GB191110087A - Improvements in and relating to Franking Machines. - Google Patents

Abstract

10,087. Morton, W. April 26, 1910, [Convention date]. Postmarking - machines; inking - apparatus; number-printing apparatus; stopping-arrangements; printing processes. - A machine for franking postal matter, of the kind provided with means for stopping the machine after a predetermined number of markings have been obtained, and with gripping-means for holding the letters during marking to prevent more than one marking of each stamp, is constructed with a multicolour inking-apparatus which can be inserted without opening the machine, with improved locking-means, and with means for preventing fraudulent reproduction by a lithographic process of markings obtained by the machine. The letter is placed in a slot 38 in the casing, and is gripped between the marking roller 2 and an impression roll 28 carried in a plate which is pressed upwards by springs 29. The casing 1 is issued in a locked condition, and the roller 2 is fitted with an operating-crank 8 and a ratchet 7 and pawl 6 to prevent backward rotation. The roller 2 carries a marking stamp 10 with which is combined a numbering device 11 which may work back to zero, the device being set to allow of a predetermined number of actuations. A plate 4 actuates the lever 5 of the numbering device. When the predetermined number of actuations have been made, the roller 2 is locked by the projection of a spring- pressed bolt 12, which is normally held depressed by a spring-pressed pin which moves into a recess in one of the numbering wheels when zero is reached. The bolt 12 engages a plate 20 to prevent rotation of the roller. An ordinary registering device may be used on the machine, and the numbering device 10 can work forwards when the machine is used as a postpayment one. One or more inking-rollers 23 are mounted in a cage 9 on a base plate 25, which slides into the casing through an aperture 26 on to a guide plate 27. An adjustable screw in the plate 25 enters a slot in the plate 27 to allow the inking-rollers to be adjusted in position. Inks of different colours may be used, and one or more of the rollers may be supplied with a glycerine ink, or the stamp formed may be oiled by other rollers to prevent fraudulent reproduction of the stamp by any lithographic process. The numbering - device may be read through a window 33 with the aid of a mirror 34. The Specification as open to inspection under Section 91 (3) (a) comprises also an arrangement in which one or more machines with stamps of different value may be mounted together on a base-plate in such a way that each machine may be removed separately. This subject-matter does not appear in the Specification as accepted.