Improvements in Addressing Machines.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 28th June, 1892-Accepted, 29th Oct., 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Addressing Machines.
I. FRANK DRAYTON BURNA of 311 Broadway, in the City County and State
of New York, United States of America, President of the Rapid Addressing
Machine Company of the same place, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to that class of mechanism by which each one of a list of
names or addresses may be printed successively upon a series of envelopes or
wrappers, and thus many thousands of letters, circulars or papers may be addressed
to persons all over the country rapidly and accurately.
In the drawings,

page_text: arms, the oscillating frame 8, is swung. This frame supports the rubber mouthed
suction holder 9, which is connected by the flexible tube 10, with the air
pump 11.
This pump 11, is mounted on the shaft 12, and is operated by the piston rod 13,
connected to the crank 14, on the shaft 15.
16, is the loose pulley, and 16, the driving pulley over which the driving belt is
to run. 17 is an eccentric on the main shaft 17 on which said pulley is mounted.
18, is the eccentric rod which communicates motion to the crank 19 on the shaft 15.
The arms 20, 20 of the vibrating carrier are bent as shown in Figs. 1, 5 and 12, to
enable them to get under the shaft 12, on which the air pump is mounted. These
arms 20, 20 are rigidly fixed to the shaft 15, and by virtue of the connections above
described are caused to vibrate with every revolution of the main driving shaft 17"
so that the vibrating carrier travels back and forth along the curved runway 2ª
whose arc of curvature has the shaft 13, for its centre.
some
The vibrating carrier consists of the spring fingers 21, 21, pivoted to the
arms 20, 20. The lower ends of fingers 21 are tipped with rubber or
adhesive compound or are roughened and are normally forced down upon the
runway 2, by the tension of the spiral springs 23, attached to the upper ends 22,
of the said fingers. The fingers have lugs 24, on their outer faces which
slide under and over the curved strips 25. They go under on the down stroke
and are thereby caused to grip the envelope beneath them firmly. When they
have reached the lower end 25 of the strips, the lugs snap over them and
ride on the upper side thereof on the upstroke, thereby releasing the envelope
and leaving it at the lowest point of the travel of the carrier.
In this way
the upper side of strip 25 may be said to serve as a cam track for the return of
finger 21.
The suction holder 9, is a bell shape piece with rubber lips which when pressed
against the column of envelopes as shown in Fig. 12, picks the first one up by
virtue of the suction created by the pump 11. The oscillating frame 8, on which
the suction holder is mounted is controlled by the link 26, extending to the crank 27
on the shaft 15. This acts to withdraw the holder and lift the envelope out into
the position shown in Fig. 12. The separating plate 28, is then lifted in back of
it, the spring fingers 21, seize it and carry it down. The plate 28 has slots 29, up
into which the hooks 30 slide, lifting the plate a short distance during the last part
of the upward stroke of the vibrating carrier. The springs 28 draw said plate
down again. These hooks 30 are pivoted to the sides of the fingers 21, and are
therefore mounted and oscillate on said fingers. The hooks have lugs 31, on their
upper ends above their pivoted point of support, which engage with the under face
of the cam strips 32, during the lower half of the stroke of the carrier, and
thereby the upper ends of said pieces 30 are depressed and their lower and hooked
ends are lifted up so that they do not bring up the envelope on the up stroke of the
carrier, but leave it in the grasp of the printing apparatus. The vibration of the
hook 30 is limited by the pin 90, working recess 91 in said hooks.
The main elements of the printing apparatus are the ribbon of continuous
stencil in which the names and addresses to be used are perforated, and the inking
mechanism. The stencil 33, together with the keeper ribbon, 34, is unrolled from
the spool 35. The stencil ribbon runs through the tension apparatus 36, under
the stationary platen 37, and over the reciprocating skeleton platen 38. It
then goes through the stencil feed and between the cleaning and wiping
rollers 39, 39 to the winding up spool 40. The keeper ribbon 34, passes under
the machine direct from the spool 35 to spool 40. This keeper is always wound
up with the stencil to keep the ink from getting on the wrong side of the stencil
and smudging the envelope.
The stencil feed mechanism is illustrated in Figs. 7 to 10. The slide 41 has the
bell crank 42 mounted thereon. The lower arm 44 of this bell crank is connected
by link 45 to crank disc 46 ou shaft 47. Shaft 47 is driven by gear 48 which
meshes with gear 49 on the main shaft. The upper arm 43, of bell crank has its
motion limited by the stops 50. The arm 44, has its motion limited by the

page_text: adjustable stop 51. The arms 43, have projections 52, which register with the
perforations 33, in the borders of the stencil ribbon. The tumbler 54, mounted
on a bracket on the main frame has downward projections 55, which also register
with these perforations. When these are allowed to drop into these perforations
during the left handed motion of the slide the stencil is stopped and held in the
proper position to print a name and address as shown in Fig. 7. At the beginning
of the right hand stroke of the slide, the bell crank is lifted as shown in Fig. 10.
The projections 52, then enter the perforations 55, in the stencil ribbon, foreing
out the tumbler and moving the ribbon forward till the next name is centered and
the tumbler has fallen into the next pair of holes or perforations 53. The feed
slide returns with its bell crank in the position shown in Fig. 7.
The printing mechanism is illustrated in Figs. 4, 5 and 6. The inking rollers 56,
are mounted in slides 58, which are capable of radial motion in the rotating crank
frames or carriers 57. Upon the inner ends of these slides are mounted the little
idlers 59. The cam supporting pieces 60, are mounted in vertical guides 60*
and 60 and rest upon springs 62, stepped in sockets 62. These give a yielding
support to the pieces 60 which have the cams 61 formed thereon. As the idlers 59
run over these cams the inking rollers are lifted off the stationary inking drum 63,
which may be cut away as at 63 (Fig. 5) to facilitate this freeing of the rollers
from the drum. The drum may be left entirely cylindrical, however, and the
same result obtained by raising the cams 61. The drum 63 is mounted on the
stationary shaft 64 and does not revolve. When the idlers 59 are not on the cams
the springs 58 hold the inking rollers down upon the inking drum 63. The
springs 62 may be dispensed with the liners or set screws introduced in their
places to give the necessary adjustment to the cam supporting pieces 60. Motion
is given to the inking mechanism by gears 65 and 66, the latter being on the
main shaft.
The reciprocating skeleton platen 38 has lateral projections 71, which are
supported by plungers 69, which work through lugs 69 upon the main frame 1.
Springs 70, surround said plungers and are confined between said lugs 69, on the
main frame and collars 69 on the plunger. The levers 68 are connected to said
plungers and when their other ends are forced up by the cams 67, the platen 38 is
lowered. The springs 70 raise it again when the cams allow them to do so.
The ink fountain 72, has a fountain roll 73 operated by the ratchet wheel 74,
and pawl 75, on the lever 76. This lever is oscillated by the link 77, extending
from the bell crank 78, to which motion is given by the cam 79 on the shaft 80.
Motion is given to this shaft by the gear S1, meshing with the gear 66. The ink
rollers 56 touch the fountain roll 73 and take up the ink therefrom. The pinion 86
on the main shaft drives the idle gear 85, which drives gear 84, upon wiping roll 39
of the pair 39, 39. This pair of wiping rollers are geared together by gears 82, 83.
The belt 87 transmits motion to the spool 40 and is left slack so that it may slip
when the increased diameter of the roll forming on said spool requires that it should
run more slowly.
With the aid of the foregoing description of the parts of the machine its mode of
operation will easily be understood. The stencil ribbon having been threaded
through the machine and a column of envelopes placed before the feeding slide 3,
motion is given to the apparatus by shifting the belt on to the driving pulley 16.
The plunger of the air pump being withdrawn on the upward stroke of the
vibrating carrier, the suction holder 9 picks up the first envelope.
holder being then withdrawn by the action of the crank and link 27, 26, the
envelope is lifted out into the position shown in Fig. 12.
The suction
The separating plate 28 is lifted in behind the envelope by the hooks 30, and the
spring fingers 21, dropping off the cam 25, come down upon the envelope which is
thus gripped between the fingers and plate. The downward stroke of the carrier,
allows the plate 28, to fall back to its position, thrusts the suction holder 9, out for
a secoud envelope, and carries the first one down the curved runway, under the

page_text: stationary platen 37. At that moment the cam 67 has acted to draw down the
reciprocating skeleton platen 38, so as to permit the envelope to be placed between
the two platens. The lugs 24 on the spring fingers 21, snap up, over the ends 25*
of the can strips 25 and ride back to the top of same. The hooks 30 are lifted out
of the way by virtue of the lugs 31, running under the cam strips 32 so that the
vibrating carrier makes its upstroke without withdrawing the envelope from the
grasp of the printing apparatus.
By virtue of the action of the springs 70 the reciprocating platen 38, is lifted up
again as the vibrating carrier has begun its up trip and the envelope is securely
held between the two platens. The stencil ribbon has been fed along while the
platens are apart and a new address centered under each envelope by the feed
illustrated in Figs. 7 to 10, and is gradually wound off of the spool 35 and on to
that 40 by this feed. The slack is prevented from accumulating in the machine by
the action of the cleaning and wiping rolls 39, 39ª. These rolls are made of such
composition that they act as cleaners by reason of the fact that ink will adhere to
them and leave the stencil ribbon. As the stencil ribbon runs over the recipro-
cating platen 37, it is forced up against the envelope by it. The inking rollers 56,
having picked up a supply of ink in their revolution are lifted up by the cam 61
and rolling along the underside of the stencil print the name and address cut
therein, upon the envelope above it.
The roller 73 is given a partial revolution at every turn of the cam 79, so as to
prevent a fresh inky surface to the inking rollers as they come around.
After the envelope has been printed it is released by the downward motion of the
reciprocating platen caused by the cams 67, and the vibrating carrier, coming down
with a second envelope, kicks the first one out on to the table 88.
Connections
may be made to the gear 88, to operate additional mechanism.
It is evident that various changes might be made in the details of the mechanism
without departing from the spirit of my invention. Crank motions may be
substituted for eccentrics weights for springs and vice versa. The ink fountain and
rolls may be operated by other methods well known in the art, the driving pulley
may be put on any other shaft etc. etc.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed 1 declare that what I
claim is
1. In an addressing machine the combination of the table, the horizontal feeding
slide, the vibrating carrier which runs along a curved runway the upper portion of
which is at right angles to the line of motion of the feeding slide, and the suction
holder, substantially as described.
2. In an addressing machine, the combination of the table, the feeding slide, the
vibrating carrier, the suction holder, and the air pump connected to said suction
holder and operated in unison with the movements of the vibrating slide, sub-
stantially as described.
3. In an addressing machine, the combination of the table, the feeding slide, the
vibrating carrier, the suction holder, the oscillating frame on which said suction
holder is mounted, the shaft which operates said vibrating carrier, and connecting
mechanism whereby said shaft causes said oscillating frame to move backward or
forward at the proper moment, substantially as described.
4. In an addressing machine, the combination of the table with a curved runway,
the vibrating carrier travelling along said runway, the feeding slide at one end of
said runway and the printing device at the other, substantially as described.
5. In an addre sing machine the combination of the table with a curved runway,
the vibrating carrier travelling along said runway, and having the spring fingers
mounted thereon, the ferding slide at one end of said runway and the printing
device at the other end, substantially as described.
6. In an addressing machine the combination of the table with a curved runway

page_text: the vibrating carrier travelling along said runway and having the spring fingers
mounted thereon, the feeding slide, the separating plate, and the suction holder,
substantially as described.
7. In an addressing machine, the combination of the table with a curved runway,
the vibrating carrier travelling along said runway, the spring fingers mounted on
said carrier, the feeding slile, the separating plate, the hooks on the carrier for
lifting said plate, the suction holder, and the return cam track for the spring
Angers, substantially ass
8. In an addressing machine, the combination of the table, the vibrating carrier,
and spring fingers mounted on the carrier, the return cam track for said fingers,
the sliding separating plate, the hooks on the carrier which operate said plate, and
the cams which lift said hooks out of the way of the envelope, substantially as
described.
9. In an addressing machine, the combination of the stationary platen, the
vibrating carrier which places the envelope below said platen, the stencil, a cam
mechanism by which said stencil may be pressed against the envelope under the
platen, and an inking apparatus which rolls over said stencil while in this position,
substantially as described.
10. In an addressing machine the combination of a stationary platen, a stencil
beneath said platen, a stationary inking drum, one or more inking rollers which
revolve around said drum, a cam by which said rollers are lifted off the drum and
forced against the stencil, the ink fountain and roll and the driving gears, sub-
stantially as described.
11. In an addressing machine, the combination of a stationary platen, a stencil
beneath said platen, a stationary inking drun flattened at that portion of its
circumference opposite the stencil, one or more inking rollers which revolve around
said drum, a yielding cam track which lifts said rollers off said drum when opposite
said platen, the ink fountain and driving gears, substantially as described.
12. In an addressing machine the combination of a stationary platen, a movable
skeleton platen opposite thereto, a continuous stencil which runs between, and a set
of inking rolls and mechanism which causes said inking rolls to come up under the
skeleton platen and press ink through the same and through the stencil, substantially
as described.
13. In an addressing machine, the combination of a continuous stencil which has
regularly spaced perforations therein, a tumbler which is pivoted to the main
frame and which has projections that fall into said perforations, a reciprocating
stencil feed on the other side of the stencil, pins connected therewith which register
with the above mentioned perforations, and mechanism for raising and lowering
said pins substantially as described.
14. In an addressing machine, the combination of the continuous stencil which
bas regularly spaced perforations therein, the stencil feed slide, the bell crank
mounted thereon, the link by which the lower arm of said bell crank is connected
to the driving gear, the projections on the upper arms of said bell crank which enter
the perforations in the stencil, and the stops by which the play of said bell crank is
limited, substantially as described.
اليوم
100
F. D. BELKNAP,
By L. W., per F. B.