GB1001726A - Inking control means for printing machines - Google Patents

Abstract

1,001,726. Printing apparatus. PITNEYBOWES Inc. Jan. 16, 1964 [Jan. 18, 1963], No. 1994/64. Heading B6C. A machine, Fig. 1, suitable for postage meter printing, comprises a printing surface 13 carried by a bed 12, a vertically reciprocable platen 14, an expendable horizontally reciprocable inking roller 15 provided with a self-contained reservoir of ink and adapted to be driven to ink the surface 13 by a motor 35, means for preventing rotation of the motor after a predetermined number of inking strokes, and a key 156 adapted to be depressed to sever a plastic portion of a hub 16, Fig. 2, of the inking roller, thus rendering it permanently unfit for use in the machine, and to elevate a link 134 and reset a trip pawl 73 so that the inking mechanism is unlocked preparatory to the first inking stroke of the new inking roller. The inking roller 15 is supported by its hubs 16 in pairs of jaws 20, 21 and 20<SP>1</SP>, 21<SP>1</SP> supported on a bracket 17, the upper jaws 21, 21<SP>1</SP> being biased towards the lower jaws by springs 22, 22<SP>1</SP>. The bracket 17 is connected to a slide 23 actuated by a rotary cam 30, fixed on the shaft of the motor 35, through a cam follower 31, a follower arm 32, and a connecting pin 33. A cam 40 having an outer cam track 41 and an inner cam track 42 is mounted on the other end of the shaft of the motor and a cam follower unit 43-45 determines the end of a single revolution of the cam 40, i.e. the end of a complete inking stroke, and a cam follower unit 50, 51 serves to control the opening and closing of a switch 36 so that the motor 35 is energized for one revolution only of the cam 40. In operation, a key 64 is depressed and a stud 76 on the trip pawl 73 causes a latch 60 to be pivoted so that the cam follower roller 45 swings to its operative position on the track 42, freeing the cam 40 for rotation and a lever 52 is pivoted to close an arm 56 of the switch 36. Counting-apparatus.-The inking strokes are counted by a device 100, Fig. 2, actuated by a pawl 101 on the slide 23 and comprising three toothed wheels 108, 109, 110 on shafts 106, 111, 112 respectively, the wheels 108, 109 being each provided with a single wide tooth adapted to mesh intermittently with the teeth of the adjacent wheel so that as a ratchet-wheel 105 is intermittently indexed the counter-wheels 108-110 are progressively indexed in a stepdown ratio determined by the number of teeth on the wheels. The output shaft 112 carries at one end two discs 130, 131 and when the counter indicates the predetermined number of inking strokes a tooth 132 on the disc 130 moves the link 134 so that the stud 76 on the pawl 73 is moved to the Fig. 6 position (not shown) and the inking unit is locked in an inoperative position. A tooth 133 on the disc 131 moves a warning lever 146, carrying an indicia-bearing head 150, at a predetermined number of inking strokes before the tooth 132 locks out the inking mechanism. To ensure that the inking device is not rendered operative before a new inking roller has been inserted between the jaws 20, 21, 20<SP>1</SP>, 21<SP>1</SP>, an electrical switch, Fig. 7 (not shown), is mounted on the bracket 17 in series with the switch 36.