Printing member selector and drive means

Claim 1

Printing mechanism for printing selected symbol combinations on a carrier such as an item of mail or the lIke, said mechanism comprising, in combination: a. a housing; b. a plurality of striker means, arranged in said housing, for printing a symbol on such carrier, said striker means being movable with respect to said housing between a rest position and a printing position; c. a plurality of return springs, each associated with one of said striker means, for biasing said striker means in said rest position; d. a guide member which is movable with respect to said housing between a selecting position and an operating position; and e. a plurality of drive means each associated with one of said striker means and arranged in said guide member, for driving selected ones of said striker means from said rest position to said printing position when said guide member is moved from said selecting position to said operating position, each drive means including: 1. a sleeve member coupled to said guide member; 2. a pusher movably arranged within said sleeve member and having two ends; 3. an electromagnet rigidly connected to said housing, for selectively applying an attractive force against one end of said pusher; 4. catch means, which is hinged to said sleeve member, for driving the associated one of said striker means from said rest position to said printing position when said sleeve member is moved by said guide member and said catch means is in a catch position, and for leaving said striker means in said rest position when said sleeve member is moved by said guide member and said catch means is out of its catch position; and 5. means, coupling the other end of said pusher to said catch means, for moving said catch means into and out of said catch position in response to the movement of said pusher with respect to said sleeve member, whereby selected ones of the plurality of pushers may be moved with respect to the plurality of sleeves by excitation of corresponding ones of the plurality of electromagnets during the time that said guide member is moved from said selecting position to said operating position, thereby to move selected ones of said striker means from said rest position to said operating position.