Appeal No. 1999-0709 Page 3
Application No. 08/400,335
Hubbard, the primary reference relied upon by the examiner, discloses a postal meter
comprising postage printing wheels 166 (Figure 5) having a plurality of raised heads for the
numerals 0-9 formed on the outer circumference thereof, with the bottom circumferential
regions thereof forming a printing face 186 which faces a letter receiving slot 20, and postage
setting wheels 164 for adjusting the angular positions of the postage printing wheels. The
position of each of the setting wheels, and thus the postage setting, is monitored by means of an
adjacent encoder disc, such as disc 176. The printing wheels are carried by a print system
support 32. An inking roller 74 is also connected to the print system support via a linkage
comprising a first arm 76 and a second arm 82, a web 84 and a shield 62, 64, 66. The
printing cycle is commenced by depressing a cover member 38, thereby forcing a roller 88
downward, which causes the second arm 82 to pivot in a counterclockwise direction from the
position shown in Figure 8 to that shown in Figure 9 to draw the first arm 76 and inking roller
74 across the printing face. The depression of the cover member 38 also actuates a switch 98
to cause it to generate an "inking complete" signal for use by a microcomputer module 26
contained in the meter. Upon receipt of an "inking complete" signal, the microcomputer reads
and decodes the encoding disc associated with each of the postage printing wheels. A
descending register keeps an accounting of the remaining postage balance. If the postage
balance is not sufficient to print the requested postage amount, the microcomputer will energize
an indicator to notify the user of that fact. Under these conditions, the user will be unable to
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Last modified: November 3, 2007