US2461233A

US2461233A - Machine for marking cylindrical articles

Info

Publication number: US2461233A
Application number: US631370A
Authority: US
Inventors: David F Putnam; Charles F Robbins
Original assignee: Markem Machine Co
Current assignee: Markem Imaje Corp
Priority date: 1945-11-28
Filing date: 1945-11-28
Publication date: 1949-02-08
Anticipated expiration: 1966-02-08

Description

D. F. PUTNAM ET AL MACHINE FOR MARKING CYLINDRICAL ARTICLES Feb. 8, 1949.

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 28, 1945 s I w Mr? T I. Num E v V|+|O W. U R F S 8 m wa Q1" "w D C V. B

Feb. 8, 1949. D. F. PUTNAM ET AL MACHINE FORMARKING CYL INDRICAL ARTICLES Filed Nov. 28, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS David F. PuTnam y C harks F Robbins Patented Feb. 8, 1949 UNITED STATES PAT NT "OFFICE David F. Putnam and Charles -F.Robbins, Keene, N. H., assignors to Markemi MachineCcmpany, Keene, N. H., a corporation of'New'Hampshn'e Appn'ciemNotanhem, 1945; Sean No. 6311370 1. This invention relates to a machine for marking cylindrical articles and is in the nature of an improvement upon the machines shown and described in co-pending applications, Serial No. 563,329, filed November 14, 1944 by Charles F. Robbins, and Serial'No. 605,808, filed July 18, 1945 by David F. Putnam and Charles H. Cheeseman. r

The machines shown in the above applications comprise a cylindrical printing roll having a printing plate on its periphery and a holder for the cylindrical article on which the imprint is to be made which is located above the'printing roll and which has a through opening therein of a size to freely receive the cylindrical article, said article, when in the opening, rests freely on the periphery of the printing roll. v p

Said machines also include a hold-down roll adapted to engage the cylindrical article while it is in the holder and to maintain it in contact with the printing roll. V v

When the printing roll is rotated the frictional contact between the roll and the cylindrical ar-- ticle in the holder causes said article to rotate and thereby a printed impression will be made on the article. V .1.

In the machines shown in both'of the applications the cylindrical articles to be printed are fed successively and manually by the operatorto the holder. In the machine shown in; the application Serial No. 563,329, the printed articles have to be removed from. the holder manually by the operator. In the machine shown in application, Serial No. 605,808, there is provided means for automatically discharging the printed articles fromthe holder,.1 a

In both machines, however, the cylindrical ar ticles to, be'printed have to be fed to the holder by hand one at atime. It 'isone of the objects of our present invention to provide'novel means for feeding the articles automatically tothe holder thus making the machine a completely automatic jone, I In order to give an understanding of the inven-' tionwe have illustrated herein a selected embodi ment thereof which willnow'be described after which the novel features will be pointed out in the appended claim.

In the drawings: T- 'Fig. 1 is an end'view of a machine embodying our inventionwith parts broken out.

a: Fig. 2 'is'a side view of Fig. 1 also with parts; broken out. i I .Figs. 3, 4, and 5.are fragmentary sectionalviews illustrating the operation of vthemachiner-w;

1 Claim. (01. 101-48) Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a cylindrical.

. operation. 1 The machine herein shown comprises a supporting frame I in which is mounted a shaft 2 carrying a printing roll 3 which has-on its periph, erya type member or printing plate 4 carryingthe type by which the printed impression is made on a cylindrical article suchas the cylindrical article 5 shown in Fig. 6. h This printing plate or type member 4 may befconveniently made of rub ber, although the material of which it is. made forms no part of the present invention. The. machine also includes an article-holding member 6 which is located above the printingroll' 3 and is secured to a bracket 1 extending from the frame. i. J The article holder 6 is provided with a through opening 8 of a size to freely receive the article 5 to be printed.

The opening 8 provides an article-receiving pocket which is open at the bottom so that'the article '5 in theopening 8 rests freely on the periphery of the printing roll 3..

'If desired the printing roll 3 may be "providedwith two peripheral ribs 40 on which thecylin -x dricalarticlei'r rests when it is in the holder 6; the printing plate 4 preferably being located betweentheseribs. H

The shaft '2 carrying the printing roll is rotated by any suitable means, and during its: rotation,

the printing plate 4 will be carried underneath,

the article'5 in the pocket 8. The frictional con tactbetwe'en the article and the rotating roll will' cause the article to rotate about its own axis and as the printing plate passes beneaththe holder a printed impression will be made on'the article therein.

9 indicates a hold-down roll'which is movable" mit an unprinted article to be automatically loaded into the holder 6 as"will be presently described. 7

l0 indicatesan inking roll carried by reservoir l I and by which the type characters on the printing. plate 4 areinked. 1

rrne printin roll iss formed inl its periphery with an article-receiving cavity l2 which is 10-: cated. adjacentthe trailing edge of the printing plate 4, such cavity extending longitudinally of the printing roll and being of sufiicient size to receive the article 5.

Itwill be remembered that the cylindrical article 5 to be printed while occupying the pocket or opening 8 in the holder 6, is resting freely on the printingroll; Consequently when during the rotation of the printing roll, (said roll being rotated in the direction of the arrow in Figs. 1, 3, 4, and 5) the cavity 12 comes underneath the pocket 8, the printed article will drop by gravityg from the pocket into said cavity i2 as shown in Fig. 3, and the continued rotation of the printing roll will carry the printed article out, fromundeii the holder as indicated in Fig. "l; 'WhenQdurin'g; continued rotation, the printing roll reaches the position shown in Fig. 5, the printed article will drop out of the cavity l2 and thus be discharged from the machine, a receptacle 13 preferably be ing provided to receive the printed articles, as they are thus, discharged.

The parts thus far described are or may be similar to corresponding parts shown in the above-mentioned applications Serial Nos. 563,329 and 605,808.

The present invention has for its object to pro; vide novel means for automatically fee'ding 'the cylindrical articles 5 to the pocket 8 in the holder 6, thus giving the machine high speed automatic,

characteristics both with respect to feedin the articles to the machine and discharging the printed articles therefrom,

Associated with the article holder 6 is a feed,- ing'chute i i adapted to receive a, pl rality f cylindrical articles 5 to be printed, said chutebeing preferably arranged at an inclination so that the articles will automatically gravitate down the chute toward the holder 5. As herein shown, the lower end of the chute may be connected to the holder 6 while the upper end is supported by a suitable bracket arm l5 carried by theiram e l'.

The hold-down roll a is carried at the lower end of a'plunger 6 which is mounted in a head ll carried by a bracket arm l8 thatis securedto. the frame, said plunger being acted on by a suitable spring {9. which yieldingly holds it in its lowered position as illustrated in application Serial No. 563,329.

When the hold-down roll 9 is inits lower p erative position resting on the; article which occupies the opening 8 and which is receiving the imprint from the type plate 4 as shown in Fig. 1, said hold-down roll acts as a stop; and prevents downward movement ofthe articles in the chute i l, said hold down roll holding the bottom article in the chute separated from the article which occupies the holder 6.

Means are provided for raising the hold-down an; 9 alt th c e in h h d r ha received its imprint and has been discharged into. the cavity 52 thereby to allow the articles in the chute to move forwardly and to permit the bottom a1;-v ticle in the chute to drop into the opening 5: of the holder.

The means for giving the hold-down roll- 9; its vertical movement from its lowest operative. position to-its raised inoperative position is similar to. that illustrated in said application Serial, No. 563,329. carried is mounted on the end of a lever 20 which is pivoted at 2| to the frame of the machine, the end'22 of said lever being connected by a link 23 to the end of the arm 24 of an elbow lever 25 7 that. is pivoted to. the frame at 25. The other- The arm i8 by which the head i! is arm 2'! of the elbow lever rests against and is operated by a cam 28 which is fast on the shaft 2.

The cam 28 is so constructed and disposed that it acts on the arm 21 of the elbow lever thereby to raise the hold-down roll 9 just after the cavity l2 has received the printed article from the "'poeliet" 8'- or; the holder 6, and after the printing roll has rotated sufficiently to carry the cavity out of register with the pocket 3 as shown in Fig. 4. When the hold-down roll is thus elewa .1 ;ed, the stack of articles will gravitate down the, chute and the end article in the chute will drop into the opening 8 of the holder and come to rest upon the periphery of the printing roll. the high point of cam 23 passes oii from the "end 34of "the elbow lever, the head H with the hold down roll will be moved downwardly into its lowered operative position in contact with the article which is now occupying the opening 8 and is resting on the printing roll as shown in Fig. '5. As the hold-down roll 5 reaches its lowered position, it engagesthe end article 5 in the chute and forces the column of articl'es'backward slightly from the position shown in Fig. i to thatshown in'Fig. 5,"said-"rol1 at this time acting again as a stop to hold the end article in the chute separated or'spa'ced somewhat from the article which is occupying the holder 6. With the present invention all the operator has to do is to maintain the chutel4 filled with cylindrical articles to be printed, the mechanism here shown operating automatically to feed the articles successively to the pocket 8 in the holder Sand also operating automatically to discharge the printed articles from the holder and from the printing roll.

We will preferably extend upwardly the side wall of the pocket or opening 8- which is opposite to; the chute as shown at 33 so as to provide 40 a suitable stop for'th'e lower article when 'it gravitates into said pocket 8.

lVhile we have illustrated. herein a selected embodiment of the invention; yet we do not wish tObe l-im'i-tedto the constructional features shown as variouschanges in the detailed construction of the device might be made without departing from the invention.

We claim: r

A machine for marking cylindrical articles comprising a cylindrical printing roll carryinga printing'plate, a stationary holder situated directlyabo've the printing roll closely adjacent thereto, and havingan opening extending vertically thereth rough of a size to loosely receive a'cyl-indrical article to be printed, such article resting on and being supported by the peripheral surface o'f the'pri nting roll while it is occupying saidope'ningfafeed chute leading to the holder for delivering thereto the cylindrical articles to be printed, means to rotate the printing roll, a hold-down" member to engage a cylindrical artia cleoc'cupying said opening and hold' it pressed against the printing roll as the latter rotates and byits rotation moves the printing plate beneath the article thereby'to make a'printed impress 510mm the article while it 'is occupying said opening, said hold-down when thus engaging the article in the holder constituting a stop for the unprinted cylindrical articles inthe' chute, said printing roll havingin its periphery an articlereceiving cavity adjacent the trailing end of the printing plate into which the printed article drops when the cavity comes into register with the opening in the holder, and means operative after the article receiving' cavity has moved out of 6 register with the holder to raise the hold-down UNITED STATES PATENTS mem'ber thereby to let the end cylindrical article Number Name Dart e 11m 3h hute gr vl at m o he op n g of t 394,987 Mclndoe 25 18% 474,1e3 Cunny' May 3, 1392 DAVID R PUTNAM 651,221 We1ss June 5, 1900 CHARLES F ROBBINS 985,479 Waller Feb. 28, 1911 1,499,796 Wilkinson July 1, 1924 1,657,382 Felton Jan. 24, 1928 REFERENCES CITED 0 1,926,356 Tarlton Sept. 12, 1933 The following references are of record in the 1 2,088,196 Friden July 27, 1937 file of this patent: 2,101,775 Bullard Dec. 7, 1937