US3780669A

US3780669A - Imprinter having independently mounted, preloaded print rollers

Info

Publication number: US3780669A
Application number: US00158944A
Authority: US
Inventors: F Geiger; J Young
Original assignee: Farrington Business Machines Corp
Current assignee: Farrington Business Machines Corp
Priority date: 1971-07-01
Filing date: 1971-07-01
Publication date: 1973-12-25
Anticipated expiration: 1990-12-25
Also published as: FR2144371A5; CA985092A; GB1365830A

Abstract

An imprinter for imprinting a plurality of fields on a document having at least two independently mounted print rollers for respectively imprinting the two fields where both print rollers are in printing position when the print rollers are moved in a predetermined direction with respect to the print bed during imprinting whereby interaction between the print rollers is minimized as they imprint at their respective fields on the document. At least one of the print rollers is preloaded and set to a minimum distance from the print bed so that the preloaded print roller raises from the print bed as raised characters on the printing plate are encountered whereby automatic compensation is provided for characters of varying height associated with the preloaded print roller.

Description

Halted States Patent Geiger et a1.

[ 1 Dec. 25, 1973 [54] HMPRINTER HAVING KNDEPENDENTLY 3,410,207 11/1968 Barbour 101/269 MQUNTED PRELO D PRKNT RQLLERS 3,405,634 10/1968 Maul et a1 101/45 3,179,046 4/1965 Maul et a1 101/56 X Inventors: Franklin g sas; 3.595,l65 7/1971 Smith et a1 101/56 James L. Young, Alexandria, both of Primary ExaminerRobert E. Pulfrey [73] Assignee: Farrington Business Machines Assmam Exammer Eugene Elckholt Corporation, Springfield, Va. Att0rneyGerald .1. Ferguson [22] Filed: July 1, 1971 57 ABSTRACT [21] A pl. No; 158,944 An imprinter for imprinting a plurality of fields on a document having at least two independently mounted print rollers for respectively imprinting the two fields [52] 11.8. C1 101/269, 101/56, 101/375 where both prim rollers are in printing position when the print rollers are moved in a predetermined direc 8] Field of Search 101/269, 45, 55, tion with respect to the prim bed during imprinting 101/56 270*274 260 whereby interaction between the print rollers is minimized as they imprint at their respective fields on the [56] References cued document. At least one of the print rollers is pre- UNITED STATES PATENTS loaded and set to a minimum distance from the print 3,661,080 5/1972 Laws 101/269 bed so that the preloaded print roller raises from the 3,260,199 7/1966 Huntley et al- 1 l01/269 print bed as raised characters on the printing plate are Barbour X encountered whereby automatic Compensation is pror g vided for characters of varying height associated with 211' Our e a 3,199.444 8/1965 c011 101/45 the preloaded roller 3,272.120 9/1966 Johnson 101/269 X 23 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures l 11 A 42 54 w 43 t If" Pmmwnm 3.780.669

SHEEI 1 0f 6 FIG. I

I INVENTORSZ FRANKLIN 0. GEIGER JAMES L. YOUNG ATTORNEYS,

Pmminmz 3.780.668

INVENTORS.

FRANKLIN O. GEIGER JAMES L. YOUNG ATTORNEYS.

PAIENTED 3.780.669

' SHEET t I 6 INVENTORS FRANKLlN O. GEIGER JAMES L. YOUNG ATTORNEYS.

PATENTEnutczsms sumsare R O N E V m ATTORNEYS,

PATENTEDBEB25I975 V 3,780,669

' W s UF-6 FIG. 8

INVENTORSZ FRANKLlN O. GEIGER JAMES L. YOUNG BiY ATTORNEYS.

IMPRINTER HAVING INDEPENDENTLY MOUNTED, PRELOADEI) PRINT ROLLERS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to imprinters and, in particular, to imprinters for imprinting several fields of information on a document where at least one of the fields is provided with automatic compensation for characters of varying heights on that position of the printing member corresponding to the compensated field.

I-Ieretofore, document imprinters have been provided where one field of the document is imprinted with data of high print quality to facilitate automatic machine reading thereof while other fields of the document include lower quality imprinted information which is not intended for machine reading but rather for human reading. Illustrative of such prior art imprinters is that described in U. S. Pat. No. 3,272,120 granted to D. W. Johnson on Sept. 13, 1966. In such imprinters one of the document fields is imprinted while the print roller carriage is moved in one direction while the other field or fields is imprinted when the carriage is moved in the opposite direction. Aiternatively, one of the fields is imprinted while the print roller carriage is moved in one direction and at a later time the other fields are imprinted while the carriage is once again moved in the same direction. However, it has been found advantageous to be able to imprint all fields during a single stroke of the print roller carriage while at the same time insuring that the field intended for machine reading is not undesirably affected by the substantially simultaneous imprinting of the other less critical fields.

Another important aspect of the problem of providing high quality print in those document fields which are intended for machine reading is that the printing plates (typically credit cards) from which the imprinted information is derived are not uniform. That is, typically the information contained on the credit cards is embossed and the height of the embossing varies from one credit card to the next depending on the extent of usage thereof. Thus, the height of the embossing on a card in circulation for a long period of time will be substantially less than that of the height of a newly issued card. This variation in embossing or character height must nevertheless be properly compensated for in order to insure a high quality print. If such compensation is not provided, various problems arise such as crushing of embossed characters which are too high, document smudging, and print density variation. The latter two problems tend to lessen the machine readability of the imprinted information while the first problem is present whether the imprinted information is to be machine read or not. Thus, preferably automatic compensation should be provided for varying character height whether or not the imprinted information is machine read.

Heretofore, automatic compensation has been provided for varying character heights; however, the compensation has been such as to affect the entire print roller assembly carried by the print roller carriage. However, it quite often occurs that the height of the characters in one portion of a printing member are different from the character heights in another portion of the same printing member where the different portions of the printing member are respectively associated with different information fields of the document to be imprinted. Further, there is often more than one printing member disposed on the print bed of an imprinter. Thus, in many commercial transactions, there is the removable credit card of the customer, and the stationary identification plate of the dealer. Height of the lettering on the identification plate in many instances can be quite different from that on the credit card depending on the relative usage of each. Thus, in the foregoing instances, it is desirable to provide automatic compensation of character height at the different locations where raised characters may occur on a print bed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Thus, it is a primary object of this invention to provide an improved imprinter for imprinting at least two fields on a document where the imprinting of said two fields occurs during a single stroke of the imprinter but independently of each other.

It is a further primary object of this invention to provide an improved imprinter where the imprinting of at least one of the fields is such that automatic compensation is provided for character height variation in that portion of the printing member corresponding to the compensated field.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved imprinter where compensation for character height variation is independently provided for each of the fields imprinted on the document.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent upon reading the appended claims in conjunction with the following detailed description and the attached drawing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. I is an isometric illustration of an imprinter in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the carriage of FIG. 2 taken long the line 33 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the carriage of FIG. 2 taken along the cross-sectional line 44 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the carriage of FIG. 2 taken along the cross-sectional line 5-5 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is an isometric view of the independent, preloaded print roller of the carriage of FIG. 2.

FIG. 7 is an exploded plan view of a further embodiment of a carriage and a print roller assembly in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 8 is a view from under the roller assembly portion of the embodiment of FIG. '7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION Referring to FIG. I there is shown an isometric view of an imprinter in accordance with the invention having a base 10, a print bed 12, a carriage or handle 14 for carrying

print rollers

16, 117, and 18 disposed therein. Disposed on print bed 12 is a removable printing plate 20 such as a credit card and a stationary printing plate 22 affixed to print bed 12 such as a dealer identification plate.

Reference should now be made to FIG. 4 which illustrates in more detail the

printing plates

20 and 22. As can be seen plate 20 contains a first row of information 24 which may correspond to the customers account number and a second row of information 26 which may correspond to the customers name while dealer plate 22 contains a row of information 27 which may be the dealers name. Of course, other information can be and usually is included on the

plates

20 and 22. However, for purposes of illustration, the content of the plates is limited to that shown in FIG. 4. Disposed over the

printing plates

20 and 22 is a document 28 shown in phantom lines. As can be seen in FIG. 4 print roller 16 is aligned with the account number 24, print roller 17 with the customers name 26 and print roller 13 with the dealers name 27. As will be brought out in more detail hereinafter print roller 16 is so mounted within carriage 14 that it operates independently of

print rollers

17 and 18. The reason for this is that the account number is the imprinted information which will be machine read. Thus, the field of the document 28 containing the account number 24% must be of high print quality while the fields containing the customer and dealer names can be of lesser print quality since they are intended for human reading only.

As stated above, the mounting of print roller 16 within the carriage 14 is independent of the mountings of print rollers l7 and 18. Thus, the interaction between roller 16 and

rollers

17 and 18 is minimized. However, as will be brought out hereinafter,

rollers

17 and 18 are mounted on a common shaft 30 as seen in FIG. and thus the mountings of these rollers are not independent of one another. Hence, as roller 17 coacts with the row of characters 26 to imprint the customers name on the document, there is a tendency for the effects of this coaction to be transferred to print roller 18 as it coacts with the row of characters 27 corresponding to the dealers name. Hence, the imprinting of the dealers name will suffer somewhat in print quality. The reverse situation is also true. That is, the coaction of roller 18 with row of characters 27 will tend to undesirably affect the coaction of print roller 17 with row of characters 26. Of course, as stated above, the print quality of the fields associated with the customers and dealers names is not particularly critical and thus, this interaction between the rollers 17 and 13 is tolerable in many applications. However, because of the independent mounting of print roller 16, the interaction between roller 16 and rollers l7 and 18 is minimized and thus, the quality of the account number imprinted on the document 28 is accordingly enhanced for machine reading.

Referring to FIGS. 2-6, the carriage or housing 14 is movably mounted with respect to and travels along opposite edges of the print bed 12. As can best be seen in FIG. 2, three

head bearing rollers

32, 34, and 36 are attached to the vertical legs of carriage 14.

Rollers

32 and 34 are disposed above and roller 36 is disposed below the print bed 12 to maintain a stable vertical relation of the carriage M with respect to the print bed 12.

The print roller assembly is supported by a main, U- shaped bracket 38 that is pivotally mounted about a shaft 40 which is connected into the opposite vertical walls of carraige M at 41 and 43, as can be seen in FIG. 4. Bracket 38 is upwardly biased about shaft 40 by a spring 42 which is connected to the forward portion of bracket 38 and the top of carriage 14 as can best be seen in FIGS. 2 and 4. The bracket 38 is held in constant connection with a cam bar 84 as can be seen in FIG. 3.

The shaft 30 which supports the

print rollers

17 and 18 is in turn supported by bracket 38 at

points

46 and 48 as can best be seen in FIG. 2. The print roller 16 is mounted on a second bracket 50 which pivots on shaft 40 as can be seen in FIGS. 4 and 6. The roller 16 is supported on a tube 52 which is connected to bracket 50 as can best be seen in FIG. 5. The tube 52 is hollow and is concentrically disposed with respect to shaft 30. The inside diameter of tube 52 is such that sufficient clearance is provided to prevent contact of the tube with the print roll shaft 30 during any phase of adjustment or of the printing cycle, as will be described in more detail hereinafter.

The second bracket 50 is adjustable with respect to the first or main bracket 33 by means of an adjustment screw 54, which also serves as a limit stop to control the minimum clearance or distance between the print roller 16 and the print bed 22. Placed around the screw 54 and between the

brackets

38 and 50, as can best be seen in FIGS. 2 and 6, is a compression spring 56 which as will be brought out in more detail hereinafter preloads print roller 16 to thereby permit it to be raised from the print bed as it encounters the characters of row 24 and thus compensate for variations in the height of these characters. Thus, a further preferential treatment is given to row of characters 24.

The operation of the roller assembly is such that all rollers are in printing position during the imprinting cycle--that is, while the carriage 14 is being moved in the predetermined direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 4. During the return cycle all rollers are retracted from the printing position to thereby prevent double impressions. Many means for effecting such retraction of print rollers during the return cycle are known in this art and may be used with this invention. In the embodiment of FIGS. 2 through 6, the bracket 50 is lowered into printing position by rotation of a striker 58 which is attached to the cam bar 44 as can best be seen in FIGS. 3 and d. A trip block 60 is disposed at one end of the print bed as can be seen in FIG. 3 while a second trip block 62 is disposed at the other end of the print bed as can be seen in FIG. 4. The striker 58 engages the respective trip blocks all and 62 to respectively lower and raise the bracket 50 and thus, the print rollers.

In operation, the minimum clearance or distance of the print roller 16 with respect to the print bed 12 is established by screw 54 into the threaded portion of the lower part of bracket 50. Thus, the more the screw is rotated into bracket 5%), the greater is the minimum clearance between print roller 16 and bed 12. Further, as the screw 54 is rotated into or out of bracketS 50, the compression of spring 56 is varied only slightly since the spring rate is low. Preloading is adjustable by changing springs.

The minimum clearance between roller 16 and print bed 12 is typically established in the following manner. An unembossed printing plate or card is placed on the print bed and then a document of the thickness to be used in the particular application is placed on the card. The print roller is then moved across the combined card and document to determine whether smudging occurs. If it does not occur, the minimum clearance is de' creased until smudging begins to appear on the document. Hence, the minimum clearance corresponds to the combined thickness of l) the document to be used and (2) the background or unembossed portion of the printing plate or card to be used in the particular application.

Hence, in practical operation, the roller 16 will rise from its minimum clearance with respect to the print bed as it encounters raised characters on the printing member against the downward force exerted by spring 56. Because the screw 54 is threaded into bracket 50 but not into bracket 38, the screw will rise above the upper surface of bracket 38 through opening 57 provided in the bracket 56 as can best be seen in FIG. 3. Only when the roller 16 is at its minimum clearance level does the head of screw 54 fit flush on the top of bracket 38 as shown in FIG. 3. The strength of spring 56 is so chosen so that any tendency of the characters on the printing member to be depressed or crushed by print roller 16 is minimized while at the same time the print density of the imprinted character is made sufficiently dark to facilitate machine reading thereof.

Reference should now be made to FIGS. 7 and 8 which illustrate a further embodiment of the invention. In particular, FIG. 7 illustrates an exploded view of this embodiment while FIG. 8 is a view from under the carriage and print roller assembly of FIG. 7. In the embodiments of FIGS. 7 and 8 preloading action is applied to all of the print rollers and more than one preloading spring can be employed with a single print roller whereby large loads can be provided on wide rollers. In the figures there are shown

print rollers

70 and 72 which are utilized for the imprinting of machine readable data while

rollers

74 and 76 are utilized for the imprinting of less critical, human readable data. It should be noted from FIG. 8 that the arrangement of the rollers 70 through 76 is different than that of rollers I6-l8 of FIGS. l-6. Nevertheless, it will be understood that this merely involves a different format of the imprinted data and that the principle of operation remains unchanged. The mounting for each of the rollers is the same and will be explained for only one of them.

Thus, as can be seen in FIG. 7, roller 70 is mounted on a shaft 76 which in turn is mounted on a U-shaped bracket 78 having apertures 80 and 82 for receiving shaft 76. The shaft 76 has grooved

portions

84 and 86 which are respectively disposed outside of apertures 80 and 82. Respectively connected to

grooves

84 and 86 are springs 88 and 90, these springs being connected at their opposite ends to bracket 92 at apertures 94 and 96 respectively. Bracket 92 is connected at its opposite ends to the

vertical side walls

98 and 100, the connection at side wall 98 being at aperture 102 via screw 104 which threads into threaded aperture 106 in the end of bracket 92. Thus, springs 88 and 90 support bracket 78 and keep roller 70 from coming into contact with the print bed.

The roller '70 is preloaded by compression spring 108 which is concentrically disposed over aperture 110 of bracket 7%. Screw H2 is inserted through aperture llll] and spring 108 and threaded into nut 114. The preloading action is effected by tightening nut I14 onto screw 112 to compress spring 108..

The minimum distance or clearance of print roller 70 with respect to the print bed is established by screw 116 which is threaded into threaded aperture 118 in bracket 92 and locked into position by lock nut 120. Screw 116 bears on the flat, smooth upper surface of nut I14 and the amount that it is threaded into aperture 118 determines the minimum clearance of the roller 70 with respect to the print bed.

The U-shaped bracket 78 includes two square, U- shaped cutouts at 122 and 124 which are disposed against a cam shaft I26 at I23 and 130 respectively. The action of springs 88 and is such as to keep the lower edges of the U-shaped portions 122 and 124 in constant contact with cam shaft 1126.

Cam shaft 126 includes a cammed surface 132 which is a flattened portion disposed at the periphery of the shaft along the entire length thereof. When the cammed portion I32 engages the lower edges of the U- shaped portions 122 and 124 the bracket 78 and thus roller 70 are in their lower, printing position. However, when shaft I26 is rotated by means which will be described in more detail hereinafter, the circular portion of the periphery of shaft I26 engages the lower edges of U-shaped portions 122 and 1126 to lower these portions and thereby raise the bracket 78 and print roller 70 to a non-printing position, the pivot point for bracket 78 being screw 116.

The rotation of cam shaft 126 is effected by a striker member 134 having

striker legs

136 and 138. The striker legs engage posts, one of which is indicated in phantom lines at I46 in FIG. 8. Another such post would be disposed at the opposite end of the print bed whereby coaction of the striker 136 with the post at the opposite end of the bed would raise the print roller 70 while coaction of the striker 1138 with post 140 lowers the print roller into printing position. Such coaction of strikers with posts to effect a raising or lowering action within an imprinting head are known to those of ordinary skill in this art and do not form a part of this invention.

The cam shaft I26 is mounted at side plate 98 in journal box I42, a similar type mounting also being provided at side plate as indicated in FIG. 8. Also in FIG. 7 there are shown

bearings

144, 146, and 148 which are employed to movably mount the carriage with respect to the print bed as previously indicated in FIG. 3 where roller 144 is disposedabove the print bed and rollers M6 and 148 are mounted below it.

As can best be seen in FIG. 8, the print rollers 70-76 are spaced along cam shaft 126.

Spacers

150, 151, 152, I53, and I54 are mounted on cam shaft 126 and establish the spacing of

brackets

78, 79, 81, and 82 along the length of cam shaft 126 thereby establishing the positions of

print rollers

70 and 76 with respect to the print bed. The position of rollers 70-76 within their respective brackets is effected by

spacers

156, 158, 160, 162, 164, I66, 168, and 170. Spacers I56 and 158 for roller 70 are also shown in FIG. 7 and are mounted on shaft 76.

In operation, the minimum clearance or distance between the print roller 76 and the print bed is established by placing the print roller assembly carriage in its start position so that cam shaft 126 is rotated to that position whereby the cammed portion 132 engages the lower, flat portion of the U-shaped portions 122 and 1241 of bracket 78. A similar coaction occurs with cammmed portion 132 and the U-shaped brackets for the other rollers 72-74. Thus, the following description will be for print roller 70, it being understood that the operation of the remaining print rollers is exactly the same as that of print roller 70.

With bracket 78 engaging cam shaft 126 in the manner described above, the bracket pivots about screw ll 16. Thus, the print roller 70 is lowered into print position and it is at its minimum clearance with respect to the print bed. The minimum clearance can be adjusted by rotating screw 116. If rotated downwardly, the screw presses against the top of nut 114 and pushes bracket 78 downwardly against the upward bias exerted by springs 88 and 90. if screw 116 is screwed upwardly, the top of nut H4 remains in engagement therewith because of the upward bias exerted by springs 88 and 90 whereby the minimum clearance is increased.

The criterion for establishing the minimum clearance is the same as that described hereinbefore with respect to the embodiment of FIGS. 1-6 wherein a blank printing plate and a document of the thickness to be used in the particular paplication are placed on the printing bed and the minimum clearance is decreased to that point where the print roller begins to leave a smudge on the document. The raised characters on the printing plate are then subjected to the full preload of spring 108.

The amount of preload can be adjusted, first, by appropriate selection of the spring 108, and, second, by tightening of the nut 114 onto screw 112. Thus, the preload produced by spring 108 can be limited to a range where the roller 70 will not over pressure the raised characters on the printing plate thereby crushing or otherwise depressing them while at the same time the pressure exerted by the print roller 70 will be sufficient to insure that the print density of the characters imprinted on the document is of a high quality thereby rendering the characters machine readable.

Hence, since each of the print rollers 70-76 are preloaded in the manner described with respect to print roller 70, in operation each of the print rollers will coact with the characters of its associated printing field and as those characters are encountered, the print roller will rise from the print bed against the downward compression exerted by its associated compression spring whereby high quality imprints will be effected for each of the printing fields in spite of wide variations in each of the printing fields as to character heights. Hence, each of the rollers is provided with automatic compensating means with respect to character height variations of its associated print fields. Thus, the compensation is more effectively provided than in certain imprinters of the prior art where compensation is provided for the entire roller assembly by a single compensating means which acts for the entire assembly of rollers.

Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, a further feature of the invention is illustrated whereby more than one preloading spring may be provided for a single print roller as indicated at 172 and 174 in FIG. 7 and 176 and 178 in FIG. 8 to thereby distribute the compensation more evenly over the length of the wide rollers.

Numerous modifications of the invention will become apparent to one of oridnary skill in the art upon reading the foregoing disclosure. During such a reading it will be evident that this invention provides a unique, preloaded imprinter for accomplishing the objects and advantages herein stated.

What is claimed is:

1. An imprinter comprising:

a base having a print bed disposed thereon;

a printing member having at least two rows of raised characters, said printing member being disposed on said print bed;

a document having at least two information fields respectively associated with said two rows of characters, said document being disposed over said printing member;

first and second print roller members respectively associated with said two information fields;

actuator means movably mounted with respect to said base for effecting relative movement between said two print roller members and said printing member;

first means mounted with respect to said actuator for mounting said first print roller member with respect to said actuator means including a first shaft upon which said first print roller member is disposed;

second means mounted with respect to said actuator for mounting said second print roller member with respect to said actuator means including a second shaft upon which said second print roller member is disposed, said second shaft being separate from said first shaft, said first and second mounting means being independently mounted with respect to said actuator and operating independently of one another so that interaction between said first and second print roller members is minimized whenever said print roller members simultaneously coact with their respective associated rows of characters of said printing member and said first and second mounting means aligning said print roller members substantially coaxially',

both of said print roller members being in printing position whenever relative movement in a predetermined direction is effected between said print roller members and said printing member by said actuator means;

preloading means mounted with respect to at least one of said first and second mounting means for biasing at least one of said first and second print roller members toward said print bed; and

limit means mounted with respect to said preloading means for establishing the minimum distance that said one print roller member is biased toward said print bed so that said one print roller member is raised from said print bed against the force exerted by said preloading means whenever said one print roller member encounters its associated row of characters raised from said printing member whereby the print quality of the imprinted informa-.

tion associated with said one print roller member is good because of (1) the independent mountings of said first and second print roller members and (2) the compensating action of said preloading means with respect to different printing members, the raised characters of which may vary in height from one printing member to another.

2. An imprinter as in claim 1 where said preloading means includes at least two separate preloading means mounted with respect to and disposed along the axial direction of said one print roller member whereby the preloading effect is substantially evenly distributed over the length of said one print roller.

3. An imprinter as in claim 1 where each of said print roller members has a said preloading means operatively associated therewith.

4-. An imprinter as in claim 1 where said actuator means includes a carriage member having vertical side walls movably mounted with respect to said print bed; and

a first shaft mounted with respect to and extening between the vertical side walls of said carriage.

5. An imprinter as in claim 1 where said second mounting means includes a second bracket having a vertical side wall and being pivotally mounted on said first shaft, said second bracket having an opening therein; and

a tubular member mounted in said opening, said tubular member being concentrically disposed with respect to said second shaft, the inner diameter of said tubular member being greater than the outer diameter of said second shaft, said second print roller member being mounted on said tubular member.

6. An imprinter as in claim 5 where said limit means includes a threaded member disposed between said first and second brackets, said threaded member extending through a non-threaded opening in said first bracket and being threaded into a threaded opening in said second bracket whereby the extend that said member is threaded into said opening corresponds to the minimum distance of said second print roller with respect to said print bed.

7. An imprinter as in claim 6 where said preloading means includes a compression spring disposed about said 8. An imprinter as in claim 3 where said preloading means includes a first screw extending through a non-threaded opening in said bracket;

a nut threaded onto the threaded portion of said screw; and

a compression spring disposed about said screw and between said bracket and said nut.

9. An imprinter as in claim 8 where said limit means includes a screw threaded through an opening in said carriage member, said screw bearing on said nut of the preloading means.

10. An imprinter comprising:

a base having a print bed disposed thereon;

actuator means for effecting relative movement between said two print roller members and said printing member;

a mounting member mounted with respect to said relative movement effecting means;

first means mounted with respect to said mounting member for pivotally mounting said first print roller member with respect to said mounting member;

second means mounted with respect to said mounting member for pivotally mounting said second print roller member with respect to said mounting member, said first and second mounting means pivotally operating independently of one another so that interaction between said first and second print roller members is minimized whenever said print rollers simultaneously coact with their respective associated rows of characters of said printing member and said first and second mounting means aligning said print roller members substantially coaxially;

both of said print roller members being in printing position whenever relative movement in a predetermined direction is effected between said print roller members and said printing member by said actuator means.

11. An imprinter as in claim 10 including preloading means including compression spring means extending between said actuator means and at least one of said first and second mounting means for biasing at least one of said first and second print roller members toward said print bed; and

limit means associated with said actuator means for establishing the minimum distance that said one print roller member is biased toward said print bed so that said one print roller is raised from said print bed against the force exerted by said preloading means whenever said one print roller member encounters its associated row of characters raised from said printing member whereby the print quality of the imprinted information associated with said one print roller is good because of (l) the independent mountings of said first and second print roller members and (2) the compensating action of said preloading means with respect to different printing members, the raised characters of which may vary in height from one printing member to another.

12. An imprinter comprising:

a base having a print bed disposed thereon;

actuator means movably mounted with respect to said base for effecting relative movement between said two print roller members and said printing member, said actuator means including a carriage member having vertical side walls movably mounted with respect to said print bed, and a first shaft mounted with respect to and extending between the vertical side walls of said carriage;

first means for mounting said first print roller member with respect to said actuator means, said first mounting means including a first bracket having vertical side walls and being pivotally mounted on said first shaft, a second shaft extending between the vertical side walls of said first bracket, said first print roller member being mounted on said second shaft, means for biasing said first bracket upwardly about said first shaft, and means for limiting the uppermost position of said first bracket;

second means mounted on said first shaft for mounting said second print roller member with respect to said actuator means, said first and second mounting means operating independently of one another so that interaction between said first and second print roller members is minimized whenever said print rollers simultaneously coact with their respective associated rows of characters of said printing member;

both of said print roller members being in printing position wher iever relative movement in a predetermined direction is effected between said print roller members and said printing member by said actuator means;

limit means mounted with respect to said preloading means for establishing the minimum distance that said one print roller member is biased toward said print bed so that said one print roller member is raised from said print bed against the force exerted by said preloading means whenever said one print roller member encounters its associated row of characters raised from said printing member whereby the print quality of the imprinted information associated with said one print roller member is good because of l) the independent mountings of said first and second print roller members and (2) the compensating action of said preloading means with respect to different printing members, the raised characters of which may vary in height from one printing member to another.

13. An imprinter comprising:

a base having a print bed disposed thereon;

first means mounted with respect to said actuator for mounting said first print roller member with respect to said actuator means;

second means mounted with respect to said actuator for mounting said second print roller member with respect to said actuator means, said first and second mounting means operating independently of one another so that interaction between said first and second print roller members is minimized whenever said print rollers simultaneously coact with their respective associated rows of characters of said printing member;

said first and second mounting means being disposed at different locations along the length of said first shaft and where each said first and second mounting means includes a bracket having vertical side walls and being pivotally on said first shaft, a sec- 65 biasing said bracket upwardly about said first shaft;

both of said print roller members being in printing position whenever relative movement in a predetel-mined direction is effected between said print 5 roller members and said printing member by said actuator means;

limit means mounted with respect to said preloading means for establishing the minimum distance that said one print roller member is biased toward said print bed so that said one print roller member is raised from said print bed against the force exerted by said preloading means whenever said one print roller member encounters its associated row of characters raised from said printing member whereby the print quality of the imprinted information associated with said one print roller member is good because of 1) the independent mountings of said first and second print roller members and (2) the compensating action of said preloading means with respect to different printing members, the raised characters of which may vary in height from one printing member to another.

14. An imprinter as in claim where said actuator means includes a carriage member having vertical side walls movably mounted with respect to said print bed; and

a first shaft mounted with respect to and extending between the vertical side walls of said carriage.

15. An imprinter as in claim 14 where said first mounting means includes a first bracket having vertical side walls and being pivotally mounted on said first shaft;

a second shaft extending between the vertical side walls of said first bracket, said first print roller member being mounted on said second shaft;

means mounted on said actuator means for biasing said first bracket upwardly about said first shaft; and

means mounted on said actuator means for limiting the uppermost position of said first bracket.

16. An imprinter as in claim 15 where said second mounting means includes a second bracket having a vertical side wall and being pivotally mounted on said first shaft, said second bracket having an opening therein; and

17. An imprinter as in claim 16 where said limit means includes a threaded member disposed between said first and second brackets, said threaded member extending through a non-threaded opening in said first bracket and being threaded into a threaded opening in said second bracket whereby the extent that said member is threaded into said opening corresponds to the minimum distance of said second print roller with respect to said print bed.

18. An imprinter as in claim 17 where said preloading means includes a compression spring disposed about said threaded member and between said first and second brackets.

19. An imprinter as in claim 14 where said first and second mounting means are disposed at different locations along the length of said first shaft and where each said first and second mounting means includes a bracket having vertical side walls and being pivotally on said first shaft;

a second shaft extending between the vertical sidewalls of said bracket, one of said print roller members being mounted on said second shaft; and

means mounted on said actuator means for biasing said bracket upwardly about said first shaft.

20. An imprinter as in claim 19 where said preloading means includes a first screw extending through a non-threaded opening in said bracket;

a nut threaded onto the threaded portion of said screw; and

21. An imprinter as in claim 20 where said limit means includes a screw threaded through an opening in said carriage member, said screw bearing on said nut of the preloading means.

22. An imprinter as in claim 1 where said first and second shafts are slightly longer than said first and second print rollers.

23. An imprinter as in claim 19 where each said second shaft is slightly longer than its associated print roller member.

Claims

1. An imprinter comprising: a base having a print bed disposed thereon; a printing member having at least two rows of raised characters, said printing member being disposed on said print bed; a document having at least two information fields respectively associated with said two rows of characters, said document being disposed over said printing member; first and second print roller members respectively associated with said two information fields; actuator means movably mounted with respect to said base for effecting relative movement between said two print roller members and said printing member; first means mounted with respect to said actuator for mounting said first print roller member with respect to said actuator means including a first shaft upon which said first print roller member is disposed; second means mounted with respect to said actuator for mounting said second print roller member with respect to said actuator means including a second shaft upon which said second print roller member is disposed, said second shaft being separate from said first shaft, said first and second mounting means being independently mounted with respect to said actuator and operating independently of one another so that interaction between said first and second print roller members is minimized whenever said print roller members simultaneously coact with their respective associated rows of characters of said printing member and said first and second mounting means aligning said print roller members substantially coaxially; both of said print roller members being in printing position whenever relative movement in a predetermined direction is effected between said print roller members and said printing member by said actuator means; preloading means mounted with respect to at least one of said first and second mounting means for biasing at least one of said first and second print roller members toward said print bed; and limit means mounted with respect to said preloading means for establishing the minimum distance that said one print roller member is biased toward said print bed so that said one print roller member is raised from said print bed against the force exerted by said preloading means whenever said one print roller member encounters its associated row of characters raised from said printing member whereby the print quality of the imprinted information associated with said one print roller member is good because of (1) the independent mountings of said first and second print roller members and (2) the compensating action of said preloading means with respect to dIfferent printing members, the raised characters of which may vary in height from one printing member to another.

4. An imprinter as in claim 1 where said actuator means includes a carriage member having vertical side walls movably mounted with respect to said print bed; and a first shaft mounted with respect to and extening between the vertical side walls of said carriage.

5. An imprinter as in claim 1 where said second mounting means includes a second bracket having a vertical side wall and being pivotally mounted on said first shaft, said second bracket having an opening therein; and a tubular member mounted in said opening, said tubular member being concentrically disposed with respect to said second shaft, the inner diameter of said tubular member being greater than the outer diameter of said second shaft, said second print roller member being mounted on said tubular member.

7. An imprinter as in claim 6 where said preloading means includes a compression spring disposed about said

8. An imprinter as in claim 3 where said preloading means includes a first screw extending through a non-threaded opening in said bracket; a nut threaded onto the threaded portion of said screw; and a compression spring disposed about said screw and between said bracket and said nut.

10. An imprinter comprising: a base having a print bed disposed thereon; a printing member having at least two rows of raised characters, said printing member being disposed on said print bed; a document having at least two information fields respectively associated with said two rows of characters, said document being disposed over said printing member; first and second print roller members respectively associated with said two information fields; actuator means for effecting relative movement between said two print roller members and said printing member; a mounting member mounted with respect to said relative movement effecting means; first means mounted with respect to said mounting member for pivotally mounting said first print roller member with respect to said mounting member; second means mounted with respect to said mounting member for pivotally mounting said second print roller member with respect to said mounting member, said first and second mounting means pivotally operating independently of one another so that interaction between said first and second print roller members is minimized whenever said print rollers simultaneously coact with their respective associated rows of characters of said printing member and said first and second mounting means aligning said print roller members substantially coaxially; both of said print roller members being in printing position whenever relative movement in a predetermined direction is effected between said print roller members and said printing member by said actuator means.

11. An imprinter as in claim 10 including preloading means including compression spring means extending between said actuator means and at least one of said first and second mounting means for biasing at least one of said first and second print roller members toward said print bed; and limit means associated with said actuator means for establishing the minimum distance that said one print roller member is biased toward said print bed so that said one print roller is raised from said print bed against the force exerted by said preloading means whenever said one print roller member encounters its associated row of characters raised from said printing member whereby the print quality of the imprinted information associated with said one print roller is good because of (1) the independent mountings of said first and second print roller members and (2) the compensating action of said preloading means with respect to different printing members, the raised characters of which may vary in height from one printing member to another.

12. An imprinter comprising: a base having a print bed disposed thereon; a printing member having at least two rows of raised characters, said printing member being disposed on said print bed; a document having at least two information fields respectively associated with said two rows of characters, said document being disposed over said printing member; first and second print roller members respectively associated with said two information fields; actuator means movably mounted with respect to said base for effecting relative movement between said two print roller members and said printing member, said actuator means including a carriage member having vertical side walls movably mounted with respect to said print bed, and a first shaft mounted with respect to and extending between the vertical side walls of said carriage; first means for mounting said first print roller member with respect to said actuator means, said first mounting means including a first bracket having vertical side walls and being pivotally mounted on said first shaft, a second shaft extending between the vertical side walls of said first bracket, said first print roller member being mounted on said second shaft, means for biasing said first bracket upwardly about said first shaft, and means for limiting the uppermost position of said first bracket; second means mounted on said first shaft for mounting said second print roller member with respect to said actuator means, said first and second mounting means operating independently of one another so that interaction between said first and second print roller members is minimized whenever said print rollers simultaneously coact with their respective associated rows of characters of said printing member; both of said print roller members being in printing position whenever relative movement in a predetermined direction is effected between said print roller members and said printing member by said actuator means; preloading means mounted with respect to at least one of said first and second mounting means for biasing at least one of said first and second print roller members toward said print bed; and limit means mounted with respect to said preloading means for establishing the minimum distance that said one print roller member is biased toward said print bed so that said one print roller member is raised from said print bed against the force exerted by said preloading means whenever said one print roller member encounters its associated row of characters raised from said printing member whereby the print quality of the imprinted information associated with said one print roller member is good because of (1) the independent mountings of said first and second print roller members and (2) the compensating action of said preloading means with respect to different printing members, the raised characters of which may vary in height from one printing member to another.

13. An imprinter comprising: a base having a print bed disposed thereon; a printing member having at least two rows of raised characters, said printing member being disposed on said print bed; a document having at least two information fields respectively associated with said two rows of characters, said document being disposed over said printing member; first and second print roller members respectively associated with said two information fields; actuator means movably mounted with respect to said base for effecting relative movement between said two print roller members and said printing member, said actuator means including a carriage member having vertical side walls movably mounted with respect to said print bed, and a first shaft mounted with respect to and extending between the vertical side walls of said carriage; first means mounted with respect to said actuator for mounting said first print roller member with respect to said actuator means; second means mounted with respect to said actuator for mounting said second print roller member with respect to said actuator means, said first and second mounting means operating independently of one another so that interaction between said first and second print roller members is minimized whenever said print rollers simultaneously coact with their respective associated rows of characters of said printing member; said first and second mounting means being disposed at different locations along the length of said first shaft and where each said first and second mounting means includes a bracket having vertical side walls and being pivotally on said first shaft, a second shaft extending between the vertical sidewalls of said bracket, one of said print roller members being mounted on said second shaft, and means for biasing said bracket upwardly about said first shaft; both of said print roller members being in printing position whenever relative movement in a predetermined direction is effected between said print roller members and said printing member by said actuator means; preloading means mounted with respect to at least one of said first and second mounting means for biasing at least one of said first and second print roller members toward said print bed; and limit means mounted with respect to said preloading means for establishing the minimum distance that said one print roller member is biased toward said print bed so that said one print roller member is raised from said print bed against the force exerted by said preloading means whenever said one print roller member encounters its associated row of characters raised from said printing member whereby the print quality of the imprinted information associated with said one print roller member is good because of (1) the independent mountings of said first and second print roller members and (2) the compensating action of said preloading means with respect to different printing members, the raised characters of which may vary in height from one printing member to another.

14. An imprinter as in claim 10 where said actuator means includes a carriage member having vertical side walls movably mounted with respect to said print bed; and a first shaft mounted with respect to and extending between the vertical side walls of said carriage.

15. An imprinter as in claim 14 where said first mounting means includes a first bracket having vertical side walls and being pivotally mounted on said first shaft; a second shaft extending between the vertical side walls of said first bracket, said first print roller member being mounted on said second shaft; means mounted on said actuator means for biasing said first bracket upwardly about said first shaft; and means mounted on said actuator means for limiting the uppermost position of said first bracket.

16. An imprinter as in claim 15 where said second mounting means includes a second bracket having a vertical side wall and beIng pivotally mounted on said first shaft, said second bracket having an opening therein; and a tubular member mounted in said opening, said tubular member being concentrically disposed with respect to said second shaft, the inner diameter of said tubular member being greater than the outer diameter of said second shaft, said second print roller member being mounted on said tubular member.

19. An imprinter as in claim 14 where said first and second mounting means are disposed at different locations along the length of said first shaft and where each said first and second mounting means includes a bracket having vertical side walls and being pivotally on said first shaft; a second shaft extending between the vertical sidewalls of said bracket, one of said print roller members being mounted on said second shaft; and means mounted on said actuator means for biasing said bracket upwardly about said first shaft.

20. An imprinter as in claim 19 where said preloading means includes a first screw extending through a non-threaded opening in said bracket; a nut threaded onto the threaded portion of said screw; and a compression spring disposed about said screw and between said bracket and said nut.