US1972163A - Intermittent grip device - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 4, 1934. w. J. PEARSON 1,972,163

INTERMITTENT GRIP DEVICE Filed Oct. 23, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR M/flam flea/400.

ATTORNEY Sept. 4, 1934. I w J. PEARSON v 1,972,163

INTERMITTENT GRIP DEVICE Filed Oct. 25, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 N v INVENTOR. 13 M/Y/dm peanran,

k ATTORNEY Sept. 4, 1934. w. .1. PEARSON INTERMITTENT GRIP DEVICE Filed Oct. 25. 1931 4 sheets-sheet s INVENTO-R M/flbm 1 80mm, 1 4M 74a ATTORNEY Sept. 4, 1934. w. J. PEARSON INTERMITTENT GRIP DEVICE Filed 001;. 25. 193i 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 4, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Application October 23,

4 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in rotary printers designed to be used in conjunction with a parcel post machine such as is disclosed in my co-pending application SerialNumber 367,106 filed May 29, 1929 by. William J. Pearson, titled Parcel post weighing and stamp printing machine, which is designed to weigh parcel post packages, or the like, and print'postage stamps of the metered pepaid type.

The parcel post weighing and stamp printing machine just recited is designed for printing purposes, more particularly to print metered parcel post stamps, wherein it may be required to print a stamp bearing the name of the placeof original mailing, the. date, the zone number to which the package is addressed, the weight of the package in pounds, the monetary value of the stamp derived from the weight of the package and the zone to which it is addressed, the serial number of the stamp, and such other words, phrases, figures, decorations and designations as it may be desired to print. This mechanism is used in conjunction with a scale, meters, and a paper supply, and may be motor driven and used for any printing purpose. This mechanism is more particularly designed for the purpose of printing stamps within the postal limit in use at the present time, namely, from seven cents to $6.01, the machine herein described having a capacity of $9.99, but may be constructed for any capacity desired.

This machine is particularly adapted for' the printing of parcel post stamps upon a paper strip which is conveyed through the machine and which, after having the stamp printed upon a portion of it, namely, at the delivery end of the paper strip, the portion printed and constituting a stamp is cut from the strip to the proper stamp length after being printed and, being gummed on the reverse side, may be moistened at the delivery point of the machine, delivered from the machine, and, in this condition, attached'to the package tobe mailed. There is provided a means for printing a duplicate stamp that may either be wound upon a spindle within the machine or delivered from the machine in cut lengths simultaneously with the delivery oi the stamp.

This machine also includes a printer hereinafter termed the numeral printer which combines in one printingv operationv the printing of the date, the zone, the weight in pounds, the monetaryvalue of the stamp, and a serial number. This numeral printeris so constructed that the 1931, Serial No. 570,629

numeral wheels comprising the sets of type for the zone, weight, and monetary value may be set up in combinations of figures by means of a key board to be manually operated by an operator of the machine. There are provided means for clearing the machine either manually by the operator or automatically at the completion of a printing operation, wherein the said numeral wheels are returned to original position preparatory to the'next printing operation. The serial numbering device automatically increases one unit upon each printing operation. The dater device has removable type for setting up the current dates.

This machine includes a recording and resetting meter and a meter actuating mechanism which is set up by the recited keyboard with mechanical equivalents of the numbers punched in on the keyboard ,by an operator co-ordinately with the setting up of the recited numeral wheels An object of my invention is to provide a printer operable by the drive mechanism of a parcel post machine which will be self-inking and which will print an indicia at the proper interval during the cycle of an operation of the machine for printing purposes; and, to this end, I have provided a gear driven rotary printer actuated through an automatically operated clutch, which, in the structure disclosed, engages to acutate the conveying mechanism provided for the paper tapes through one-third of the printing operation cycle of the machine. The printer drum has secured to a portion of its periphery the indicia plate which is of a size constituting approximately one-third of the circumference of the drum; the said drum contains an ink reservoir with an absorbent pad presented on the periphery of 'the drum, thereby providing an ink pad surface which contacts, during its revolution, 2. tensioned felt roller'residing adjacent the printing point and providing the said roller with a freshsupply of ink at each revolution of the drum The saidink isathen distributed to the face of the indicia plate upon a revolution of the tion of the numeral printer.

drum prior to the indicia plate reaching the printing point.

The printing drum revolves continuously during the cycle of operation of the machine for printing purposes, and the connected clutch mechanism is so timed that the operation of forwarding the paper tapes by means of the conveying elements, including a rotary platen, occurs simultaneously with contact by the indicia plate with the paper tape and the platen. This complete revolution of the rotary printer allows the drum to revolve at a speed which will be constant with the inking operation required; and, in the form disclosed herein, the ink roller is spring tensioned against the ink pad, is rotated by friction, and absorbs a fresh supply of ink from the pad which it then distributes across the face of the indicia plate.

Another object of my invention is to provide a means for threading up the printers with the paper tape. In view of the disposition'of the two printers in relation to each other, in View of the fact that the indicia printer must make a print of the indicia plate on the paper'tape prior to the printing operation of the numeral printer; and in view of the fact that the paper tape must be moved by the conveying elements from the printing point of the rotary printer into the position beneath the numeral printer where it will be in readiness to receive a print from the numeral printer, I have providedmanual means for operating the rotary printer independent of the drive mechanism of the machine wherein the paper tapes may be fed to the rotary printer which will then, when manually operated, forward the paper tapes into the numeral printer, at the same time printing a stamp form from the indicia plate on the stamp tape as it passes through the rotary printer. As disclosed, this particular structure requires that two prints of a stamp be made by the rotary printer, in view of the fact that the printing point of the rotary printer is exactly two stamp lengths from the knife which severs the 0.0mpleted stamp from the paper tape; thus, a threading-up operation includes printing two stamps forms which are fed through to the proper position required for preparing the printerfor a regular printing operation.

An object of my invention is to provide an ink reservoir wherein the ink may be agitated to preserve the proper mixture of the pigment and the oils contained therein; and, to this end, I have incorporated the ink reservoir within the printing drum where it will be revolved at each printing operation of the machine.

An object of my invention is to provide an ink pad wherein the ink may be supplied evenly to the entire surface, and wherein, when the machineis idle, the free ink will be retained in a reservoir and not contact the pad.

To the above and other objects as may hereinafter appear, my invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement, and combination of iparts as hereinafter fully, clearly and concisely described and definitely pointed out inmy claims,

and illustrated by the accompanying drawings (4 sheets), in which: r i I Fig. l is an elevation of a portion of a parcel post machine, showing the numeral printer and the rotary printer and their relation.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a portion of a'parcel post machine, showing therotary printer and clutch and connected drive elements, and a'por- Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the rotary printer, the clutch and gearing approximately on line 3-3 in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a side elevation in section of a rotary printer only, approximately on line 4-4 in Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the clutch only, approximately on line 5-5 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is a rear elevation partly in section of the clutch members, taken approximately on line 66 in Fig. 2.

In view of the fact that the rotary printer A is operated directly from the main drive shaft 10, and in view of the fact that the numeral printer B is operated directly from the secondary drive shaft 11, I have included parts of these connections in the drawings; but, to provide for a clearer description of the operation of the printers, as shown on Fig. 2, reference is made to Fig. 1, wherein it will be seen that the relation of the rotary printer A and the numeral printer B is very close, and that the operation of one directly aifects the operation of the other. In view of the fact that the numeral printer shaft rotates continuously, I will carry forward the description of the connecting parts between the main drive shaft 10 and the printer; and, by

referring to Fig. 2, it will be seen that I have provided a non-reverse element 12 on the main drive shaft 10 provided with a pawl 13 which prevents a reverse operation of the machine at any time. The main'drive shaft 10, as may be seen by referring to Fig. 3, extends to a point adjacent the rotary printer, is supported in a bearing post 14 and has secured to the end of it a slotted member 15 upon which rides a clutch collar 16 having a flange member 17 which is provided with a pin 18 adapted to engage in a dwell in the gear wheel 19. Thisgear wheel 19 meshes with the gear wheel 20 which is secured to shaft 21 which is supported by hearing posts 22 and 23. The shaft 21 has secured to it the rotary printer drum'24 and, at one end, a knurled hand wheel 25 provided for manual operation in the threading-up of the printers.

For the purpose of disconnecting the rotary printer drum from the main drive shaft 10, the clutch elements 15, 16, 17, and 18 are provided; and these are adapted to be disengaged bymeans of a lever 26 fulcrumed on pin 2'7 in a mounting 28 attached to a portion of the bearing standard 14; and, when required by an operator, by lifting the lever 26 the clutch collar 16 is moved axially on the shaft 10, thereby'disengaging the pin 18 from the gear wheel 19, and a slight movement of the knurled wheel 25 will turn the gear wheel 19 so that the pin 16 will be riding upon the fiat surface portion of the gear 19 and thus the lever 26 may be released and the operator may continue to turn the knurled wheel 25 one revolution before the pin 18 engages again. In view of the fact that the printer clutch C is normally disengaged at th'e'completion of a printing operation and, therefore, disengaged when a threading-up operation is in progress, the operation of rotating the drum 24 manually will, by friction, rotate theelements comprising the conveyer element, and thus the paper tape will be properly forwarded through the machine.

In the printer clutch C I have provided a means for operating a portion of the rotaryprinting mechanism, including the conveying elements D which are required to be moved at a predetermined point in the cycle of the operation of the machine to forward the paper tapes as required for printing purposes; and, to that end, the clutch C comprises a driven gear wheel 29 rotatably mounted upon the driveshaft 10, and provided on one face with a series of engaging members 36, 31, and 32 which are so disposed in a circumferential manner relative to the drive shaft 10 as to each be located at a point corresponding to one-third of the circumference of the gear wheel 29, and adapted to be engaged, each respectively at different times, in an operation of the clutch by means of a continuously rotating clutch member 33 which is provided with a slide portion 35 adapted to be engaged by and slide upon a track plate 36 secured to the bearing standard 14. The track plate 36 is of such character that it presents a slide surface for two-thirds of the circumferential distance traveled by the member 33 and, during this travel, sci-positions the member 33 by means of the slide 35 that the trip 34 is removed out of the path of two of the engaging members 30, 31, and 32, according to their disposition; and, upon the rotation of the member 33 where it has covered the two-thirds circumferential distance and reached the end of the track member 36, it is dropped back into a position wherein the trip 34 comes into the path of one of the engaging members 30, 31, and 32.

As disclosed in Fig. 5, it will be seen that the position of the member 33, as shown by the broken lines at 37, has reached a position whereby the trip 34, also shown in broken lines, will engage the engagng member 32 which is positioned at this point in this drawing and, without further rotation, will rotate the member 32 and, consequently, the attached gear wheel 29 in a clockwise direction to the position occupied by the engaging member 30 in the same figure, whereupon the slide member will be engaged by the track 36, thereupon removing the trip 34 out of engagement with the engaging member 32 and allowing it free rotation to the point shown in broken lines at 3'7, whereupon the engaging member 31 will now be occupying the position shown by the engaging member 32 in this figure, and the rotating member 33, by means of the trip 34, will new contact the engaging member 31, causing it to travel to the position shown by the member 30 in this figure, whereby the track 36 will again disengage the trip 34 and allow it free rotation.

ihis operation continues indefinitely as each of the engaging members 30, 31, and 32 is progressively rotated; the point of operation in the cycle of operation of the drive shaft 10 at which the rotating member 33 is situated at approximately where the broken lines are shown at 38, may be termed the rest or normal position of this clutch member and from which it s'tarts'and stops, and this may be assumed, for the purpose of description, to be a definite predetermined point within a cycle of operation of the machine.

The drive shaft 10 makes only one complete revolution to a printing operation and is started and stopped by a positive clutching mechansm, not shown, wherein the drive shaft 16 is caused to stop at the completion of each printing cycle at a definite predetermined point.

The rotating member 33 is rockably mounted by means of the pins 39 which pass through the bifurcated ends of member 33 and are secured in a collar 46 which is rotatably mounted upon a drive shaft 10. The rotating member 33 is driven and tensioned by means of a contacting. member 19 which is secured to one side of the gear wheel 19 and which provides the necessary pressure to retain the slide 35 against the track 36 and, where the track ceases, to force the trip 34 into contact withone of the members 30, 31, and 32. The gear 19thereforefunctions as the drive element of the clutchC in that it transmits movement from the drive shaft 10, by'means of a contacting element 19, to the rotating member 33 and thence to the driven gear 29.

The gear 29 meshes with and drives connecting gears which operate the platen and the forwardingrollers which constitute part of the conveyor.

One of the connecting gears is the gear wheel 41 which contacts gear wheel 42 secured to shaft 43 when extends through the bearing posts 14, 22, and 23 and which, at one point, has secured to it the belt wheel 44 which drives the rewind for the duplicate paper tape, not shown, and which has further secured to it. between the bearing posts 22 and 23, the platen roller 45; and, at one end outside of the bearing post 23, it has secured to it the cam 46 which operates a ribbon device not shown. Another gear that the gear wheel 29 meshes with and drives is thegear wheel 47 which is secured to shaft 48 which is mounted in bearings 14 and49 and which has secured to it another gear'wheel 50 which meshes with gear wheel 51. Gear wheel 50 drives gear wheel'52, attached to shaft 53, upon which is mounted one of theconveyer rollers 54, and the shaft 53 is mounted in bearingposts 55. The gear wheel 51 meshes with and drives gear wheel 56 which is secured to one end of an adjustable shaft 5'7 which has secured to it another pressure roller 58, being part of the conveying element. The adjustable shaft 57 is mounted in sliding blocks 59 which are positioned by means of the screws 60 and lock nuts 61. The sliding blocks 59 are shaped to slide against the bifurcated sections 62 of the bearing standards 55 and provide means for tensioning the roller 58 against the roller 54. These rollers contact through an opening in the guide plate 63 through which the paper tapes pass to the numeral printer.

As recited, the clutch C, operating for onethird of the revolution of a machine and, consequently, the drive shaft 10, operates through the recited gearing to forward the paper tapes at the time that the indicia plate 64 has rotated to the point whcreit will contact the platen roller 45. The clutch C is so timed that upon the approach of the indicia plate 64 to the printing point, the rotating element 33 will have approached the end of the track 36 and be allowed to move into the path of the contacting members 30, 31, and 32, whereupon the clutch will be rotated for onethird of a revolution, and, consequently, the conveyer elements will be operated to move the paper tape one stamp length.

The drum 24, as will be seen by reference to Fig. 4, is provided with an ink pad 65 upon a certain portion of its periphery which provides a means for conveying ink from the reservoir 66 to the-ink roller 67 which is mounted on a shaft 68 which is'spring-mounted in the supports 69. The ink reservoir 66 is entirely contained withinthe drum 24 and is provided with a perforated screen 70 which supports the ink pad 65 and allows ink to pass thereto. As only a small amount of ink is needed in the reservoir to supply the pad, to prevent the ink from oversaturating the ink pad 65 I have provided that the reservoir 66 extend beyond one end of the ink pad, as shown in Fig. 4, so that the ink may collect in this particular portion of the reservoir and not contact the pad 65 when the machine is at rest. The drum 24 revolves in such a manner that the first portion of the ink pad 65 that will contact the roller 6'7 is the more saturated portion. It gives an opportunity for the ink to be more evenly distributed upon. thesurface'of the roller 67 in view of the fact thatthe roller will have to travel across the full length of the ink pad before it contacts the indicia plate 64.

This self-contained inking devicegreatly simplifies the operation of the rotary printer, facilitates supplying the proper amount of 'ink ,tothe indicia plate, and is entirely automatic. -Fresh ink can be supplied to the reservoir by means of the screw '71, access to which is gained through the opening '72 in the bearing standard 23 when the printer is at rest. It will be noted that the roller 67, while the machine is at rest, does not contact any metal orrest against any surface whatever which might cause it to flatten or create an uneven surface; and, to'that end, I have pro vided that the side plates '73 of the drum 24 have a continuous peripheral surface and that the supporting plate upon the circumference of the drum 24 is depressed in the section lyingbetween the end of the indicia plate 64 and the beginning of the ink pad 65, thereby providing aolear space for the passage of the roller 6'7. The side plates '73 ride against the metal ends '74 of the roller 67, thus clearing the fabric portion of the roller 67.

The ink ribbon device referred to and not shown in elevation is situated at the front of the numeral printer B, and the parts" shown in Fig. 2 consist of the upper spindle '75 whereon the ribbon '76 is wound and which has a reversing and driving mechanism '77 which is actuated by means of a lever '78 spring-tensioned by a spring '79, and which has a cam roller which rides upon the faceof the cam 46, and the lever '78 is fulcrumed on the post 81. The inkribbon device is required to be operated during the portion of the cycle of operation wherein the numeral-printer is idle and the rotary printer is operating and the paper tapes are being moved forward, thus allowing the ribbon to be moved the require amount without having any pressure upon it. For this purpose, I have provided the cam 46 on the shaft 43 which is rotated. during this idle period of the numeral printer. 7

Having described the details of the elements comprisingthe rotary printer A, I will now briefly describe the numeral printer and its functions so that the relations existing between these two printers and the necessity for their co-ordination in the cycle of operation of the machine may be clearly understood. .By reference to Fig. 1, it will be seen that the numeral printer B is provided with a frame section 82 having two sides and a top which support and enclose the operating portions of the printer. Thetype'faces contained therein are inked by means of the ink roller 83 which travels in a lateral direction and engages first an ink pad, not shown, and then rolls across the type faces and returns before a printing operation occurs. The printing elements contained within the numeral printer comprise the dater device 84 situated at the left end of the printer, shown in Fig. l, and, adjoining it on the right, are numeral wheels, comprising in this particular structure six wheels, namely, reading from left to right, the zone printing wheels 85, pounds wheels 86 and 8'7 from which a reading may be obtained up to 99 pounds, if necessary; the next wheel is a double faced printing wheel hereinafter called the dollars wheel 88, one of the three wheels that print the monetary value of the stamp. The next wheel is the tens of cents wheel 89, and the last wheel in the row is the cents wheel 90. Adjoining them on the right is a serial number device 91 which comprises three similar printing wheels and which is automatically actuated at each printing operation to progressively count upwardly one unit for each printing operation. Thisprovides on the stamp a serial number for each stamp printed and, by printing through on to the duplicate stamp, provides a means for checking.

As this form of mechanism, which prints through an ink ribbon, requires a hammer-like blow for the actual printing operation, I have provided a hammer 92 which is actuated by means of connections from the secondary'drive shaft 11 consisting primarily of a cam, not shown, which is so timed in its operations that it will actuate the numeral printer to print during the interval of time allowed for that purpose in a cycle of operation. The hammer 92 is provided with locking portions 93 which engage the several type wheels upon its descent and before the type wheels have started to descend, thus locking the numeral wheels against rotation before their pinions are disengaged from the racks 95. Said racks have at their other ends a toothed portion 96 which is engaged by pawls 97 which retain the rack bars in the set-up position as actuated successively by the selector arm 98 which, in turn, is operated through a keyboard, not shown, at the will of the operator of the machine. rack bars are retained in position during the printing operation of the numeral printer, thus allowing the pinions to re-engage in the racks upon a return of the numeral printer to its original position. At the completion of the printing operation, there is a clearing action which automatically takes place, and I have illustrated in Fig. 2 one portion of the clearing mechanism, consisting of a cam 99 secured to drive shaft 10 and which contacts a cam roller 100 mounted in a'rocking arm 101 which is secured to a rock shaft 102 and which, in turn, operates additional shafting, not shown, by means of the rocking arm 103 and its connected link 104. The rocking shaft 102 is supported by means of the bearing standard 14 at one end, and the other end is supported by means of a bearing standard 105 in which the secondary drive shaft 11 is also sup ported. The rock shaft 102 is further provided with acam 106 which is adapted to contact a roller 107 located in the bifurcated end of the sliding shaft 108 to which are secured the pawls 9'7 which engage the ratchet teeth 96; and, upon the clearing action taking place, the cam 106, as rocked on the rocking shaft 102, contacts the sliding shaft 108 and slides it with a lateral movement to disengage the pawls 97 by shifting them sideways out. of engagement with the ratchet teeth 96, thus allowing the rack bars 95 to return to their original position.

Referring to Fig. 1, there is shown immediately below the ink roller 83 the recited guide plate 63 through which pass the paper tapes and which, when they reach the right-hand end, as shown in Fig. 1, tend to be separated whereby the stamp will pass on into the receiving guide 109 of the moistener, not shown, and the duplicate tape is brought downwardly to be wound upon the rewind, not shown, which is driven by means of the pulley wheel 44. As the final operation of the mechanism of the machine, the paper tape constituting the stamp portion is severed at a point immediately adjacent the numeral printer at the right-hand side, as shown in Fig. 1, by a sun knife 1'10 whichis .powerdriven by means, not shown, and'timed for this operation;-

- 3 i The mechanism disclosed at theleft' ofthe numeral printer inFig. 1,iand1immediately above the portion.ofithe-numeral printer disclosed in Fig. 2,.comprisesan electric switchcontrolled by the positions ofthe dater. device 84 wherein a dater'positioning a pin 111' whichv is adapted to be received into. a dwell in the 'dater block 112' when the same is positioned properly'in the date carriage 113. To remove the dater' block n2 from the dater carriage 113, the switch lever 114 is manually operated to remove the'dater pin 111 from contact'with the dater block 112, allowing it to be removed; and this or any movement in either direction of the lever 114 will operate to break the contact in the contact points 115, thus breaking the circuit to the electrically driven source of'power, not shown; which drives the main drive shaft 10. Should the dater block 112 not be properlypo'sitioned in the dater carriage 113 upon returning it to the machine, the dater positioning pin 111 will not properly set into the dwell provided for that purpose, and, therefore, the contact points 115 will not be closed and, consequently, the motor circuit will remain open un-' til such time as the dater block is properly located and the position of the pin 111 is properly set, whereupon the contact point 115 will contact and close the motor circuit.

The guide plate 63 is supported by means of the anvil 116 which is mounted on legs 117 and which, together with the anvil 116 and the guide plate 63, are incorporated as part of the unit containing the inking ribbon 76 and its spindles and the driving and reversing mechanism 7'7, which unit may be wholly removed from the machine for adjustment and replacement of the ink ribbon. Only a portion of this unit is shown in Fig. 1, namely, the legs 117, the'anvil 116, and the guide plate 63. 7

From the fact that the operations of these elements in the machine are so closely interwoven with the description of the structure and the functions thereof, I have necessarily incorporated a description of operation into the description of the structure, but to clarify the description of operation I will briefly summarize the operation as follows:

The operation of the parcel post machine for a printing operation has been termed the cycle of operation, and this cycle has been divided up, allotting certain intervals of time to the different operations of different parts. The operation with which we are dealing principally is the interval of time allowed for the operation of the rotary printer and which consists of approximately onethird of a rotation of the main drive shaft 10, which drive shaft makes one complete rotation for the cycle of operation. As recited, the rotary jdrum 24 rotates continuously during the printing cycle and thus provides an opportunity for preparing the'ink roller 67 with fresh ink from the ink pad and the reservoir 65 for inking the indicia plate 64; and it will be noted that the ink theirotations of the platen roller 45 and the .con-

ueyingmeahs comprising the rollers 54 and 58. Thaoperationof the clutch C, is of a positive nature, wherein the three: contacting members 30,-231, and '32 in. their consecutive rotations'are always started .'an'clistopped-at a definitepoint, thus'providing'accuracyin the forwarding of the 'papertapeslby means of: the conveying elements.

f'he firstoperation occurring in a cycle of operation -is'the inking of the numeral printer by .means of'the ink roller 83, which operation is ve'ryirapid, thus providinga time-saving element therein; and, immediately followingthis, the

numeral printer. 'is actuated and prints upon the paper tape and it'ne duplicate tape; and, follownigthe contact of the type faces with the paper and irmnediately upon their starting the upward movement,tneiciiiikzh C, being so timed will conitact at this ip'oirit in the. cycle of operation and of the paper tapes, the knife is actuated to sever the paper tape, lying between the blades of the knife, which constitutes the original stamp, the duplicate stamp having been wound upon a re-wind. The stamp is now in position to be discharged from the machine by an operator manually operating a moistening device, not shown, which moistens the gummed surface of the stamp, preparing it for adhesion to the package. At the completion of an operation of the knife, the machine is stopped by means of clutch mechanism, not shown, which automatically 7 severs the relation between the source of power and the drive shaft 10.

While the form of mechanism here shown and described is admirably adapted to fulfill the objects primarily stated, it is to be understood that it is not intended to confine the invention to the one form of embodiment herein disclosed, for it is susceptible of-embodiment in various forms,

all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

I claim:

1. In combination, a shaft adapted to be continuously rotated, a lever swingingly secured to said shaft, a gear wheel looselycarried on said shaft, spaced lugs carried by said gear wheel, and

a segmentaltrackway in part surroundingsaid gear wheel and disposed between said gear wheel and said lever, said lever being adapted to engage one of said lugs to produce movement of said gear wheel during a portion of the rotation of the lever with its shaft, said lever riding upon said trackway and being thereby swung away from said gear to release said lever from said lug during further revolution of the shaft and lever.

2. In a device of the character described, a continuously rotatable shaft, a gear loosely mounted on said shaft, spaced lugs on said gear, a driving clutch member secured to said shaft and movable axially of said shaft toward and from said gear, means tending to move said driving clutch member axially into the plane of said lugs and a segmental trackway disposed between said gear and said driving clutch member and engageable by said driving clutch member, said driving clutch member riding upon said trackway and'being thereby moved away and released from said lugs during a portion of the rotation of said shaft, and said member riding ofi saidtrackway into engagement with one of said lugs during another portion of the rotation of said shaft.

3. In a device of the character described, a continuously rotatable shaft, a driven clutch member loosely mounted-on said shaft and having spaced lugs upon its face, a driving clutch member keyed to said shaft and movable axially thereof toward and from said driven clutch member, an abutment fixed to said shaft, a spring between said abutment and said driving clutch member tending to move said driving clutch member into the plane of said lugs, and a segmental trackway between said clutch members adapted to be engaged.by.said driving clutch member to hold said driving. clutch, member out of the plane of said lugs during a portion of the rotation of said shaft.

4. In a device of the.-character described, a continuously rotatable shaft, a driving clutch member loosely mounted on said shaft, spaced lugs on the face of said driven clutch member, a driving clutch member securedto said shaft to rotate therewith and pivotally mountedto swing toward and from said driven clutch mem-i ber, an abutment fixed to said shaft, a spring be: tween said abutment and said driving clutch member tending to swing said driving clutch member into the plane of said lugs, and a segmental trackway between said clutch members adapted to be engaged by said driving clutch member for holding said driving-clutch member out of the plane of said lugs duringsa portion of the rotation of said shaft, said driving clutch member riding off said trackway and being swung by said spring into the plane of said lugs for engaging one of the said lugs during another portion of the rotation of said shaft. s

WILLIAM J. PEARSON.

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