Offset ink jet postage printing

In a postage meter having a printing station and means for supporting at said printing station a document such as an envelope, label or the like that is to have postage indicia printed thereon, the improvement comprising:

• an offset printing surface operably mounted in said meter;
• a die plate carried by said offset printing surface including a first region formed with fixed information of the postage indicia such as the city and state and a second region for receiving thereon variable information of the postage indicia such as the date and postage amount;
• means for applying ink to said first region;
• an ink jet printing device that is adapted to project ink droplets onto said second region so as to form the variable information of the postage indicia;
• wiper means being actuatable to erase the variable information on said second region;
• and
• sensing means for detecting the quality of the variable information applied on said second region by said ink jet printing device before the postage indicia is printed on a document, said sensing means being operable to actuate said wiper means in the event the quality of the variable information is less than an acceptable level.

A method of printing which assures the accuracy of an image applied to a final viewing surface comprising the step of:

• forming a visible ink image on an intermediate surface;
• examining the image formed on the intermediate surface to determine its acceptability;
• and
• transferring the image from the intermediate surface to the final viewing surface only in the event the image is acceptable.

A method of printing postage indicia onto an object about to be mailed comprising the steps of:

• forming a visible ink image of postage indicia on an intermediate surface;
• examining the image formed on the intermediate surface to determine its acceptability;
• transferring the image from the intermediate surface to the object about to be mailed only in the event the image is determined to be acceptable;
• and
• charging the account of the user responsible for applying the postage indicia onto the object about to be mailed in the event the image formed on the intermediate surface is determined to be acceptable.

A postage meter having a printing station and means for supporting at said printing station a document such as an envelope, label or the like that is to have postage indicia printed thereon comprising:

• an offset printing surface operably mounted in said meter and disposed to receive an image thereon;
• means for forming a visible ink image on said offset printing surface;
• means for moving said offset printing surface from a retracted position at which the image is formed thereon to an advanced position at which the image is transferred to the document at said printing station;
• and
• sensing means for detecting the quality of the image formed on said offset printing surface and determining its acceptability;
• said offset printing surface moving means being operable to move to said advanced position in response to a signal from said sensing means to the effect that the image formed is of acceptable quality.