Numberer for printing wheel

Claim 1

A numberer which is adapted to be mounted on a rotary printing wheel and which has printing type protruding beyond the perimeter of the wheel for printing on a printing surface as the printing surface and rotary printing wheel move relative to one another, the type adapted to print a line of characters which is in the direction of said relative movement, said numberer comprising: A. a frame adapted to be carried by said printing wheel of generally U-shaped configuration and having a linearly extending base and parallel legs, an arcuate bridge member connected across the ends of the legs and closing the frame, said arcuate member being convexly curved outwardly of the frame and positioned proximate to the periphery of said printing wheel in which said numberer is carried, B. a shaft carried by said frame, a plurality of friction wheels mounted for rotation on said shaft, each including a cylindrical drum portion having its peripheral surface parallel to said base and nonparallel to said bridge, said shaft generally spaced inwardly of and complementary to the arc of said bridge, a looped band carrying elastomeric printing type, said looped band being entrained over a portion of the outer arcuate surface of the bridge under tension and around said drum portion of one of said friction wheels in such a manner that one edge of said band is under greater tension than the opposite edge, means for selectively positioning selected characters of said printing type into a predetermined position on the outer surface of said bridge, and C. guide means connected with said bridge and extending laterally and radially outwardly thereof to confine said band to a preselected portion of said bridge.