US1646220A

US1646220A - Addressing machine

Info

Publication number: US1646220A
Application number: US115819A
Authority: US
Inventors: August L Schultz
Original assignee: American Multigraph Co
Current assignee: American Multigraph Co
Priority date: 1926-06-14
Filing date: 1926-06-14
Publication date: 1927-10-18
Anticipated expiration: 1944-10-18

Description

Oct. 18, 1927.

I A. L- SCHULTZ ADDRESSING MACHINE Filed June 14, 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 ll lllllllllll lllll 1,646,220 1927' A. L. SCHULTZ ADDRESSING MACHINE Filed June 14, 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fla-6 affoz new I 8 I Oct 1 1927 A. L. SCHULTZ ADDRESSING MACHINE Filed June 14, 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 FIGr'S 3mm W C. X97? I attozmqq Oct. 18, 1927. A. L. SCHULTZ ADDRESSING MACHINE Filed June 14, 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 7% $4M if:

Patented Oct. 18, 1927.

UNITED STATES v 1,646,220 PATENT OFFICE.-

AUGUST L. SCHULTZ, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNORTO THE AMERICAN MULTI- GRAIH COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

ADDRESSING MACHINE.

Application filed June 14, 1926. Serial No. 115,819.

This invention relates to a rotary machine for printing addresses, as for instance addressing envelopes. The object of the invention is to provide a very simple mechanism for causing revolution at proper time and speed of a platen adapted to coact with an address plate held on a suitable drum.

My mechanism is designed to cause a platen, much smaller than the drum, to coact with the drum once only on each rotation of the drum and when in coaction to have the same peripheral speed as the drum, and to accomplish this by avery simple arrangement of mechanism. Such mechanism is hereinafter more fully described in connection with the drawings which illustrates. preferred embodiment of my invention.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a plan; Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section on the line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3- is a vertical cross-section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, looking in the opposite direction from Fig. 2; Fig. is a fragmentary elevation of the platen controlling mechanism, showing the platen gear one revolution different from the showing in Fig.

3; Fig. 5 is a longitudinal vertical section through the machine; Fig. 6 is a section through the platen shaft in an approximately vertical plane, as indicated by the line 66 in Fig. 3.

As shown in the drawings, the machine is adapted to carry not only a changeable address plate, but a body form to print addressed circular letters, there being one platen coacting with both the body form and address to print the letter and another platen coacting with the address only to address the envelope. This invention is concerned with this latter platen. v

The printing machine proper is of the general type of the Multigraph and comprises a rotary drum 10 mounted on a shaft 11, journalled in

end frame plates

12 and 13 above a roller platen 14 mounted on a shaft 15. Gearing 16 and 17 and an Oldham coupling 18 connect the drum and this platen. Any suitable means, as for example a crank 19, is provided for rotating the drum and platen.

The sheets to be printed may be fed to such machine automaticallyor manually as desired. I have indicated in Fig. 3 at 20 a pair of coacta-ble rolls to control the paper fed, the roll 21 being connected by a gearing 22 with the platen gear 16. I have also inthe printing form, such IlbbOIl being mountdicated at 25, a paper ejecting roll connected by gearing 26 with the platen gear 16.

have shown mounted on the drum a means for printing the body of a letter com prising a blanket 30 stretched about a segmental portion of the drum and having raised overhanging projections 32 carrying embossed printing stri s '33, Fig. 1.-: An ink,- mg ribbon 35 is provi ed, adapted to overlie ed at its ends onspools 37 and 38 which are mounted in the drum. It will be seen that in the construction described, when the drum is rotated, as by means of the crank or otherwise, paper fed between the drum and platen 14 is printed by the type characters through the ribbon.

The body of the drum adjacent one edge of the segment is shown in Fig. 2 as pro vided with a pair of

longitudinal channels

40, 41 for the reception 0 the address plate 42. This plate may be of the form shown, having an arcuate intermediate region and depressed edge portions under-curled on themselves for strength, and adapted to occupy the

channels

40 and 41 when it is shoved endwise into place. Between these channels is a portion of the drum providing a support for the intermediate portion of the plate. The plate, which is shown'conven tionally may if desired have raised projections like the'blanket and carry similar embossed printing strips. The address plates may be inserted manually or in other manner as desired during a temporary cessation of the rotation of the drum thus giving a difi'erent plate for each rotation.

The mechanism described enables the simultaneous printing of the body and address of an addressed letter through an inking ribinn with comparative rapidity. Mechanism which I will now describe is provided to enable the envelope to be printed from the same address plate while in its position on the drum.

The envelope platen has a segmental portion, the arcuate extent of which corresponds with that of the address plate, and the mech anism sets such platen into' motion at the proper time and at the proper speed 'so that it will coact with the address plate on the drum.

The segmental portion 50 of the envelope platen is rigidly mounted on a roller 51, being shown as secured thereto as by screws 110 52. This roller is rotatable on a shaft 53 .which is eccentrically mounted so as to be The shaft is shown as having.

adjustable. an eccentric extension 54 at one end which is mounted in a stationary tubular bearing 55 carried by the frame plate 12. At the other end the shaft is mounted in a suitable hearing in the frame plate 13. A small lever 57 on thisend of the shaft enables its partial rotation to adjust the laten, and the locking of this lever to the rame plate holds the platen in adjusted position.

Mounted on the exterior of the bearmg 55 is a driven drumgear 17. djacent this driven gear 18 a disk 61 adapted under certain conditlons to be driven by this gear. This disk is connected by an Oldham coupling with the platen roller 51. As shown the disk is connected by pins fi l-to a coupling member which has diametric notches embracing projections on a floating member 66; pro]ect1on set 90 ahead on the other side of this member engage notches in the platen roller. I

The gear 60 has a pitch diameter WhlCh 1s an aliquot part of the pitch diameter of the drum gear 17 As shown the dlameter gear 60 is one-half that of the drum gear, so that the gear 60 makes two rotations for every rotation of the drum.

Pivoted on the side of the gear 60 is a pawl 62, the tail of which is pressed outwardly by a spring 63 carried by the gear so that the hooked nose 65 of the paw} is pressed inwardly to bear against the edge of the disk 61. This disk is provided with a shoulder 67'which the nose of the pawl may engage. When in such engagement, the disk 61 revolves with the gear 60 and in that case the platen roller and the segmental platen revolve simultaneously with the drum and at the same peripheral speed. To cause the platen 50 to coact with the printing drum for only one rotation of the latter, though the platen gear 60 makes two rotations I provide a throwout for the pawl 62, which, in the embodiment shown, acts on every alternate rotation of the platen gear and is effective for one rotation.

The mechanism just referred to comprises a cam on a inion 81 which meshes with the gear 60. I his cam and pinion structure is journalled on a pin 82 carried by the frame plate 12. The pitch circle of the pinion 81 bears a non-aliquot relation to that of the gear 60, so that on one rotation of the gear 60 the cam 80 may come into position to ooact with a shoulder 69 on the tail of the pawl 62, while on the next rotation this cam is extended away from the pawl and hence idle. In the particular embodiment shown, this is effected by making the pinion of such diameter that the diameter of the pitch circle of the gear 60 is four and one-half times that of the pinion.

ear 60,'meshing with the' It results from the construction described that if the parts are in the position shown in Fi 3, the gear 60 will be connected with the disk 61 and thus the envelope laten is given one revolution during a onealf revolution of the printing drum. At the end of such revolution of the platen, the cam 80 reaches the lower, region of its course, as indicated in Fig. 4, and there engages the shoulder 69 on the tail of the pawl and withdraws the nose of the pawl from the notch 67. This frees the gear from the platen, and hencethe next rotation of the gear is idle, and theplaten remains stationa ry, the pawl nose tracking over the periphery of tie disk 61. At the completion of that rotation the pawl nose will a ain swing into engagement with the notch 6 the cam 80 being at that time distant from the tail of the awl.

It Will accordingly be seen that by the very simple arrangement of the gearing the cam and the pawl I am able to cause the platen on a comparatively small roller to rotate at the same number of rotations with the comparatively large drum and at the same time at the same peripheral speed.

I have spoken of the gear ratio of the pinion 81 and the gear 60 as being one to four and one-half. However, this ratio may be made of an whole number plus a fraction which is ependant on the ratio of the platen gear and the drum gear. words, the number of rotations of the cam for each rotation of the platen gear is any number, plus a fraction, the numerator of which is unity and the denominator of which is the quotient obtained by dividing the pitch diameter of the gear-on the Multigraph drum by the pitch diameter of the gear onthe platen. Thus, if the Multigraph gear is twice the diameter of the platen gear, the fraction of a rotation of the cam for each rotation of the platen gear is one-half. If the Multigraph gear were three times the diameter of the platen gear, such fraction of a rotation of the cam would be onethird that of the platen gear, in which case, the cam would extend for two-thirds of a circle and the pawl would be released on only every third rotation of the platen gear. In any case the number of rotations of the cam may be expressed as an improper fractional multiple of those of the platen gear.

In order to stop the revolution of the envelope platen immediately, when the pawl is disconnected from the disk 61, I provide a constantly acting friction brake. The drag thus caused is immaterial when the platen is being driven, but when the platen is released is suificient to stop it at once. I have shown this brake consists of a leather disk mounted on a plate 91 and pressed by springs 92 into contact with the end of the platen roller 51.

' simplicity I lprefer to the drum or each rotation, it will be seen As heretofore stated the address plate may be installed on the drum and removed therefrom manually or otherwise as desired. For

pgrform this operation manua there ing a temporary pause between rotations suflicient to accomplish it. As indicated in Figs. 1 and 5, there 1s an abutment 100 pressed outwardly by a 8 ring 101 and tending to discharge the p ate 42, a latch 103 is adapted to hold 1t in place against the spring action. The plate may be simply shoved manually lengthwise of the drum toward the crank, beneath a bridge 105 supporting the edge of the r 1bbon, until the plate passes the latch, WlllCl'l will then spring out to hold it. 'At the end driver, means for coupling said driver to said member including a movable periodically actin cam and a member which it en,- gages lessre uently than every rotation of the driver, an mechanism for changing the relation of said cam to the rinting member ber, a revoluble platen, a member-adapted to travel concurrently with the printing member, means for locking said member to the platen when the platen is in a definite locaof the rotation, a depression of this latch tion with reference to the printing member will allow the spring 101 to act to eject the plate to a. point where it may be gras ed by the operator. Reference may be ma e to a pending application of John A. Hult, No.

100,224 for a fuller description of the installation and removal of the plate.

Assumin that a fresh plate is installed on that paper fed between the controlling feed rollers may be printed between the drum and platen 14 to produce addressed circular letters, and while the body of the letter 1s being rinted, the address plate WhlCl'l has coacted with the platen 14 may coact w1th the segmental platen 50 to print the address on an envelo e. Such envelope will be carried upWardi y by the coaction of the segmental platen andv the address plate and be suitably discharged.

I have shown in Figs. 1 and 2, a suitable pocket for receiving a blank envelope and holding it in position for printing. This pocket comprises a pair of separated shield plates 110 and 111 depending between the drum and the roller 51 and connected at the bottom by a cross bar 113 which is adapted to support the envelope in proper position. The two plates have openlngs 115, 116' through them, through which the segmental platen acts. The plate 110 is shown as havmg'a rearward projection 11 near 1ts upper end to direct the envelope being discharged rearwardly, While the plate 111 curves over the platen roller 51 and forms a discharge shield. With such embodiment the envelopes may be readily inserted manually 1n the pocket one at a time and at the proper time each envelope is printed and discharged at the rear of the machine and may fall on the printed addressed letter bearing the corresponding address, unless it is deslred to provide separate receptacles for the letters and envelopes.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a rotary printing member, a revoluble platen member, a rotary and a periodically acting device movable with reference to the printlng member to release said lock on one rotation of the other member and not on another rotation.

3. The combination of a rotary printing member, another member adapted to travel concurrently therewith, a platen adapted to coact with the printing member, means for locking said platen to said other member when the platen is .in a definite location with reference to the printing member, a rotary cam and means whereby it may release said lock, said cam being-active on one rotation of said othermember and inactive on another rotation.

4. The combination of a rotary printing member, another member geared therewith, a platen adapted to coact with the printing member, means for lockin said platen to said other member when tide platen is in a definite location with reference to-the printing member, a rotary cam and means whereby it may release said lock, said cam being so geared with said other member as to be active on one rotation thereof and inactive on another rotation.

5. The combination of a rotary printing member, a se mental platen, a rotary cam geared with the printing member, the rotations of said 'cam being an improper fractional multiple of those of said member whereby the cam is adapted to release the lick on certain rotations only of the mem- 6. The combination of a rotary printin member, a segmental platen, a gear geare with the printing member, a lock for locking said gear to the platen, and a cam adapted to control said lock and geared with said gear, the rotations of said cam being an improper fractional multiple of those of the gear.

7. The combination of a rotary printing member having a gear, a second gear meshing therewith and having a pitch diameter which is an aliquot part of the pitch diameter of the printing member gear, a platen, a lock for connecting it to said gear, a pinion connected with said gear and adapted to control the lock and having rotations which are a fractional multiple of that of the gear, said pinion carryin a cam adapted to periodically release said lock.

8. The combination of a rotary printing drum. having a gear, a second ear connecte with the gear on the drum and aving a pitch diameter which is an aliquot part of the pitch diameter of the drum, a pinion geared with the drum, the pitch diameter of the second gear comprising a multiple of that of the pinion plus a fraction the numerator of which is unity and the denominator of which is the quotient obtained by dividing the diameterof the drum by the diameter of said second gear.

9. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a printing drum having a gear, a second gear meshing therewith, a pinion geared with the second gear, a cam on the pinion, a pawl on the second gear operated by the cam, a platen, and means whereby'the pawl may connect the platen to the second gear, the ratio of the gear on the drum, the second gear and the pinion being such that the number of rotations of the cam for each rotation of the second gear is a number plus a fraction, the numerator of which is unity and the denominator of which is the quotient obtained by dividing the pitch diameter of the gear on the drum by the pitch diameter of the second gear.

10. The combination of a rotary drum,

' means for carrying thereon a removable address plate, a segmental platen adapted to revolve in coaction with said address plate, gearing connecting said segmental platen with the drum and comprising a member adapted to make a plurality of rotations for each rotation of the drum, a lock for connecting said member to the platen, and means for releasing said lock on certain rotations of said member and coupling it on other rotations, comprising a rotary cam movable with reference to the drum and so geared that its rotations are a fractional multiple of those of said member, whereb the platen may make one rotation for eac rotation of the printing member and at the same peripheral speed.

11. The combination of a rotary drum, means whereby a removable address plate may be mounted thereon, said address plate being changeable for successive rotations, a platen adapted to coact with said address plate, a gear for rotating said platen, meshing with a gear on the drum, a lock for connecting said gear with the platen, a movable cam for controlling said lock, and a third gear connecting said cam with the platen gear.

12. The combination of a rotary drum, longitudinal channels therein in which an address plate may be mounted, said drum while in position on the drum,

being provided with a gear, a second gear meshing with the gear on the drum, a segmental platen adapted to coact with the address plate. said segmental laten being substantially coaxial with sai second gear, a pawl adapted to connect the second gear with the platen, a rota cam adapted to make a plurality of rotations for each rotation of t disconnect it and means whereby said cam acts on the pawl on one rotation of the second gear and misses such action on another rotation of the second gear.

13. The combination of a rotary printing member, a gear geared therewith, a platen coaxial with said gear, a notcheddisk rotatable wlth the platen, a pawl pivoted on the gear and having a nose adapted to engage the notch of the disk, a spring for retaining such engagement, a cam adapted to act on the pawl to withdraw the nose from the awl on the disk. said cam being rotatabib, a plurality of times for each rotation of the printing member and having a non-aliquot gear ratio to the platen gear.

14:. The combination of a rotary printing drum, means thereon for carrying a bodyform to be printed, means for carrying a changeable address form, a platen adapted to coact with both forms, a second platen adapted to coact with the address form only while 1n position on the drum. said second platen being segmental, a member mounted substantlally coaxially with the second platen and geared with the drum. a pawl adapted to connect said member with the platen, a rotary cam adapted to make a plurality of rotations for each rotation of the drum and to swing said pawl out of such engagement to enable the member to rotate independently of the platen, and means whereby the rotations of the cam and member have a non-aliquot ratio.

15. The combination of a rotary printing drum, means thereon for carrying a bodyform to be printed, means for carryin a changeable address form, a platen adapted to coact with both forms, a second platen adapted to coact with the address form only said second platen belng segmental, a gear mounted substantlally coaxially with the second platen and meshing with a gear on the drum, a pawl carried by said platen gear and adapted to coact with a notched disk on the platen, acam adapted to swing said pawl out of such engagement to enable the second gear to rotate independently of the platen, anda pinion carrying the pawl and meshing with said second gear, said second gear and pinion having a non-aliquot gear ratio.

16. The combination of a pair of coactable rotary members of different diameters, a rotary driver for the smaller member geared with the larger member to make a plurality e drum and to act on the pawl to of rotations for each rotation of the larger member, and mechanism for locking the smaller member to its driver once for each rotation of the larger member, said mechanism including means which makes a'plurality of rotations for eachrotation of the larger member, but acts on the driver only once for each rotation of the larger member.

17. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a rotary printing member, a revoluble platen member and rotary driver therefor, said driver being geared with the printing member to make a plurality of rotations for each rotation of the printin member, said mechanism including a c utching member driven by the driver and a rotary controlling device which makes a plurality of rotations for each rotation of the printing member, but acts on said clutching member only once for each rotation of the printing member and while the printing member is in the same position for each rotation.

In testimony signature.

. i AUGUST L. SCHULTZ.

whereof, I hereunto afiix my