Anti theft device for a printing machine print wheel assembly

In a printing machine having the capability of printing value indicia on material by means of a printing device having a plurality of selectively settable printing wheels mounted for rotation on a common axis and having a plurality of numerical printing members arranged around the periphery thereof, said printing device including means for setting said printing wheels, said setting means comprising a gear carried by each of said printing wheels on one side thereof and having a predetermined number of gear teeth, and a movable drive member operatively associated with each printing wheel, each drive member having a plurality of teeth thereon defining at least a corresponding plurality of tooth spaces adapted to engage and mesh with said gear teeth in a predetermined synchronous relationship, the improvement comprising:

• means to render said machine inoperative responsive to alterations of said predetermined synchronous relationship including
• means responsive to an alteration in said predetermined synchronous relationship between the teeth of any of said gears and the tooth spaces of the corresponding drive members associated with said gears for preventing said gear teeth from meshing with said tooth spaces in at least a portion of said corresponding plurality of tooth spaces for prohibiting cycling of said drive members.