Depository for receiving, imprinting and storing deposited articles of variable thickness

A depository for receiving and imprinting generally flat articles of varying thickness inserted therein, comprising:

• a housing having an article-insertion slot provided in one wall thereof,
• a hollow tube within said housing having an interior defining a chamber for temporarily storing an article to be imprinted, said tube having an article-receiving opening and an article-discharge opening disposed at opposite ends thereof in communication with said chamber, said tube having an additional opening intermediate its opposite ends,
• a mount connected to said tube for mounting said tube for movement through a predetermined path between (a) an article-receiving position, in which said article-receiving opening of said tube communicates with said article-insertion slot of said housing to facilitate insertion of an article into said chamber via said housing slot and article-receiving opening, and (b) an article-discharge position in which said slot and article-receiving opening are non-communicative and said article-discharge opening is disposed lower than said article-receiving opening to facilitate gravity discharge through said article-discharge opening of an article temporarily stored in said tube, said predetermined tube movement path including movement through variable article-imprinting positions whereat different thickness articles are imprinted,
• an article imprinter having a printhead aligned with said additional opening in said tube intermediate the opposite ends thereof,
• a linkage interconnecting said imprinter and said tube for facilitating movement of said imprinter along a predetermined path between (a) variable inner positions in which said printhead extends through said additional opening varying distances into said chamber to imprint articles of different thickness temporarily stored in said tube, and (b) an outer position in which said printhead is substantially withdrawn from said chamber,
• drive means connected to said tube to move said tube from said article-receiving position through said variable article-imprinting positions to said article-discharge position,
• a stationary suport within said housing, and
• a yieldable means connecting said stationary support and said linkage, said yieldable means being operative prior to yielding to advance said imprinter from its outer position to one of said variable inner positions associated with a predetermined article thickness whereat said printhead imprints an article having said predetermined thickness temporarily stored in said chamber as said drive means moves said tube from said article-receiving position to said one article-imprinting position, said yieldable means being operative to yield as an incident to said imprinting to prevent further advancement of said imprinter relative to said imprinted article while said tube continues to move toward said article-discharge position past said one article-imprinting position.