Storage Technology Corporation

Ronald R Reidenauer

Leonard G Ward

Donald J Kleinschnitz

Joseph M Ross

A smear test machine for diagnosing problems associated with reader sorters used to process documents having magnetic ink characters printed thereon includes read heads which are closely juxtaposed to a document transport subsystem adapted to move the document past the read head a preselected number of times as controlled by a solenoid-operated gate.

MICR document smear test machine

This magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) character coating system makes use of the application of an inexpensive lubricant that is selectively applied to the document, solely in the area where the MICR characters are printed. The lubricant of choice used in this apparatus is sodium stearate (soap). The lubricating apparatus includes a pair of rollers, between which the printed documents are fed. One of the rollers is a drive roller that advances the documents. Opposite of and spring loaded against the drive roller is a free running lubricating roller that is manufactured from a solid lubricant, which lubricating roller is of length equal to the length of the MICR character field that is printed on the document. In the printing of the document, a sensor mark is printed on the document and is used to indicate the beginning of the MICR character field. A sensor circuit detects the presence of the sensor mark and activates a solenoid to stop the lubricating roller from rotating as the document is fed past the lubricating roller. This causes the documents to be dragged across the lubricating roller, thereby applying a thin film of lubricant from the lubricating roller solely to the area of the document that contains the printed MICR characters. Thus, this MICR character printing apparatus both applies a lubricant only to the MICR character field on the printed surface of the document without coating the entire document and uses an inexpensive lubricant to extend the useful life of the printed MICR characters.

Growing community of inventors

Palm Bay, FL, United States of America

Ronald R Reidenauer