Improvements in Post-marking and Stamp-cancelling Machines.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 26th June, 1394-4ccepted, 28th July, 1394
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by ALBERT LEAVITT, of 113, Purchase Street,
Boston, County of Suffolk and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Unite i
States of America, Machinist.]
Improvements in Post-marking and Stamp-cancelling Machines.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, 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:―
This invention relates to machines such as employed in large post-offices for
post-marking and stamp-cancelling mail matter, to facilitate the handling of the
same and hasten its transmission.
The object of this invention is to simplify mail-marking machines and increase
their efficiency. To this end, the invention consists in an improved feeder, which
takes the mail pieces in the direction of travel of the acting stretch of an endless
conveyor, and at the same time into contact with said stretch of the conveyor.
The invention further consists in an air-blower for holding the mail pieces in an
upright position against the endless conveyor. The invention further consists in
an improved timing mechanism, which is so constructed as to prevent backward
movement of the mail-pieces. The invention is also directed toward providing
improved means for controlling the operative relation of the marker and conveyor
by the passing mail piece, so that only when a mail piece is passing does operative
relation of these parts exist, such a provision being desirable to prevent marking
of the endless conveyor in the absence of an interposed mail-piece. The invention
further consists in a stacking device, in the form of a disc, having a throat which
receives the mail-pieces and a cam-surface which stacks them, and an auxiliary
cam, acting in conjunction with said disc.
The accompanying drawings illustrate an embodiment of the invention.
Figure 1 shows a plan view of the machine, as it appears in operation.
Figure 2 shows a side elevation of the machine, viewed from the lower side of
Figure 1, some parts appearing in section.
Figure 3 shows an elevation of part of the machine, as viewed from upper side of
Figure 1.
Figure 4 shows an end elevation, as viewed from the right of Figure 1.
Figure 5 shows a section on line 5-5 of Fig. 1.
Figures 6 and 8 show a partial plan of the machine, illustrative of a step in its
operation.
Figure 7 shows a detail of timing devices.
Figure 9 shows an end elevation as viewed from the left of Fig. 1.
Figure 10 shows a perspective view of devices for controlling operative relation
of the marker and conveyor.
Figures 11, 12 and 13 show different positions of the stacking devices.
Figures 14 and 15 show details of the timing mechanism.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all the figures.'
In the drawings:
The letter a designates the stationary horizontal bed of the machine, above
which travels the endless belt or conveyor b, common to this class of machines,
and running on pulleys 61 62. Difficulty has been experienced with the conveyors
how in use, from the fact that the mail-pieces are not always taken thereby in
he proper position, with their edges horizontal, but the mail-pieces will sometimes
የከ

page_text: tilt on the conveyor, by reason of not being accurately fed thereto, and in such
event do not pass to the marking devices, but escape from the machine; or, if
they do reach the marking devices, are marked thereby at the wrong place.
I believe I have solved the problem, by the employment of a novel feeder, which
consists of a circular horizontal table c, which is carried by the pulley 2, and
extends under the stretches of the belt b and also over the bottom of the hopper d
in which the mail-matter is deposited.
The mail-pieces will fall upon the rotating table c, and their edges will evenly
engage the same, there being no projections to cause tilting of a mail-piece; and,
the direction. of rotation of the table being the same as the direction of travel of
the belt, the mail-pieces will be carried forward by the table, and at the same time
will be taken against the belt, for the plane of the path of movement of the table
being horizontal intersects that of the path of movement of the belt, which is
vertical. Each mail-piece will thus be carried into flat engagement with the belt,
so that the latter will receive it properly positioned and feed it properly to the
marking devices. As an additional means of holding the mail-pieces flat against
the belt, I arrange an air blower which directs blasts of air against the pieces as
they are carried along. A rotary fan composed of blades, z, fastened to a spindle a
is encased in a covering 22, having openings for the inlet of air between the
shanks of the blades. The casing is formed with a straight conduit 24 with which
a pipe communicates, and said pipe extends along one side of the hopper and is
formed with a line of orifices registering with similar orifices in the side of the
hopper opposite the acting stretch of the conveyor. The fan receives motion from
the endless belt, its spindle carrying a pulley, in frictional contact with the
belt. It will be seen that blasts of air will be ejected through the orifices="
against the mail-pieces and will hold them closely against the belt.
The letter e designates the marking-cylinder, which is opposed to the pulley bi
and rotates in the opposite direction.
Timing mechanism, whereby the marking of each mail-piece at the proper place
is assured, is arranged as follows:
Opposed to the idler on the inner side of the acting stretch of the belt, is a
pusher g, having a groove g', and supported by a spring-pressed arm 92, capable of
limited play on a pivot-pin, g³, which is journaled in a bearing on the outer side of
the hopper d, the limited play thus allowed the pusher being to compensate for
variations in the thickness of mail-pieces. An arm is fastened to the outer side
of the hopper and extends into the groove g¹ of the pusher g, and is formed with a
stop projection for the mail-piece to encounter. A spring-pressed finger i is
pivoted inside the acting stretch of the belt and extends over the belt and is
adapted to deflect the approaching mail-piece against the stop h¹. This finger
is formed with a shoulder, at a point in advance of the stop and for a purpose
which will be explained hereinafter.
An arinj, affixed to the pivot pin g³ below the bed a, is connected with a
pitman, which co-acts with an eccentric ³ on the journal of the marking
cylinder.
The approaching mail-piece 2 (see Figures 6 and 14) is deflected by the finger i
against the stop, the pusher a being at this time in its rearward position and
said stop projecting beyond it. The mail-piece is held until the revolution of
the marking cylinder causes the eccentric to move the pusher g toward the belt.
When thus moved toward the belt, the pusher acts against the mail-piece and
pushes it off the stop h¹, and moves said mail-piece against the finger i, which
yields and allows the mail-piece to be carried against the belt. Thus each
mail-piece is timed with respect to the marking cylinder, so that it will receive
the mark at the proper place.
When the mail-piece is pushed against the finger i, it encounters the
shoulder (see Figure 15), and is prevented thereby from being pushed backward.
The pulley b' is carried by a slide y which fits a slide-way y' and is actuated

page_text: toward the marker by a spring y. The journals of the pulley and the marker e
carry respectively a plain-peripheried disc y³ and a cam y*, said cam y' having a
raised part designed to separate the conveyor and marker while the cancelling
bars and post-marking stamp of the letter are not positioned for co-action with
the conveyor, and a low part to permit such co-action while said marking devices
traverse the operative portion of their path.
The slide y has a lateral arm y adapted to be engaged by a detent lever
which, when engaged with said arm, prevents movement of the pulley 6' toward
the marking cylinder and operative relation of these elements which would be
permitted by the cam y'. It is the design to control this detent by the passing
mail-piece, so that it will be tripped thereby to permit movement of the conveyor
into operative relation with the marking cylinder, and to this end the following
construction is employed:
The detent lever is affixed to a stud c¹, which carries a semi-circular collar x³,
and a short lever ³ is arranged to act against one end of this collar. Said lever.
has a pin which projects up alongside of a rollers, supported by pivoted
arms and yieldingly held in the letter-path by a spring a', said arms being
pivoted on the journal of the idler f.
The finger is affixed to a stud w, which also carries a detent w¹ engaging a
shoulder on the detent and holding the latter in engagement with the arm yo.
When the finger i is pushed back the detent to' is moved out of engagement with
the shoulder of the detent a, and as the letter passes on, it may then disengage
said detent x from the arm y, by acting against the roller and moving it back,
causing it to move the lever by acting on the pin a, and said lever to free the
detent by acting against the half collar x².
It will be seen that, by my arrangement, the marking-cylinder and endless
conveyor can come into operative relation for marking only when a mail-piece
enters between them.
A spring, restores the dent, and levera³, after the letter has passed.
After the mail-pieces leave the marking devices, they are received and acted
upon by stacking devices, which are constructed and arranged as follows:
A guard m is erected on the bed a, and extends from the pulley b', on a slight
angle, in the direction of length of the machine, and at its outer part extends
substantially at right angles to the longitudinal portion, as shown at m³, so that
mail-pieces issuing from between the marking-cylinder and the belt encounter the
bend m² between the portions m and m¹ of the guard, and are thereby caused
to be stacked even-ended. A pair of discs n are supported in bearings on the rear
side of the guard m, and are rigidly connected, so as to constitute in effect one
disc, and the guard has an opening n', through which the disc may project. Each
disc is formed with a flaring throat n², which, as here shown, extends tangentially
or spirally, and the inner side n³ of said throat constitutes a cam-face. The
approaching mail-piece 2 is received in the throat, while the disc is in position with
the inner side of the throat back of the path of the mail-piece and the base of the
throat is at the bend m² of the guard, and that portion n of the disc on the outer
side of the throat holds up the pieces previously stacked against a sliding block o.
As the disc rotates in the direction of the arrow, the throat recedes under the
curve of the guard, leaving the mail-piece against the same, the portion n' of the
disc leaves the stack of mail-pieces 3, while the cam-surface n³ acts against
the newly-received mail-piece and pushes it back toward the stack 3, (see Figure 1).
The outer, circular, concentric portion n° of the disc's periphery adds the mail-
piece to the stack (see Figures 13 and 11), and the disc returns to the position
shown in Figure 1, ready to receive the next mail-piece.
An auxiliary stacker, in the form of a substantially quadrant-shaped disc p, is
supported in bearings on the rear side of the guard m; and, when the discs n are
positioned to receive the mail-piece, this auxiliary disc is wholly back of the guard,
and thus out of the path of the mail-piece (see Figure 1). As the discs n rotate,

page_text: the auxiliary disc p also rotates, and comes through a slot p' in the guard.m, and
its outer, concentric surface p³ comes to bear on the mail at a different place in the
length of the latter than the discs n (see Figures 11 and 13), but leaves the mail-
piece as the throat resumes its receiving position. This auxiliary stacker prevents
that end of a mail-piece which leaves the marking devices last from remaining in
the path of the following mail-piece. This auxiliary disc recedes behind the.
guard before the throat arrives at its receiving position. The disc is formed with
a rounding cam-surface p³ on the side which first encounters a mail-piece, to avoid
a straight surface which might act on the end of a short mail-piece, whereas the
opposite side extends radially, so that, when the concentric surface of the disc
leaves the mail-piece, the disc more quickly recedes behind the guard. The
auxiliary disc is received between the discs n.
The driving means, whereby the conveyor, the feeder, the marking-cylinder and
the stackers are operated, are best shown in Figure 9, and are of the following
construction:
The driving shaft q carries three skew-gears, q¹ 92 93, which mesh respectively
with corresponding gears on the journals of the marking cylinder and the pulley b²,
and on a stud which is connected by gears q with the journal of the stacker-
discs n, the latter being properly geared to the auxiliary stacker-disc, so that these
discs will rotate in proper time with relation to the marking-cylinder and to each
other.
It is evident that the invention herein disclosed can be embodied in different.
form from what is here shown, and is not limited in this respect.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is:
1. The combination with an endless conveyor, of a rotary feeding disc or table
extending under the acting stretch of said conveyor, for the purpose described.
2. The combination of an endless conveyor, and rotary supports therefor having
vertical axes and one of said supports carrying a horizontal table which extends
across the acting stretch of the conveyor, substantially as and for the purpose
described.
3. A. mail-marking machine, comprising in its construction an endless conveyor,
a stop to intercept the mail-pieces, a yielding finger adapted to deflect the said
pieces and formed with a shoulder, and means for moving the mail-pieces free of
the stop and against the shoulder of said finger and into contact with the
conveyor.
4. In a mail marking machine, a rotary disc having a throat to receive the
marked mail-pieces and a cam-surface for stacking the said pieces, and an auxiliary
rotary stacking-disc adapted to act on a different part of a mail-piece in its
length.
5. In a mail-marking machine, the combination with an endless conveyor, of an
air-blower arranged to direct blasts of air against the mail-pieces to hold them
against the conveyor.
6. In a mail-marking machine, the combination of a rotary marker, an endless
conveyor, one of said elements being movable toward and from the other and
yieldingly actuated toward the same, a cam for separating the marker and
conveyor, a detent for holding them apart, a lever with provisions for acting
against a shoulder of said detent to displace the latter, a swinging letter-actuated
mover arranged to act on said lever, and a letter-actuated detent for locking and
releasing the first-named detent.
7. In a mail-marking machine, the combination of a rotary marker and a
conveyor, one of which is movable into and out of operative relation with the
other and yieldingly impelled toward the same, a cam for separating the marker
and conveyor, a detent holding them separated, a letter actuated detent holding

page_text: said former detent, a roller in the letter-path on a pivotal support, and a lever
arranged to be acted upon by the said roller to displace the first-named detent.
Dated this 2nd day of June 1894.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.