Printing apparatus for negotiable instruments and securities

Claim 1

A printing apparatus for negotiable instruments and securities comprising a blank storing means for storing stacked instrument or security blanks therein, a first printing means for printing data consisting of visually recognizable characters, numerals, symbols, figures or the like on said instrument or security blanks, a second printing means for printing visually unrecognizable data on said instrument or security blanks, said second printing means being disposed downstream of said first printing means, a data reading-out means for reading out the visually unrecognizable data printed by said second printing means, said data reading-out means being disposed downstream of said second printing means, an instrument or security storing means for storing stacked instruments or securities for which printing the data and reading out the data have been completed, said instrument or security storing means being disposed downstream of said data reading-out means, a blank transporting means for transporting the instrument or security blanks from said blank storing means to said instrument or security storing means via said first printing means, said second printing means and said data reading-out means, a control means for controlling said first printing means, said second printing means, said data reading-out means and said blank transporting means, and a discriminating means for judging based upon read-out signals from said data reading-out means whether or not said visually unrecognizable data have been exactly printed by said second printing means; wherein a blank delivering means if further provided between said first printing means and said second printing means for delivering the instrument or security blanks therebetween, said blank delivering means comprising a main transporting passage communicating the first printing means with the second printing means and a bifurcated transporting passage diverged from the main transporting passage, said main transporting passage being disposed so that the instrument or security blanks can be transported to the second printing means when they are transported downstream from the first printing means, said bifurcated transporting passage being disposed so as to receive the instrument or security blanks therein when they are transported from downstream to upstream, and said control means is constituted so that in case where it judges that a leading edge of the instrument or security blank is not positioned upstream of the data reading-out means when printing of the visually unrecognizable data has been completed by the second printing means, the instrument or security blank is transported upstream into the bifurcated transporting passage by driving said blank transporting means until the leading edge of the instrument or security blank is positioned upstream of the data reading-out means and then the instrument or security blank is transported to the data reading-out means by driving the blank transporting means, thereby to cause the data reading-out means to read out the visually unrecognizable data.