GB1580457A

GB1580457A - Printing machines

Info

Publication number: GB1580457A
Application number: GB3482376A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: AJ BRANCH EQUIPMENT Ltd
Current assignee: AJ BRANCH EQUIPMENT Ltd
Priority date: 1976-08-20
Filing date: 1976-08-20
Publication date: 1980-12-03

Description

(54) PRINTING MACHINES (71) We, A. J. BRANCH EQUIPMENT LIMITED, a British Company, of 99 Eton Wick Road, Eton Wick, Near Windsor, Berkshire, SL4 6NQ, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be par- ticularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to printing machines for printing information on a stack of rectangular sheets which may be secured together along a common edge.

One of the uses of such machines is to imprint personal information e.g. names and a reference number relating to a bank's customer, on cheques bound into book form.

Heretofore, when an operation has been performed manually, the machine used has incorporated a vertically movable printing head, provided with an embossed printing plate and a roll of sheet material coated with a carbon composition, to carry out a stamping action on successive cheque forms.

According to the invention, a printing machine for printing information on the leaves of a stack comprising a base supporting a printing head and a pressure roller carrier, the head and carrier being reciprocable along parallel paths; and means for releasably holding the stack along a line parallel with one edge and with the leaves bent away from a plane parallel with said paths; said printing head having means to support a printing plate or other device for causing printed impressions in said plane and means for locating a sheet coated with marking material in contact with the plate or other device; and means for causing reciprocation of the carrier to and from an initial position, while the printing head remains stationary, and for bringing the roller into the said plane at the beginning and taking it out of said plane at the end of the movement of the carrier in one direction from the initial position, so as to press each leaf in turn against the sheet and plate or other device when the said leaf is located in the plane.

A preferred embodiment of the invention forming a machine for manually printing inforrnation on cheques in a bound cheque book will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: Fig. 1 shows an elevation of the machine in section on the line E-E in Fig. 2, Fig. 2 shows a transverse action of the machine partly on the line C-C in Fig. 1, and partly on the line D-D in Fig 1, Fig. 3 shows a longitudinal section of part of the machine on the line A-A in Fig. 2, Fig. 4 shows a transverse section of part of the machine on the line B-B in Fig. I, and Fig. 5 shows a detail of the machine in an operative condition.

The machine comprises an elongated base 1, having upper and lower spaced-apart parallel track 2, 3 extending lengthwise.

A printing head 4 is mounted by sliders 5 or other convenient anti-friction means on the upper track 2 for reciprocal movement therealong.

A pressure roller carrier 6 is similarly mounted by sliders 7 on the lower track 3.

The printing head 4 has a slide 8 to receive an embossed printing plate 9 which is held in position by a latch 10 engaging a notch in the plate against a light spring 10a. When the latch is raised and then released, the spring initially moves the plate and the slide towards one end of the head so that it can be grasped for removal.

Means are also provided on the head to rotatably support take up and storage spools 12, 13 for a wide ribbon or tape 11 coated with a carbon composition which runs beneath and in contact with the undersurface of the plate. By winding on the ribbon after each printing operation, as will now be described, a fresh area of ribbon is presented for each printing operation.

Each spool is located between end abutments 14, 15, the abutment 15 being resiliently urged towards the abutment 14 by a coil spring 16. The take up spool is rotated through a stepping clutch 18. The plate 17 carries a fixed arm 19 with a roller 20 at one end which engages a camming track 21 extending along the top of the track under the influence of a tension spring 23. As the printing head is moved manually along the track 2 to the right as seen in Figs. 1 and 3 the roller rises rotating the plate freely anticlockwise. On the return movement the roller moves downwardly rotating the plate 17 clockwise and through the clutch 18 causing similar rotation of the spool 12 and consequent movement of the ribbon 11 between the spools.

When the printing plate 9 is to be removed or inserted, the ribbon can be slackened by a clockwise rotation of the spool 13 by co-axial rotation of a plate 24.

The plate 24 is provided with a return tension spring 25 to produce counter-rotation of the ribbon and is provided with a press button 26 which extends through an outer cover 27 of the printing head so that it can be rotated by finger pressure without the cover being removed. The cover also mounts an operating knob 28 which is grasped by the operator for sliding the head along the track 2.

The carrier comprises two spaced-apart side plates 30, on which the track sliders 7 are mounted. The rubber covered pressure roller 31 is rotatable mounted in parallel support arms 32 pivoted on a spindle 33 parallel to the roller axis and carried at its ends by the slide plates so that the roller can be moved upwardly and downwardly in an arc.

Adjacent one end of the base a manual or electrically driven crank disc 34 is joined by a link 35 to one end of each two parallel drive arms 36 rockable about a shaft 37 mounted between the carrier side plates. The other ends of the drive arms are connected by two parallel toggle arms 38 to the roller support arms 32. As the crank disc rotates, initially the drive arm is rocked to raise the roller support arms 32 around the shaft 33 until the toggle mechanism reaches its overcentre position shown in dash-dot lines in Fig. 1, engages an abutment 39 extending between the side plates, and locks. Further movement of the crank then causes the carrier to be pushed bodily along its tracks 3 towards the right as shown in Fig. 1 until the crank disc passes the position when its centre is in line with the link.Continued crank disc rotation thereafter reverses the rocking movement of the drive arm thus lowering the roller through the toggle mechanism until the drive arm engages a stop 40 extending between the side plates.

Thereafter the crank rotation withdraws the carrier on its reciprocal movement back along the track. When the crank has turned through 360C the cycle of movement starts again.

The crank plate 34 is operated on a single cycle programme from an electric motor 41 mounted in the base driving a single rotation clutch mechanism 42 through a chain or belt drive 43 off a gear-box 44 connected to the motor spindle. The output shaft of the single revolution clutch 42 drives the crank disc through another chain or belt drive.

The drive arm rock shaft 37 is supported by parallel arms 46 pivoted to the side plates on a cross rod 47 and provided with a cross member 48 attached to a side plate cross strut 49 but a threaded and spring biassed adjuster screw and nut 50. By rotation of the adjuster nut, the height to which the roller is raised during operation of the crank can be varied within fine limits. The biassing spring 51 of the adjuster has a back nut 52 which can also be adjusted to control the pressure of the roller 31 against the embossed printing plate.

At one end of the base at which the crank plate is located a support 60 for a book of cheques to be printed is carried by sliders 61 within the tracks 2 so that it can be adjustably located longitudinally of the base. The support may be held in a pre-adjusted position by a clamp screw 62 having a head which bears on the track to secure the support when the clamp screw is tightened. The support carries an upstanding pivoted clamp arm 64 which is provided with a clamp rod 65 extending transversely across the bed and which is pressed down on the stub end of a cheque book laid on the support in the manner shown in Figure 5 under the influence of a tension spring 66 attached to the arm 64.The arm 64 may be held in a position at which the rod 65 is raised from the support for positioning or removal of the cheque book by a rocking trigger 67 which is provided with an arm 68 having a detent 69 to engage a pin 70 on the arm when the rod 65 is raised. Light pressure on the arm 64 allows the trigger 67 to be depressed to free the pin 70 from the detent 69 and thus allow the arm to return to its operative position at which the cheque book is secured. Near its upper end, as shown in Fig. 1, the arm 64 carries a bracket 71 which, in turn, supports a plate 72 mounting two spaced-apart rubber covered fingers 73 extending above and transversely across the frame for the purposes of supporting the free-ends of the leaves of the cheque book in a raised position as shown in Fig. 5. The connections between the bracket 71 and the arm 64 and the plate 72 respectively are in the form of stiff pivots so that the positions of the fingers 73 can be adjusted and held in their adjusted position by friction.

In use, the machine is set by manually moving the printing head 4 by its knob 28 as far as possible away from the end of the base nearest the drive crank i.e. toward the right and rotating the crank until it is at the beginning of the cycle of operations described above. The adjuster 50 is first set so that the uppermost part of the roller 31 lies on or very close to a plane containing the printing plate and parallel with the tracks. Such a position is found by trial and error.

A cheque book to be printed is laid over the support 60 and a platen 80 on the carrier 6 base so that its unbound end abuts stops 81 fixed to the cross piece 49 of the carrier side plates 30 and its edge touches a guide 82 on the supports, and the book is retainable in position by lowering the clamp arm 64 on to the book at a position towards its bound end as already described. When so clamped all the leaves i.e. the individual cheques to be printed, are lifted up and slip between the finger 37 which are rotated with their plate 72 in a position to hold the leaves up from the base and at the same time allow each leaf in succession to be manually drawn out from between the finger and drop onto the base. The first or lowermost leaf is drawn out and the printing head 4 is then moved leftwards towards the clamp until it overlies the leaf and the carrier as shown in full lines in Fig. 1.

The crank is then rotated through its cycle by the actuation of a starter device controlling the clutch 42 so that the roller 31 is lifted under the leaf, drawn along the base thus pressing the leaf upwardly onto the ribbon and printing plate to imprint the leaf, and then dropped. At this stage the carrier and roller are both clear of the printed leaf which drops down below the top of the base and is subsequently pushed clear by a guide plate on the carrier on its return movement. To make sure that the leaf does not stick to the ribbon, a cranked arm 90 mounted on the printing head is pushed down by an abutment 91 mounted on the carrier which engages a finger 92 on the arm as the carrier reaches the end of its movement away from the crank plate.

The arm 90 is returned to its initial position by its own resilience. At the end of the cycle, the printing head is pushed back to its initial position, the next leaf is withdrawn from the fingers and the printing operation repeated as described above.

While the carrier is in motion, the printing head is held in position over the cheque book leaf by a stop rod 100 (Fig. 2) slidably mounted within the base to engage a recess in one of the slides 5 supported in the track 2. The outer end of the stop rod 100 is pivotally attached to a release arm 101 which is, in turn, pivotally mounted on a bracket 102 fixed under the track 3, and carries at its other end a cam roller 103 which bears against a short cam track 104 mounted on the lower end of one of the drive arms 36.

When the carrier is in its initial position prior to a printing movement, the engagement of the roller 103 with the cam track 104 holds the arm 101 in such a position as to withdraw the pin 100 from engagement with the slider 5 so that the printing head may be reciprocated freely. As soon as the printing movement starts the roller is disengaged from the track 104 allowing the arm 101 to rotate freely under the influence of a compression spring 105 to move the pin 100 into engagement with the slider and thus lock the printing head against reciprocal movement.

The machine, by reason of the use of a relatively soft roller to contact the underside of the leaf to be printed, avoids the tendency inherent in the prior stamping machines of distorting the printing plate. Furthermore since each leaf is separate from the others during the printing operation, the printing pressure remains constant for all the leaves and thus very even printing is achieved.

Because of the different kinds of indicia to be printed on cheques, for high quality results different grades of hardness and minor variation in roller diameter are generally required in the roller areas underlying difference parts of the printing plate so that the hardness of the roller covering and its diameter will not be uniform over the roller axial length. This result can be achieved by applying different grades of rubber or other resilient material, i.e. nylon or synthetic resins in different parts of the roller covering. The roller may be reversed end for end in its supports to allow for the maximum use of its surface, and may be fitted with a spacing washer or washers so that if transferred from one end to the other, the printing area of the roller can be repositioned.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:- 1. A printing machine for printing information on the leaves of a stack comprising a base supporting a printing head and a pressure roller carrier, the head and carrier being reciprocable along parallel paths; and means for releasably holding the stack on a line parallel with one edge and with the leaves bent away from a plane parallel with said paths; said printing head having means to support a printing plate or other device for causing printed impressions in said plane and means for locating a sheet coating with marking material in contact with the plate or other device; and means for causing reciprocation of the carrier to and from an initial position, while the printing head remains stationary, and for bringing the roller into the said plane at the beginning and taking it out of said plane at the end of the movement of the carrier in one

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. base nearest the drive crank i.e. toward the right and rotating the crank until it is at the beginning of the cycle of operations described above. The adjuster 50 is first set so that the uppermost part of the roller 31 lies on or very close to a plane containing the printing plate and parallel with the tracks. Such a position is found by trial and error. A cheque book to be printed is laid over the support 60 and a platen 80 on the carrier 6 base so that its unbound end abuts stops 81 fixed to the cross piece 49 of the carrier side plates 30 and its edge touches a guide 82 on the supports, and the book is retainable in position by lowering the clamp arm 64 on to the book at a position towards its bound end as already described. When so clamped all the leaves i.e. the individual cheques to be printed, are lifted up and slip between the finger 37 which are rotated with their plate 72 in a position to hold the leaves up from the base and at the same time allow each leaf in succession to be manually drawn out from between the finger and drop onto the base. The first or lowermost leaf is drawn out and the printing head 4 is then moved leftwards towards the clamp until it overlies the leaf and the carrier as shown in full lines in Fig. 1. The crank is then rotated through its cycle by the actuation of a starter device controlling the clutch 42 so that the roller 31 is lifted under the leaf, drawn along the base thus pressing the leaf upwardly onto the ribbon and printing plate to imprint the leaf, and then dropped. At this stage the carrier and roller are both clear of the printed leaf which drops down below the top of the base and is subsequently pushed clear by a guide plate on the carrier on its return movement. To make sure that the leaf does not stick to the ribbon, a cranked arm 90 mounted on the printing head is pushed down by an abutment 91 mounted on the carrier which engages a finger 92 on the arm as the carrier reaches the end of its movement away from the crank plate. The arm 90 is returned to its initial position by its own resilience. At the end of the cycle, the printing head is pushed back to its initial position, the next leaf is withdrawn from the fingers and the printing operation repeated as described above. While the carrier is in motion, the printing head is held in position over the cheque book leaf by a stop rod 100 (Fig. 2) slidably mounted within the base to engage a recess in one of the slides 5 supported in the track 2. The outer end of the stop rod 100 is pivotally attached to a release arm 101 which is, in turn, pivotally mounted on a bracket 102 fixed under the track 3, and carries at its other end a cam roller 103 which bears against a short cam track 104 mounted on the lower end of one of the drive arms 36. When the carrier is in its initial position prior to a printing movement, the engagement of the roller 103 with the cam track 104 holds the arm 101 in such a position as to withdraw the pin 100 from engagement with the slider 5 so that the printing head may be reciprocated freely. As soon as the printing movement starts the roller is disengaged from the track 104 allowing the arm 101 to rotate freely under the influence of a compression spring 105 to move the pin 100 into engagement with the slider and thus lock the printing head against reciprocal movement. The machine, by reason of the use of a relatively soft roller to contact the underside of the leaf to be printed, avoids the tendency inherent in the prior stamping machines of distorting the printing plate. Furthermore since each leaf is separate from the others during the printing operation, the printing pressure remains constant for all the leaves and thus very even printing is achieved. Because of the different kinds of indicia to be printed on cheques, for high quality results different grades of hardness and minor variation in roller diameter are generally required in the roller areas underlying difference parts of the printing plate so that the hardness of the roller covering and its diameter will not be uniform over the roller axial length. This result can be achieved by applying different grades of rubber or other resilient material, i.e. nylon or synthetic resins in different parts of the roller covering. The roller may be reversed end for end in its supports to allow for the maximum use of its surface, and may be fitted with a spacing washer or washers so that if transferred from one end to the other, the printing area of the roller can be repositioned. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:-

1. A printing machine for printing information on the leaves of a stack comprising a base supporting a printing head and a pressure roller carrier, the head and carrier being reciprocable along parallel paths; and means for releasably holding the stack on a line parallel with one edge and with the leaves bent away from a plane parallel with said paths; said printing head having means to support a printing plate or other device for causing printed impressions in said plane and means for locating a sheet coating with marking material in contact with the plate or other device; and means for causing reciprocation of the carrier to and from an initial position, while the printing head remains stationary, and for bringing the roller into the said plane at the beginning and taking it out of said plane at the end of the movement of the carrier in one

direction from the initial position, so as to press each leaf in turn against the sheet and plate or other device when the said leaf is located in the plane.

2. A printing machine according to claim 1, wherein the means for causing reciprocation of the carrier and movement of the roller comprises a rotatable drivable crank means joined by a pivoted link to a rockable drive arm having one end connected by pivoted toggle means to support arms which carry the roller and which are pivotally mounted on the carrier.

3. A printing machine according to claim 2, wherein the drive arm engages a locking means to prevent movement of the printing head along its path in such a manner as to release the locking means when the carrier is in the initial position.

4. A printing machine according to claim 3, wherein the locking means comprises a pin engageable with the printing head and mounted for withdrawal therefrom on a spring-biassed actuating arm having a roller engageable with a cam track on the drive arm.

5. A printing machine according to any of claims 2--4, wherein the drive arm is pivotally supported on a support arm which is pivoted in relation to the carrier and is angularly adjustable with respect to the carrier so as to be capable of varying the position of the roller in relation to the printing plate or other device and pressure of the roller on the plate during movement of the carrier.

6. A printing machine according to any of the claims 2-5, wherein the crank means is rotatably drivable from an electric motor through a single-rotation clu'.ch mechanism such that a single actuation of the drive to the crank means produces only one reciprocation of the carrier.

7. A printing machine according to any of claims 1-6, wherein the sheet is a ribbon or tape carried by take-up and storage spools, the take-up being drivable by a stepping clutch which is actuated by a cam follower which rides on a cam surface on the base as the printing head is reciprocated.

8. A printing machine according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the means for releasably holding the stack comprises a support plate mounted on the base, a spring biassed arm pivotally attached to the support plate and having a clamping element to bear on one end of an elongated stack on the support plate, and a pair of parallel fingers extending over and transversely of the paths on a bracket on the arm to support the stack adjacent its other end.

9. A printing machine constructed and arranged substantially as hereinbefore described and shown in the accompanying drawings.