US1990534A - Sheet feeding and stencil printing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 12, 1935. H. P. ELLIOTT SHEET FEEDING AND STENCIL PRINTING APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 24, 1932 ATTORNEY 1935. H. P. ELLIOTT SHEET FEEDING AND STENCIL PRINTING APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 24, 1932 R. Y O 0 E WW 2 N I l|\[ ma m v f m m mw m I W .mn mm m ITIM. .Q N um M a m n" a. m? V, w 5 Q W k n 1---- &.N h\ 3 hmwmQS @n J ELIQM r x a M w Q mm W Feb. 12, 1935.

, H. P. ELLIOTT SHEET FEEDING AND STENCIL PRINTING APPARATUS Filed Oct.- 24, 1932 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 6 Harman 70m ATTORNEY Feb. 12, 1935. H. P. ELLIOTT SHEE T FEEDING AND STENCIL PRINTING APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Shet 4 Filed 001;. 24, 1952 ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 12, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFI FE v SHEET FEEDING AND STENCIL PRINTING APPARATUS Harmon .1". .Elliott, Watertown', Masai, .assi'gnor' to Elliott AddressingMachine Company, a corporation: of Massachusetts- V v v Application October 24, 1932, Serial No. 639,171

11 Claims. (Cl. 101-49) This invention relates to stencil printing apparatus of the. character shown in. my Patent No. 1,909,910, granted May 116,. 1933-, and com prises certain. modifications thereof which enable it to. print. in column form ation. on a sheet of paper a. series of names, or other legends, separately out in. a. series of card stencils. such as have been heretofore used in addressing ma chines.

The present invention accomplishes the same result described in another ofv my patents No. 1,909,911, granted May 16, 1 933, hutina simpler way.

The underlying principleof. operation of. the

' present invention isthe feeding of the card stencils sidewise to the ink. impression mechanism and at the same time feeding. the sheet to: be printed step by step through the printing. zone in the same. direction, so that the legends printed by successive s'tencilswill appear on the printed sheet in column formation,ias isusual in making out payrolls, for instance.

In the preferred. embodiment. of theinvention here shown the ink impression 'mechanismcomprises a pair of oppositely rotating platen sectors, one of which carries ink, and the feed motion for the sheet being printed isapplied'to it during the printing. operation by said. sectors, one of which has'such a short are of engagement. with said sheet as to. bear on little more of the. sheet surface than is necessary to receive. the printed line or lines and to. provide the desired spacing between said lines, and. this feeding. action is rendered uniform and accurate'by means of a pawl and ratchet mechanism. cooperating with a-spring normally tending to pull said. sheet. backward against said pawl and. ratchet every time such sheet is released by the further rotation ofv the platen sectors after a printing operationhas been performed.

After'such sheet printing has been finished, the apparatus can be easily rearranged to. feed card stencils end to end through the printing. zone, which is the most convenient: arrangement for address printing on post cards. or other. articles.

The best form of apparatus atv present known to me embodying my invention. is illustratedin the accompanying four. sheets ofdrawings in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the apparatus with parts broken away. i

Fig. 2 is a plan viewof the same portions of the apparatus. 7

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail crosssection taken on lines 3'--3 of Fig. 2 and Fig. 4 is anenla-rgeddetail longitudinal section taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3 showing the stencil feedmechanism.

Fig. 5 is a perspective detail of the clamp for the rear end of the sheet being printed, parts being broken awaya'nd othersshown in section.

Figs. 6, '7 and 8' areenlarged' detail longitudinal sections all taken 0nline 6-6 of Fig. 2 showing the relative positions of parts of the apparatus at different stages of the sheet feeding operation. v

Fig. 9 is an enlarged dfetail cross section through the pawl and ratchet mechanism taken on line 9-9 of Fig.1, and j Fig. 1'0 is a similar view "showing the ratchet mechanism disabled or tripped.

Fig. 11 is a detail cross. sect'on on line 11- -11 of Fig. 2:

Fig; 12' isv a detail plan View with parts broken awayshowing the apparatus adjusted to feed the series of' card stencils endwise along the guides instead ofsidewise, as in Fig. 1, and

Fig. 13 is a diagrammatic sectional detailof a modification. r Throughout the drawings lik'e reference characters indicate like parts. By far the larger part of" the apparatus here shown is substantially the same as" that of my above noted Patent No. 1,909,910; and therefore need not be described in detail. It comprises a supporting frame 51, supported'bylegs,;twoofwhich are shown in Fig.

1 at52, 52-, and on which arej'ournaled two rotating platen sectors 3 and 5- connectd together by gearing mounted inhonsing' 6'7 and indicated in broken lines at 6 in Fig. 1, so as ,torota-te in opposite directions when"actuated by hand crank 1 fast on shaft2' to which the upper platen sector 3' is releasably clutched so that it can be readily taken off said shaft and another platen sector of different width of faces'ubs-tituted for it.

4 is theink applying roll of an inking mechanism for; distributing "an even layer of ink to the curved surface of platen sector 3'. This roll is a part of afloatinginking unit pivoted on the shaft '7" supported in a housing-carried by the main frame and protected by cover 8, the construction. being similar; with the exception of certain details hereinafter to bepointed out, to: that of the inkingapparatus shown and describedin a third Patent No. 1,922,533, granted August 15, I933.

The stencils 50 for usewith the ink impres t;

si'on mechanism are stacked in magazine 61- with their sides parallel to the shaft 2 so that they can be fed sidewise between the platen sectors along theoppositely'groovedguides 9 and 99.

, the sector ofthecircle represented by the A sheet supporting plate 10 is mounted on the table top 66 of the main frame 51, and held by screws 70 in such position that the forward end of a sheet of paper 13 carried thereby may project between the platen sectors 3 and 5. A clamp is provided for holding the rear end of such sheet of paper, the housing 11 for said clamp sliding on rack rod l4 which extends along one side edge of plate 10 and is revoluble in perforated lugs 15, 15, carried thereby. 16 is a long coiled tension spring one end of which is connected at 17 to the clamp housing '11 and which passes around the loose pulley 18 journaled" at the outer end of plate 10 and'has its other end anchored to the main frame at 19. The tension of spring 16 normally tends to pull back against the stop sleeve 20 on the rear end of rack rod 14 unless said clamp housing is held in some advanced 21 carried by it engaging one of theteeth 22 on the rack rod 14.

The means for feeding the bottomstencilf 50 out of the magazine 61 and between the sectors 3 and 5 comprise the slide ,41 bearing the feed claw 43 and mounted to slide on guide bar 99, as shown in my said Patent No. 1,909,910, plus a supplemental stencil pusher 47 which has side lugs 53, 53, which slide on the upper surfaces of the edges of stencil guides'9 ancl 99. The upper surfaces of these lugs are inclined as shown in Fig. 4 to slide under the next stencil in the stack and lift the rear edge of said stencil slightly. Said pusher also has two downwardly extending pins 48, 48, which, engage holes in the portion of slide 4l'which projects inwardly beyond the inner edge of stencil guide bar 99, and also has projections 49, 49, along its front edge which extend under the bottom stencil. The slide 41 is held on guide bar 99.by .pin.44 passing through a slot 45 in said'bar and spring 46 surrounding said pin. It is further guided b'y ears 42 which engage the outer edge of bar 99. slide and supplemental pusher 47 are Ire'ciprocated by connecting r'od"39fpivoted at one'le'nd on pin 40 on slide 41 and atthe other end on crank disc 38 on theend of sleeve 37 which carries the upper sector 3. These partsare' so pro portioned that the bottom stencil is'pushedinto the space 26 betweenthe'cutaway portion of the platen sectors when they are in the position shown in Fig. 4. As a portion of the .papersheet 13 also extends into that space the rotation of the sectors in the direction indicated by the arrows in Fig. 4 movessaid sheet andstenciltogether toward the left. This will move the pawl 21 along rack rod 14 a distance equal to. at least one of the ratchet teeth 22 formed on a portion of the surface of said rod, and when the platen sectors release the sheet the spring 18 will pull it backward sufiiciently. to cause the pawl to engage the next one ofthe ratchet teeth behind itand thereby leave said sheet in an advanced position such thatat thenext revolution of the platen sectors the lines of printing produced by the next card stencil on said sheet will be spaced below thelegend next before printed by a predetermined distance.

Theoretically such result might be obtained by a simpler mechanism illustrated diagram matically in Fig. 13 if the length of the arcof platen sector 3 just equals the height of the type in the stencil plus the spacing between lines to be stencilled, and if, in place of the spring and ratchet mechanism before described, the sheet of the curved face of the position by reason of the pawl of paper 13 were merely held in position on plate 10 by spring 12 which would act as a brake against any excess feed motion of said sheet due to its inertia and also prevent any displacement'of the sheet between successive printings thereon.

I have found, however, that it is diificult in practice to operate with the platen sector reduced to the dimension above explained and that much better results can be obtained if the arc ink bearing platen sector is lengthened so as to give an initial step- ;by-step feed to the sheet 13 considerably in excess of the net feed movement desired, and

then incorporate a lost motion mechanism in the pawl and ratchet feeding device so that saidpawl willbe dragged over only one tooth on the rack rod 14 and the clamp holding the sheet pulled back by spring 18 against said pawl at the termination of each printing operation. This is more fully illustrated in Figs. 6, '7 and 8. The; details ofcon'struction .of the preferred formof paper clamp are'illustratedin Fig.' 5 where 27 indicates a vertically swinging bar hinged at one'end-tohou'sing 11 at 28, as shown in Fig; 2, and having the upper surface of its other end 1 inclined downwardly and outwardly as indicated at 29 to'cooperate with thefhorizontally swinging latch 30 pivoted to the housing at 31. Bar 27 swings close to thevertically projecting ledge 32 formed on housing 11 so that when the bar is swungdown on the rear end of sheet 'of paper 13 and latched in the position shown in Fig. 5, said sheet is firmly attached to housing 11'. An overhanging lug 33 carried by housing 11 and underwhich latch 30 may be swung, assists in holding said latch down firmly on bar 27 If said bar is given a slight curvature so that its free end is slightly'raised from plate 10 and is bent downward when latch 30 slides over surface 29, a very firm grip of the clampon the paper 13'is assured. 34 is a short projecting handle forming the rear end' of latchBO by means of which it may be'swung into andout of operative position. I

As the stencil cards'are fed sidewise under the inkbearing sector 3 and therelatively long lines of print matter cuttherein extendwell across the sheet 13, it is especially important that the ink shall be very evenly distributed, over the sector 3 so that equal amounts of ink will be forced through 'each one of the stencil letters in these long lines. This in turn requires that there shall be an even deposition of ink on the sector surface from the inking roll 4 throughout the entire width. thereof, which can only result if the inking roll 4 bears with 'uniformjpressure upon sector 3 at all'points along their line of contact. In my before mentioned PatentNo. 1,922,533, I have shown and described a construction of inking unitdesigned to secure this result by giving the forked housing'in which the inking roll 4 is journaled a slight looseness of mounting-on its supporting hinge shaft, and applying cam pressure to a radial projection from said-hinged housing which is located" in the medial plane of theink roll'. This'should theoretically produce uniform pressure of roll 4 on sector 3throughout the entire width thereof, but I have found that relying upon the automatic adjustment of the inking unit I,

essentially of the two contact setscrews 166:, and the curved innersurface of the perforation in lug 1431) on the forked housing143 which supports the inking mechanism and swings on shaft 7 which passes through lug 143D. The entire inking apparatus is (as shown in my before mentioned Patent No. 1,922,533) supported by arm 141 extending from the upper end of the gear housing 67 and having the shaft '1' set in its outer end. The inking roll 4, the ink fountain 82 and the transfer roll 88, are journaled in a forked housing 143, 143a, 151, which may swing slightly about the shaft 7 which passes through the perforated lug 14312 projecting upwardly from one end Shaft 145 of ink r0114. is supported in fork. 146 at the extremity of the upper-portion 151 of' this housing. On shaft '7- is alsomounted the stationary U-shaped housing 144 which is rigidly fastened on said shaft and supports. the'vertical shaft 157 by means of the cross pin 158. On the lower portion of this shaft 157 is swiveled the cam sleeve 161 having the cam member 167 engaging the under side of anti-friction roller 164 pivoted on the rear end of forked housing 143. Sleeve 161 can be rotated by handle 162 and iselastically supported by compression spring confined between its lower face and the head 159 on the lower end of shaft 157.. When sleeve 161 is rotated so that its cam 167 engages said friction roller, the inking roll 4 will be forced down upon the sector 3 below it; and by adjusting'one or both of the stop screws 166 which are mounted in the stationary forked housing 144 so that when housing 143 is brought to a bearing on these two setscrew ends by cam 167 the desired even. distribution of ink results (this having been accomplished by the trial and error method). continued even printing throughout each of the long lines stencilled'on sheet 13 can be thereafter obtained;

The special mechanism for shifting the transfer roll 88 axially to distribute the ink in .transferring it from the rotary ink fountain 82 to the ink roll 4 illustrated in Fig. 2 and operated. by the hand crank 80: is. similar to; that shown and described in- PatentNo. 1,550,893, to Sterling Elliott, granted Aug. 25, 1925, and therefore will not be herefurther explained.

The details of; the sheetfeed control mechanism are, as before stated, further shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8. The clamp housing 11 has anupwardly, outwardly and, downwardly bent endportion 111 which extends around the rack rod 14, and in the endsof the enclosure soformed are set the perforated end plates 24 and 25 through which the rack rod 14 extends; The pawl 21 is formed on the under surface of; an elongated slug 23 which rests loosely in the space within the extension 111 of the clamp housingand is guided by lining plate 35 (see Fig. 9) to slide longitudinally thereof so that pawl 21 will be held by gravity in engagement with rack rod teeth 22. The pitch of teeth 22,, length of slug 23 and distance between plates 24 and 25. are so proportioned with reference to the length of the arc of the curved face of platen sector 3 as to cause the clamp housing and sheet 13 to be advanced one tooth during each printing cycle. The advance so obtained should, of course, be equal to the height of the type in the line to be stencilled plus the distancebetweenlines. If, therefore, the height of the type is a quarter of an "inchand the space between lines is to be of an inch the pitch of the teeth 22 wouldbe of an inch. It then the length of the areofthe curved face of platen sector 3 were one inch the lost motion. be tween pawl slug 23. and end plates 24 and; 25 should be of an inch, or slightly less. The operation as illustrated in Figss 6', .7 and 8 would then be asfollows: .The. parts. havingv been left at the endof the previous printing cycle in the position shown Fig. 6, spring, Iii-pulling the clamp housing back so that end plate-24 is in contact with pawl slugr23i, the rotating platens will, during the next. printing operation, pull'the. sheet 13. and clamp housingxll one. inchv to the. left into the position shown in Eigfli. The first /8 of an inch of this. travel will havetaken upithe lostmotion between the plate 25landthe pawl slug, 23 and, the last. of an inchfof such motion will have moved the pawl. that-distance, thus; causing it to slide over'the nextztooth, so-that if the pawl were at the beg-inningof theoperationinengagement with the 6th tooth 22, asshown inEig. 6', it would be in engagement with. the 7th tooth at the end of the operation, as shown in; Fig. Therefore when further revolution 'of-sector 3: has released the sheet 13, spring16- will pull the clamp and the sheet back. of an.- inch until the plate. 24 again comes in contact with, thepawl slug, 23, as shown in- Fig. 8.. This leaves the sheet: -13advanced of'an inch readyto receive; the. line to be printed from: the next stencil, which next line will therefore be; spaced away; from. the preceding line by the. desired /8. of an inch.

After the sheet, 13 has thus been, fed through the printing; zone, step: by step, to the desired extent, it maybe returned to-its. initial position by the operator grasping and swinging to one side the weighted handle 36 projectingv radially fromthe revoluble rack bar 14, as shown in Figs. 9 and 10. When the handle is swungto the extent indicated in Fig. 10,- the teeth 22- willv be disengaged from pawl 21 and spring; 16; will pull the clamp 11, and

the sheet held by it, back to the initial or starting position. When the weighted handle 36 is released it returns to the vertical position shown in Fig. 9 and the ratchet mechanism is again in mesh ready-fora repetition of the printing operations hereinbeforedescribed.

When the relatively'longand narrow card stencilsare fed sidewise as-herein; described it becomes important to ensure their progress along the guides in positions always at, right angles to the line of said guides, as. any considerable departure from that positionwouldtend to jam the cards in the guides. Toassist in maintaining these cards in that position I employ two spring friction devices. indicated generallyat, 60, 60, which are located on the stencil guides on the discharge side of the printing: zone and serve toprevent the stencils jumping away from the printing mechanism loosely with the consequent possibility of their assuming angular positions" in said guides which may result intheir becoming jammed. As shown in Figs. 2 and 11, each of these friction devices comprisesa spring plate; 54 clamped to the stencil guide bar 9 or 99 by means of screw 55 and prevented from rotating about. said screw by the downwardly extending flange 58 engaging the slot 59 in the upper surface of the guide; The freeend of spring plate54 is; bent upwardly and backwardly as shown at 56 and this backwardly bent portion has a depending sidefiange 57 which bears: withspring pressure on the upper surface of the frame of each, stencil 50 as it passes'under it, and presents theiproperfrictional resistance to the movement of; the stencil: so; as to prevent it jumping. awayfrom the. stencils behind it which are being successively: expelled from the printing zone. The several stencils-which are thus held in position after having passed the. printing zone also furnish a stop'for the next one shoved into printing position by the pusher plate 47. This accurate location of each stencil in the printing zone is essential to maintain uniform line spacing. When it is desired to change the apparatus over so as to feed the stencils endwise along the guides 9 and 99, as shown in Fig..12, the stencil guide bars 9 and 99 are brought closer together, as there shown, and this can bedone because they are supported from'horizontally extending-bars 94, 95, which are slidingly mounted in a housing 96 (see Fig. 2). The stencil guide 9 is supported from the casting 101 which isfastened to bar 94. .Stencil guide bar 99 is similarly supported from casting 98 which is fastened to slide bar 95. These bars may be held in different positions of adjustment by pin 105 moving vertically in housing 96, the construction here shown being similar to that described in detail in my before-mentioned Patent No. 1,909,910. The castings 98 and 101 serve as bases for a two-part stencil magazineor similarly adjustable structure for holding the stack of stencils 50, and the wide faced ink-bearing sector. 3 is removed when the parts are adjusted to feed the stencils endwise and a narrowffaced ink-bearing sector 3a (see Fig; 12) is substituted, all in the manner fully described in said patent. The plate 10 and the sheet feed control mechanism carried thereby can be removed by taking out the screws which hold said plate to table top 66, one of which screws is shown'at 70. -The cards or envelopes-to be printed may then be fed in by hand or an automatic feeding attachment may be added. I When feeding tothem'achine sheets of paper by hand it is almost essential that the operator stand at the back of'the :machine (i. e. the side opposite that on which the hand crank 1 is located) so that he can do the feeding with" his left hand while operating the machine with his right hand. To make this possible the hand crank 1 is transferable to the shaft 83 of the-lower platen 5, said shaft projecting from said other side of the machine as shownin Fig. 2.: This shaft has a depression 84 in its surface'with which the set screw 85 may engage to makesure thatthe crank hangs downward when the'parts are in the position of rest shown in Fig. 4, so that the sheet can bepushed in between the platen sectors. To cause thecrankto stop in this position I mount its handle 86 on a sliding pin "s'lnormally held by spring 89 in the position shown -in Fig. 2, and mount a stop 81 on the leg 91 of the main frame (see Figs land 2) in suchpositionthat pin 87 will strike it unless handle 86 and said pin are pulled away from. suchstop. ln operating with the crank on shaft 83'the'pin B'T'is usually allowed to strike stop 81 at the end of each printing cycle. The operator then slips another sheet of letter paper or the like between the platens, pulls handle 86 toward him so that pin '87 will clear stop 81, and then turns the crank through one revolution to effect a printing of that sheet, which is completed before pin87 again strikes the stop. Another reasonwhy the operator should stand in this position and transfercrank 1 to its alternative position on the end of shaft 85 of the lower sector 5 projecting at theback of :the 'machine when printing successive names and addresses on a series of sheets, asin thecase of form letters, or names withother data in column formation, as in the case of p'ayrolls,isthat inboth instances the stencils must be fed tothesectors with that by a distance less than the length of side edge in advancewhich will render such stencils readable from suchposition, as otherwise all printing on the sheets will be upside down.

If, however, postcards or envelopes are being addressed, and no automatic feed'thereforis-employed (none being hereshown) such cards or envelopes when fed by hand can best be handled by still feeding the stencils sidewise to the sectors, as before, and pushing each card or envelope endwise into the printing zone from the back side of the stencil guides, and transversely thereof. This can be most conveniently done with the left hand while the right hand grasps the other crank, l, to operate the machine. vInthis case the stencils would be fed to the sectors with the other side edgev first, .sothat again they would be readable from such operating position.

If, however, an automatic feed for the cards or envelopes, such as shown in my beforementioned Patent No. 1,909,910, ,is. employed, they would be fed endwise,:again, but with their longer dimensions parallelto thestencil guides 9 and 99, so that the stencil must be fed in a similar way, i. e. by adjusting the machine parts as shown in Fig. 12-and using the stencilpusher 41, only, dispensing with ,the extension plate 47. As sectors 3 and 5 revolve in opposite, directions, the crank will be turned'in a clockwise direction ,by'the operator, in both-cases. If for 'anytreason' the operator desires to produce continuous rotation of the sectors he cando this when'crank 1 is in its operative positionat the back of the machine by holding the crank handleBfi in-such position that pin 8'7 carried therebywill clear the'stop 91.

Having describedmy invention,-I claim:

1. Ina stencil printingapparatus comprising a pair of oppositely .rotating platens, at least one of which'has across section of a sector of a circle, means for applying ink. to the curved surface of said platen, and means for rotating it, the combination, with said above recited apparatus, of mechanism for feeding a succession of card shaped'stencils sidewise between said platens so that any lines of typed characters runningjlengthwise thereof will extend parallel to. the axes of said platens, a support for. holding a sheet of paper with one end inserted between said platens so that upon rotationof the latter said sheet will be pulled step by step between said platens a'distance substantially equal to the'length of the arc of said sector, and retarding means for preventing any-continued movement of said sheet due to the momentum thereof after each release thereof by continued revolution of'said platen; whereby the legends cut in successive stencils will be printed in column formation on said sheet.

2. A combination such as'defined in claim 1 in which said retarding means comprises yielding pressure mechanism tending to pull said sheet backward and a pawl and ratchet mechanism limiting the extent of each such backward movement thereby produced. I

3. A combinationsuch asdefined in claim 1 in which said retarding means comprises yielding pressure mechanism tending to pull said sheet backward, a fixed rack barjanda pawl cooperating therewith and having. a lost motion connection to said sheet, whereby said sheet is left, after each printing operation, in a position advanced beyond its position at, the beginning of said operation said sector arc. I 1

4. In a sheet feeding device for stencil printing apparatus the combination, with a pair of rotary platens adapted on rotation to feed step by step a sheet of paper between them, of means for controlling the various stages of such sheet movement which comprise a revoluble shaft having a series of ratchet teeth out along one of its sides, a pawl cooperating therewith and mechanism for connecting said pawl with the sheet being printed, and yielding pressure means tending to force said pawl along said shaft in a direction to withdraw such sheet from between said platens: whereby, when said shaft is held in a position to cause its ratchet teeth to be engaged by said pawl, said sheet may be held in any of the various positions to which it is advanced, but when said shaft is rotated so as to free said pawl, the sheet is automatically returned to its initial position.

5. An apparatus such as defined in claim 4 combined with a weighted arm projecting radially from said shaft tending to hold said teeth in position for engagement.

6. The combination, with an ink impression apparatus adapted to cooperate successively with a plurality of elongated stencil cards being fed to it, of a pair of parallel, oppositely grooved stencil guides adjustable toward and from one another so as to support said stencil cards either at their ends or at their sides, a reciprocating claw slide mounted on and sliding along one of said guides so as to feed said stencil cards endwise therethrough, and a supplemental stencil pusher adapted to be connected to said claw, and slide on said guides when the latter are spaced apart so as to carry said stencil cards sidewise along the same; whereby said stencil cards may be fed either endwise or sidewise to said ink impression apparatus.

'7. A combination such as defined in claim 6 in which said ink impression apparatus comprises a pair of rotating platen sectors mounted on parallel shafts, and means for applying ink to the upper sector, said ink bearing sector being detachably mounted on, and clutched to, its supporting shaft, whereby said upper sector may be easily removed to permit its replacement by a sector with different width of face.

8. A combination such as defined in claim 6 in which said ink impression apparatus comprises a pair of rotating platen sectors mounted on parallel shafts, and means for applying ink to the upper sector, said ink bearing sector being detachably mounted on, and clutched to, its supporting shaft and the common tangent plane of said sectors when in contact being at least as low as the under surface of said guides; whereby said guides may be moved in over said lower sector to carry said stencils endwise along them and said upper sector may be easily removed to then permit its replacement by a sector with a lesser width of face.

9. In a stencil apparatus the combination of a pair of revoluble platen sectors one of which carries ink, a pair of oppositely grooved stencil guides adapted to conduct a series of card stencils between said sectors, a card stencil having elongated rectangular exterior outlines and a line of typed characters cut therein extending longitudinally thereof, means for feeding a series of such stencils successively along said guides side by side with all lines of type extending parallel to the axis of said platen'sectors, and mechanism for advancing a sheet of paper between said platen sectors during each printing cycle in a direction parallel to said stencil guides a distance less than the length of the arc of the curved face of the ink-bearing sector.

10. An apparatus such as defined in claim 9 combined with friction members located on said guides on the discharge side of said sectors adapted to engage the stencils from which prints have been taken, whereby said used stencils serve as stops for accurately locating in the printing zone the stencil next to be used.

11. In a stencil printing apparatus comprising a pair of platen sectors each mounted on a revoluble shaft, the upper one of which sectors carries ink and has a hand crank mounted on the end of its shaft projecting from the front side of the apparatus, together with automatic mechanism for feeding successively a series of rectangular stencils sidewise between said sectors, the combination, with said above described apparatus of an extension of the shaft of said lower sector which protrudes from the back of the apparatus, and detachable fastening means for said crank adapted to engage the end of either shaft: whereby the operator, by transferring said crank from one shaft to the other, can always conveniently operate the apparatus by turning said crank with his right hand in a clockwise direction to any desired extent while facing said apparatus from either side thereof, and also read such stencils when fed to said sectors with either side thereof in advanced position.

, HARMON P. ELLIOTT.

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