US1491130A - Automatic stop mechanism for addressing machines - Google Patents

Description

April 22 1924.

Filed Oct. 25V. 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 mmmmmmmmm K I w r April 2z, 1924. 1,491,13o

c. cHlsHoLM AUTOMATIC STOP MECHANISM FOR ADDRESSING MACHINES Filed Oct. 25, 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Apr. 22, 1924.

nire STATES PATENroFFicSE.

CLIFTON CHISHOLM, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN MLTIGRAPH COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

AUTOMATIC STOP MECHANISM FOR ADDRESSING MACHINES.

Application filed October 25, 1920. Serial No. 419,222.

T all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, CLIFTON CI-risHoLM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Automatic Stop Mechanism for Addressing Machines, of which the following is a. full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to mechanism adapted to form a part of an addressing machine and operate to stop the operation upon the arising of some contingency, for instance, the failure of the paper to properly feed or the magazine of address plates becoming empty.

One of the objects of the invention is to make such mechanism simple and at the same time eticient. Thus I have designed the paper feeling parts with such lightness and ease of operation that they are very efficient and readily operate for the thinnest paper used as well as for the heavier grades.

Another object is to enable practically the same mechanism to throw out a controlling clutch either when the paper fails to feed or the magazine becomes empty.

The invention is illustrated in an approved form in the drawings hereof, and is hereinafter more fully explained and its essential novel features summarized in the claims.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a sectional side elevation of the machine; Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of a portion of the machine; Fig. 3 is a continuation toward the right of Fig. 2, part of this view being in section; Figs. 4- and 5 are details illustrating the position of one of the paper engaging rolls which controls the clutch, first where the paper is absent, and second where the paper is present.

Referring by numerals to the parts shown in the drawings, 10 indicates the bed of the machine, and 11 one of a pair of suitable frame standards rising therefrom. In these standards are mounted a shaft 12 for the paper feeding drum 13 and a shaftlt on which the platen 15 is journalled. 20 indicates a vertical magazine for address plates, a number of which are shown at 21. These plates descend by gravity, and the lowermost one is engaged and fed to the right (Fig. 1) by conveyer chains 24C running over sprockets 25 on a shaft 26 and over other sprockets-not shown-on the shaft 14 which is suitably geared with the shaft 12. These chains have lugs 29 adapted to engage the plates and feed them to the impression members. The chain may be kept taut by adjusting the position of the bearing 28 of the shaft 26. 30 and 81 indicate suitable inking rollers adapted to ink the characters on the address plates as they pass between the roller 31 and supporting roller 32.

The mechanism above described is shown incidentally to illustrate the operation of the automatic stop mechanism which forms the subject matter of this application. The particular paper feed drum shown is described more fully and claimed in my co-pending rcissue application No. 356,279, filed Feb. 4, 1920, which has matured into Reissue Patent No. 15,1119 dated July 25, 1922. As here shown it comprises, beside the body 18, a pair of segmental yielding platen members 40, mounted on the body, and a pair of rings 4-1 at the end of the body and having their outer periphery flush with the periphery of the segmental members. Co-operating with these rings are rollers 50 and 51 which have their axes parallel with the shaft 12 and project thru openings in a stationary guard plate 52.

The paper is fed by mechanism-not shown-but which may be in accordance with my Patent No. 1,285,623, issued November 26, 1918, from a position above the paper feeding drum downwardly toward the left in Fig. 1, between the drum and the shield 52. The paper when passing between the shield and drum isheld against the drum by the rollers 50 and 51 acting successively on the paper until it comes kabove the im pression platen. Atthis time one of the segmental members 40 is above the platen 15 and one of the plates is in a similar position, so that the plate and paper are fed together toward the right in Fig. 1 between the yielding pressure platen 15 and one of the yielding segmental platens 10.

To cause the operation of the paper feed and conveyer to stop, in case of failure of either the paper or plates, I drive the shaft 12 by means of a clutch which is thrown out by the mechanism about to be described. Fig. 2 shows at 60 a driving pulley loose on the shaft 12, and at 61 a shiftable clutch splined to the shaft and adapted to couple the pulley with it, or leave it disconnected therefrom. 62 indicates a suitable shipper lever for shift ing this splined clutch collar. This shipper lever is preferably equipped with a handle 64 for manual operation whenever desired; for the automatic operation it carries a blade 65 extending into a peripheral notch 71 in a longitudinally shiftable bar 70, as snown in Fig. 2. This figure shows a spring 73 tending to force this bar in the direction to disengage the clutch.- Such movement is normally restrained, but may be allowed by actuation of the paper feeler mechanism to be described.

Pivotally mounted on a stationary frame rod 75 are a pair of arms 76 and 7 6a which arer bent as shown in Fig. 1 and carry at their ends rollers 77 adapted to ride on the rings 41. In these rings are formed segmental grooves 45 which in the rotation of the drum come opposite the rollers 77. Now, if paper is present bridging the grooves 45, the rollers will be thereby held out of the grooves in the saine position they occupy when other portions of the drum are opposite them. Fig. 5 indicates at A a l sheet of paper, or an envelope, on the drum bridging the groove 45 and shows now this maintains the roller 77 in its normal position.

If there is a failure of the paper to properly feed, then when the uncovered groove 45 comes opposite the roller 77, the rolle-r will at once drop by gravity into the groove 45, as shown in Fig. 4. Now, when the rear end 45FL of the groove reaches the roller it forces it outwardly with somewhat of a blow. This snaps the roller and its arm upwardly, so that the arm strikes against a light sheet metal stirrup 80 and raises it. This stirrup, as shown in Fig. 2, is pivotally mounted on the rod 75 and has a projection 82 standing against the side of a collar 79 on the longitudinally movable rod 70. The blow of the arm 76 raises this stirrup sutilciently to clear the collar 79, whereupon the spring 73 forces the rod 70 toward the right (Fig. 2) and thus operates the shipper lever 62 to disengage the clutch.

By reason of the blow operation described the paper feeling arms may be light enough to be supported in their inactive position by the thinnest paper used bridging the recesses 45, at the same time the spring 73 may be strong enough to effectively shift the clutch lever and normally hold the parts in position against accidental displacement.

It is desirable that the mechanism be arranged to feed two envelopes for each rotation of the drum 13, or one envelope, or a sheet of paper, when the saine are of larger size. To accomplish this I provide the two platens 40, and I arrange them so that one or both of them may be presented to the successive address plates; that is to say, I provide change speed gearing adapted to be shifted to cause the drum 13 to malle either one rotation or a half rotation for each address plate fed. Such a system is shown, described and claimed in my prior application No. 371,722, tiled April 6, 1920. In the present invention I provide two paper feeling arms 76 and 76, and I arrange one of these to have a possible operation only once for each rotation of the drum 13, while the other' may possibly operate twice for each rotation. This arrangement and the mechanism for rendering only one arm or the other active, in accordance with the condition of the change speed gearing, will now be described.

As shown in Fig. 3, the shaft 12 which carries the printing drum also serves to drive the conveyer cha-ins thru variable gearing. In Fig. 3, and 91 indicate meshing gears of the same size on the shafts 12 and 14. 92 and 93 indicate meshing gears on these shafts, the latter gear having twice the diameter of the former. The gears 91 and 93 are tight on the shaft 14, which operates the conveyer chains, the impression platen 5 being loose on the shaft.

The driving gears 90 and 92 are both loose on the shaft 12, and either of them may be clutched to this shaft by a sliding key 95 which occupies a lreyway in the shaft 12 and has a radially projecting end adapted to engage a'notch 96 in the hub of the gear 90, or a notch 97, in the hub 92. As shown in Fig. 3 when the key projection occupies an intermediate position both gears are out of action.

To shift the key 95, I form a projection at its outer end, which occupies a peripheral groove in a bushing carried by aA shiftable bracket 101. This bracket is mounted on a sliding rod 102. On this rod are a pair of collars 103 and 104 having inclined edges, as shown in Fig. 2. These collars are adapted to clear or engage their respective arms 76, 7 6a, and are so positioned that when one collar is engaging its arm the other collar is free therefrom, as shown in Fig. 2.

Tf the bracket 101 be in the position shown in Fig. 3,the gear 92 will be locked to the shaft and the collar 103 will be brought beneath the arm 76, the collar 104 clearing the arm 7 6a. The arm 76 and its roller 77 are thus held inactive, but the arm 763L and its roller are active. The drum ring which co-operates with the roller of this arm has one arcuate groove 45, so that but one test will be made for the presence or absence of paper for each rotation of the drum 13. When the gear 92 is active, as now supposed, the conveyer chain shaft 14 will make a half rotation for each rotation of the drum 13.

Each half rotation of the shaft 14 brings a fresh plate to the printing position, since the conveyer chain lugs 29 are spaced a distance corresponding to half the periphery of the sprockets on the shaft l14 which carry the chains. Accordingly each rotation of the shaftf12 feeds eitherone large envelope or a sheet of paper, and one test is made for its presence or absence. f

If the bracket 101 be drawn toward the right from the position shown in Fig. 3,'the

gear 90 will be coupled to the shaft 12 and at the same time the collar 104 will raise the arm 76a into inactive position and the arm 76 will become active being freed by the removalof the collar 103. With this gear connection there will be one rotation of the shaft 14 for each rotationof the shaft 12. As the plate feeding lugs 29 on the conveyer chains are spaced a distance corresponding to half the periphery of the sprockets on the shaft 14, it followsthat each rotation of this shaft will bring two plates to printing position, and this would require two pieces of paper, or envelope, to be printed. This is the coupling which I employ for ordinary envelopes,'one being printed when one of the segmental platens 40 is active and the other when the other platen 40 is active. The arm 76 which is active under these circumstances has its roller 77 riding on a ring 41 which carries two arcuate grooves 45, as shown in Fig. 1, so that in this case the two tests are made for each rotation of the drum.

It will be seen from the above description that myy stop mechanism is automatically positioned in correspondence with the change in the` gearing when the machine is changed from ordinary envelopes to large size envelopes or paper, or vice versa, the simple shoving in or pulling out of the bracket 101 accomplishing both the adjustment of theL gearing and of the throw-out mechanism in avery simple manner.

To enable the same throw-out mechanism to stop the operation when the supply magazine becomes empty, I provide an arm 110 pivoted to the side of the' magazine at 111 and adapted to lie against the forward edge of the plates. To the upper end of this arm is pivoted a bar 112 which rests at its rear end on the rod 102 and intermediately extends beneath the stirrup 80, having a recess 114 normally occupied by the cross member of the stirrup. Ordinarily'the bar 112 is idle, but` whenever the magazinebecomes empty the arm 110I becomes-thereby freed from restraint, and a spring 116 swings the upper end of this arm forwardly to cause the inclined shoulder on the bar 112 at the rear of its notch y114 to cam the stirrup upwardly'. yThis releases the rod 70 which is thereupon' moved by its spring to swing the` shipper` lever to disenga-ge the clutch, in the same manner as heretofore described.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In an addressing machine, the combination,-with a rotary .paper support havinga recess, a member adapted to move into-the recess when the paper is absent, and means whereby the return of such member from the` recess will efecta stoppage in the operation of the machine.

2. In' a machine of the character described, the combination, of a rotary member about which paper'may be fed, said member having a groove, a `roller adapted `to stand opposite the groove and bear against paper bridging the groove, means carrying the roller and allowing it to move into the groove when paper is absent, and means operated by the return of said roller for stopping the operation.

3. In a machine of the character described, the combination, of a rotary drum with which paper may travel, said drum having an arcuate groove, a member adapted to bear on the paper opposite said groove, and mechanism operated by the entry of the said member into the groove and its return therefrom for stopping the rotation of the drum.

4. The combination, of awrotary drum, means for guiding paper on the periphery thereof, said drum having a recess adapted to be bridged by the paper, an arm, a roller carried thereby and adapted to bear on the paper where it bridges the recess, aclutch, and mechanism operated by said arm for throwing the clutch.

5. The combination, of a rotary drum, means for guiding paper about the periphery thereof to be fed with lthe drum, said drum having an arcuate recess, an arm, a roller carried bythe arm and adapted to enter the recess when the paper is absent, but v be held out of the recess when the paper is present on the drum, means for stopping the operation of the machine andmechanism for operating said means,'which mechanism is operated by the return movement of said arm after the roller has entered the recess.

6. 'Ihe combination, of a rotary drum adapted to have paper travel with itl about its periphery, a recess in such periphery, a movable member adapted to bear against the paper in a position which in some portion of the rotation is opposite the recess, a clutch, mechanism for disengaging the same, and means whereby thel impact of saidmember, as it comes out of the recess, throws said disengaging mechanism.

. 7 The combination, of a rotary drum adapted to have paper travel with it about its periphery, a recess in such periphery, a movable member adapted to' bear against the paper in a position which in some portion of the rotation is opl osite the recess, a clutch, a spring presse mechanism tending to move the clutch into disengaged position, means for normally restraining the spring action of such mechanism, and means whereby the impact of said member when it leaves the recess may move the restraining member to idle position.

8. In a machine of the character described, the combination, with means for guiding and feeding paper, of a feeler bearing on the paper and adapted to be opposite a recess on the other side of the paper, a clutch, a spring device tending to release the clutch, and restraining means adapted to hold the clutch engaged, and means whereby the impact of said feeler as it leaves the recess will move said restraining means to idle position.

9. The combination, with an impression platen, of a drum coacting therewith and having a plurality of impression surfaces, change speed gearing to cause paper to be fed to one or more of said surfaces, throwout device to stop the machine when the paper fails, and means for concurrently changing the gearing and correspondingly adjusting the throwout device.

10. In a machine of the character described, the combination, of a rotary drum, means for feeding, as desired, either one or two articles for each rotation of the drum, a throwout device having two feeler's, one operative once a rotation, and the other operative twice a rotation, and means for rendering one or the other feele'rs activeraccordingto whether the mechanism is feeding one or two articles for each rotation.

11. In a machine of the character described, the combination, of a platen, a rotary paper feeding drum coacting therewith, and having two impression surfaces, conveyer means for feeding plates between the drum and platen, changeable gearing between the drum and the conveyer means to enable either one or two plates to coa'ct with the drum, a clutch for stopping the koperation, a throwout device for the 'clutch having two feelers coacting with the drum. one arranged to operate once a rotation and the other twice a rotation, and a device for simultaneously shifting the gearing and rendering the corresponding feeler active and the other inactive.

12. In a device of the character described, the combination, o'f a bottom feed address plate magazine, a conveyer, a clutch Yfor driving the conveyer, mechanism for moving the clutch to disengaged position, and a movable member adapted to bear against a plate -in the magazine and be thereby restrained frein operation, and mechanism operated by said movable member when the plates are absent for releasing the clutch disengaging means.

13. In an addressing machine, the combination, of a bottom feed supply magazine, a conveyer, an arm bearing against a plate in the magazine, a clutch for operating the conveyer, mechanism for releasing the clutch, and means operated by the movement of said arm when the plate is absent for actuating the clutch releasing means.

14. In an addressing machine, the combination, of a supply magazine for address plates, a leve-r adapted to engage said plates and be restrained thereby, a clutch, a spring pressed member tending to uncouple the clutch, but normally restrained, and means connected with said lever for removing the restraint when the lever moves consequent upon the absence of the plates in the magazine;

' 15. In an addressing machine, the combination, of a magazine, a conveyer adapted to receive plates therefrom, a clutch for moving the conveyer, a shipper lever for the clutch, a spring pressed member for tending to move the shipper lever to open the cltuch, a devicefor restraining the movement of said member, a lever adjacent to the magazine and held idle by the presence of plates therein, but adapted to be moved when the plates are absent, and an operative connection between said lever and the means which restrains said member.

16. In an addressing machine, the combination, of a sup-ply magazine, a conveyer, a pair of impression members to which the conveyer may carry plates from the magazine, one of said impression members being adapted to act as a paper feeding roller, mechanism operated by the absence of plates in the magazine, another mechanism operated by the absence of paper on the roller,

and a single throwout device operated by either of said mechanisms.

17. In an addressing machine, the combination, of a supply magazine, a conveyer, a pair of impression members to which the conveyer may carry plates from the magazine, one of said impression members being adaptedv to act as a paper feeding roller, mechanism operated b v the absence of paper on the roller, a. clutch adapted to control the movement of both the paper roller and the conveyer, a spring pressed member tending to release said clutch, and means for restraining said member, said means being movable to idle position by either of the mechanisms mentioned.

V18. In an adressing machine, the combination, of a supply magazine, a conveyer, a pair of impression rollers between which the conveyer may convey plates from the magazine,- means whereby one of said rollers acts as a paper feed drum, a recess in such drum adapted to be bridged by the paper When present, a feeler cooperating with Said recess and adapted to be held out of it by the paper, an arm tending to move into the magazine and adapted to be held out of it by the presence of plates therein, a clutch for controlling the movement of both the conveyer and thek means initiated by and eeler or the clutch.

paper feed drum, either the paper plate leve]` for opening the my signature.

CLIFTON CHISHOLM.

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