US2945088A - Printing machines - Google Patents

Description

July 12, 1960 Filed Aug. 29, 1955 J. H. GRUVER 2,945,088

PRINTING MACHINES 5 Sheets-Sheet '1 Znyenzor Job]: )5 Graver o z zforn eyvs July 12, 1960 J; H. GRUVER 2,945,088

- PRINTINQv MACHINES Filed Aug. 29, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 v lnvenzor g; (Io/$122 7. Graver July 12, 1960 J. H. GRUVER PRINTING MACHINES 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 29, 1955 ltrr/enzor John 75. Gray/er July 12, 1960 J GRUVER 2,945,088

PRINTING MACHINES Filed Aug. 29, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 m M122 1 wn TA 2.2 .7 no mam-E2 NEGATIVE CLOSE SWITCH BIAS re lism 5L5 I I0 5 c. EMIT 21191? 2 O1 116 Jolznfl. Grav r J. H. GRUVER PRINTING MACHINES July 12, 1960 2,945,058

Filed Aug. 29, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Znverz for Jolzzz G a rum M W fifornega .bodying the present invention;

U d ims Pm Q PRINTING MACHINES J ohn H. Gruver, Cleveland Heights, ()hio,assignor to Addressograph-Multigraph Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Delaware Filed Aug. 29, 1955, Ser. No. 531,225

2 Claims. (Cl. 178-65) This invention relates to printing machines, and more particularly to facsimileprinting machines.

The printing machine to which the present invention relates is the kind disclosed in my co-pending applications Serial Nos. 502,932, filed April 21, 1955, now abandoned, 514,295, filed June 9, 1955, now abandoned and 347,600, filed April 8, 1953, now Patent No. 2,842,612, granted July 8, 1958. In printing machines of this kind, individual instruments in the form of cards or the like bearing data to be reproduced are passed one by one to a scanning station where the data thereon are scanned optically and translated into electrical signals. These signals are spaced in tim'ein a relation that corresponds to the space development of the individual characters that were scanned, and the signals thus created are transmitted to a printing station so as tocontrol the operation of vibrators which are adapted to'cooperate with rotating printing edges to produce on a' sheet or strip impressions of the data that were scanned.

As described particularly in application Serial No. 347,600, the cards or the like that bear the data tobe reproduced follow upon one another through the scanning station, and this relation may be of several different kinds. Thus, the cards may be fed so that the leading edge of one card abuts the trailing edge of the next card in advance thereof, in'which event all the'data appearing on the cards are exposed to the action of 2,945,088 Patented July 12, 196d Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view showing the scan-' ning head in section and means at the printing station for printing one record on a sheet; Fig. 4 is a front elevation of a portion of the timing means;

Fig. 4A is an elevation of a timing cam; Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the timing means including the timing switches;

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the timing means; and- Fig. 7 is a wiring diagram. Under the present invention, means are aflforded in a printing machine of the kind mentioned above whereby the circuit between the scanning station and the printing station is broken in each cycle of the machine when an'edge, an opening or other portion of a card or the like normally forming a shadow is in alignment with the scanning means, and it will be recognized from this that the present invention also makes it possible to scan but a selected portion of such a card thereby enabling but selected portions of the data printed thereon to berea produced at the scanning station.

The present invention is illustrated as embodied in a printing machine PM, Figs. 1 and 1A, of the kind that is illustrated and described in the aforesaid application the scanning means; or the cards may be partly over- I lapped so that portions only of the cards are scanned. In any event, it sometimes happens that shadows are produced along edges of the cards, and these shadows cannot, of course, be distinguished by the scanning means and hence signals are created as if these shadows were data to be reproduced. It is, therefore, the primary object of the present invention to prevent transmission of a signal to the aforementioned vibrators except as to the actual data undergoing scanning; stated in other words, an object of the invention is to in elfect render the scanning means selective in a machine of the foregoing kind so that shadows are not reproduced at the printing station. The invention may also be used to .enable but selected portions of the data on the cards to be reproduced.

Other and further objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description and claims and are illustrated in the accompanying drawings which,

departing from the present invention and the purview of the appended claims. a

In the drawings:

. 7 Fig. 1 is a perspective at the back of a machine em- Serial No. 514,295. In this machine a sheet S,Fig. 1A, to be printed is advanced through a printing station PS, Fig. 2. The printing station PS in the machine PM is multiple in nature in that multiple, identical impressions are adapted to be printed simultaneously on several portions across the width of the sheet S so that a plurality ofrecords are produced, but for simplicity means are shown in Fig. 2 for producing but one impression on' a corresponding longitudinal fragment'of the sheet S.

The data that are to be scanned and reproduced at the printing'station PS are carried on business cards as C, Fig. 2, and these cards are adaptedto be advanced one by one beneath a scanning head 25 at the scanning station'of the machine. Thecards as C that are tobe thus advanced to the scanning station are arranged in a supply hopper 30, Fig. 1, which is supported at the back of the machine, the bottommost card being advanced fromthe hopper 30 in each cycle of the machine. From the scanning station, each card that was scanned is fed to a receiving hopper'31, Fig. 1.

The scanning head 25 is formed with two circumferential rows of scanning slots 21835 and 36. These slots are quite narrow in size and are developed on the scanning head 25 was to be pitched or sloped in an axial sense, and additionally the arrangement is such that the leading end of one scanning slot in a particular one of the rows is opposite the trailing end of the next adjacent scanning slot in the same row.

' At the scanning station, there are two objective lenses 40 and 41 and these, lenses are arranged so that the data printed on the cards may be viewed thereby. Forpur poses of disclosure, the scannable data appearing on the cards C are in the present instance designated as comprising four lines A1 B2, C3 and D4, these being intended to typify four lines of data on each card such as the usual four-line address. 7

At the'scanning station, there are a pair of lamps 44 and 45, and these are associated with concentrating lenses 46 and 47 so as to illuminatenarrow, laterial bands on a pair of adjacent cards at the scanning station as shown in Fig. 2, and these bands are of a width suflicient to Positioned above the objective lenses 40 and 41 area r i qftr l tinemitt r .59% 4 n hs r adapt in the plates 54 and 55.

narrow aperture slits in a pair of aperture plates 54 and 55. The slits in the aperture plates 54 and 55 are such as to span the path ,traced out by the pitched or helical scanning sl ots 35 and 3 6;forrned in the.scanningx;head 25. As described in the patents mentioned in the aforesaid ,co-pending applications, the optical arrangement is ch that the image passing through the aperture plate 54 is that of the second and fourth lines printed ,on the cards C, whereas the image passing through the aperture plate 55 is that of the remaining two lines, namely, the first and third lines. Thus, it will be seen that at one side the scanning head;25 will, through the scanning slots 35 and 36, pick up an alternate ;two of the lines of data on the cards C, and at the opposite side will pick up the other alternate two of thefour lines of data. This arrangement ,will, of course, be varied in accordance with the num ber and arrangement of the lines of data appearingenthe cards C that are to be scanned.

As indicatedin Fig. 3, there are four mirrors as 58 within the scanning head 25, and these feed light beams, originated by the lamps 44 and 45 and reflected as above described, to four photocells as 59, Fig. 1, arranged at the scanning station, one for each line of data scanned. Each time a bit of a character printed on a card C appears inthe slit of an aperture plate and is thereupon picked up by the scanning head 25, such is manifest in the beam for that line of data being interrupted momentarily which amounts to a black signal at the corresponding photocell, and each character scanned will be represented by many such black signals spaced in time.

The black signals that are thus created at the scanning station are amplified and transmitted to vibrators as 60, Fig. 3, at the printing station. There is one such vibrator for each lineof data to be reproduced, and cooperating with this vibrator is a pitched or helical edge as 61 on a disc as '62. shaft 62S which rotates in synchronism with the scanning head 25; The sheet to be printed is interposed between .theprinting edges 61 and the vibratory blades 65 of the vibrators, .and carbon tapes CT, Fig. 1A, one for each record, are interposed between the outwardly disposed face of the sheet to be printed and the vibrator blades .so that the vibrators while responding to the black signals originating at the scanning station reproduce on the sheet S the data that are scanned as shown in Fig. 2. Thus, there will be a carbon tape CT for the four vibrators in Fig. 2 interposed as aforesaid. V

The sheet to be printed is first directed upwardly at one side of the printing station so that the second'and fourth'lines are printed thereon as shown in Fig. 2 by the pair of vibrators allocated to those two lines, and then the partially printed sheet is reversed in direction so as to pass downwardly at the opposite side of the printing station where the first and third lines are then filled in by the other pair of vibrators.

As was mentioned, a signal is created at the scanning station in those instances where black is picked up by a scanning slot as 35 or 36 traversing the aperture slits The desired occurences of black signals are represented, of course, by the data to be printed at the printing station, but where the edges of'the cards abut as shown in Fig. 2, or where the cards are fed so as to partially overlap one another, or where the cards in addition to the ordinary kind of printed data also bear punched hole data as 70, Fig. 2, shadows are created that may produce undesired black signals, and

underthe present invention means are afforded for preventing the transmission of such undesired black signals to the printing station so that the vibrators at the printing station are ineffective to produce undesired marks on the sheet s. i I V i H provided in the circuit between each photocell and its corresponding vibrator, and in each cycle of the machine these switches are effective to assure that the only signals arriving at the printing station are those that originate at the time the data on each card that are to be printed are beneath the scanning head.

To this end, a mounting bracket 80, Fig. 4, for timing means in the form of a set of fonrtiming switches is anchored as shown in Fig. 1 on a bed plate 81 adjacent the supply hopper o r magazine 30. v The bracket 80 includes a pair of upstanding arms 81 and 82,'Figs. 4 and 5, and anchored to these arms by cap screws 83 is a horizontal mounting plate .84. Fourspaced apart individual mounting brackets 85 are afforded, and these are provided at the lower ends with forwardly extending flanges 85F that fit in to grooves at the underside of the mounting plate 84. The flanges 85F are slotted at 86, Fig. 5, to receive cap screws 87 which hold the brackets 85 to the mounting plate, this eonstruction enabling adjustment of theatimingswitches to be made. Mounted by screws 89, Fig. 5 to each bracket 85 is a normally open switch SW, Fig.; 6, there being foursuchtiming switches SW-l, SW-Z, SW-3 and SW-4. As will be described, these switehes in the present instance are normally open, each being provided with a normally open contact arm 90, Fig. 6, which carries a cam follower 9 1. Thus, there are four cam-operated contacts and followers 91-1, 91-2, 1 an 1-4. i 5

Each of theswitches SW includes a pair of wires as w-d and w'- 2, Fig. 6, and these wires are sheathed in a gable-'95 clamped to the arm 82 of the bracket 80 by a cla p Forwardly of the switches SW is a cam shaft 100,

3 Fig.5, which is adapted to be driven in away tobe de- The individual discs 62 are carried on a scribed, and this shaft is supported in bearings 101 and 102 that aremounted in the arms 81 and 82 of the bracket 80. This cam shaft at the end corresponding to the bearing 101 extends outwardly of the arm .81of the bracket 80 and carriesa drive gear 105, Fig. 4. The drive gear 105 is meshed with a transmitting gear 106 rotatably supported in the arm 81 of the bracket 80 over the gear 105 as shown in Fig. 4, and the gear 106 in turnis meshed with a gear 1 11, Figs. 1 and 4, which, it may he pointed out, is likewise identified as the gear .111 inmy co-pending application Serial No. 347,600. Thus, the cam shaft 100 is driven continuously so as to rotate through 360 in each machine cycle.

Arranged in spaced relation along the shaft 100 so as to;be;oppo site-the cam followers 91-1 through 91-4 described above are cams 115-1, 115-2, 115-3 and 1 15-4 as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. Each of these cams consists of a pair of juxtaposed cams 116 of the kind shown in Fig. 14A, having a dwell 116D and a lobe 116C which in the present instance extends for of arc. By utilizing a pair ofsuch cams in each cam set 115-1 through 1'15-4, the effective are of the lobe may be selectively adjusted. Thus, as will be apparent from Fig. 6, the lobes of the during a cycle of rotation of the cam shaft 100 will be effective on the followers 91-1 through 91-4 to close the switches SW- 1 through SW-4. This, of course, will besimultaneous and of equal duration for the four timing switches in the present instance, but the cams 116 in each set may be altered as to configuration and adjustment to correspondingly establish the periodof time for which the ,switches SW-1 through SW-4 are held closed.

Asmentioned, the signals originating from the photocells at the scanning station are transmitted along corresponding channels or circuits to an amplifier and from the amplifierto a vibrator as 60, Fig. 3, so that the vibrator blades 65 are-signally operated in each photocell circuit to develop in space on the sheet S the characters that appear on the instrument C. There is of course, one vibrator and a separate circuit allocated thereto fo-r each In accordance with the present invention, a switch is 75 l e 9;- data to be printed at the printing station. Where multiple records are to be printed, the vibrators for printing identical lines at allocated areas across the width of the sheet S will be arranged in series so that each receives simultaneously the same signal.

In Fig. 7, a portion of a circuit between a photocell 59 and its amplifier is shown in schematic form, and under the present invention this circuit is normally inoperative to emit or pass a signal to the amplifier. Thus, the plate 120 of the photocell is connected by a wire 121 through a resistance 122 and a condenser 123 to the grid of the first stage amplifier of the signal conducting circuit. The resistance 122 is selected so that a black signal emitted by the photocell 59 will not be passed to the amplifier. The resistance 122 is, however, shorted by the wires w'-1 and w-2 of a timing switch SW which is normally open. During the course of rotation of the cam shaft 100, the lobe of the cam 116 is effective to close the switch SW, which is the condition illustrated in Fig. 7, whereby the resistance 122 is shorted and any signal emitted by the photocell at this time is enabled to pass to the amplifier for transmission on to the corresponding printing vibrator at the printing station. In positioning the cams as 116 on the cam shaft 100, the area occupied on the cards C by the data to be printed at the printing station is taken into account, so that the switches SW are all closed at least during the time that these areas are exposed at the scanning station. On the other hand, the switches SW are normally closed at least while abutting edges of the cards are passing beneath the scanning means.

In this way, the signal transmitting circuits or channels between the scanning station and the printing station can be held inoperative at times when edges of the cards are passing through the scanning station, or, stated in other words, the signal transmitting circuits can be conditioned for effective operation only at times when data-carrying areas of the cards C are exposed at the scanning station It will be appreciated that the circuit shown in Fig. 7 is merely that which is preferred, and other arrangements may be resorted to for rendering the circuits for the vibrators inoperative except at pre-selected times.

Hence, while I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that this is capable of variation and modification, and I therefore do not wish to be limited to the precise details set forth, but desire to avail myself of such changes and alterations as fall within the purview of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a machine of the kind described adapted to re produce data appearing in a plurality of lines on each of a series of individual instruments, a scanning station to and through which the instruments are passed one by one in flat abutting or overlapping relation, scanning means at the scanning station comprising a plurality of photocell-controlled signal-transmitting circuits including a signal-transmitting circuit for each line of data carried by such an instrument and adapted to translate these respective lines of data in to signals and to transmit individually the signals for each line to signally operated printing means at a printing station in the machine for printing the individual lines of data on a sheet or the like, and a timing switch in each signal-transmitting circuit operable in each cycle of the machine while an instrument is passing through the scanning station to render each of said transmitting means inefiective for a predetermined time interval during which it is desired that there be no signals transmitted to the printing station, said time interval including at least the period in which the leading edge of said instrument traverses said scanning station.

2. In a machine of the kind described adapted to reproduce data appearing in a plurality of lines on each of a series of individual instruments, a scanning station to and through which the instruments are passed one by one in flat abutting or overlapping relation, optical scanning means at the scanning station for scanning each line of data on such an instrument passing through the scanning station, said scanning means for each line of data including a photocell to translate scanned data in to signals and arranged in a circuit to transmit the signals to a printing means operable in accordance with the signals emitting from the scanning station to reproduce the scanned data on a sheet or the like, and a carn-controlled timing switch in each such photocell circuit operable in each cycle of the machine while an instrument is passing through the scanning station to render each such circuit inelfective to transmit signals for a predetermined time interval including at least the period in which the leading edge o f said instrument traverses said scanning station.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Jelinek Sept. 20, 1955

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