US3414107A

US3414107A - Form printing device

Info

Publication number: US3414107A
Application number: US666804A
Authority: US
Inventors: William E Sievers
Original assignee: Victor Comptometer Corp
Current assignee: Victor Comptometer Corp
Priority date: 1967-09-11
Filing date: 1967-09-11
Publication date: 1968-12-03
Anticipated expiration: 1985-12-03

Description

Dec. 3, 1968 w. E. SIEVERS FORM PRINTING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 11, 1967 INVENTUR W/LL/AM E'- SIEVERS Dec. 3, 1968 w. E. SIEVERS FORM PRINTING DEVICE Filed Sept 11, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 E W W W United States Patent 3,414,107 FORM PRINTING DEVICE William E. Sievers, Morton Grove, Ill., assignor to Victor Comptometer Corporation, a corporation of Illinois Filed Sept. 11, 1967, Ser. No. 666,804 5 Claims. (Cl. 197-133) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The form printing device includes a plurality of individually settable print wheels which are set from a keyboard'by means of slidable actuators and rack bars. The form is a continuous strip of separable tags, tickets, or labels supplied in roll form and is fed about a rotatable platen. The platen. is made of a rubber or rubberlike tube into which are pressed a pair of aluminum extrusion cores. A pair of end plates having hubs are secured by set screws to the platen shaft which extends through the cores. The end plates are formed with equally spaced inwardly projecting offsets which engage in notches formed in the platen tube and in notches formed in the edges of the form strip to drive the platen and to feed the form. The platen shaft is rotated on every cycle of the device by a pawl and ratchet wheel drive a distance sufficient to feed the form a distance equal to the spacing between notches. A star wheel on the platen shaft and a spring biased detent hold the shaft and platen against inadvertent rotation. A thumb wheel on the shaft is used for manual feeding of the form.

Reference to related patents Reference should be had to the following patents: William E. Sievers Patent N. 2,860,575, dated Nov. 18, 1958, entitled Tag and Ticket Printing Machine; Kenneth L. Bick Patent No. 3,029,015, dated Apr. 10, 1962, entitled Adding and Label Printing Machine; and Ralph L. Schultz Patent No. 3,075,626, dated Jan. 29, 1963, entitled Record Tape Feed Mechanism for Business Machines.

Background of the invention As shown by the above mentioned patents to William E. Sievers, Patent No. 2,860,575, and Kenneth L. Bick, Patent No. 3,029,015, machines for printing prices and codes on a continuous form of tags, tickets, or labels, are shown and have been in commercial use. The machines of these patents use the conventional feed platen where a spring pressed roller holds the form strip against the platen and the frictional contact between the platen surface and the form provides the feed as the platen is rotated.

The forms which are used are usually of heavier and stiffer stock than conventional adding machine paper tape. Frequently, they have gummed backs which are protected by a thin removable sheet which has a slightly waxy surface. It has been found that the conventional feed arrangements of the above patents are unsatisfactory in that the frictional contact is not completely effective, and there is some slippage. This destroys the registry and the information printed on the individual tags, tickets, or labels in the form is higher or lower than desired and may even be so out of registry as to be printed on the perforations separating the individual tags, tickets, or labels.

Another factor which causes misalignment of the continuous form with the print wheels is creep. Unless the platen is held to an extremely close tolerance, less than .001 in diameter, the form will be fed at a rate slightly greater or less than that desired for printing the data on the precise desired position on all of the individual tags,

ice

tickets, or labels comprising the continuous form. Even if the registry is proper when the platen is new, extensive and continued use of the platen will compact it sufficiently to cause the undesired creep in form feed.

Consequently, when these machines are used constant attention must be given to the problem of registry with manual adjustments to maintain it.

It has been suggested that this registry problem could be overcome by a pin drive. This has the disadvantage of requiring the form to be perforated with holes which may interfere with the printed indicia.

The present invention overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art, and it provides a machine having a positive form feeding device.

It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a new and improved form feeding device for a printer having a positive drive between the form and the platen about which it is guided.

Another object is to provide a new and improved form feeding device for a printer wherein the feed of the form is independent of the friction between the platen and the form and of variations in platen size or diameter.

Another object is to provide a new and improved form feeding device where the lateral edges of the form are engaged by end plates of the platen to effect the positive drive.

Another object is to provide a new and improved form feeding device wherein equally spaced notches in the lateral edges of the form are engaged by inwardly projecting offsets in the end plates of the platen to effect the positive drive.

Another object is to provide a new and improved platen for a form feeding device having a rubber or rubberlike material tube int-o which metal cores are pressed, a pair of end plates secured to the platen shaft, equally spaced inwardly projecting offsets on each end plate, and notches in the ends of the tube to receive the offsets and effect a positive drive from the platen shaft.

Another object is to provide a new and improved form feeding device having the platen of the preceding paragraph and where the offsets engage notches in the lateral edges of the form to effect positive and uniform form feed.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

Brief description of figures FIG. 1 is a fragmentary longitudinal cross sectional view of a form printing device showing the feeding means of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan View of the feeding means;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of the feeding means showing the detent, taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view of the feeding means showing the advancing pawl, taken along the line 44 of FIG. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the feeding means of the present invention; and

FIG. 6, is an elevational view of a fragment of a form to be used with the feeding means of the present invention;

Specific description Referring to FIG. 1, it will be observed that the form printing device 10 of this invention is incorporated in a full keyboard type machine such as that shown in the above mentioned William E. Sievers patent No. 2,860,575, although it could also be used in a ten key machine of the type shown in Kenneth L. Bick Patent No. 3,029,015. The machine includes a keyboard having amount and symbol entering keys 12 which have stems 14 to stop the rearward movement of actuators 16 which are connected to slide bars 18 biased rearwardly by springs 20. The slide bars incorporate racks 22 which engage the gear segments 24 of printing wheels 26 rotatably mounted on shaft 28. The print wheels contain appropriate type 30 which in accordance with the setting of the keys 12 and the operation of actuators 16 and slid-e bars 18 will print the amount and any code on form 31.

The form 31 as illustrated in FIG. 6 comprises a strip of tags, tickets, or labels 32 which are separated by perforations 34. Along its marginal edges 36 the form is regularly formed with V-shaped notches 38 which, as shown, coincide with the perforation lines 34. The tags, tickets, or labels as illustrated in FIG. 6 are for pricing merchandise and the indicia 40 printed on the face in the center of each contains a dollar amount and a code. The particular form shown is gummed on its rear face, which is protected by a sheet of paper having a slightly waxy surface. The form is relatively stiff and appreciably thicker than conventional adding machine tape, being about .008 thick. Conventional adding machine paper tape is pliable and about .003" thick.

The form 31 is supplied in a roll which is mounted on a shaft 42 at the rear of the machine and is delivered to be trained about a platen 44 (described in detail hereinafter) having a surface which is firm to provide appropriate supoprt during printing.

The platen 44 is mounted on a platen shaft 46 which is provotally carried in a frame 48 which in turn is rockably mounted at 50 in the machine frame (not shown). The platen frame 48 comprises a pair of

side plates

52 and 54 which are interconnected at their rear edges by a curved form guide 56 which is staked to the side plates and by a rod 58 at the upper right rear of the frame (FIG. 1). The

side plates

52, 54 also support a tear-off bar 60 at the front of the frame against which the form may be torn when a sufiicient number of tickets, tags, or labels 32 have been appropriately printed.

A shield 62 extends around the platen 44, guides the form 31 against the platen, and protects it in the printing area. The shield 62 has depending ears 64 by means of which it is mounted on studs 66 projecting inwardly from the

side plates

52 and 54. The shield 62 is slotted at 68 to accommodate the type 30 on the print wheels 26 so that the proper amounts and code marking be printed on the form 31. The central forward portion of the guide 56 lies inside the rear portion of the shield 62 so that this is no obstruction to the free movement of the form.

The platen is made of a tube 70 of rubber or similar material into which is pressed a pair of aluminum extrusion core members 72. The core members 72 are pivotally moutned on the platen shaft 46. The platen 44 is secured to the shaft by a pair of circular end plates 74 of slightly larger diameter than the tube 70 having hubs 76 which are secured by set screws 78 to the shaft 46 for rotation therewith. As is seen most clearly in FIGS. 2 and 5, the end plates 74 are provided with inwardly projecting V-shaped offsets 80 at the plate peripheries which engage in V-shaped notches 82 in the platen tube 70. The V-shaped offsets 80 engaged in the notches 82 provide the drive between the end plates 74 and the platen tube 70 and core 72.

The olfsets 80 on the two end plates are aligned as clearly seen from FIGS. 2 and 5. The distance between the adjacent offsets 80 on each end plate 74 is equal to the spacing between the V-shaped notches 38 in the form 31, and when the form is trained about the platen 44 and guided by the guide 56 and shield 62, the offsets 80 engage in the notches 38 and provide a positive drive between the form 31 and the platen 44 and shaft 46 so that the form is properly and uniformly advanced at each operation of the machine, eliminating the previously mentioned slippage and creep. With the machine properly adjusted the indicia will be printed in the same position on each individual tag, ticket, or label 32 throughout the length of the form 31.

The indexing mechanism is best shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, and is more fully described in the aforementioned patents to Kenneth L. Bick No. 3,029,015 and Ralph L. Schultz No. 3,075,626, except that there is no incorporation in this unit of the back spacing portion of the indexing mechanism which is described in these patents.

As seen in FIG. 2, the shaft 46 extends rightwardly of the platen frame and carries a ratchet wheel 84. The ratchet wheel 84 is nonrotatably secured to the shaft 46 and has five teeth thereon engageable by an advancing pawl 86, the number of pawl teeth corresponding to the number of end plate offsets 80. When the pawl 86 moves rearwardly it rotates the ratchet wheel 84 and the shaft 46 in the clockwise direction a distance equal to the spacing between adjacent teeth and the indentations and the notches 38 in the ticket strip.

The advancing pawl 86 is pivotally mounted on a stud 88 carried in a bell crank 90 pivotally mounted on the pivot 50. The pawl 86 has a .tail 92 which is engageable by a lug 94 carried on the bell crank 90. The lower end of the bell crank 90 is slotted at 96 to receive a driving roller 98 carried on an oscillating drive bar 100. The drive bar is one of a pair, and the one in FIG. 4 is shown as connected to the side plate 54 by a stud 102 and slot 104 in the drive bar. The stud 102 has an eccentric so that the force with which the platen is struck against the type 30 on the print wheels 26 may be adjusted. The drive bar is operated by a crank mechanism (not shown) driven from an oscillatable main shaft 106 in a manner more fully disclosed in the above mentioned Kenneth L. Bick Patent No. 3,029,015 and Ralph L. Schultz Patent No. 3,075,626.

The main shaft 106 rotates approximately in the counterclockwise direction and then 100 in the clockwise direction on every cycling of the machine and on every printing operation. When it moves in the counterclockwise direction the drive bar 100 is iIl'lOV6d rearwardly. This does not immediately rock the platen frame 48, but through the roller connection 98 it rocks the bell crank 90 in the counterclockwise direction, thus permitting the pawl 86 to follow forwardly under the influence of spring 108 which is secured at one end to the pawl and at the other end to a stud 110 carried on the frame plate 54. The pawl is therefore brought into engagement with the ratchet wheel 84 at this time, but it does not move the ratchet wheel in the counterclockwise direction inasmuch as the teeth are slanted in the wrong direction. The continued movement of the drive bar 100 rearwardly engages the forward end of the slot 104 with the stud 102 and rocks the platen frame 48 toward the type wheels 26. The type wheels then print the amount and code on the form 31 through the slots 68 in the shield 62 by means of an inked ribbon (not shown) in the conventional manner. Upon the return stroke of the drive bar 100 the lug 94 picks up the tail 92 of the pawl 86 and the latter rotates the ratchet wheel 84 and the platen shaft 46 an arcuate distance equal to the spacing between the notches 38 in the form to bring the next ticket, tag, or label into printing position, e.g., centering it.

The platen 44 is held in any adjusted position by means of a star wheel 111, having lobes equal in number to the ratchet wheel teeth and plate offsets 80, which is mounted on the platen shaft 46 immediately inwardly of the left platen frame member 52. The wheel 111 has a hub 112 which is secured by set screws 114 to the shaft to be movable therewith. A detent roller 116 carried on the end of arm 118 pivoted at 120 to the side frame member 52 rides on the star wheel 111 and when engaged in any of the depressions in the periphery thereof holds the star wheel against any but deliberate movement by positive operation of the shaft 46. The arm 118 is connected yoke fashion to a second arm 122 which is connected to a spring 124 having its opposite end fastened to an ear or lug 126 struck outwardly from the side frame plate 52, thereby to bias the roller 116 against the star wheel 111.

At its outer right end the platen shaft 46 is fitted with a thumb wheel 128 for the manual adjustment of the platen 44 and the manual feed of the form 31 into and through the machine.

As will be apparent from the drawings the form is fed from the spindle or shaft 42 over the guide 56 and into the throat between the shield 62 and the platten 44, past the cutoff or tear bar 60, and out of the machine in a generally vertical direction. The ribbon (not shown) lies outwardly of the shield 62 and between the platen 44 and the type 30 on the print wheel 26. The form 31 is so fed to the platen 44 that the notches 38 in the side edges 36 thereof are engaged by the offsets 80 of the platen side plate 74 thereby to provide a firm and positive feed of equal increments on each machine cycle. With this mechanism the guide 56 and shield 62 will insure that the form 31 is held against the platen surface and that the offsets 80 will engage in the form notches 38 to eifect the proper feed.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing description that the objectives which were claimed for this invention at the outset of the specification are fully obtained [by the apparatus disclosed.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by United States Letters Patent is:

1. In a device for printing symbols on a continuous form strip composed of tags, tickets, labels, or the like, wherein the strip has longitudinally equidistanly spaced notches in its lateral edges, including settable pr-int wheels, a platen about which the strip is trained, a platen shaft supporting the platen, a mechanism for rotating the platen shaft in strip advancing direction a distance equal to the spacing between adjacent strip notches, and means for holding the strip against the platen, the improvements comprising, the platen including a tube made of a rubber or rubberlike material, a pair of end plates arranged at the opposite ends of said tube and secured to the platen shaft, said end plates having inwardly directed equidistantly spaced means at intervals equal to the spacing between the strip notches, and means in the ends of said platen tube to receive said plate means to lock said tube to said plates so that when said platen shaft is rotated said plates rotate said tube, said plate means being engageable in the strip notches positively to advance the strip.

2. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plate means engageable in said tube ends and in the strip notches comprises inwardly directed V-shaped offsets.

3. The device as claimed in claim 2, wherein said means in said tube ends in which said plate offsets engage comprises V-shaped notches.

4. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the diameter of said end plates is slightly larger than the diameter of said platen tube, and the spacing between said end plates is only slightly greater than the width of the form strip.

5. The device as claimed in claim 1, wherein said end plates have hubs, and means are provided to lock said hubs to the platen shaft.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,973,589 9/1934 Watson 197-138 X 2,247,765 7/1941 Antrim 197-133 X 2,247,912 7/1941 Johnson 197-133 X 2,309,656 2/19 43 Metzner 197-133 XR 2,311,227 2/1943 Handley et a1. 197-114 2,311,702 2/1943 Sherman 197-133 2,683,519 7/1954 Davidson 197-133 2,782,894 2/1957 Metzner 197-133 ROBERT E. PULFREY, Primary Examiner.

ERNEST T. WRIGHT, Assistant Examiner,