US1768862A - Plate-feeding mechanism for addressing machines - Google Patents

Description

July 1, 1930. A. L. SCHULTZ 1,768,862

I PLATE FEEDING MECHANISM FOR ADDRESSING MACHINES Filed May 17, was v 3Sheets-Sheet 1 F le-. 1

0 A. SCHULTZ PLATE FEEDING MECHANISM FOR ADDRESSING MACHINES Jul 1, 1930.

Filed May 17, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 July 1,, 1930. A. L. SCHULTZ 1,768,862

PLATE FEEDING MECHANISM FOR ADDRESSING MACHINES Filed May 17, 1928, s Sheets-Sheet s gwuentop mww 1/2 Patented July 1, 1%30 arse stares ears tries AUGUST L. SCHULTZ, F CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOB TO THE AMERICAN MULTI- GBAIEH CQMPANZ, OF CLEVELAND, (DI-$10, A CORPGB-ATION OF OHIO PLATE-FEEDING MECHAETIE-ZE Application filed May 17,

This invention relates to an addressing machine wherein there is a magazine of address plates one above the other, the bottommost one of which is fed by a reciprocating slide to printing position. The invention is concerned particularly with automatic mechanism for separating the bottom-most plate from the rest of the stack just preceding the feeding movement, so that it will be entirely free from the stack for movement by the reciprocating mechanism.

My invention is particularly well adapted for address plates of the type shown in Patent No. 1,628,631 of my assignee The American .Multigraph Company. Such aplate is trough shape in cross-section and has upwardly extending corrugations provided with lateral lips on top of which are mounted embossed printing strips. Suitable index tabs or folded metal may be mounted on the end portion of such plate, embracing its upper and under surface. It has been found that when such plates are stacked in a magazine, and the bottom-most plate drawn out from under the stack, there is danger of an embossing strip on the bottom-most plate becoming entangled with a portion of the index tab on the next to the bottom plate, and, even though ample normal clearance is provided in designing the machine, this result may happen it the index tab is bent or distort-ed.

II have found that all danger of interference between the bottom plate and the one above it may be avoided by providing a sui able support which acts on the next to the bottom plate and maintains it and the plates above it definitely out of engagement with the bottom-mosu plate, which latter is thereby free to be fed by the reciprocating mecha nism. The support is automatically withdrawn by the reciprocating mechanism on each stroke to free the bottomenost plate and thereafter returns to engage the next higher plate and support the stack. The mechanism is thus in the nature of an automatic escapeinent.

My invention is hereinafter more fully described in connection with the embodiment F815; ADDRESSING MACHINES 1528. Serial No. 278,365.

shown in the drawings, and the essential novel characteristics set out in the claims.

In the drawings, Fig. l is a plan of one form of an addcssing machine embodying this invention; Fig. 2 is a vertical section thereof through the magazine, as indicated bythe ofiset line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of the lower portion of the magazine and other parts cooperating therewith as shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 4c is an enlarged section similar to Fig. 3 but with the parts in a difl erentposition; Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the magazine and cooperating parts in the position shown in Fig. 3; Fig. 6 is a side elevation similar to'Fig. 5 but with the parts in the position shown in Fig. 4; Fig. 7 is adiagrammatic View of a plurality of surmounting plates illustrating the action of my separator, this view being in the nature of avertical section as indicated by the line 7 7 on Fig. 4; Fig. 8 is aperspective of one of the spring escapement plates secured to the side of the magazine.

In the embodiment shown in the drawings, 10 indicates the bed or frame of a flat-bed addressing machine. Extending transversely across this frame is a channel 11 and an anvil 11, along which the address plate may travel from a magazine 12 to printing posi tion, after which it is discharged into a receptacle 14.- at the left hand side of the machine.

A manually operated impression arm is shown in the drawings as pivoted to the bed at 21 adjacent the rear end of the arm, while at the forward end is an operating handle 22, and a short dista-ncebehind the handle is a platen 24 adjustably carried by the arm in usual manner. The impression arm 20 is normally maintained elevated, as shown in Fig. 2, by a suitable spring or springs 25 attached to rear extensions of the arm. The rear extension 26 is connected by a suitable system of linkage 27 with a reciprocating slide in the channel 11.

The slide is made up of a pair of bars 30 standing on edge and suitable cross connections 31. The two bars 30 are of increased height near their right hand portions, thus providing an abrupt shoulder 32 which may serve to engage and feed forward the bottommost address plate resting on the bars in front of the shoulder.

As the arm is depressed to effect the printing by means of a plate directly below the platen 24 the slide is carried toward the rightend, so that the shoulder 32 is beyond the magazine. Then, as hereinafter explained the bottom-most plate A, Figs. 1 and 2 is allowed to drop from the magazine 12 onto the anvil 11 in front of the shoulder 32 of the slide then, as the platen moves upwardly, the linkage mechanism described moves the slide toward the left carrying the bottom-most plate from the magazine into position immediately at the left thereof. This same movement carries a plate which was left standing at the left of the magazine into printing position beneath the platen, and at the same time shoves the plate which has just been printed from by the platen into the receptacle 14 at the extreme left of the machine.

As heretofore mentioned, it is the purpose of my invention to avoid drawing the bottom-most plate along while in contact with the one above it in the stack, and I elfect this by providing the automatic escapement mechanism which I will now describe, this mechanism operating to maintain all of the stack except the bottom-most plate in a slightly elevated position so that the bottommost plate is free from the rest of the stack during the time it moves from under the stack.

I secure to opposite sides of the magazine 12 spring plates 40. These plates are secured near their upper ends to the magazine, as by screws 41, and depend across openings 42 in the magazine walls, and are provided with inwardly turned wedge shaped lips 43 adapted to extend inwardly at the bottom of the magazine and su port the stack of address plates therein. ormally these lips are beneath the bottom-most plate, but when the plate has dropped onto the slide to be fed, the lips may stand in position to enter between that plate and the one next above it, as

shown in Fig. 4.

a Each plate 40 has an extension 45 below the lip 43. The edges of these extensions toward the right side of the machine are rounded or bent back as at 46. I secure on the outer sides of the reciprocating bars 30 a air of rounded projections which are a apted to engage the inclined or curled ends 46 of the cscapement plates and cam them outwardly to withdraw the lips 43 from enga mentwith the plate.

he normal position of the escapement lates is with lips 43 in the magazine, such ips extending between the bottom-most two p ates in the stack and supporting the stack, as illustrated by the plates A and A in Fig. 4. Now, when the reciprocating bars 30 move to their left hand position on the up stroke of the platen arm, the cam-like projections 35 engage the lower portion of the plates 40 and spread them outwardly just as the shoulder 32 moves beyond the left hand side of the magazine, as shown in Figs. 3 and 5. This withdraws the lips 43 so that the stack of address plates drops onto the slide, resting on the high portion of the bars 30 to the right of the shoulder 32. This is the position of the parts at the end of the up stroke of the platen arm. The projections 35 are then behind the extensions of the escapement plates and the whole stack of address plates rests on the bars 30 a short distance beyond or to the right of the shoulders 32 thereof.

At the beginning of the downstroke of the platen arm, the linkage connection described starts the movement of the slide bars 30 toward the right. In the first portion of such movement, before the receding of the high portion of the bars 30 permits the platen to drop to the anvil 11*, the projections 35 move out from under the escapement plate extensions 45, and then the freed escapement plates spring back into position. In this movement the wedge shaped lips 43 strike against the upwardly curled edge beads a of the next to the bottom plate A and sliding in beneath these beads, raise the stack of plates above the lips a slight amount, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 3.

As the slide continues in its movement to the right the high portion of the slide recedes and permits the bottom-most plate A to drop to the anvil, the remaining plates being supported in their raised position by the lips 43. This supporting of the stack while the bottom-most plate drops to a position where it will be engaged by the shoulder 32 on the return stroke provides an ample distance above the bottom plate so that there is no danger of any interference of one plate with the other when the slide carries the bottommost plate out of the magazine to its position of rest ready to be further advanced on the next stroke into printing position, as shown in Figs. 4 and 6.

In Fig. 7, I have illustrated three surmounting address plates A, A A and I have indicated in a somewhat exaggerated form index tabs B, B B The plate A is supposed to be resting directly on plate A, while the plate A is separated from the plate A by the interposition of the supporting lips 43 which hold the stack in raised position while the plate A drops from the high portion of the slide to the anvil 11".

It will be seen that the type characters on the plate A would. be likely to foul with the index tab 2 if the plate A were drawn horizontally out of the stack. The plate A however may be so drawn from the stack without danger of aftectin g the index tab B.

It will be seen that by my mechanism the stack of plates is normally maintained entirely free from the reciprocating bars; that just before the reciprocating frame reaches the end of its active or feeding stroke, the stack is freed and drops onto the high portion of the bars at the rear of the shoulder; that at the beginning of the idle stroke the operation of the escapement mechanism lifts all of the'plates above the bottom-most one and supports them while the bottom-most plate drops into position to be carried by the return stroke of the reciprocating frame. As the result of this lifting of the stack, and the consequent freedom of the lowermost plate, I have done away with all danger of interference between the plates or danger of an index tab on a plate being accidentally dislocated. I also avoid the usual frictional wear of the bottom plate sliding from under the superimposed stack.

I claim 1. In an addressing machine, the combination of amagazine adapted to carry a stack of address plates, a reciprocating feed mecha- 'nism operable beneath the magazine, an automatically actuated escapement device enabling the stack of plates in the magazine to descend into thefeed mechanism and thereafter to raise all of the plates except the bottomrnost to leave the latter free on the reciprocating feed 'mec'ha-nism.

1 2. In an addressing machine, the combination'of a magazine adapted to hold address plates one abovethe-other, a reciprocating feed mechanism and anescapement device having a pa1r of tongues adapted to engage the edges of an address plate and slightly raise a stack of such plates in the magazine, and mechanism operated automatically for periodically withdrawing the tongues from such engagement and thereafter returning them.

'3. In an addressing machine, the combination of a magazine for address plates, a reciprocating feed mechanism, an escapementdevice comprising a pair of springs equipped with tongues adapted to support the plates in the magazine or be operated to release such plates, and mechanism on the reciprocating feed device to operate the escapement.

4. The combination with a magazine for address plates and a reciprocating feed slide, of normally active plate retaining devices, and means located on the feed slide itself for a withdrawing the retaining devices.

5. The combination with a magazine for address plates and a reciprocating plate feeding mechanism, of a normally active plate retaining device adapted to engage and raise a plate and serving to prevent a plate pass ing onto the feed slide,and mechanism oper ating concurrently with the feed slide for moving the retaining device to inactive position, and thereafter allowing it to return to active position to raise and support the rest ofthe stack preceding the time the feed slide acts on the bottommost plate to feed it.

6. In an addressing machine, the combination of a magazine adapted to contain address plates one above the other, a reciprocating feed mechanism operating beneath the magazine, a pair of resilient plate supporting devices and a pair of cams on the feed slide adapted to engage said plate supporting device, the cams being adapted to movesaid devices in one direction and the resilience of the devices to move them in the opposite direction.

7. In an addressing machine, the combination of a magazine adapted to contain address plates one above the other, a reciprocating feed mechanism operating beneath the'magazine, a pair of resilient normally active plate supporting devices, and a pair of cams on the feed slide adapted to engage said plate supporting device and withdraw them from active position.

8. In an addressing machine, the combination of a magazine adapted to hold address plates one above the other, a pair of spring plates carried by the magazine and having inturned lips adapted to engage plates and support themin the magazine, a reciprocating feed slide and mechanism operatedthereby for moving said spring plates outwardly to withdraw said lips.

9. In'an addressing machine, the combination of a magazine for address plates, a reciprocating feed slide having a shoulder for shoving the bottom-most plate laterally, a pair of escapement members having lips projecting into the interior of the magazine, and projections on the slide adapted to coact with said members and withdraw the lips.

10. In an addressing machine, the combi nation of a magazine for address plates, a reciprocating feed slide coactlng therewith comprising a pair of bars connected'together,

said bars having shoulders for shoving the bottommost plate, a pair of escapement plates carried by the magazine and having lips projecting into the interior of the magazine, said plates having extensions, and projections on the bars adapted to engage said extensions and withdraw the lips to allowthe bottom-most plate to drop onto said bars.

11. In an addressing machine, the combination of a magazine adapted to contain addressplates resting on each other, a reciprocating feed-slide beneaththe magazine, a member adapted toengage and support an address -plate, said member having a portion extending over the side of the feed slide, and

a projection on the side of the feed slide adapted to coact with such extension to with- 'drawthe member from the'address plate.

12. In an addressing machine, the combination of a magazinefor address plates, a

.ciprocable beneath the magazine, said bars pair of feed bars connected together and rebeing so placed that the bottom-most plate may rest on them, a shoulder on the bars ada ted to engage such bottom-most plate to fee it, a pair of spring retaining devices secured to opposite sides of the magazine and having lips adapted to extend into engagement with the bottommost address plate therein, each retaining device having an extension depending on the outerside of the corresponding feed bar, and a projection on the feed bar adapted to engage said extension and thereby force the retaining device into an inactive position.

13. In an addressing machine, the combination with a frame and a platen arm secured thereto, of a reciprocating slide connected with the platen arm, a magazine beneath which the feed slide operates, a pair of retaining members on opposite sides of the magazine having lips adapted to support plates in the magazine and having portions extending alongside of the feed slide, and projections on the feed slide adapted to engage said portions to withdraw the lips from active position.

. 14. In an addressing machine, the combination with a magazine adapted to contain a stack of address plates having curved edge beads, of a spring retaining device adapted to enter the magazine and engage the curved edge bead of a plate a reciprocatingplate f mechanism, and means actuated therewith to withdraw the plate retainer and then allow it to return to active position to engage the bead of the next to the bottom plate and thereby raise that plate and those above it and support the stack.

, 15. In an addressing machine, the combination with a frame and an impression arm carried thereby, of a reciprocating plate feeding mechanism coupled with the impression arm to be moved in the idle direction on the down-stroke of the arm and in the active direction of the up-stroke of the arm, a magazine for address plates, a retaining device adapted to enter the magazine and support thestack of plates, and means on the reciprocating feeder controlling the retaining device to cause its withdrawal to allow the descent of the stack onto the feeding mechanism and then allow the retaining device to return to raise all of the plates except the bottommost one.

16. In an addressing machine, the combination with a frame and an impression arm carried thereby, of a reciprocating plate feeding mechanism coupled with the impression arm to be moved in the idle direction on the dowmstroke of the arm and in the active direction on the up-stroke of the arm, a magazine for address plates, a pair of spring retaining devices adapted to enter the magazine and support the stack of plates, and a pair of projections on the reciprocating feederhaving a camming action on the retaining device to withdraw them to allow the descent of the stack onto the feeding mechanism and thereafter release them to allow them to return to raise all of the plates except the bottom-most one, the said camming action being adjacent the end of one stroke of the reciprocating feeding mechanism, and said releasing action being at the beginning of the opposite stroke thereof.

17. In an addressing machine, the combination with a magazine adapted to contain a stack of address plates having edge beads, of a retaining device adapted to enter the magazine and engage the edge bead of a plate next above the bottom and thereby raise that plate and those above it, and a feed slide adapted to eject the bottom plate from the stack.

18. In an addressing machine, the combination of a magazine for address plates, a reciprocating feed slide having a shoulder for shoving the bottom-most plate laterally, a pair of inwardly acting springs for the plates in the magazine, and mechanism for forcing the springs outwardly to release the plates at a time when the shoulder is beyond the bottom-most plate and thereafter on the succeeding stroke of the slide allowing the springs to restore themselves before the slide effectively feeds the bottom-most plate.

19. In an addressing machine, the combination of a magazine for address plates, a reciprocating feed mechanism adapted to move plates therefrom, a pair of opposed tongues spring pressed inwardly to support the plates in the magazine, and mechanism operating in conjunction with the feed mechanism to move the tongues outwardly to release a plate.

20. In an addressing machine, the combination of a magazine adapted to carry a stack of address plates, a reciprocating feed mechanism operable beneath the magazine to carry plates therefrom, a pair of depending leaf springs having inwardly projecting tongues for supporting the stack of plates in the magazine and mechanism adapted to act on the lower portions of said springs to force them outwardly to release a plate.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto aflix my signature.

AUGUST L. SCHULTZ.

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