EP0604296A1 - Elektronische Frankiermaschine mit zwei Drucktrommeln für feste und variable Daten - Google Patents

Elektronische Frankiermaschine mit zwei Drucktrommeln für feste und variable Daten Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0604296A1
EP0604296A1 EP93403104A EP93403104A EP0604296A1 EP 0604296 A1 EP0604296 A1 EP 0604296A1 EP 93403104 A EP93403104 A EP 93403104A EP 93403104 A EP93403104 A EP 93403104A EP 0604296 A1 EP0604296 A1 EP 0604296A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
printing
plate
drum
data
article
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Granted
Application number
EP93403104A
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0604296B1 (de
Inventor
André Ferreol-Ragotin
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Quadient Technologies France SA
Original Assignee
Neopost Technologies SA
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Neopost Technologies SA filed Critical Neopost Technologies SA
Publication of EP0604296A1 publication Critical patent/EP0604296A1/de
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0604296B1 publication Critical patent/EP0604296B1/de
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07B—TICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
    • G07B17/00—Franking apparatus
    • G07B17/00459—Details relating to mailpieces in a franking system
    • G07B17/00508—Printing or attaching on mailpieces
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07B—TICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
    • G07B17/00—Franking apparatus
    • G07B17/00459—Details relating to mailpieces in a franking system
    • G07B17/00467—Transporting mailpieces
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07B—TICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
    • G07B17/00—Franking apparatus
    • G07B17/00459—Details relating to mailpieces in a franking system
    • G07B17/00508—Printing or attaching on mailpieces
    • G07B2017/00516—Details of printing apparatus
    • G07B2017/00524—Printheads
    • G07B2017/00548—Mechanical printhead
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07B—TICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
    • G07B17/00—Franking apparatus
    • G07B17/00459—Details relating to mailpieces in a franking system
    • G07B17/00508—Printing or attaching on mailpieces
    • G07B2017/00637—Special printing techniques, e.g. interlacing
    • G07B2017/00645—Separating print into fixed and variable parts

Definitions

  • the invention relates to an electronic postage meter comprising a printing device for printing fixed data and variable postage data on a mail item traveling on a transport path between an entry and an exit of the machine, the printing device comprising a first printing means consisting of a first rotary drum for printing main franking data and a second printing means for printing auxiliary postage data on the article.
  • Document EP 0.172.561 discloses a franking machine of this type in which the second printing means consists of a thermal printing head controlled by a microprocessor.
  • the thermal print head is arranged to move generally transversely relative to the transport path of the mail items to be franked. As a result, the mailpiece must be slowed down in front of this printhead for the correct printing of the postage auxiliary data, which reduces the franking rate of the franking machine.
  • the object of the invention is to remedy this drawback of the technique by proposing a printing device making it possible to increase the rate of franking of mail items compared to that obtained with the printing device of the machine disclosed. in the document mentioned above.
  • Another object of the invention consists in proposing a printing device making it possible to easily print in at least two distinct colors on each mail item.
  • Another object of the invention is to bring out, by a printing device, a particular datum relating to the processing of mail (sending mode, type of mail, sequential number, ).
  • the subject of the invention is an electronic franking machine as defined above, characterized in that said second printing means consists of a second rotary drum, one or more removable plates bearing imprints installed in the second drum and selectively interlockable by a plate selection means, and a control means acting on the second rotary drum and on the selection means in response to at least one piece of information indicative of a selected shot, a signal indicative of the presence of an article at the entry of the transport path, and information indicative of a printing position on the article according to the direction of movement of the article, to put in the printing position the photograph selected in the second drum rotary in order to print the imprint of said plate by transferring ink to said position chosen on the article.
  • the printing device according to the invention supports high franking rates, greater than 5000 articles per hour, because the printing of fixed data and variables on a mail item is done without slowing the item down the transport path.
  • the control means can advantageously be programmable to obtain an automatic selection of at least one printing plate.
  • the electronic franking machine 1 comprises two rotary printing drums for ink transfer of fixed data and variable data.
  • the two rotary drums 2 and 4 have axes of rotation arranged transversely to the longitudinal axis of the transport path 6 of the articles to be franked and are arranged between an inlet 7 of the machine for the introduction of each article to be franked and an outlet 8 of the machine for the recovery of each postage paid item.
  • the rotary drum 4 is placed upstream of the rotary drum 2 in the direction of travel of the articles on the transport path 6. This drum 4 is used for printing auxiliary postage data such as an advertising flame.
  • the drum 2 is used for printing main postage data such as the postage amount.
  • the rotary drum 2 known as the main drum, conventionally comprises a printing wheel for postage values 21, a printing wheel for a date 22, a numberer 23.
  • a drum is described in patent application FR 90.10064 . It is associated with a conventional inker 24 per se. It is coupled to an electric motor 222 by means of gear kinematics 223 to be driven in rotation. This gear kinematics 223 conventionally consists of pulleys and belts.
  • the main drum 2 cooperates with a not shown counter roller known per se.
  • the 222 motor is provided an encoder 224 which delivers quadrature clock signals.
  • the rotary drum 4 is of the type described in the document EP 0217576. It comprises several plates 407 selectively interlockable by an automatic plate selector and cooperates with an inking 44 conventional in itself.
  • the auxiliary drum 4 is fixed to a control shaft 400 carried by the base 9 of the franking machine 1. It comprises an eccentric ring 402 mounted on this shaft and housed inside the plate holder 404 bearing, as shown in FIG. 4, three removable drawers 406 each surmounted by a specific plate 407. as visible in FIG. 2, the shaft 400 has, at one end, a coaxial cap 408 provided with a peripheral hoop 410 , visible in Figure 3, cooperating with another peripheral hoop 412 of the eccentric ring 402 for driving the mail items with a counter-roller not shown conventional per se.
  • any kind and any form of image can be envisaged to constitute for example an advertising flame, a flyer 407 as visible in FIG. 4, etc.
  • the imprint of the auxiliary data can be arranged on a photo so to present any orientation chosen with respect to the longitudinal direction of the transport path 6.
  • the auxiliary drum 4 can be coupled to another electric motor 422 by means of a gear kinematics 423 constituted by pulleys and belts coming to engage at 401 on the end of the rotating shaft 400.
  • This motor 422 is also mechanically coupled to the drive elements of the transport path 6.
  • a single-turn clutch 430 is mounted between the motor 422 and the auxiliary drum 4 to allow mechanical coupling or mechanical decoupling for the rotary drive of the auxiliary drum 4 by the engine 422.
  • Engine 422 is provided with an encoder 424 which supplies quadrature clock signals.
  • the automatic plate selector comprises a single-turn electric motor 440 visible in FIGS. 2 and 6 which is coupled to a gear train 441 making it possible to drive the plate support 404 in rotation by thirds of a turn around the eccentric ring 402.
  • the selector The function of automatic exposure is to position a selected exposure for printing data in response to a selection signal.
  • the gear train 441 carries a tenon 442 which is engaged in a pinion 444.
  • the pinion 444 rotates the plate holder 404 in rotation by a third of a turn each time the motor 440 is actuated.
  • a pawl 445 cooperates with a cam 446 secured to the pinion 444 so as to lock the rotation of the plate support 404 around the eccentric ring 402 when a selected plate is in the printing position. Locking is achieved by positioning the pawl 445 in a notch 447 of the eccentric ring under the action of the cam 446.
  • the drawer 406 of the selected plate is identified by means of a set of sensors.
  • three printing plates 407 are distributed around the periphery of the auxiliary drum 4, plate 407 in FIG. 4 being in position for printing an imprint.
  • control of the motors 422,222 and the single-turn clutch 430 is supported by a microprocessor-based control unit 500 which can be programmed and which provides control signals in response to signals or information entry.
  • This control unit 500 is electrically connected to a sensor 426, for example with a light-emitting diode, which supplies it with a signal for detecting the presence or absence of an item to be franked at the entry of the transport path 6.
  • the unit 500 also receives the clock signals as input. quadrature provided by coders 224 and 424, information SC indicative of a photograph selected in the auxiliary drum 4, information SP indicative of a printing position of the photograph selected on the article or articles to be franked according to the direction for scrolling the item (s) on the transport path 6.
  • the control unit supplies as an output a motor control signal 222 for its actuation or its stop, a motor control signal 422 for its actuation or its stop, a clutch control signal 430, a plate selection signal for the single-turn engine 440, a control signal of the elements of the transport path 6 for its actuation or its stop.
  • the two inkers 24 and 44 of the rotary drums 2 and 4 enclose inks of different colors.
  • a particular plate 407 of the drum 4 is arranged to highlight a particular datum relating to the processing of the mail such as the type of franked mail, the mode of sending of the franked mail, the sequential number of the franked mail.
  • the printing of this particular data is preferably carried out in the area of the postal imprint.
  • control unit 500 The operation of the control unit 500 is as follows.
  • the SC and SP information is first entered in the control unit 500.
  • the following parameters are saved in the control unit 500.
  • N1 designates the distance between the sensor 426 and the axis Al of the auxiliary drum 4 expressed in number of clock signals from the encoder 424.
  • K denotes the distance between the start of the selected picture and the original position of the auxiliary drum 4 expressed in number of clock signals from the encoder 424.
  • L designates the distance between the front edge of the franking item placed at the entry of the transport path and the printing position of the start of the selected photograph expressed in number of clock signals from the encoder 424.
  • C denotes a constant linked to the non-linearity of the expression of a down counter of the control unit because of the time necessary for the acceleration of the rotation of the auxiliary drum 4, for example 10 ms. This time is also converted into a number of clock signals from the encoder 424.
  • the control unit actuates the motor 422 which sets in motion the transport path 6.
  • the value of the down-counter is decremented by one.
  • the control unit 500 sends the control signal which actuates the clutch 430 to couple the auxiliary drum 4 to the motor 422.
  • the auxiliary franking data are printed on the article.
  • the control unit also receives the clock signal from the encoder 224 to send the control signal which actuates the motor 222 in order to rotate the main drum 2.
  • the main franking data are then printed on the article.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Computer Security & Cryptography (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Devices For Checking Fares Or Tickets At Control Points (AREA)
EP93403104A 1992-12-23 1993-12-20 Elektronische Frankiermaschine mit zwei Drucktrommeln für feste und variable Daten Expired - Lifetime EP0604296B1 (de)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
FR9215617A FR2699709B1 (fr) 1992-12-23 1992-12-23 Machine à affranchir électronique à deux tambours d'impression de données fixes et variables.
FR9215617 1992-12-23

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0604296A1 true EP0604296A1 (de) 1994-06-29
EP0604296B1 EP0604296B1 (de) 1997-07-16

Family

ID=9437038

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP93403104A Expired - Lifetime EP0604296B1 (de) 1992-12-23 1993-12-20 Elektronische Frankiermaschine mit zwei Drucktrommeln für feste und variable Daten

Country Status (4)

Country Link
US (1) US5394795A (de)
EP (1) EP0604296B1 (de)
DE (1) DE69312242T2 (de)
FR (1) FR2699709B1 (de)

Families Citing this family (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5608636A (en) * 1993-06-21 1997-03-04 Francotyp-Postalia Ag & Co. Method for controlling the column-by-column printing of a franking image in a postage meter machine
US6918338B2 (en) * 2003-01-30 2005-07-19 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Printing system

Citations (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3918361A (en) * 1974-04-03 1975-11-11 Arthur J Malavazos Print head for a postage meter
FR2439677A1 (fr) * 1978-10-26 1980-05-23 Toray Industries Procede et appareil d'enregistrement d'informations fixes et variables
GB2055699A (en) * 1979-08-07 1981-03-11 Postalia Gmbh Printing arrangement for franking machines
DE2938026A1 (de) * 1979-09-20 1981-03-26 Horray KG, 78120 Furtwangen Stempelgeraet
EP0172561A2 (de) * 1984-08-20 1986-02-26 Pitney Bowes Inc. Thermische Vorrichtung zum Drucken fester und veränderlicher Informationen und eine mit einer solchen Vorrichtung ausgerüstete Frankiermaschine
EP0217576A2 (de) * 1985-09-16 1987-04-08 Pitney Bowes PLC Druckzylinder für Frankiermaschine
EP0298248A1 (de) * 1987-06-05 1989-01-11 Alcatel Satmam Etiketten-Frankiermaschine
FR2646943A3 (fr) * 1989-05-09 1990-11-16 Tabacs & Allumettes Ind Machine a affranchir

Family Cites Families (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3987722A (en) * 1974-12-30 1976-10-26 Addressograph Multigraph Corporation Dual printing with single master supply source
US4519311A (en) * 1983-03-16 1985-05-28 Pitney Bowes Inc. Auxiliary printing device for a postage meter
US4673303A (en) * 1985-10-07 1987-06-16 Pitney Bowes Inc. Offset ink jet postage printing
US5050495A (en) * 1989-05-05 1991-09-24 Wu Sheng J Print wheel setting mechanism
US5249319A (en) * 1992-09-09 1993-10-05 Mellen Air Manufacturing, Inc. Low air loss, pressure relieving mattress system

Patent Citations (8)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3918361A (en) * 1974-04-03 1975-11-11 Arthur J Malavazos Print head for a postage meter
FR2439677A1 (fr) * 1978-10-26 1980-05-23 Toray Industries Procede et appareil d'enregistrement d'informations fixes et variables
GB2055699A (en) * 1979-08-07 1981-03-11 Postalia Gmbh Printing arrangement for franking machines
DE2938026A1 (de) * 1979-09-20 1981-03-26 Horray KG, 78120 Furtwangen Stempelgeraet
EP0172561A2 (de) * 1984-08-20 1986-02-26 Pitney Bowes Inc. Thermische Vorrichtung zum Drucken fester und veränderlicher Informationen und eine mit einer solchen Vorrichtung ausgerüstete Frankiermaschine
EP0217576A2 (de) * 1985-09-16 1987-04-08 Pitney Bowes PLC Druckzylinder für Frankiermaschine
EP0298248A1 (de) * 1987-06-05 1989-01-11 Alcatel Satmam Etiketten-Frankiermaschine
FR2646943A3 (fr) * 1989-05-09 1990-11-16 Tabacs & Allumettes Ind Machine a affranchir

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
FR2699709B1 (fr) 1995-02-10
DE69312242D1 (de) 1997-08-21
US5394795A (en) 1995-03-07
FR2699709A1 (fr) 1994-06-24
DE69312242T2 (de) 1998-01-22
EP0604296B1 (de) 1997-07-16

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