Pitney Bowes Inc.

Gilbert N Riley

Richard A Malin

Richard S Holodnak

Arno Muller

Edilberto I Salazar

A postage meter module includes die protector blades to prevent fraudulent taking of postage meter imprints. A first plurality of die protectors are retracted to expose the adjacent printwheels when the meter makes a check on its internal condition. The remainder of the die protectors are retracted under different conditions while the first are still retracted in order to enable an imprint to be taken. Preferably the remainder of the die protectors are retracted only for a predetermined interval after a print signal has been received. The die protectors also serve to align the printwheels when the protectors are retracted.

Die protection assembly for preventing fraudulent printing by an

An incremental position encoder and method are disclosed herein for a close loop position control system, for example, for positioning a printing device in an electronic postage meter. The incremental position encoder and method includes three channels, first and second of which provide signals for coarse position determination and first or second and third of which provide signals for fine position determination.

Two stage quadrature incremental encoder

A postage meter includes a printwheel setting mechanism which allows shortest path setting of the printwheel. Stepper motors are provided for each printwheel which drives the printwheels through a transfer gear having a large diameter and greater number of teeth so that there are multiple positions of the transfer wheel which correspond to a particular character to be printed by the printwheel. The stepper motors are microprocessor controlled and a routine calculates the shortest rotational path of the setting of a new character for printing.

Printwheel setting device for a postage meter

A postage meter module is removable from the mailing machine base. In order to protect the print die, a shutter is provided to cover the die. The cover can be moved to expose the die only when the meter is installed on an appropriate meter base. At all other times the shutter is locked in position to cover the print die.

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Wilton, CT, United States of America

Gilbert N Riley