is in contact with tapered inner surface  118  of the hollow shaft  105 . Reduced portion  42  of the shaft  41  is received within and spaced from shafts  79  and  91 . 
     The flanges  102  and  116  serve as bearing rolls which roll along rails  119  and  120  of a print head generally diagrammatically indicated at  121 . The print head  121  is shown spaced from the ink roller assembly  75  for clarity. When the flanges  102  and  116  roll across the rails  119  and  120  the sleeves  86  and  101  ink respective rows of printing characters  122  and  123 . 
     FIG. 16 shows the inks I and I′ represented by short wavy lines. The inks I and I′ can be different from each other in a variety of ways because the capillary chambers  81  and the sleeve  86  are isolated respectively from the capillary chambers  96  and the sleeve  101 . For example, the inks I and I′ can differ in color, viscosity and/or type. For example one ink I can be black and the ink I′ can be red. The ink I can be of a type which is visible to the human eye under conditions of ordinary lights and the ink I′ can be a security ink invisible to the human eye under conditions of ordinary light but can become visible when excited as by a chemical or by, for example, ultraviolet light. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,774,160 to A. Gundjian, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, in EXAMPLE 2, the latent image is made visible by a developer. In another example, the entire record member to be printed is coated with a first coating and an excitable ink I′ is printed over the first coating, as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,421,869 to A. Gundjian, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. See also U.S. Pat. No. 5,516,362 to A. Gundjian, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. A difference of viscosity between the inks I and I′ will affect the rates at which ink is applied by the sleeves  86  and  101 . It should be appreciated that inks I and I′ are not shown by short wavy lines in FIGS. 13,  14  and  15  for the sake of clarity. 
     It is evident from FIG. 13 that each of the sections  77  and  78  has the same number of capillary chambers, namely, eleven and that the sleeves  86  and  101  are the same size. It is also evident that the printing characters  121  and  122  are the same size or area, and therefore generally the same amount of ink is required for each of the characters  122  and  123 . The ink capacity of the section  77  and the sleeve  86  and the ink capacity of the section  78  and the sleeve  101  are the same. 
     When it is desired to ink a print head such as the print head  124  shown in FIG. 17, wherein the areas of the printing characters  125  of one row R 1  differ from the areas of the printing characters  126  of the other row R 2 , according to the invention the ink capacity and/or the ink delivery rate of the sections is desirably tailored to the ink requirements of the characters  125  and  126  as also is evident in each of the embodiments of FIGS. 18,  19  and  20 . 
     Print heads  121  and  124  are preferably arranged relative to the ink roller of the invention so that the sleeve of each section is aligned with and inks one line of printing characters. Such an arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,863. In this arrangement the axis of the ink roller extends in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which both lines of printing characters extend. Details of a typical two-line print head are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,334,470. 
     The embodiment of FIG. 18 is the same as the embodiment of FIGS. 13 through 16 except that section  77 A is longer (larger) than section  77 , and section  78 A is (smaller) than section  78 . Section  77 A has a larger ink capacity and number of discs  80 A and capillary chambers  81 A and ink capacity than Section  77 , namely, the section  77 A has fifteen capillary chambers  81 A. Section  78 A has a smaller ink capacity and number of disc  95 A and capillary chambers  96 A and ink capacity than section  78 . Also, the sleeve  86 A is longer than the sleeve  86 , and the sleeve  101 A is shorter than the sleeve  101 . It is evident that the sleeve  86 A is longer than the sleeve  101 A. Thus, because of the different amounts of ink required for the printing characters  125  and  126  over the life of the ink roller assembly  75 A based on the different areas of the respective printing characters  125  and  126 , the ink capacities of the sections  77 A and  78 A are made to correspondingly large and small respectively. The ink roller assembly  75 A is identical in all other respects to the ink roller assembly  75  of the embodiment of FIGS. 13 through 16. In the embodiment of FIG. 18, the same reference characters are used wherever possible to designate like or similar components with the addition of the letter “A”. 
     In the embodiment of FIG. 19, the section  77 B is identical to section  77 A. The difference between sections  78 A and  78 B is that section  78 A has discs  95  and capillary chambers  96 A, whereas section  78 B has no capillary chamber. The sleeve  101 B is thicker than the sleeve  101  or  101 A and consequently contains more ink. However, the sleeve  101 B contains less ink than the amount of ink I in sleeve  101 A taken together with the amount of ink I′ in capillary chambers  96 A. The ink roller assembly  75 B is identical to the ink roller assembly  75 A in all other respects. In the embodiment of FIG. 19, the same reference characters are used wherever possible to designate like or similar components with the addition of the letter “B”. 
     The ink roller assembly  75 C is the same as the ink roller assembly  75 A, except that section  78 C has shorter discs  95 C and capillary chambers  96 C containing less ink than the capillary chambers  96 A and the sleeve  101 C is thicker than sleeve  101 A. The difference between the embodiments of FIGS. 18 and 20 is that the combined amounts of ink contained in the sleeve  101 A and the capillary chambers  96 A is greater than the combined amounts of ink contained in the sleeve  101 C and capillary chambers  96 C. In the embodiment of FIG. 20, the same reference characters are used wherever possible to designate like or similar components with the addition of the letter “C”. 
     It should be noted that the sections  77 A,  77 B and  77 C are identical. 
     With reference to FIG. 21, there is shown the print head  124  and a stationary platen  127 . A composite web C has record members R releasably secured to a carrier web W by pressure sensitive adhesive  128 ′. The record members R are labels, but may be tags, if desired. The printing characters  125  and  126  are inked by the respective inks I and I′ of any of the ink roller assemblies  75 A,  75 B or  75 C. In the event the printing characters  125  are inked with a visible human readable ink I and the printing characters  126  are inked with invisible ink I′, the printing caused by the printing characters will not be visible when printed on the record members R without excitation or activation of the invisible ink I′. 
     In order to ink the printing characters  125  and  126 , the print head  124  is moved away from the platen  127  to a greater extent than shown in FIG.  21 . The ink roller assembly  75 A,  75 B or  75 C is then rolled on the rails  119  and  120  to ink the printing characters  125  and  126  simultaneously with respective inks I and I′. Assuming that the record member R to be printed is in the printing position between the print head  124  and the platen  127 , the inked print head  124  is moved into cooperation with the platen  127  and the intervening record member R. 
     With reference to FIG. 22, indicia  128  have been preprinted on the record members R. The indicia  128  may take any desired form, such as a store name or logo. When the printing characters  125  print on the record member R, the resultant printing  129  is visible to the human eye under ordinary lighting conditions as shown in FIG. 22, but the printing caused by the characters  126  is not visible (and therefore not shown in FIG. 22) because, in the preferred embodiment, invisible ink I′ is used. 
     FIG. 23 shows one of the printed record members R applied to merchandise M. The printing  130  made by printing members  126  inked with invisible ink I′ is superimposed on the indicia  128  and is visible upon excitation or activation, as illustrated. 
     In the various embodiments of FIGS. 13 through 16,  18 ,  19  and  20 , the sleeves are assembled onto their respective sections in subassemblies, namely, section  77  and sleeve  86 , section  78  and sleeve  101 , section  77 A and sleeve  86 A, section  77 B and sleeve  86 B, section  78 B and sleeve  101 B, section  77 C and sleeve  86 C, and section  78 C and sleeve  101 C, and each such subassembly is inked as by placing it in a tank of ink and then drawing and thereafter releasing a vacuum so that the respective capillary chambers and porous sleeves are inked. There is a different tank for each type of ink. The differently inked subassemblies are snapped together following such inking. 
     Various components are referred to as first, second and third, but such language does not have any special meaning or importance aside from distinguishing one part from the other for ease of understanding. 
     By way of example, not limitation, it is preferred that the spacing between the discs of the above disclosed embodiments be less than 0.02 inch and most preferably about 0.016 inch. The passages  27 ′,  48 ′,  65  and  74  are about 0.006 inch in width and extend from the shaft to the outer peripheries of the discs  27 ,  48 ,  52 ,  70  and  71 . The discs  27 ,  48 ,  52 ,  70  and  71  are preferably about 0.012 inch in thickness. 
     Other embodiments and modifications of the invention will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art, and all such of these as come within the spirit of this invention are included within its scope as best defined by the appended claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 1