Endorser assembly and drum therefor

A self-aligning indexable printing assembly comprising:

• a rotatable drum;
• a mounting pin secured near the periphery of said drum and having a substantially annular shaped surface, said surface having a substantially polygonal shaped periphery having a cross-sectional configuration comprised of a plurality of spaced outwardly extending, radially aligned projections, the free ends of said projections defining a crowned convex contour;
• a print wheel rotatable on the pin and being formed of a resilient material and having a closed-loop configuration;
• the exterior surface of said print wheel having a plurality of integrally formed raised characters and other indicia arranged at spaced intervals along said exterior surface and projecting outwardly therefrom to define a print surface;
• the interior surface of said wheel having a configuration of alternating projections and grooves substantially complementary to the cross-sectional configuration of said pin and arranged in a preset manner relative to said spaced intervals, said wheel being mounted upon and surrounding the periphery of said pin so that the projections of said pin engage selected grooves in said print wheel and urge the print surface of said wheel into a similar convex crowned contour;
• said wheel being adapted to fit upon said pin and, selectively experiencing only minimal stretching and deformation when the projections of said pin engage the said selected grooves of said print wheel;
• the resilient characteristic of said print wheel permitting said print wheel to stretch and permitting the projections of said print wheel to compress when said print wheel is rotated about said pin to enable said print wheel projections to ride over the projections of said pin and to abruptly snap back to their uncompressed state when the projections of said print wheel have passed over the projections of said pin to thereby accurately incrementally align the characters on said print wheel as it is indexed about said pin and for preventing the print wheel from rotating about said pin when the pin revolves about the axis of the drum during printing, whereby the aforesaid arrangement eliminates the need for separate additional detent means.

An endorser drum assembly comprising:

• a cylindrical shaped drum, said drum having a continuous groove surrounding said drum and perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the drum;
• the base of said groove having means for forming a curved convex contour;
• a resilient elongated print strip mounted in said groove, said strip having a raised portion along one surface defining a printing surface;
• the opposite surface engaging said contour forming means to urge the print surface to assume a curved convex contour substantially similar to the convex contour of the base of said groove;
• a self-aligning assembly mounted adjacent the periphery of said drum comprising a mounting pin secured to said drum near the surface thereof;
• said mounting pin having a substantially annular shaped surface, said surface having a substantially polygonal shaped periphery having a cross-sectional configuration comprised of a plurality of spaced, outwardly extending, radially aligned projections, the free ends of said projections defining a crowned convex contour;
• a print wheel rotatable on the pin and being formed of a resilient material and having a closed-loop configuration;
• the exterior surface of said print wheel having a plurality of integrally formed raised characters and other indicia arranged at spaced intervals along said exterior surface and projecting outwardly therefrom;
• the interior surface of said wheel having a configuration of alternating projections and grooves substantially complementary to the cross-sectional configuration to said pin, said wheel being mounted upon and surrounding the periphery of said pin so that the projections of said pin engage selected grooves in said print wheel and urge the print surface of said wheel into a similar convex crowned contour;
• said wheel being adapted to fit upon said pin and selectively experiencing only minimal stretching and deformation when the projections of said pin engage the said selected grooves of said print wheel;
• the resilient characteristic of said print wheel permitting said wheel to stretch and permitting the projections of said print wheel to compress when said print wheel is rotated about said pin to enable said print wheel projections to ride over the projections of said pin and to abruptly snap back to their uncompressed state when the projections of said print wheel have passed over the projections of said pin to thereby accurately incrementally index the characters on said print wheel about said pin and preventing the print wheel from rotating about said pin when printing, whereby the aforesaid arrangement eliminates the need for separate additional detent means.

An endorser assembly comprising:

• a mounting frame including a pair of side plates and means for maintaining said plates in spaced parallel fashion;
• each of said plates having elongated slots aligned with one another;
• ink transfer roller means including first and second bearing means rotatably supporting an ink transfer roll and being slidably mounted within associated ones of said slots;
• spring means for biasing said bearing means in a first direction;
• said plates each having a pair of projections extending outwardly from one edge of the plate and defining an elongated open-ended slot therebetween;
• rotatable endorser roll means having a pair of first and second bearings rotatably supporting an endorser roll and adapted to be slidably mounted in an associated one of said open-ended slots;
• resilient means mounted to each plate for releasably securing said endorser bearings in said open-ended slots;
• said spring means urging said ink transfer roll into engagement with said endorser roll;
• an arm positioned between said plates and pivot means free-wheelingly mounting a first end of the arm to one of said plates;
• inking roll means comprising an inking roll and means for rotatably supporting said inking roll at the opposite end of said arm;
• an overcenter spring coupled at a first end to one of said plates and at a second end to said arm for selectively urging said inking roll into engagement with said ink transfer roll and for maintaining said inking roll displaced from said ink transfer roll when said arm is moved to respectively position the spring second end to the opposite sides of an imaginary linear center line extending between said overcenter spring first end, and the axis of the pivot at mounting of said arm.

Means for printing elongated lines of printed matter upon documents comprising a rotatable platen roll;

• first and second rotatably mounted drums having their axes of rotation arranged at spaced parallel fashion;
• a closed loop resilient elongated print strip being entrained about said first and second drums;
• the surface of one of said first and second drums being positioned adjacent to the surface of said platen roll to urge said print strip against said platen roll;
• means on said drum for directionally engaging said platen roll;
• means for rotating said platen roll whereby the frictional engagement between said platen roll and said one drum imparts rotation to said first and second drums to linearly move said print strip;
• said one drum and said platen roll forming a nip therebetween for advancing sheets entering into said nip;
• said print strip having raised print portions;
• means for transferring ink to said raised print portions to the confronting surface of the sheet being advanced through said nip, whereby said first and second drums eliminate the need for a single strip mounting print drum of large diameter;
• said one drum being provided with a cylindrical shaped groove surrounding said drum the axis of said groove being coincident with the axis of rotation of the drum;
• the base of said groove having means for forming a curved convex contour;
• said resilient elongated print strip being positioned in said groove, said strip having a raised portion along one surface defining a printing surface;
• the opposite surface engaging said contour forming means whereby the convex base urges the print surface to assume a curved convex contour substantially similar to the convex contour of said contour forming means;
• said platen roll having a groove at least as wide as the width of said strip;
• said print surface extending only partially into the groove of said platen means whereby documents passing between said platen means and said print strip are engaged by said print surface.

Means for printing elongated lines of printed matter upon documents comprising:

• a rotatable platen roll;
• first and second rotatably mounted drums having their axes of rotation arranged in spaced parallel fashion;
• an elongated closed-loop resilient print strip being entrained about said first and second drums;
• the surface of one of said first and second drums being positioned adjacent to the surface of said platen roll to urge said print strip toward said platen roll;
• means on said one drum for frictionally engaging said platen roll;
• means for rotating said platen roll whereby the frictional engagement between said platen roll and said one drum imparts rotation to said first and second drums and moves said print strip;
• said one drum and said platen roll forming a nip therebetween for advancing sheets entering into said nip;
• said print strip having raised print portions;
• said platen roll having a groove at least as wide as the width of the raised portions of said print strips whereby said raised portions extend only partially into the groove of said platen roll so that documents passing between said platen roll and said raised portions are engaged by the surfaces of said raised portions and said print surface does not contact the platen means when no documents are passing therebetween to prevent the transfer of ink from said print surface to the platen roll, thereby preventing the occurrence of back-printing;
• the print surface having a convex curvature enabling the use of a print strip having a substantially large width measured in the axial direction of said drums;
• means for transferring ink to said raised print portions to thereby transfer the ink on said raised print portions to the confronting surface of the sheet being advanced through said nip, the circumferences of said first and second drums being less than the length of the print strip entrained about said drums;
• said rotating means comprising motor means for rotating said plate roll;
• means on said strip for marking the beginning of a line of printed matter, said marking means being displaced from the beginning of said line of printed matter;
• gate means for restraining movement of a document;
• means for sensing the passage of said marking means for opening said gate means to enable feeding of the restrained document.