Francotyp-postalia Ag & Co.

Dieter Wolm

Stephan Gunther

Wolfgang Von Inten

Heinz Rehberg

Wolfgang Thiel

Wolfgang Muhl

Frank Geserich

Matthias Lorenzen

Michael Schmidt-Kretschmer

Wilfried Kopanski

Wolf-Alexander Krumholz

Dietrich Muller

Christian Bartenwerfer

Michael Wolf

A device for printing stock standing on one edge, in particular a piece of mail in a postage meter and/or addressing machine, includes a guide plate for the stock which is inclined relative to the vertical and has a recessed region for a printing device. A rotating conveyor has a conveying plane which extends orthogonal to the guide plate and on which the stock stands on one edge and is transported in one direction while resting against the guide plate. The recessed region includes at least one cutout and a region of the guide plate downstream of the cutout is so far recessed from a bearing surface for the stock that there is no contact with the latter in this location. This ensures sufficient penetration time for the ink and prevents smearing of the printed image. The printing device is an ink jet printing device which is stationary during printing and which has a nozzle plane that extends parallel to the guide plate. The guide plate is inclined a maximum of 45.degree. from vertical. The conveyor runs continuously. This structure simplifies transport of the piece of mail, improves the printing technology and ensures a clean printed image at high throughput.

Device for printing to stock standing on edge

A print head thermocontrol includes a combination of power electronics that can be preset with a software potentiometer and that regulates the amplitude of the print head voltage according to the ambient temperature, a control unit operating according to a predictive control method for supplying individual print elements with print pulses and preheating pulses of variable pulse duration and an allocated print control unit for producing a digital imprint.

Print head thermocontrol

The invention concerns a postage meter with an electrothermal printing device by means of which value indications and/or graphics are printed onto a postage item moved past it at a predetermined speed by the transfer of color particles in a graphic forming distribution from a carrier web (114), which carrier web is heated by means of a thermal print head in correspondence to the graphic forming distribution and is driven past the printing device, with a counterpressure element (116) standing oppositely to the thermal print head (110). As the counterpressure element a counterpressure roll (116) is provided which is movable in a direction perpendicular to the printing surface, which counterpressure roll is so yieldingly supported on a shaft arranged parallel to the printing ledge (112) of the thermal print head (110) that its contact face with the postage item can take on different angles to the printing ledge (112) in a plane containing the printing ledge (112) and the shaft (130).

Postage meter

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Gross Schulzendorf, Germany

Dieter Wolm