Rotary printing press for apertured continuous metal strip

Claim 1

IN APPARATUS FOR PRINTING IMPRESSIONS UPON A CONTINUOUS STRIP OF METAL OR THE LIKE THAT HAS APERTURES AT REGULARLY SPACED INTERVALS ALONG ITS LENGTH, AND WHEREIN AN IMPRESSION ROLLER BY WHICH SUCH IMPRESSIONS ARE PRINTED IS MOUNTED AT A FIXED LOCATION ALONG A DEFINED PATH OF LENGTHWISE STRIP TRAVEL FOR ROTATION IN ENGAGEMENT WITH THE STRIP, MEANS FOR CONTROLLING THE ROTATION OF THE IMPRESSION ROLLER TO CONTINUOUSLY MAINTAIN ITS CIRCUMFERENTIAL SPEED IN A PREDETERMINED RATIO TO THE LOCAL LINEAR SPEED OF THE STRIP PORTION ENGAGED THEREBY AND TO RECURRENTLY ENGAGE A POINT ON THE ROLLER WITH POINTS ON THE STRIP WHICH BEAR A PREDETERMINED RELATIONSHIP LENGTHWISE OF THE STRIP TO THE APERTURES THEREIN, SO THAT THE IMPRESSIONS MADE BY THE IMPRESSION ROLLER ARE UNSMEARED AND ARE ACCURATELY IN REGISTER WITH THE APERTURES, SAID MEANS COMPRISING: STRIP DRIVE MEANS FOR DRAWING A STRIP LENGTHWISE ALONG SAID DEFINED PATH; A MONITOR ROLLER MOUNTED TO ROTATE ABOUT A FIXED AXIS ALONG SAID DEFINED PATH AND TO BE ENGAGED BY THE STRIP, SAID MONITOR ROLLER HAVING COG-LIKE PROJECTIONS WHICH ARE ADAPTED TO CLOSELY FIT SAID APERTURES AND WHICH ARE CIRCUMFERENTIALLY SPACED APART BY DISTANCES SO RELATED TO THE SPACING OF THE APERTURES LENGTHWISE ALONG THE STRIP THAT SAID PROJECTIONS ARE ADAPTED TO MESH WITH APERTURES IN THE STRIP, TO GEAR THE MONITOR ROLLER TO THE STRIP; TRANSMISSION MEANS PROVIDING A POSITIVE ROTATION TRANSMITTING CONNECTION BETWEEN THE MONITOR ROLLER AND THE IMPRESSION ROLLER WHICH CONSTRAINS SAID ROLLERS TO ROTATE IN SYNCHRONISM AT A PREDETERMINED RATIO OF CIRCUMFERENTIAL SPEEDS; AND CONSTANT TORQUE DRIVE MEANS DRIVINGLY CONNECTED WITH SAID ROLLERS TO DRIVE THEM AT A SPEED WHICH IS INDEPENDENT OF THE SPEED OF THE STRIP DRIVE MEANS AND TO IMPART TO THEM A TORQUE OF A VALUE WHICH TENDS TO ROTATE THEM AT A SPEED SUCH THAT THE CIRCUMFERENTIAL SPEED OF THE MONITOR ROLLER APPROXIMATES THE LINEAR SPEED OF THE STRIP, SO THAT THE TORQUE FORCES NECESSARY TO MAKE THE CIRCUMFERENTIAL SPEED OF SAID IMPRESSION ROLLER AT ALL TIMES BEAR SAID PREDETERMINED RATIO TO THE LOCAL LINEAR SPEED OF THE STRIP ARE DERIVED FROM THE STRIP ITSELF, THROUGH THE GEARING OF THE MONITOR ROLLER THERETO, AND SO THAT SAID FORCES ARE LIGHT ENOUGH TO PREVENT DEFORMATION OF THE STRIP AROUND THE EDGES OF ITS APERTURES AS A RESULT OF THE MESHING ENGAGEMENT OF THE RADIAL PROJECTIONS THEREWITH.