US3844396A

US3844396A - Printing upon and encoding identification devices

Info

Publication number: US3844396A
Application number: US00401662A
Authority: US
Inventors: W Davis; B Jensen
Original assignee: Bio Logics Products Inc
Current assignee: Bio Logics Products Inc
Priority date: 1972-02-02
Filing date: 1973-09-28
Publication date: 1974-10-29
Anticipated expiration: 1991-10-29

Abstract

Apparatus and methods for printing upon and encoding identification devices, said apparatus comprising a plurality of polygonal wheels, encoding dies carried by each surface of said wheels for printing upon and encoding said identification device, an impressing head, retaining structure for releasably retaining an identification device on said impressing head, an actuator for moving said impressing head into and out of a position wherein said encoding dies will impress indicia in an identification device carried by said retaining means, an indexing mechanism operable by said actuator for sequentially advancing at least some of said wheels, disabling structure for temporarily disabling said indexing mechanism, and manually operable linkage for sequentially advancing said wheels.

Description

United States Patent 11 1 Davis et a1.

1451 Oct. 29, 1974 1 PRINTING UPON AND ENCODING IDENTIFICATION DEVICES [75] Inventors: William P. Davis, Salt Lake City;

Billy M. Jensen, Sandy, both of Utah [73] Assignee: Bio-Logics Products Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah 22 Filed: Sept. 28, 1973 21 Appl. N6; 401,662

Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation of Ser. No. 222,801, Feb. 2, 1972,

abandoned.

[52] US. Cl 197/l.5, 101/78, 234/35, 101/19 [51] Int. Cl B41] 3/50 [58] Field of Search 197/l.5, 1.6; 234/3537; 101/19, 76-78, 95, 96; 346/66 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 703,335 6/1902 Cottrill 101/95 1,430,014 9/1922 Hyman 234/35 X 1,727,471 9/1929 Lasker 234/37 X 2,293,713 8/1942 Connor 234/35 X 2,697,396 12/1954 Gollwitzer et a1. 101/19 2,768,691 10/1956 Cooper et a1. 101/19 2,874,632 2/1959 Collins 101/19 2,923,234 2/1960 Werner et al.... 101/96 X 2,943,559 7/1960 Rothmann 101/19 2,981,179 4/1961 Schwend .L 101/19 x 3,020,116 2 1962 Pudelko 101/19 x 3,036,519 5/1962 Sloan et al,... 101/19 3,036,520 5/1962 Bone 101/19 x 3,046,877 7/1962 Sanke 101/76 3,055,292 9 1962 Byland 101 19 3,095,807 7/1963 Bone 101/19 3,331,483 7/1967 Hohmann 197/15 3,461,797 8/1969 Trab et a1. 101/96 3,636,871 1/1972 Speicher 101 95 Primary Examiner-Robert E. Pulfrey Assistant Examiner-E. H. Eickholt [5 7] ABSTRACT Apparatus and methods for printing upon and encoding identification devices, said apparatus comprising a plurality of polygonal wheels, encoding dies carried by each surface of said wheels for printing upon and encoding said identification device, an impressing head, retaining structure for releasably retaining an identification device on said impressing head, an actuator for moving said impressing head into and out of a position wherein said encoding dies will impress indicia in an identification device carried by said retaining means, an indexing mechanism operable by said actuator for sequentially advancing at least some of said wheels, disabling structure for temporarily disabling said indexing mechanism, and manually operable linkage for sequentially advancing said wheels.

8 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEDUCI 29 I914 saw so: 3

' mums FIG. 4

PRINTING UPON AND ENCODING IDENTIFICATION DEVICES This application is a continuation of US. Pat. application Ser. No. 222,801, filed Feb. 2, 1972, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND l. Field of Invention This invention relates to identification systems and is particularly directed to means for encoding and/or printing upon an identification device and the like whereby the device bears both machineand humanreadable indicia.

As is well known, the use of automatic equipment has become common in numerous fields of technology and computers are often employed to actuate or control the operation of such equipment and to relate data resulting from such operation with additional data obtained from other sources. When this is done, it is frequently necessary to provide some means, such as a tag, for identifying a particular object during one or more such operations and for relating the particular object with other objects or data. It is generally preferable that the identification device be readable both by humans and by machine.

One field in which such automation, identification and relation are becoming increasingly important is the field of medicine. Thus, in hospitals and the like, it is becoming standard practice to provide a patient with an identification bracelet or the like, which is permanently attached to the patient and bears indicia upon an identification device thereof, which indicia is readable by both humans and machines and which can be reproduced, in one manner or another to identify specimens, samples, reports, and the like relating to the particular patient.

2. Prior Art Numerous devices have been proposed heretofore for encoding such identification devices. However, most of the prior art encoding devices have been relatively bulky, complex and expensive or having resulted in inaccurate correlation with the patient. Furthermore, many of the prior art encoding devices have served to encode the identification devices with indicia which were readable either by humans or by machine, but not both.

BRIEF SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF INVENTION These disadvantages of the prior art are overcome with the present invention and a system, including method and apparatus, for printing upon and encoding an identification device is provided which is simple, compact and inexpensive, causing the identification devices to bear indicia which are readable by both machines and humans.

The advantages of the present invention are preferably attained by providing an encoding apparatus comprising a plurality of encoding wheels, encoding means carried by each edge surface of said wheels for encoding an identification device, an impressinghead, retaining means for releasably retaining the identification device on said impressing head, actuating means for relatively moving said impressing head intoand outof a position wherein said encoding means will impress indicia in an identification device carried by said retaining means, advancing or indexing means operable by said actuating means for sequentially advancing at least some of said wheels, and, in one preferred embodiment, disabling means for temporarily disabling said advancing or indexing means, and manually operable means for sequentially advancing said wheels.

Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide improved method and apparatus for encoding identification devices.

Another important object of the present invention is to provide apparatus for encoding identification devices which apparatus is simple, compact and inexpensive.

A further paramount object of the present invention is to provide apparatus for encoding identification de vices with indicia which are readable by both machines and humans.

A specific object of the present invention is to provide apparatus for encoding identification devices, said apparatus comprising a plurality of polygonal wheels, encoding means carried by each edge surface of said wheels for encoding an identification device, an impressing head, retaining means for releasably retaining an identification device on said impressing head, actuating means for moving said impressing head into and out of a position wherein said encoding means will impress inidicia in an identification device carried by said retaining means, advancing means operable by said actuating means for sequentially advancing at least some of said wheels, disabling means for temporarily disabling said advancing means, and manually operable means for sequentially advancing said wheels.

These and other objects and features of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description, taken with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an isometric view of an encoding device embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the encoding device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal section through the encoding device of FIG. 1, taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a transverse section through the encoding device of FIG. 1, taken on the line.44 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a detail of the device of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 is an isometric view of the encoding head of the device of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENT In that form of the present invention chosen for purposes of illustration, FIGS. 1 and 2 show an encoding device, indicated generally at 2, having an encoding unit 4 mounted on a housing 6. A retaining unit Sis .mounted'on the housing 6 infront of the encoding unit face thereof and an actuating handle 26 projects through an opening 28 located generally centrally of the top 30 of housing 6. The top 30 of the housing 6 has a downwardly inclined front portion 32 and an AD- VANCE REPEAT switch 34 is mounted at a suitable location on the front portion 32.

As seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, the housing 6 and encoding unit 4 contain the mechanism for accomplishing the encoding of the identification device 10. Within the encoding unit 4, a plurality of code wheels 36 are rotatably mounted on a shaft 38 extending transversely across the encoding unit 4. As shown, each of the code wheels 36 is a decagonal disc having l edge surfaces 40 and each of the edge surfaces 40 is provided with an impression head or die 42, bearing raised indicia in alphanumeric form, and one or more punches 44 projecting perpendicular to the edge surface 40. In addition, each of the code wheels 36 is provided with l0 laterally projecting studs 46 arranged in a circle concentric with the wheel 36 and each positioned along a radius of the wheel 36 passing through the center of a respective one of the edge surfaces 40. Preferably, at least some of the wheels 36 are also provided with a laterally projecting hub 48 which is concentric with the wheel 36 and has a recess 50 formed in one side thereof, for purposes which will be discussed later. Preferably, alphanumeric indicia, not shown, are provided on the edge surfaces 40 of the encoding wheels 36 so as to be visible to the operator through a window 35 formed in the encoding unit 4. These indicia are arranged so that the indicia appearing in the window 35 corresponds to the punches 44 and indicia 42 on the edge surfaces 40 which are in position for encoding.

The actuating handle 26 has a generally cylindrical portion 52 formed at the inner end thereof which is rotatably mounted on a shaft 54 extending transversely of the housing 4. A plurality of generally semicircular recesses 56 are formed in the lower half of the cylindrical portion 52 of actuating handle 26 and a plurality of advancing arms 58 are each secured, as by pin 60 in a respective one of the semicircular recesses 56 and extends rearwardly to a point adjacent a respective one of the encoding wheels 36. Each of the advancing arms 58 is formed with a generally triangular head 62 having a vertical front surface 64 each projecting upwardly a respective distance from the associated advancing arm 58 and having an inclined rear surface 66. In addition, each of the advancing arms 58 has a forwardly projecting portion 68 having a rod 70 projecting forwardly therefrom to a point adjacent the inclined front portion 32 of the housing 6. A spring 72, or the like, has one end thereof connected to the portion 68 of the advancing arm 58 and the other end connected to a suitable point on the housing 6. The spring 72 serves to bias the actuating arm 58 about the pin 60 to cause the head 62 of the actuating arm 58 to engage the studs 46 of the encoding wheels 36. The ADVANCE REPEAT switch 34 has a shaft 74 which projects through an opening 76 in the front portion 32 of the housing 6 and a bar 78 is secured to the inner end of the shaft 74 for rotation therewith between a first position, out of engagement with the rods 70, as shown, and a second position wherein the bar 78 engages the rods 70 and urges the portion 68 of the advancing arms 58 against the bias of spring 72 to cause the heads 62 of the advancing arms 58 to disengage from the studs 46 of the encoding wheels 36. If desired, spacer plates 75 may be provided extending between adjacent ones of the encoding wheels to assure proper positioning of the encoding wheels 36 and to prevent particles removed by the punches 44 from falling into the encoding unit 4. The spacer plates are fixedly mounted on shaft 77.

Each of the advancing keys 22 is pivotally secured to a shaft 80 extending transversely of the encoding unit 4 and each of the advancing keys 22 carries an advancing finger 82 which is pivotally secured to the advancing key 22 and is provided with a bifurcated end 84 positioned to engage the studs 46 of a respective one of the encoding wheels 36. The advancing fingers 82 are also provided with upwardly projecting portions 86 and springs 88 are connected between the portions 86 and suitable points on the housing of the encoding unit 4 to bias the ends84 of the advancing fingers 82 toward the studs 46. In addition, a plurality of stop members 90 are pivotally mounted on a shaft 92 which extends transversely through the encoding unit 4; The stop members 90 are each provided with a laterally projecting, pointed tooth 94 which extends into engagement with the studs 46 of a respective one of the encoding wheels 36. Springs 96 extend between the lower ends 98 of the stop members and suitable points on the housing of the encoding unit 4 and serve to urge the teeth 94 of the stop members 90 into engagement with the studs 46 of the encoding wheels 36.

The retaining member 8 is mounted on the rear face 100 of an encoding head 102 which is slidably mounted on tracks 104 formed in a pair of support members 106 which are mounted in spaced, facing relation within the housing 6. The enCOding head 102 is formed with a projection 108 and a drive link 110 has one end pivotally connected to the projection 108, as by pin 112, while the other end of drive link 110 is pivotally connected by pin 114 to the cylindrical portion 52 of the actuating handle 26, as shown. The rear face 100 of the encoding head 102 is formed with a recess 116 to permit the identification device 10 to be inserted between the retaining member 8 and the rear surface 100 of the encoding head 102. As best seen in FIG. 6, the rear face 100 of the encoding head 102 is formed with a plurality of slots 118 extending vertically thereacross. These slots 118 serve to receive the punches 44 of the encoding wheels 36' to facilitate punching of the identification device 10. A resilient clip 120 is secured to the rear of the retaining member 8 to releasably retain the typewriter ribbon 16.

FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate the mechanism of the

typewriter ribbon reels

12 and 14. As shown, the ribbon supply reel 12 comprises a spindle 122 having an upper portion 124 of reduced diameter which projects through an opening 126 in the top 30 of the housing 6 and serves to rotatably receive a spool 128 containing the typewriter ribbon 16. A dust cover 130, of generally disc-shape, extends over the typewriter ribbon l6 and is releasably secured to the spindle 122 by suitable means, such as thumb screw 132. The ribbon take-up reel 14 comprises a spool 134 having a shaft 136 projecting downwardly therefrom through an opening 138 formed in the top 30 of the housing 6 and a ratchet wheel 140 is fixedly secured to the shaft 136 by suitable means, such as set screw 142. A pawl 144 has one end 146 thereof formed for engagement with the teeth 148 or ratchet wheel 140, while the other end 150 of the pawl 144 is secured by pin 60 to the cylindrical portion 52 of the actuating handle 26, as seen in FIG. 3. A resilient stop dog 152 is mounted on the housing 6 and extends into engagement with the ratchet wheel 140 to prevent the ratchet wheel 140 from rotating in a reverse direction. Finally, a disc-like dust cover 154 extends over the typewriter ribbon l6 and is releasably secured to the spool 134 by suitable means, such as thumb screw 156.

In use, an identification device 10, formed of frangible material, is inserted into the recess 116 between the encoding head 102 and the retaining member 8. Next the advancing keys 22 are actuated to rotate each of the encoding wheels 36 until the punches 44 and impression head 42 on a desired one of the edge surfaces 40 are in position for the encoding operation. It will be seen that, when the operator manually depresses any of the advancing keys 22, the associated one of the advancing fingers 82 will be forced downward, causing the bifurcated end 84 to engage the studs 46 of the encoding wheel 36 and to rotate the encoding wheel 36 so that the edge surfaces 40 are advanced one position with each depression of the advancing key 22. Upon release of the advancing key 22, spring 88 returns the advancing key 22 to its original position.

When several of the identification devices 10 are to be encoded with the same identification indicia, the ADVANCE REPEAT switch 34 is set to the Repeat position, wherein bar 78 engages the rods 70 of the advancing arms 58 and biases the heads 62 of the advancing arms 58 out of position to engage the studs 46 of the encoding wheels 36. Thereafter, the actuating handle 26 is depressed. This rotates the cylindrical portion 52 of the actuating handle 26 and causes drive link 110 to drive the encoding head 102 into firm engagement with the encoding wheels 36. When this is done, the punches 44 on the encoding wheels 34 will punch through the identification device 10 to provide coded apertures in the identification device 10 which, subsequently, may be read by an optical reading machine or the like. At the same time, the impression heads 42 of the encoding wheels 36 will bear against the identification device 10 through the typewriter ribbon 16 to provide inked and embossed alphanumeric indicia in the identification device 10 which can be read by humans. The actuating handle 26 is then raised to retract the encoding head 102 and the coded identification device 10 is removed. These steps are repeated until the desired number of identically coded identification devices 10 have been obtained.

Where it is desired to encode the identification devices 10 with sequential indicia, the ADVANCE RE- PEAT switch 34 is placed in the Advance position, wherein the bar 78 is withdrawn from engagement with the rods 70 of the advancing arms 58. Accordingly, when the actuating handle 26 is depressed, the pins 60 on the cylindrical portion 52 of the actuating handle 26 will cause the advancing arms 58 to be moved rearwardly. As this happens, the inclined surfaces 66 of the heads 62 of the advancing arms 58 will bear against the studs 46 of the encoding wheels 36 and will force the heads 62 downward. However, as the advancing arms 58 continue to move rearward, the upper ends of the inclined surfaces 66 will pass beyond the studs 46, whereupon, the springs 72 will bias the heads 62 upward. Thereafter, as the actuating handle 26 is raised, the advancing arms 58 will be moved forward. When this happens, the surfaces 64 of the heads 62 will engage the studs 46 and will serve to rotate the encoding wheels 36 one position.

As seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, the hubs 48 are provided on all of the encoding wheels 36. The three arms 58 ad- 5 jacent the right side are coupled for vertical movement together. The hubs 48 of the encoding wheels are all of the same diameter. With ten-sided encoding wheels 36, as shown, each of the edge surfaces 40 corresponds to a digit from zero to nine and the hubs 48 are oriented so that the recesses lie between the studs 46 corresponding with the ninth and zeroth positions. Thus, as the rightmost one of the encoding wheels 36 is advanced through positions one to nine, the heads 62 of the first advancing arm 58 will engage the hub 48 and the heads 62 of the advancing arms 58 will be prevented from moving fully upward. Consequently, as seen in FIG. 3, the heads 62 of the second and third advancing arms 58 will be prevented from engaging the studs 46 of the second and third encoding wheels 36 and only the rightmost one of the encoding wheels 36 will be sequentially advanced. However, when the rightmost one of the encoding wheels 36 is moved into the ninth position, the head 62 of the first advancing arm 58 will fall into the recess 50 of hub 48, whereupon the head 62 of the second advancing arm 58 is permitted to engage the studs 46 of the second encoding wheel 36. Thus, as the first encoding wheel 36 is moved from the ninth to the zeroth position, the second encoding wheel 36 is moved from the zeroth to the first position to represent the numeral. l0." On the next operation of the actuating handle 26, the head 62 of the rightmost advancing arm 58 will again engage the hub 48 of the rightmost encoding wheel 36, with the result that only the rightmost encoding wheel 36 will be ad vanced and the numeral ll will be encoded. The foregoing actions will be repeated until the numeral 99 is reached. When this occurs, the hubs 48 of both the first and second encoding wheels 36 will be oriented to present the recesses 50 to the heads 62 of the advancing arms 58. As a result, on the next operation of the actuating handle 26, the heads 62 of all three of the advancing arms 58 will engage the studs 46 of the associated encoding wheels 36 and] all three of the encoding wheels 36 will be advanced to encodethe numeral 100.

In a preferred medical embodiment of the invention, the identification device 10 is slip fit at the split collar thereof upon a specimen tube intended to contain a test sample taken from a hospital or like patient. The patient is assigned a number for identification purposes, and each item in the hospital, such as the test sample, having to do with the patient is also identified by the same number so as to correlate the two. While much hospital equipment accommodates machine reading of code including patient identification numbers, it is often desirable for hospital and like personnel to be able to read by eye the same information. Thus, by duel encoding of the identification device with human readable and machine-readable identification information using the described encoder/printer in the indicated manner, both ends are achieved. This can be done either while the identification device is secured to the specimen tube or not.

Obviously, the number of encoding wheels 36 provided with hubs 48 and, in fact, the number of the encoding wheels 36 themselves, may be varied as desired. Moreover, numerous other variations and modifications may be made without departing from the present invention. Accordingly, it should be clearly understood that the form of the present invention described above and shown in the accompanying drawings is illustrative only and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is: 1. Apparatus for encoding an identification device, said apparatus comprising:

a plurality of wheels, encoding means carried at spaced locations on the edge surface of said wheels for encoding an identification device, an impressing head, retaining means for releasably retaining an identification device on said impressing head, actuating means for relatively moving said impressing head into and out of a position in respect to said wheels wherein said encoding means will impress indicia in the identification device carried by said retaining means, advancing means operable by said actuating means for sequentially advancing at least some of said wheels, disabling means for selectively disabling said advancing means whereby indicia at one location on the wheel will be repeatedly impressed on the identification device upon repeated operation of said actuating means, manually operable means for advancing said wheels independently of said advancing means, and means preventing free rotation of said wheels while permitting said wheels to be sequentially advanced by either said advancing means operable by said I actuating means or by said manually operable means for sequentially advancing said wheels. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: each said wheel is polygonal in configuration and each flat edge portion thereof contains spaced alphanumeric and code encoding means. 3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein: said encoding means comprises dies for punching code holes through said identification device and means for impressing alphanumeric characters upon the identification device where at least some of the code holes and at least some of the impressed alphanumeric characters represent the same information. 4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein: said encoding means comprises embossing heads for impressing indicia in said identification devices, and means are provided for interposing a printing ribbon between said embossing heads and the identification device to cause said embossing heads to provide inked, embossed indicia in said identification device. 5. Apparatus for encoding an identification device, said apparatus comprising:

a plurality of wheels, encoding means carried at spaced locations on the edge surface of said wheels for encoding an identification device,

an impressing head,

retaining means for releasably retaining an identification device on said impressing head,

actuating means for relatively moving said impressing head into and out of a position in respect to said wheels wherein said encoding means will impress indicia in the identification device carried by said retaining means,

a plurality of advancing means operable by said actuating means for each serving to advance one of said wheels, said advancing means comprising a plurality of laterally projecting studs disposed in spaced relation on said wheels,

at least one advancing arm mounted for reciprocal movement by said actuating means, and

a head mounted adjacent one end of said advancing arm and formed to engage said studs and to move said studs with said advancing arm only during movement of said advancing arm in one direction,

disabling means for selectively disabling said advancing means,

manually operable means for sequentially advancing said wheels,

studs on each of said wheels disposed in a circle concentric with said wheels, and a hub mounted on one of said wheels and concentric therewith but having a diameter less than that of the circle formed by said studs and having a recess formed in the periphery of said hub disposed between a predetermined pair of said studs; and

means coupling said advancing arms in a manner such that engagement of the head of one of said advancing arms with said hub will prevent the heads of the remaining advancing arms from engaging the studs of the wheels associated with said remaining advancing arms.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, further comprising:

a plurality of said hubs each mounted on an adjacent one of said wheels and each having the same diameter.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

said encoding means comprises dies for punching code holes through said identification device and means for impressing alphanumeric characters upon the identification device where at least some of the code holes and at least some of the impressed alphanumeric characters represent the same information.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

said encoding means comprises embossing heads for impressing indicia in said identification devices, and

means are provided for interposing a printing ribbon between said embossing heads and the identification device to cause said embossing heads to provide inked, embossed indicia in said identification device.

Claims

1. Apparatus for encoding an identification device, said apparatus comprising: a plurality of wheels, encoding means carried at spaced locations on the edge surface of said wheels for encoding an identification device, an impressing head, retaining means for releasably retaining an identification device on said impressing head, actuating means for relatively moving said impressing head into and out of a position in respect to said wheels wherein said encoding means will impress indicia in the identification device carried by said retaining means, advancing means operable by said actuating means for sequentially advancing at least some of said wheels, disabling means for selectively disabling said advancing means whereby indicia at one location on the wheel will be repeatedly impressed on the identification device upon repeated operation of said actuating means, manually operable means for advancing said wheels independently of said advancing means, and means preventing free rotation of said wheels while permitting said wheels to be sequentially advanced by either said advancing means operable by said actuating means or by said manually operable means for sequentially advancing said wheels.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: each said wheel is polygonal in configuration and each flat edge portion thereof contains spaced alphanumeric and code encoding means.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein: said encoding means comprises dies for punching code holes through said identification device and means for impressing alphanumeric characters upon the identification device where at least some of the code holes and at least some of the impressed alphanumeric characters represent the same information.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein: said encoding means comprises embossing heads for impressing indicia in said identification devices, and means are provided for interposing a printing ribbon between said embossing heads and the identification device to cause said embossing heads to provide inked, embossed indicia in said identification device.

5. Apparatus for encoding an identification device, said apparatus comprising: a plurality of wheels, encoding means carried at spaced locations on the edge surface of said wheels for encoding an identification device, an impressing head, retaining means for releasably retaining an identification device on said impressing head, actuating means for relatively moving said impressing head into and out of a position in respect to said wheels wherein said encoding means will impress indicia in the identification device carried by said retaining means, a plurality of advancing means operable by said actuating means for each serving to advance one of said wheels, said advancing means comprising a plurality of laterally projecting studs disposed in spaced relation on said wheels, at least one advancing arm mounted for reciprocal movement by said actuating means, and a head mounted adjacent one end of said advancing arm and formed to engage said studs and to move said studs with said advancing arm only during movement of said advancing arm in one direction, disabling means for selectively disabling said advancing means, manually operable means for sequentially advancing said wheels, studs on each of said wheels disposed in a circle concentric with said wheels, and a hub mounted on one of said wheels and concentric therewith but having a diameter less than that of the circle formed by said studs and having a recess formed in the periphery of said hub disposed between a predetermined pair of said studs; and means coupling said advancing arms in a manner such that engagement of the head of one of said advancing arms with said hub will prevent the heads of the remaining advancing arms from engaging the studs of the wheels associated with said remaining advancing arms.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, further comprising: a plurality of said hubs each mounted on an adjacent one of said wheels and each having the same diameter.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: said encoding means comprises dies for punching code holes through said identification device and means for impressing alphanumeric characters upon the identification device where at least some of the code holes and at least some of the impressed alphanumeric characters represent the same information.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: said encoding means comprises embossing heads for impressing indicia in said identification devices, and means are provided for interposing a printing ribbon between said embossing heads and the identification device to cause said embossing heads to provide inked, embossed indicia in said identification device.