EP0017406A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Postage meter improvement
Assignee: Pitney Bowes Inc
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Filing: 1980-03-21
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2000-03-21
Abstract
Abstract A postage meter has a printing mechanism positioned on a drum (26), and a driving gear (22) for rotating the drum (26) to imprint postage on an article, e.g. a mailpiece. The driving gear (22) is adapted to be externally driven. The meter also has a shutter bar (21) engageable with the driving gear, and an interposer, e.g. pawl 30, is coupled to the shutter bar (21) for inhibiting movement thereof. An electronic accounting system is also provided within the meter. A latch, which may be an interposer solenoid (47), is operative in response to the operating voltage for inhibiting more than a determined number of printing cycles. A counting device is incorporated to count printing cycles that were not registered, to thereby enable the electronic accounting system to bring the printing data up to data in the event, for example, of restoration of power following a power failure. Refer to Figure 1.
Inventors
- 👤 Robert Bruce Mcfiggans
- 👤 Alton Brooks Eckert, Jr.
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 00:06
CPC Classifications
G; G07; G07B; G07B17/00; G07B17/00185; G07B17/00314; G07B17/00362; G07B2017/00346; G07B2017/00395
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 15
Claim 1
Independent Claim
147 words
A postage meter having a secure housing enclosing a settable printing mechanism, a drive input mounted to receive externally supplied mechanical drive energy for driving said printing mechanism through printing cycles, an electronic accounting system including a register, sensing means connected to sense printing cycles for updating said register, and setting means for setting the amount to be printed by said printing means whereby said setting means is inoperative if said register is incapable of registering data received by said sensing means; characterised by a mechanical counting means having different positions corresponding to a plurality of sequential printing cycles, sensing means coupled to said accounting means and arranged to sense the count of said mechanical counting means, said accounting means comprising electronic counting means, and characterised by a means for comparing the counts of said electronic counting means and mechanical counting means for updating said register means.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
147 words
A postage meter having a secure housing enclosing a settable printing mechanism, a drive input mounted to receive externally supplied mechanical drive energy for driving said printing mechanism through printing cycles, an electronic accounting system including a register, sensing means connected to sense printing cycles for updating said register, and setting means for setting the amount to be printed by said printing means whereby said setting means is inoperative if said register is incapable of registering data received by said sensing means; characterised by a mechanical counting means having different positions corresponding to a plurality of sequential printing cycles, sensing means coupled to said accounting means and arranged to sense the count of said mechanical counting means, said accounting means comprising electronic counting means, and characterised by a means for comparing the counts of said electronic counting means and mechanical counting means for updating said register means.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
123 words
A postage meter having a printing mechanism, a register for storing data corresponding to an accumulated value of postage printed by said mechanism, said printing mechanism being operable in discrete multi-step printing cycles for printing postage and including means directing to . said register data corresponding to postage to be printed in a given cycle; characterised in that, as known per se, said register is electrically operative; in that mechanically operative counting means are coupled to said printing mechanism, and in that a data applying means responsive to said mechanically operative counting means is included for applying data to said register corresponding to the next preceeding data applied thereto when electric operating power for said register has been lost during a printing cycle.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
123 words
A postage meter having a printing mechanism, a register for storing data corresponding to an accumulated value of postage printed by said mechanism, said printing mechanism being operable in discrete multi-step printing cycles for printing postage and including means directing to . said register data corresponding to postage to be printed in a given cycle; characterised in that, as known per se, said register is electrically operative; in that mechanically operative counting means are coupled to said printing mechanism, and in that a data applying means responsive to said mechanically operative counting means is included for applying data to said register corresponding to the next preceeding data applied thereto when electric operating power for said register has been lost during a printing cycle.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
128 words
A postage meter having a mechanically operable printing means settable--to enable the printing of a determinable postage value, and an electronic accounting means which includes an electronic register connected to store data corresponding to the sum of postage values printed by said printing means, said postage value being not subject to change during a given printing cycle; characterised by mechanical counting means coupled to maintain a count of a determined number of sequential printing cycles of said postage meter, further counting means in said accounting means for maintaining a count therein of printing cycles during which said accounting means was energized to receive accounting data, and means for updating data stored in said register to maintain accounts of the mechanical counting means and the further counting means equal.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
128 words
A postage meter having a mechanically operable printing means settable--to enable the printing of a determinable postage value, and an electronic accounting means which includes an electronic register connected to store data corresponding to the sum of postage values printed by said printing means, said postage value being not subject to change during a given printing cycle; characterised by mechanical counting means coupled to maintain a count of a determined number of sequential printing cycles of said postage meter, further counting means in said accounting means for maintaining a count therein of printing cycles during which said accounting means was energized to receive accounting data, and means for updating data stored in said register to maintain accounts of the mechanical counting means and the further counting means equal.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
18 words
The postage meter of claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein said mechanical counting means comprises a bistable device.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
60 words
The postage meter of any preceding claim wherein said drive input comprises a gear, said mechanical counting means comprising a disk coupled to rotate with said gear with a 2:1 ratio, said disk having indicia on opposite sides of its axis cooperating with said sensing means at a fixed position for providing signals responsive to the position of said disk.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
29 words
The postage meter of claim 1 further comprising data processing means within said secure housing, said data processing means having a routine for controlling operation of said postage meter.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
67 words
The postage meter of claim 2 wherein said printing mechanism comprises a printing drum having settable print wheels therein, and rotatable drive means mounted to receive external originating mechanical drive energy for rotating said drum, mechanically operative counting means comprising disk means coupled to rotate with said printing drum at a lesser angular displacement, and sensing means mounted to sense the angular displacement of said disk means.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
47 words
The postage meter of claim 7 wherein said disk means is coupled to rotate with angular displacements half those of said printing drum, said disk means having detectable means along a common diameter to enable distinction between adjacent half turn displacements from a common fixed sensing position
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
41 words
The postage meter of claim 2 further including lock-out means responsive to the absence of electrical operating energy for said register for inhibiting initiation of printing cycles of said printing mechanism while being incapable of blocking cycles that have already commenced.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
38 words
The postage meter of claim 9 wherein said printing mechanism comprises a rotatable drive means coupled to receive external driving energy for said printing mechanism, and said lock-out mechanism comprises means for blocking rotating of said drive means.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
47 words
The postage meter of claim 3 wherein said drive means comprises rotatable means, and further comprising means for setting said printing wheels, and means inhibiting the setting of said printing wheels during at least- a portion of the rotation periods of said drum during a printing cycle.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
35 words
The postage meter of claim 11 further comprising a lock-out mechanism coupled to inhibit initiation of rotation of said drum during a printing cycle but incapable of blocking rotation thereof once a rotation has commenced.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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