Patent ID: 8863658

Claim:
A pad printing machine, comprising: an intake zone defined in the pad printing machine, a work board that runs in front of the pad printing machine and dimensioned and configured such that an operator situated before the work board in a work position can reach beyond the work board into the pad printing machine for inserting workpieces from and above the work board into the pad printing machine through the intake zone or removing said workpieces from said pad printing machine and place said workpieces on the work board, a light beam barrier having a light transmitter disposed on an end of the intake zone and a light receiver disposed at an opposite end of the intake zone, a control unit, an optical display operationally connected to said control unit of the pad printing machine in order to optically display at least one machine state as a machine intake zone accessible, and another machine state as a machine intake zone is closed, the optical display comprising an optical display area positioned on the work board, wherein the work board is positioned between the pad printing machine and an operational position of the operator operating the pad printing machine across the work board within a field of view of this operator, wherein when the pad printing machine is printing, the control unit is configured to control the light beam barrier to emit a light beam from the light transmitter and received by the light receiver to close the intake zone and to control the optical display to optically display the machine intake zone closed state, and wherein when the pad printing machine is not printing, the control unit is configured to control the optical display to optically display the machine intake zone accessible state.