Printing of cheques

Claim 3

A method in accordance with claim 1, including reading at a monitoring station each in turn of the characters applied to the checks at the preceding stations and comparing the resulting signals with the signals derived from the input record member.

Claim 4

A method in accordance with claim 1, including advancing through the printing machine a document which is to be bound in the check book but which does not require to be printed at each of the printing stations, and inhibiting the operation of those stations where printing is not required.

Claim 5

Apparatus for preparing personalized checks from check stock bulk printed with constant information and background pattern comprising: a printing machine including a document feeding unit for checks and other documents to be inserted into check books, a reading device for reading input record means giving details of the required printing and format, a number of printing stations each including one or more print wheels, and means for setting up the print wheels in accordance with the variable data read from the record member, means for individually feeding the checks and other documents to be imprinted to each of a number of printing stations in succession, with the longitudinal axes of the documents parallel to the direction of feed movement, detector means for sEnsing the presence of a check or other document at a printing station and controlling the timing of the printing operation at that station, and collating means for gathering the individual precut checks and other documents which have passed through the machine into the assembly required for the check book.

Claim 6

Apparatus for preparing personalized checks from check stock bulk printed with constant information and background pattern comprising: a printing machine including a document feeding unit for checks and other documents to be inserted into check books, a reading device for reading input record means giving details of the required printing and format, a number of printing stations each including one or more print wheels, and means for setting up the print wheels in accordance with the variable data read from the record member, means for individually feeding the checks and other documents to be imprinted to each of a number of printing stations in succession, with the longitudinal axes of the documents parallel to the direction of feed movement, detector means for sEnsing the presence of a check or other document at a printing station and controlling the timing of the printing operation at that station, and collating means for gathering the individual precut checks and other documents which have passed through the machine into the assembly required for the check book.

Claim 7

Apparatus in accordance with claim 4, in which the document feeding unit includes a number of compartments for documents of different kinds and means responsive to control signals for releasing documents from different hoppers in the order defined by the control signals.

Claim 8

Apparatus in accordance with claim 4, including at each station a stop member, and further including means for raising the stop members of all the stations in synchronism into the path of the documents, whereby each document is brought to a stop at each station.

Claim 9

Apparatus in accordance with claim 4, including at each of the said stations a printing hammer and further including means for operating all the hammers in synchronism.

Claim 10

Apparatus in accordance with claim 7, including at one or more of the stations a photo-electric device for detecting marks on documents indicating that that station is not required to operate on that document, and means responsive to a signal from the said photo-electric device to inhibit the operation of the hammer at that station.

Claim 11

Apparatus in accordance with claim 4, including at each station a photo-electric device which senses the leading edge of a document and means responsive to the output of that photo-electric device for stopping the release of further documents from the document feeding unit if the said leading edge is not sensed within a predetermined time.

Claim 12

Apparatus in accordance with claim 9, further including a reject station for diverting any documents which are passing through the stations when the document feeding unit is stopped.

Claim 13

Apparatus in accordance with claim 4, in which at each station printing is effected through a ribbon of the ''''total transfer'''' kind.

Claim 14

Apparatus in accordance with claim 4, including a further station at which printing is effected by means of a plate bearing the name and address of the branch of the bank at which the customer''s account is held.

Claim 15

Apparatus in accordance with claim 4, including two printing stations for printing the name of the customer; means whereby these two stations operate in turn on each document when a two-line name is to be printed; and means whereby, when a one-line name is to be printed, one of the said stations prints the name while the other is being set in accordance with the name required for the next order to be fulfilled.

Claim 16

Apparatus in accordance with claim 4, including a printing station for printing a serial number on each check, each station having means for advancing the serial number by one each time a check is printed.