Check protector

Claim 1

A check protector for printing a plurality of different size checks and comprising: a horizontal base including a check support surface; a floating chassis on said base for shifting from a retracted to a printing position; biasing means interposed between said chassis and base and biasing said chassis away from said support surface to said retracted positIon; guide means on said base and engaging said chassis to guide it through a vertical path as it moves toward said base; a shaft projecting horizontally over said check support surface and carried non-rotatably by said chassis; a plurality of number printing wheels carried from said shaft for independent rotation thereon, said wheels including printing numbers spaced about the peripheries thereof; an opaque cover covering said printing wheels and mounted on said base and formed with a horizontally extending slot; a check tray interposed between said wheels and support surface and including a slider frame carried slidably in said slot beneath said number wheels for sliding transversely to said support shaft and parallel to said support surface to index a check carried therein under said printing wheels, said tray further including a hold down frame overlying said slider and formed with a central opening for projection therethrough of the lower peripheries of said number wheels, said slider and hold-down tray cooperating to form therebetween a transverse passage for selective receipt of said different size checks; an actuator handle pivotally connected to one end with said base and operable upon depression of the free end thereof to drive said chassis toward said base to carry said wheels into a printing position adjacent said check support surface; and said opaque cover covering said chassis to conceal a check in said tray from the view of an operator whereby a check may be inserted between said slider frame and hold down frame and said tray slid to position such check under said wheels, said wheels selectively rotated to position the selected numbers over said check and said handle depressed to move said chassis downwardly toward said base to carry said printing wheels toward said check to engage said selected numbers with said check.