GB496531A - Improved means for stamping or post-marking letters, packages and the like - Google Patents

Abstract

496,531. Coin-freed postmarking or franking apparatus. SOUTHGATE, J. F. March 24, 1938, No. 9031. [Class 27] [Also in Group XVI] Means for stamping or postmarking letters, packages, &c., which may, if desired, be coinfreed, comprises a stamping member 1, Fig. 1, carried by a lever 2 which is rocked by a cam 3 operated by an electric motor or other means to cause the stamp 1 to move down on to a letter &c. inserted through a slot 12 to a platform 13, and then return to its initial position. The lever 2 has a roller 7 engaging the edge of the cam 3 which has a short drop 10 to allow the stamp 1 to contact with an inking pad 11 and an abrupt shoulder 9 permitting the lever 2 to move further down to frank the letter &c. The pad 11 is carried by a lever 15 pivoted at 16 to a bracket 17. It is moved out of the path of the stamp 1 by a rod 20 connected through a lost-motion spring coupling 23 to a link 18 which is pivoted at 19 to the face of the cam 3. The coupling 23 prevents movement of the pad while the roller 7 is on the cam portion 10 and also the return of the pad until the stamp 1 has returned to its initial position. The cam 3 in the machine shown is driven by an electric motor which is started by a coin-freed relay. The cam has projection 27, 28 which close and open respectively a main switch in the motor circuit. Coin action, weight and multiple-coin ; testing and returning coins.-A coin 32, Fig. 2, inserted in a shoot 30 depresses by weight a plunger 29 a contact 31 on which closes the relay circuit. Light coins fail to depress the plunger and are returned through a shoot 34. A member 35 pivoted to the plunger blocks the return shoot 34, when the plunger is depressed, to prevent a proper coin from passing therethrough. This coin rests on hinged flaps 36, which normally prevent the passage of a light coin through a shoot 33 to the money box, these flaps being opened by a wedge 41 on a lever 40 actuated by a projection 37 on a bar 38 which is connected by a link 39 to the cam 3. A second projection 42 actuates a lever 43 to raise the plunger 29 when the bar 38 moves downwards. Two shoots are provided for pennies and half-pennies the penny being inserted in the shoot 30. The plunger is prevented from being moved by the penny until a retaining catch is first tripped by a half-penny falling down its shoot. Registering.-A pawl 46 on the bar 38 actuates a counter 45 for each revolution of the cam 3.