Lincoln Logotype Co., Inc.

Lester R Medlen

Leonard L Johnson

James J Nickels

Robert A Beaver

A marking apparatus for printing indicia on products being transported along a conveyor. The moving products, such as cartons, are engaged by a printing roll with a drive rim that engages the surface of the article. As the printing roll turns, a printing segment carried on the roll comes into contact with the surface to print the indicia thereon. Ink is supplied to the printing segment by means of an ink supply roll mounted on a lever arm and which contains a supply of ink that is supplied to a porous ink-containing cylindrical surface. The lever arm is urged in one direction of rotation by a biasing device such as a compression spring to force the ink supply roll against an adjacent ink transfer roll with a predetermined force. The ink transfer roll has a cylindrical, elastomeric pad that receives ink from the ink supply roll and transfers it to the printing segment of the printing roll. A gear is connected between the printing roll and the transfer roll for turning the transfer roll surface at a speed differential relative to the surface speed of the marking surface so as to provide sliding contact between the ink transfer surface and the marking surface.

Printing apparatus for marking indicia on articles being successively

A flexible type segment formed of elastomeric material and in an initially flat condition, and adapted for mounting on the cylindrical surface of a printing roll that engages the surface of an object to be marked, and prints indicia thereon. The segment has an elongated base with generally flat, parallel top and bottom surfaces and a raised print face formed on the top surface. The print face defines indicia to be inked and thereafter to apply an ink imprint to the respective surface to be marked. A plurality of recesses are formed in the bottom surface of the base, the recesses extending into the material a major portion of the depth of the base. The recesses reduce the section of the base so that flexing of the segment when it is mounted on the roll and force variations between the print face and the surface to be marked produce a minimum of distortion of the print face.

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Fort Wayne, IN, United States of America

Lester R Medlen