US2575421A - Autographic register - Google Patents

Description

1951 F. E. LANEGAN AUTOGRAPHIC REGISTER 2 Sl-lEETSSI-IEET 1 Filed Aug. 22, 1946 Nov. 20, 1951 LANEGAN 2,575,421

AUTOGRAPHIC REGISTER I l q 3 i IL :Lh T's:

I Q H n INYe/VTOR Patented Nov. 20, 1951 AUTOGRAPHICREGISTER Frederick Edward Lanegan London, :England,

assignorlto H. tSmith...& Son Limited, London, England, :a British company Application Augustl22, 1946; Serial"No.i692;303 In GreatBritain December 28 1944 11 Claim.

.1 This invention relates to -so-calledautograph1c registers of the type comprising I a containerproviding a compartment for-asupply of continuous ystationeryin the form of aizig-zag pack, a writing tablet over which the stationerymay be drawn (with any convenient arrangement-of interleaved transfer'material) and beyond which it may be ejected from the register. In-registers of this type means are provided for-traversing the stationery past the writing tablet usually "through the medium of an external handle-so arranged-that on eachrotation or partial'rotation-the stationery is traversed one form length through the machine.

"In an autographic'registerofthe-type described for' use in particular in businesses such as laundries and dry-cleaning establishments-4t has-a1- readybeen proposed to enclose within-thecontainer a reel of 'numberedidentificationtape and to drive'this tape through the'interior of the container in alignmentwiththe stationery so thatat each delivery a length ot. tape corresponding to or appropriate to the form length of the stationery is ejected.

This invention is likewise concerned with the provision of means for delivering a tape incompany with the stationeryby means of the mechanism employed 'for driving the stationery strips.

The invention provides an:autographicregister of the type described which is characterised by the provision of means for supporting a supply of identification tape and a pin-wheel driven .in synchronism with thestationery traversing means and arranged to make feeding engagementwith perforations in the tape to issue the tape from the register in synchronism with the ejection of the stationery from the register.

In the preferred form of the register thestationery traversing means include one or more pin-wheels carried on a driving spindle and arranged to make feeding engagement with perforations in the stationery and the tape-feeding pin-wheel is also carried on the spindle for rotation therewith. If desired, the tape-feeding pinwheel may be of different diameter from that of the stationery feeding wheel or wheels so that the length of tape fed at each operation oi the external operating handle or the equivalent is difierent from the length of stationery so fed.

Conveniently the register includes a guillotine, which may be operated automatically, for cutting off the tape issued.

One specific register according to the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure .1 is .an elevation showing the provision of the identification tape-feeding .means :in a register of known type;

Figure 2 is a plan of part ofthe registershown in Figure 1,

Figure-3 illustrates alength of the tape as-fed at each operation of the registensand Figure 4 is anenlargeddetailview of-the mech anism for operating the clamping bar and'the guillotine. I f

The register forming thesubject of this ex-' ample is of the type inwhich a zigzag pack otcon tinuous stationerylfll is received in a compartmerit of the register and is traversed step by-step over a writing plate iii! by means of pin-wheel rotatable on a shaftzl3. "Thestationery is finally ejected from the register and tornlofiinto form lengths. T

.Irrthis example of the invention the following arrangement is adopted. Theidentiiication tape 1 :is: wound on abobbiniZ freely mounted for r0- tation on a spindle 3. 'Ihe'spindle 3 is carried in a sleeve4 fixed to an-arm 5 pivoted-atB-to the side' 'l of a frame located inside theregister casing-8. Friction discs Gare carried on thespind-ie 3 and are pressed-against:the sidesof thetape by .aspringilll. The sleeved is received'withinaslot,

not-shown, in theside-l. When'it is desired to replenish-thetape the top of the register is opened and the spindle carrying the bobbin ismaise'd by pivotal movement-of the arm 5 about the pivot =6. The 'C-washer i I is removed from the end of the spindle 3 which-allows the spindle to be removed and releases the bobbin 2' whichmay-thenbereplace'dby'a new bobbin andthe parts re-assein bled.

The tape is-taken from thebobbin '2 over -the top ofa pin-wheel lrmountedon a-spindle 13 for rotation therewith. The spindle l3 also carregister to which this example is applied the spin.-

dle I3 makes one revolution for each operation of the handle. The length of tape issued at each operation is illustrated in Figure 3 which shows the tape divided into three sections arranged for separation after issue for attachment to garments or other articles so as to identify them with the information contained on the form or other stationery issued simultaneously with the tape.

After the tape has passed over the pin-wheel I2 it is led between the blades l5 and I6 of a guillotine arranged to cut off each length of tape as it issues. The movable blade of the guillotine is operated automatically in the following way. The register is provided, in known manner, with a clamping bar H for clamping the stationery during the writing operation the bar being carried by arms 33 pivotally supported at 34 and the bar being automatically raised to release the stationery during the operation of traversing the stationery and lowered at the end of the traversing operation to clamp the stationery against the top of the register. The movements of this clampingbar are employed, in accordance with the invention, to operate the guillotine. For this purpose, the spindle 18 carrying the blade 15 is provided with an arm [9 of which the free end extends under a projection on the clamping bar. The arm [9 is urged upwardly by a spring 28 acting through a plunger 2| in contact with the arm. When the clamping bar I! is raised to release the stationery, the arm 19 is allowed to rise under the influence of the spring 20 and the blade 15 is thereby lifted clear of the stationary blade 66 which allows the tape to be fed between the two blades. At the end of the operation of feeding the stationery and the tape the clamping bar I! is lowered, by spring action, and presses down the arm 19 which in turn lowers the blade l5 and cuts off the length of tape issued.

In the register described in the above example the pin-wheel spindle 13 makes one revolution for each operation of the handle and the lifting and falling movement of the clamping bar is conveniently arranged by means of a follower 30 co-operating with a flange 3| provided on one of the stationary feeding pin-wheels and having a depression 32 into which the follower drops when the clamping bar is tobe lowered. In cases in which the pin-wheel spindle makes more than one revolution at each operation of the handle, the clamping bar may be operated by means of a cam formed on the handle shaft instead of on the pin-wheel spindle. Alternatively, the clamping bar may be operated from the stop pawl in the arrangement described in British Patent Application No. 35111/45 dated December 28, 1945.

In an autographic register of the type described it is customary, in many cases, to provide a locked compartment in which one or more of the copy records, after inscription, is delivered as a continuous strip and so retained in the register. A similar arrangement may be adopted in an apparatus embodying the present invention, but the invention is not restricted to the provision of such an arrangement.

I claim:

An autographic register comprising as an operative combination, a container for a supply of continuous stationery, a writing platen over a portion of the container, two pin-wheel feeding devices for engagement in marginal perforations in the stationery, and rotatable step-by-step between writing operations on the stationery to traverse the stationery over the platen and to feed the stationery to a station at which it is ejected from the register, means for supporting in relation to the container a supply of identification tape, a tape-feeding pin-wheel arranged to make feeding engagement with perforations in the tape and on rotation to draw the tape from the supply and to feed it to an ejection station, mean for driving the tape-feeding and the stationery-feeding pin-wheels step-by-step in synchronism to issue tape from the register and at the same time to eject stationery from the register, means for constraining the stationery and the tape to follow separated paths in the register, a clamping bar for clamping the stationery against the top of the container during writin operations, mean operable by rotation of the stationery-feeding pin-wheels for automatically lifting the bar to release the stationery during the operation of traversing the stationery and then to lower the bar, a guillotine for cutting ofi the identification tape ejected from the register, and a lever pivotally supported in relation to the container and platen carrying at the end of one arm the guillotine and cooperating at the end of the other arm with the clamping bar in manner such that as the bar is lowered to clamp the stationery the lever is rocked to lower the guillotine and thereby to cut off the ejected tape.

FREDERICK EDWARD LANEGAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,334,436 Metzner Oct. 18, 1921 1,760,847 Metzner May 27, 1930 1,791,858 Brand Feb. 10, 1931 1,812,605 Pfeifier June 30, 1931 2,457,807 Davidson Jan. 4, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 514,173 Great Britain Nov. 1, 1939

Images