JPS6014708B2 - rotary electric graphics device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to image recording and printing, and more particularly to rotary printing.

The invention, in its preferred embodiment, is described using a type of rotary printer in which images are formed by electrical discharges selectively placed on a discharge sensing vapor. As modern data processing equipment has become considerably more sophisticated, there is a need for high speed, low cost data printers.

Very high speed data printers have been developed. However, such printers are usually very complex and expensive. Although fairly inexpensive printers have been devised, they are typically slow and complex. As a result, the cost of such printers in terms of dollars per unit of print speed (characters per second) is undesirably high. Furthermore, such known printers are extremely complex and large. Maintenance costs are relatively high, and the loss of operating time due to malfunctions is also undesirably high. Also, many public 3-mark printers are very noisy during operation. According to the above description, the main object of the present invention is to propose a recorder printer with relatively high speed and low cost; a printer with a very reasonable cost per unit speed.

Furthermore, it is an object of the invention to propose a printer that is compact, simple and reliable. Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a device that is relatively smooth and quiet in operation so as not to disturb surrounding persons during printing. In the present invention, the purpose of mounting the needles on the rotor so that the rotor can be easily adjusted in the round direction or the round direction is to adjust the spacing of characters or other graphic symbols to each other, and to adjust the timing. Positioning the needle group relative to the disk and rotor to facilitate correction of needle group misalignment due to needle group wear or mechanical shock, while also allowing initial alignment of the needle group. It is. The axial adjustment of the needle groups relative to the rotor means that the vertical spacing of the columns of characters or the horizontal spacing of the characters can be properly and evenly spaced relative to each other, depending on how the printer is used. However, this feature also means that the beginning of a string of characters can be adjusted.

The circumferential adjustment allows for the initial alignment of the needle groups to be corrected as well as the position of the dots created by the needles as they move circumferentially during their descent.

According to the invention, the above object is satisfied by proposing a rotary electric printer comprising a rotor and a plurality of groups of electrically actuable printing members fixed to the rotor.

Drive means are provided for rotating the rotor to move the printing member across the recording surface. Means are provided for generating an electrical position signal indicative of a position of the rotor and responsive to the position signal to selectively activate each of the marking members when the rotor is in a predetermined position. Actuation means are provided for electrical actuation.

According to one feature of the invention, means are provided for changing the position of the print made on the recording surface by at least one of the printing members, the main changing stage being arranged in the printing section. Equipped with means for varying the time separation between successive operations of the village.

By this means, the relative position of the printed image can be adjusted on the recording member without moving the printing member on the rotor. This eliminates the need to rebalance the rotor and other adverse effects that may result from mechanical adjustment of the printing member. Preferably, the recording surface is in the form of a strip of discharge sensitive vapor and the vapor is wrapped around a portion of the roller when it comes into contact with the printing member.

Preferably, the vapor strip is moved across the rotor in a direction perpendicular to the plane of rotation of the rotor. According to another feature of the invention, the characters are printed by forming them from dots made by a plurality of needles arranged in groups extending in all directions.

Each printing member or head includes one group of needles. Preferably, there are enough needles in each group to form one complete character in one pass across the recording surface. Thus, one pass of the rotor across the recording surface prints at least as many characters as there are print heads. Preferably, the characters are formed in words extending in the longitudinal direction of the recording strip, and the recording strip is wide enough to accommodate multiple lines of the document to be printed.

In this case, coded information representing a character is stored in an electrical memo stream, and the coded information is sequentially read out so that each print head prints a character in a vertical column, and the character in each column is placed on separate lines of the document. Therefore, during each pass across the recording strip, each head' or just one
Instead of printing one character, print as many characters as there are in the line of characters to be printed. In the preferred device, there are three such heads so that the number of characters printed on each rotation of the rotor is equal to three times the number of lines in the document. Therefore, a higher printing speed can be obtained even at a moderate rotor speed. It is also within the scope of the present invention to print words in a direction other than longitudinally along the recording strip.

In this case, the printing speed is also relatively high. Preferably, the memory used to store the character codes is such that the data can be recycled so that repeated copies of the printed document can be made.

Preferably, the vapor strip is fed continuously past the rotor at a speed directly proportional to the speed of the rotor.

This provides the same spacing between letters or lines (based on which direction the word is printed) regardless of the speed of the rotor. This is easily accomplished by linking the vapor feed roller to the same shaft that drives the rotor. This shaft is driven by a relatively high torque DC motor at low speeds, which is relatively inexpensive and can be powered by a battery to make the printer portable. The vapor feeding row extends outward from the bonito body.

A curved guide body fits snugly over the ridge to hold the recording vapor and guide it to a cylindrical sleeve used as a platen on which the needle rests when the vapor is not in contact. be combined. The vapor feed roller pairs with an idler roller mounted on the guide body to pull the vapor from the roll. The present invention provides a simple and economical adjustment mechanism for adjusting the axial position of the needle.

Furthermore, another simple mechanical structure is provided to adjust the radial extent of the needle to compensate for wear and for alignment purposes. The result of the above features is a printer that satisfies the above objectives.

That is, this printer is extremely compact, simple in structure, and lightweight. Nevertheless, the printer is fast, relatively inexpensive, easy to maintain, and quiet in operation. The above and other objects and effects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate an embodiment of a printer 20 constructed in accordance with the present invention.

The printer 20 includes a base plate 22 and a cylindrical housing 24.
, a cylindrical sleeve 26 used as a platen, a rotor 28 mounted on a shaft 48 to rotate within the sleeve 26, and a drive motor 30 for rotating the rotor 28. A timing disk 54 for timing the printing is also attached to the shaft 48. Discharge sensing vapor 36 is stored on a roll 34 included in supply device 32.

The vapor 36 is passed upwardly from the rotor 34 and through a straight guide bar 35 to a curved vapor guide body 38. The guide body 38 is hinged to the outer surface of the mackerel body 24 at 40 for easy lifting as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, latch 42 retains guide body 38 when the printer is in operation. Referring to FIG. 2, a drive roller 56 is provided which pulls the vapor from the roll 34.
The vapor is drawn out through the curved guide body 38 so that the vapor forms an arc, and the blade of the sleeve 26 also sends the vapor through the sleeve 26 near the upper inner surface.

After the markings are formed on the underside of the vapor 36, the vapor exits the left edge of the sleeve 26 as shown in FIG. A ring 46 for breaking vapor is provided on the left edge of the sleeve 26. The ring 46 has a serrated upper edge 47 to facilitate tearing off a length of vapor strip. The lower (or concave) surface of the vapor strip 36 is first coated with a colored material and then with a bright colored material such as aluminum or zinc oxide, the bright colored material being coated with a discharge or It can be eroded or vaporized and removed by sparks.

The rotor 28 includes three needle heads 62, 64 and 66, each having five parallel needles 68 spaced equidistantly apart (see FIGS. 5 and 6). As will be explained in more detail below, vapor feed loaf 56 and rotor 28 are continuously driven by drive motor 301.

The stylus is selectively energized to form an image on the underside of the vapor by forming dots in a 5 dot by 7 dot matrix. An example of a print made by printer 20 is shown in FIG. Each needle head has five wires, which are sufficient to make all the dots for the horizontal portion of the character to be printed. Thus, each time a needle head passes over the recording paper, it produces at least one printed character. Preferably, the words are printed on the web strip as shown in FIG. 3, ie, in the longitudinal direction indicated by arrow 31.

Additionally, if multiple lines of the document are to be printed, the data is stored in the device's memo stream and each needle head prints one full vertical column of characters, one character from each line. It is read out as follows. For example, the first column A of the characters in FIG. is printed by one pass of the stylus head. Since there are three needle heads, three columns of characters are printed each time the rotor rotates. Therefore, the number of characters per revolution that the printer prints is equal to three times the number of lines that are being printed. Of course, the words can also be formed in a vertical direction rather than horizontally as shown in FIG.

The printer's speed capabilities when operating in such mode are comparable to those in other modes. Now printer 20
will be explained in detail.

Drive System Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5, the drive system for printer 20 includes shaft 48 and drive motor 30, both of which have been previously described.

The motor 30 is attached to the end plate 70 of the bonito body 24 through a screw 801. A toothed drive wheel 78 is fixed to the output shaft 76 of the motor 30;
The drive wheel drives a toothed timing belt 50 (FIGS. 2 and 4) to drive a large toothed wheel 52 fixed to shaft 48. Wheels 78 and 52 are sized to provide a 4:1 reduction. A timing disc 54 is fixed to the wheel 52,
Therefore, it is fixed to the shaft 48. The shaft 48 is mounted on a ball bearing 72 of an end plate 70, and a retainer 74 is fixed to the right end of the shaft (
(See Figure 5).

Another end plate 88 is provided opposite the screen body 24. The shaft 48 rotates on ball bearings 92 in the end plate 88 and is held by a holder 108 fixed to the shaft. Rotor 28
is attached by means of screws to a slider 110 (FIGS. 4 and 5), which is attached to the machine at its other end to a slip ring disc 104, which abuts against the holder 108. .

The spacer, slip ring and rotor 128 are held against the holder 108 by a threaded nut 114 which is screwed into a thread 49 (FIG. 4) at the left end of the shaft 48. Therefore, rotor 28, spacer 110, slip ring disc 104, gear wheel 52, and timing disc 54 all rotate together at the same speed. The rubber vapor feed roller 56 is driven by being geared to the shaft 48.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the roller 56 is connected to a shaft 96 secured to the upper extension 89 of the end plate 88.
is rotatably mounted on the A slot 91 is provided through which the upper surface of roller 56 extends. A downward extension 90 of end plate 88 forms a bearing support for shaft 84, to which is secured a worm gear 86 which meshes with worm gear 82 secured to shaft 48.

This combination drives a bevel gear 92 that meshes with another bevel gear 94 on shaft 96, which drives vapor feed roller 56 at a substantially lower speed than rotor 28. The feed roller 56 is an idler roller 98 mounted on the shaft 100 of the curved vapor guide body 38.
is paired with

In order to protect this idler roller 98, a cover IQ2 is iron-bonded onto this idler roller. As seen in FIG. 5, the recording vapor 36 is held tightly between two rubber rollers 56 and 98 such that rotation of roller 56 draws the vapor through the printer without substantially slipping. I am caught in between.

Vapor Grounding Means FIG. 10 schematically illustrates the electrical circuit formed when a spark is formed between the needle 68 and the vapor 36.

The conductive lower surface 39 of the preferred recording vapor must be connected to the return terminal of a power source 69 connected to the needle 68 in order to create an electrical discharge. Since this return terminal is grounded, the bottom surface of the vapor must also be grounded. This is accomplished by the unique grounding arrangement shown in FIGS. 2, 4, and 5.

The grounding device consists of a helical guiding fin spring 58 wrapped around a bent metal rod 60, which rod 60 is fixed to an end plate 70 and grounded as shown in FIG. . Both ends of the spring 58 are held in position by a retaining ring 61. As shown in FIG. 5, the rod 60 is bent forward and arcuate to fit under the right edge of the cover 38.

The upper part of the spring coil resiliently presses against the lower surface of the vapor 36 and forces the vapor upwardly against the guide body 38. The multiple coils of the subring make a number of relatively closely spaced contacts to make good ground contact with the underside of the vapor. This combined ground connection and vapor linking means also performs a third function of assisting in arching the vapor to facilitate passage of the vapor through the guide body 38.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 4, and 5, the vapor roll 34 is housed in a spindle 120, and both ends of the spindle are connected to a pair of ends of the supply bag 32. It is iron-bonded into the slot 118 of the plate 122.

The end plate 122 is the base plate 22 of the printer.
Fixed. The friction created by the various components of the V-feed system tends to prevent the vapor feed roll from turning too far after vapor feed has been stopped. As is most readily apparent from FIG. 5, the bar or roller 35 serves to bend the vapor coming from roll 34 to a substantial angle before passing it through the printer.

However, this bar always presents the vapor to the printer at the same height, unlike when the vapor is pulled directly from the roll 34. Substantial movement of the feed point is undesirable in that it tends to crease or wrinkle the vapor, thus preventing smooth vapor feed. Therefore, the feeding device 32 feeds the substrate strip to the printer evenly and smoothly. Structure of the Rotor FIG. 6 shows the structure of the rotor 28 and its three needle heads 62.
, 64 and 66 are shown.

FIG. 6 is a partial schematic diagram of the rotor 28 as seen in the direction of line 6-6 in FIG. 5, with the spacer 110 and other elements omitted. As is clear from FIG. 6, the ranges and points between the circle 125 representing the inner surface of the platen sleeve 26 and the needle S8 are designated by reference numbers 119, 121, and 123.

The needle 68 is mounted on a fixed epoxy base that is secured to a bracket 128 mounted on the rotor 28. The bracket 128 has a bent slot 130 with a screw 132 to allow the needle head to be moved outwardly or inwardly to increase or decrease the pressure of the needle against the platen or the vapor on the platen. There is. As is clear in Figure 6, points 119, 121, 1
The angle between the radius line extending through 23 and the needle is 7 degrees.

The angle formed between needle 68 and tangent 127 of point 119 is therefore 20°. The needle thus moves over the platen and vapor at an angle substantially less than vertical. This makes the mechanism operate more smoothly and reduces the possibility that the needle will tear the vapor as it traverses from the platen to the edge of the vapor. Referring again to FIG. 5, it will be seen that the braten sleeve 26 has a diameter substantially greater than the diameter of the weight 24.

This is necessary to allow vapor 36 to enter the inner surface of the platen sleeve. The lower two-thirds (reference numeral 116) of the trailing edge of the sleeve 26 is straight so that it irons into the flange 93 of the end plate 88 and is secured therein by three screws (not shown). Sutra is small. The vapor breaking ring 46 is drummed into a recess 96 on the inner surface of the leading edge of the sleeve 26.

As can be seen in FIG. 5, each of the needle heads 62, 64 and 66 is threaded into a terminal at the rear of the slip ring plate 104 by a wire 112 (see also FIG. 9).

This terminal is connected through plate 104 to a slip ring on the other side of plate 104. needle head 62
and 64 are shown offset from their actual positions in FIG. 5 for more clarity.
The timing of the formation of dots by the Egret Timing Structure needle is important to accurately print characters and other characters.

Referring now to FIGS. 2, 4, 5, and 7, this timing function is defined by a series of thin opaque black lines 166 (7
) and a transparent disk 5 with a single thick black line 168 painted on it
It is given according to 4. Three sensors A. Ideally, B, C and the three needle heads 62, 64, 66 would be separated by 12 distances from each other, but this is not possible due to the structure of the body 24 and vapor guide body 38.

Due to structural constraints such as
800 apart, and sensors A and B are located 600
It is forged at a distance. Sensor B is fixed in position. However, sensors A and C are movable circumferentially relative to disk 54 to adjust the start and stop timing of printing relative to the needle head relative to each other. This makes initial head alignment relatively easy, and also allows for easy adjustments without moving the needle head to prevent uneven needle wear or other print misalignments. do.
This prevents rotor imbalance and makes the adjustment process quite simple. Timing Adjustment Referring to FIGS. 4, 11, 12 and 7, a fixed sensor, sensor B, includes a detector mechanism 146 secured to a mounting plate 148.

This detector structure 146 includes a U-shaped weight body,
One arm is a small light emitting diode (LED)
153 (FIG. 11), which emits light toward the other arm, which includes a small phototransistor 155 for detecting the light. A mask consisting of a small piece of film that is opaque except for a small thin slit (
(not shown) covers the phototransistor so that only the light incident on the thin slit passes through. The detector 146 of sensor B is inserted through the hole 138 in the body 24 and fixed in position after the disk 54 is attached to the crab body.

The two arms of detector 146 are located at marks 166 and 16
8 is mounted around the edge of the disk so that light from an LED is emitted through the disk and detected by a phototransistor. Each of the other sensors A and C also includes the same detector 146.

The detector 146 of each sensor A and C is mounted at 152 on an L-shaped bracket 154 attached to the mounting bracket 50.
will be installed on the Bracket 154 is longitudinal group 1
It has a long arm with 56. Figure 4 shows 11
Referring to Figures 1 and 12, two side-by-side cam devices 1
58 and 160 are provided.

Each cam device has a body that is rotatably secured to a hole in the end plate 70 of the weight body 24 and has a slotted head that allows the device to be turned with a screwdriver. Each cam device 158 and 160 also has an obliquely mounted pin 162 or 164. As shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, pin 162 or 164 is iron-bonded to groove 156. When the head of cam device i58 or 160 is turned, the arm of bracket 154 is raised or lowered relative to pivot point 152, changing the position at which the detector senses lines 166 and 168. Pivot point 152 is shown schematically in FIG. The detailed operation of disk 54 and sensors A, B, and C in timing the printing of the printer will be described in detail with respect to FIGS. 8-10.

However, generally each thin closely spaced line 1
66 is one dot (or one line of up to 5 dots)
The medium-wide pulse mark 168 serves as a reference mark. A very precise adjustment for placing a print can be made by slightly moving the position of either or both sensors A and B relative to sensor B using cams 158 and 160, and adjusting the position of the print created by the stylus head. This can be done by changing the relative start and stop times. ELECTRICAL CONTROL CIRCUIT FIG. 9 shows the electrical control circuit of printer 20.

Drive motor 30 is shown in the lower left corner of FIG. 9, and needle 68 is shown in the upper corner of the stone. Slip ring disc 104, brush 1 in contact with the slip ring
06, and a wire 112 from the slip ring to the needle.
It is also shown in the corner above the stone. It will be apparent from FIG. 9 that each slip ring is followed in such a way that each brush 106 is in constant contact with three needles, one from each of the three needle heads. The position of each such needle is the same in each needle head. That is, the outermost brush is connected to the first needle of each head, the next brush is connected to the second needle, and so on. This means that the needles of all three heads (labeled groups A, B, C in Figure 9) are energized at the same time.
Therefore, the web strip 36 should be no wider than one third of the circumference of the platen 26. Otherwise, another print will be made on the Babastrip. Of course, if you wish to use a wider vapor strip,
The needle can be selectively biased by a segmented slip ring. Direct current is supplied throughout the control circuit from the DC power supply when 117 volts/60 days power is supplied, or alternatively from the battery.

At the top center of FIG. 9 is shown a memory 200 consisting of six 480 bit shift registers.

Connected to the output of this memory 200 is a ROM code converter 202, commonly referred to as a "character generator".
converts the character identification signal from the external memory 200 into corresponding dot matrix signals appearing on five output lines 203. This dot matrix signal is used to enable a selected one of the five needles in contact with the web strip to be energized to form a line of dots for a particular character to be printed. It will be done. Code converter 202 generates information on output line 203 one after another to form seven successive rows of dots for a given character to enable printing of the character in a 5x7 dot matrix form. Addressed by book input leads 264, 266, 268.

This procedure is explained in detail below. Data input memory 200 has sufficient capacity to store characters for a twelve line document.

By adding more shift registers, the memory 20
0 storage capacity can be increased. Up to 24 character lines can be placed between vapor strips if the inside of the vapor strip is similar (4 inches), the character height is approximately 4.68 ribs (3/16 inch), and the spacing between character lines is minimal. can be printed. If you want to add more storage space to your notes, you can make the lines as long as you want. In fact, if the characters are printed on one line and a "FIFO" memory is used in place of memory 200, the character line can be of virtually infinite length. A memory control circuit 206 is provided to read from the memory 200 and write to the memory 100 .
A high frequency clock signal (eg, IMNz) is applied to one input of NAND gate 228 via input line 226.

A strobe pulse with a slightly lower frequency is sent to another input line 2.
16. This strobe pulse is applied to one input of gate 218. During data entry, a D-type flip-flop 236 (shown in the lower left corner of FIG. 9)
is in a reset state, a signal appears at output Q, and output Q
No signal appears. This ``low^ signal on output Q enables gate 218, which sends a strobe pulse to another gate 220 and AND gate 222 to negotiate/
A final 20 minutes is given via the write line 224. This strobe pulse causes data to be input to the final shift register via a common data input line 225. When flip-flop 236 is reset, the Q signal from flip-flop 236 is applied via line 244 to inhibit gate 219 and prevent data from being discussed through the gate. Ru.

At the same time as data is read into the memory 200, the gate 2
The output of 22 is passed through line 230 to another shift register 2.
32 clock inputs, and the shift register also has 4 clock inputs.
It has a storage capacity of 80 bits and memory 2
It is the same as the 00 shift register.

Shift register 232 is used as a detection device to detect when memory 200 is full and to signal the start of a printing operation. When motor start shift register 232 is full, it sends an output signal on line 234 to the clock input of flipflop block 236.

This sets flip-flop 236 and generates a signal on the Q output line, which is sent via line 238 to motor drive circuit 208, which is a solid state relay.
The circuit completes the circuit to the drive motor 30 and begins operation of the motor. Changing flip-flop 236 to the set state enables gate 219, thus allowing data to be negotiated from memory during printing. This will be explained below. Gate 218 is also disabled by the signal on Q, and data can no longer be written to the memory from input line 204. The operation of the end margin setting flip-flop 236 of the recording vapor strip also changes the state of its Q lead, which activates the margin counter circuit.

Counter 246 controls timing disk 54 (nineth mark) before the printer can begin printing to provide a certain amount of unprinted space on the bar between the cut end of the vapor strip and the document to be printed. Count the two r-column sync'' signals representing two rotations of the column sync signal (Fig. These sensors are located at the thin timing mark 1 on the rotating disk 54.
66 and a thick timing mark 168 are detected.

Detectors A, B, and C shown in FIG. 9 may include intensifiers and Schmitt trigger circuits to intensify and shape the pulses from the detectors. The shelf synchronization r signal shown in the waveform diagram of FIG. 8 is a signal counted by the margin counter.

These signals are generated as follows. Column synchronization counter 2
12 is provided, and the counter 212 has two J-
K-shaped fritbo flops 300 and 302 are provided. Flip-flop 302 receives the signal from sensor C at its clock input, and both flip-flops 300 and 30.2 receive the signal from sensor B at their
Clear [Receive via lead. Referring now to FIG. 7, disk 54 rotates counterclockwise.

Sensors A, B, and C generate signals when the transparent portion of disk 54 is between the LED and the phototransistor and allows light to reach the phototransistor. Therefore, when the transparent area of disk 54 faces sensor B, the rclear^ input leads of flip-flops 302 and 300 are brought low to reset column sync counter 212.
Large mark 168 (2.3 higher than any mark 166)
When the sensor B passes the sensor B, it temporarily removes the ^CLEAR^ signal from the flip-flops 300 and 302 and transfers the pulses received from the sensor C, which is now sensing the thin mark 166, to these flip-flops. Make flops countable. When the thick mark 168 is detected by sensor B at the beginning of the technique, it seems that the thin mark 166 ends, but the thick mark 168 is in mark row 1.
This is not the case since sensor B is only nominally 6 degrees away from sensor A. Therefore, sensor C is spaced clockwise from sensor B, and the trailing edge of thin mark 166 is spaced 224.1o apart, still several marks 1
66 is left to pass through sensor C. Therefore, counter 212 will count up by two by the end of fat pulse 168 and the counter will be cleared again. This produces an output pulse at 9 of flip-flop 300. This pulse is the "column sync" signal shown in FIG. 8 and appears on line 248 in FIG. After the thick pulse passes through sensor B, but before the thin line reaches sensor B, counter 212 remains cleared) and no column sync^ signal is generated.

After the thin lines 166 reach the sensor 8 and after both sensors B and C sense these thin lines,
Counter 212 is reset once every transparent interval between these thin lines, so it cannot count 2 and cannot generate the ``G column sync'' signal. As a result, the ``R column sync'' signal is It is only generated once per revolution of , and only when the thick mark 168 passes sensor B. As mentioned above, this "column sync" signal is transmitted via line 248 to two signals. A margin counter 246 is provided for counting.

This counter 246 then provides an output signal on line 250 to start the printing operation. Start of printing Referring to the lower center part of FIG. 9, the margin counter 24
At 6, the signal on line 250 is applied to the clock input of another D-type flip-flop 251, which changes its state and produces a signal on its Q output line.

This signal is provided via line 254 to a margin counter to disable the margin counter, and via line 252 to a print enable flip-flop 254 as a ``START'' signal. The knob 254 is a D-type flip-flop, and the clock lead 25 is connected to the AND gate 290 in the center on the right side of FIG.
3 is clocked by the signal applied to 0.

This AND gate 290' receives an enable input on its lower lead and is enabled by a pulse from sensor A received on line 298. This AND gate actually flips the pulse from sensor A.
to the clock input of float 254. Therefore, the first pulse generated at sensor A by thin line 166 on the code disk, together with the rstart r signal on line 252, causes flip-flop 254 to change state. A subsequent clock pulse from sensor A also regulates the subsequent operation of flip-flop 254. This operation of flip-flop 254 changes the states of Q output line 256 and 9 output line 274. At the same time, the ``high^ signal on line 256 causes another NAND gate 260
is applied to one input of the . The other input of the NAND gate is also high because it is connected to the 9 output of another O-type flipflop 258, which is now cleared. The output of dot row counter gate 260 enables dot row counter 262.

The function of the counter is to count the spacing between character lines of the line of dots being printed: address line 264,2
66 and 268 to address the ROM code converter 202, and the converter 202 sends the information to brush 1 via AND gate 272 and multiplier 314.
06 and to needle 68. Of course, neither AND gate 272 will produce a proper output signal unless both inputs of AND gate 272 are in the same state. One input of each gate 272 is connected to the output of a three-input positive NAND gate 270, which outputs an AND signal when the signals on each of the input leads (274 and 276) are in the correct state. Enable each of gates 272.

The signal on line 274 is in its proper state when flip-flop 254 is set to enable printing. Lead 276 connects to one output terminal 2841 of multiplexer circuit 282 (located on the lower right side of FIG. 9).
The multiplexer constantly receives the pulses generated by sensors A, B, and C by means of thin wires 166, as will be explained further below. Gate 270 therefore relies on timing pulses generated by thin line 166 to
However, these pulses can only be repeated for short periods of time. These timing pulses are also applied from line 284 to line 263 to dot row counter 262.

The dot row counter counts this timing pulse and therefore steps through its address routine and counts the number of dot rows that are being printed. Since each character has 7 vertical dots, the counter for this dot row will step by 7 pulses,
The combination of outputs on lines 264, 266 and 268 is repeatedly changed to sequentially address ROM code converter 202. During the eighth count, line 271 of the dot row counter goes high.

This inhibits gate 270 and sends an enable signal through rclear'' line 277 to flip-flop 2.
58. This flip-flop 258 does not actually change its state at this time. This is because the flip-flop is a D-type device and requires a clock pulse at its clock input in order for it to be able to change state. The signal on line 271 is also sent to character line counter 278, causing it to advance by one count. Character line spacing selection flipflop 258 clock output line 257
is actually line 264 because it selects the spacing between character lines.
or connected to 268.

Line 264 is energized when counter 262 counts to 2, and line 268 is energized when counter 262 counts to 5.
It is activated when the count is reached. If a character line spacing of 2 was selected by following line 257 to line 264, then on the ninth count by dot line counter 262 line 264 would be in the quotient state, which would result in a flip-flop. Set knob 258.

If a character spacing corner of 5 is selected, 12 instead of 9
The same operation is performed in counting.

When the next character's plan flipflop flop 258 is set, its Q
The output becomes high, and the one-shot multivibrator 261 of the memory control circuit 206 in the upper left part of FIG.
Gives a signal to activate.

This one shot multiviprator generates pulses which are applied to the discussion/write line 224 through gates 219, 220 and 222 for reading information for another character from memory 200. It should be noted that the information for the first character already appears on the output leads of memory 200 since it is the first information stored in memory 20. Fritzbu Flop 2
The setting of 58 causes its Q output to go low, which causes the output of gate 260 to go high and reset all outputs of dot row counter 262 to zero.

The resulting low signals on lines 271 and 277 reset flip-flop 258 and re-enable gate 270 to allow the next character to be printed. The dot row counter 262 now starts anew counting the timing pulses received via line 263, and printing of the next character in the column begins.

The next character is repeated in the same manner as the first character until a character has been printed in each of the 12 or 24 character lines to be printed. In this way, one column of characters is completed. Character Line Counter The signal on output lead 271 from the dot line counter 262 is also provided to a character line counter 27M, which counter 278 indicates the number of character lines printed in a pass of the print head across the recording vapor strip. count.

Two separate connections are made to the character line counter 278, one that allows the internal circuitry to count up to IZ character lines and the other that allows it to count up to 24 character lines; These are optionally selected by the user. If 12 character lines are to be printed, the character line counter 278 outputs the output to the AND gate 282 via line 280 after the first character is printed in a particular print head. The AND gate also receives an input on line 240 from flip-flop 236, so flip-flop 254 is now cleared.

This disables the printer until it is time to start the next vertical character column when the next printhead is in position to start printing. Dot timing dot timing circuit 210 is multiplexer 282
In addition to the shelf synchronization counter 212, a data selection counter 214 and a counter 288 for dividing by 117 are provided.

Multiplexer 282 has its input lines 291 and 29
Separate input signals are connected to output leads 284 and 286 based on the state of 2.

The following table describes the operation of multiplexer 282. The truth table data selection counter 214 of the multiplexer 282 has a pair of JK type flip-flops.
Frotubes 304 and 306 are provided.

When the first pulse from counter 288 dividing by 117 changes the state of flip-flop 304, this changes the data on output lines 284 and 286 based on the table above.

When the next pulse is received from circuit 288, the state of second flip-flop 306 is changed and the data on lines 284 and 286 change again based on the table above. In this way, first the A signal, then the B signal, and then the C signal are applied to the circuit to control printing. Referring now to FIG. 8, the "column sync" signal occurs at a time interval, and the sensor timing signal starts slightly later at time t.

Now, with particular reference to the B sensor waveform of FIG. 8, it will be apparent that sensor B begins generating timing pulses at times around this time. Referring again to FIG. 9, the pulses from sensor B are provided via multiplexer output lead 286 to a counter 288 that divides by 117. Printing by needle head A ends at time t3 (FIG. 8) when the character line counter clears print enable flip-flop 254. counter 288
When the counter 288 has counted 117 pulses (1'3 of the 351 pulses caused by the thin mark 166 on the disk), the counter 288 generates an output signal that is output to one of the AND gates 294. and the other input of the gate is connected to the Q line of flip-flop 300. Therefore this AND gate 2
94 is enabled and sends a signal on line 296, clearing character line counter 278. This removes the output of the character line counter on line 280, thereby disabling AND gate 282, causing print enable flip-flop 254 to change state and printhead B to begin printing another character field. let This occurs for a short time t4'. The needle head B prints characters from time t4 to time t6. At time W, the character line counter operates again to stop printing. During that time, the timing pulse from sensor C is sent to counter 28.
It is given to 8. When counter 288 generates an output again after counting 117 pulses from sensor C, the third stylus head is ready to start printing at t7, and character line counter W Printing continues until printing is stopped at . Then the column synchronization pulse is t
o, and the printing process is repeated again for another revolution of rotor 28. This is repeated many times until all the information in the memory 200 has been read out and printed. While information is being read from memory 200, shift register 232 shifts the same number of times as each of the memory's shift registers.

When register 232 is full, circuitry (not shown) is provided to provide a pulse on line 234 to return flipflop 236 to its initial state, deenergize motor drive circuit 208, and stop the motor. ing. This circuit resets any previously set shift registers or flipflops to prepare the circuit for the next print run. Repeating Printing If it is desired to repeat the same printing process to produce duplicate copies of a document, this can be easily accomplished as follows.

″ to shift register 232 before loading memory.
The R strobe" input and the rR" input to the shift register of memory 200 are connected together and to a source of a low state signal. The shift register of memory 200 is of a type that allows data to be recirculated and restored into the shift register of memory 200 rather than being read out destructively. The same applies to the shift register 232. Therefore, in this mode of operation, the printer automatically prints the same document over and over again as many times as desired. Automatic Blackness Control Circuit According to another feature of the invention, an automatic blackness control circuit 215 is provided.

The circuit includes a one-shot multivibrator tachometer 308 whose output is provided to an integrator circuit 310 whose output is multiplied by a linear multiplier 312. The output of the intensifier 312 is applied to the input of an intensifier 314 to increase or decrease the voltage applied to the needle according to the speed of the rotor. The pulses provided via line 284 have a frequency that is directly proportional to the speed of the rotor.

This is because these pulses are fine pulses generated one after another by lines 166 at sensors A, B, and C. The output pulse of the tachometer 308 is constant. This is because some of them are determined only by the characteristics of the multipiperator. However, since the time between pulses varies with rotor speed, the output of integrator 310 varies directly with rotor speed.
This increases or decreases the output of intensifier 312 and intensifier 314. For example, in a preferred embodiment of the invention that has been assembled and successfully tested, the voltage applied to the needle was 50 volts at a printing speed of 500 characters per second. . Printing speed is 3 per second,
000 characters and the number of character lines and line spacing were the same, the needle voltage was 70 volts. The automatic blackness control circuit maintains the blackness and legibility of printed characters at a relatively constant level despite wide variations in rotor speed.

As a demonstration example, if the rotor is simply turned by hand at a very slow speed,
Very satisfactory printing was achieved for speeds up to ,000 characters. It should be understood that a speed of 3,000 characters per second is not considered an upper speed limit for this device.

Although this speed will vary with the number of lines of characters being printed, etc., it is notable of the present invention that speeds of up to 3,000 characters per second can be achieved at relatively low cost and with a simple and compact machine. It is a very effective section. Applications and Modifications It is clear that the present invention has wide utility in printing English characters.

For example, the present invention may be particularly useful for making 'hard copies' from cathode ray tubes or TV screens in computer terminals or other locations. [Page r] of the data that appears on the cathode ray tube screen at any given time can be easily printed as one set. The printer of the present invention is small (for example, 4 inches).
x 1 x 1 x 20 inches (8 inches or less), so it can be installed in the same module with multiple cathode tube display screens. This printer can be effectively used in many applications where size is important. For example, this printer can be used on aircraft, spaceships, police wheels, etc.
Useful for fire engines and other emergency vehicles. The printer of the present invention is believed to make an excellent low cost, reliable stock quote printer, particularly when operated in a mode in which the printout consists of a single line of characters.

Although it is preferred in the present invention to use an electrical discharge process, the rotor's three printheads can have other configurations.

One is to use groups of pushrods instead of needles for each head. In such an embodiment, each push rod is actuated by an electromagnet to strike an inked glue stick or the like to form characters in a dot matrix form on ordinary vapor. Apparatus for forming dots from ink can similarly be used to form characters by dots on ordinary paper. The number of print heads on the rotor can be varied as can the number of needles in each head.

However, it has been found that there is a distinct advantage in using three print heads, with each head printing one character field per pass. It is evident in FIG. 3 that there is a slight variation from left to right in the starting points of the top and bottom rows of print. This is because when Ro-Yu rotates, the Yoroku Bepa is continuously moved, and this means that the position where the last character line starts is a small amount from the Ima where the first character line starts. This means that it is shifted in the longitudinal direction. This slight skew is usually not a problem outside of data printing.
And it conveniently turns out that there is no need to compensate. However, if a skew occurs in a particular use of the printer, this skew can be compensated for as shown in FIG. FIG. 13 shows the above-mentioned supplementary drawing except that the direction of vapor feed is at an angle of 2° and 4 minutes from the longitudinal axis of the printer, and this angle is sufficient to compensate for skew caused by outside of the printer. 1 is a top view of a printer similar to that shown in FIG.

Of course, this compensation angle 0 can be changed as required if changes are made to the number of heads and/or the number of needle wires. Mechanical device for aligning print by three heads, namely cam wheels 158 and 160
Although a mechanical counterfeit has been described that makes adjustments by turning the , this same adjustment can be made by purely electronic means.

In this variation, the counters that time the start of printing by each head are adjusted so that the printing by that head is advanced or delayed by a certain amount relative to the printing by other heads. The same function can be achieved.
However, with current technology, it is believed that the mechanical adjustments described above provide better accuracy at a lower cost than that required to obtain the same accuracy by electronic means. Removable Rotor Structure FIG. 14 shows a rotary printer 20 that is substantially identical to the printer shown in the accompanying drawings, except for the rotor structure and the bottom grounding structure at the left end of the printer.

14 and 15, three needle heads 420 are pivotally mounted on the inner surface of rotor 28. Referring now to FIGS.

For clarity, only two heads 420 are shown in FIG. 15, and only one head is shown in FIG. 14. Now, Figures 17 and 18 and Figure 1
4 and 15, each needle head includes five closely spaced parallel needle wires 68 that are molded into needle support 424. Referring to FIGS.

Printed circuit panel 42 fixed to this support 424
6 supplies the fin energy to the stingers. This assembly is secured to an L-shaped slide village 428. The member 4
28 slides in the group of mounting blocks 422. An adjustment screw 432 is threadedly engaged with depending lower portion 430 of slide member 428 and is rotatably engaged with body 422 . Therefore, this screw 432
By turning the slide members 428 can be moved and the position of the needles 68 on their bodies can be adjusted. Each of the three needle heads is pivotally connected to rotor 28 by a support structure shown in FIGS. 14 and 19 and described below.

Each needle head 420 has an arm 434 fixed to the body 422 that extends in a direction perpendicular to the direction of extension of the needle 68.

At the end of this arm 434 there is a large hollow section 436 which is lead-filled or has a heavy metal insert 43.
8 included. This insert 438 provides a relatively large mass for use in extending the needle into engagement with the recording bar 36 under force. Referring now to FIG. 15, each arm 434 has a tension spring 454 attached to it and its other end attached to a pin 456 which extends parallel to the drive shaft 48.

The connection point between spring 454 and arm 434 is between block 422 and end 436 of arm 434.
The structure operates to automatically retract needle 68 from recording vapor 36 when the rotational speed of rotor 28 falls below some predetermined minimum speed, such as 500 revolutions per minute.

The tension spring rotates printhead 420 clockwise about a pivot axis indicated at 452. This moves the needle away from the vapor 36. When rotor 28 begins to rotate, centrifugal force acts on heavy insert 438 at the end of arm 434, tensioning the spring and turning arm 434 counterclockwise.

When the desired speed is reached, needle 68 engages the surface of recording vapor 36. A stop structure is provided to prevent increased rotational speed from compressing the needle 68 too much against the vapor 36. This stop mechanism is cam 458 (Fig. 15)
and a screw 460. Body 42 of each print head
The trailing edge of 2 engages the cam to stop counterclockwise rotation of the print head due to centrifugal force and stabilizes the position of needle 68 in the desired position. This position is screw 460
It can be changed by rotating. Adjusting the Needle The extent to which the needle 68 extends in the radial direction is determined by turning the screw 432 to adjust the needle 68 in order to adjust the needle, or to compensate for the initial deviation or wear of the needle. Adjustment can be made simply by moving it outward in the radial direction or retracting it inward.

The needle head 420 can also be adjusted axially (parallel to the drive shaft 48) by structures shown in detail in FIGS. 19 and 14.

An adjustment screw 412 with a head is provided on the outer surface of the rotor disk 28. This screw 412
has a smooth shaft 446 adjacent to and sliding within the sleeve 448;
8 acts as a bearing for the shaft 446 and the inner surface of the block 422. As shown in FIG. 17, block 422 has a large hole 442 into which a sleeve 448 is fitted, and a small screw in plate 440 (FIG. 18) attached to one side of the needle head. A hole 444 is provided. Referring again to FIG. 19, the screw is held in place by a snap ring 4501 which is engaged with a group of shafts 446. Shaft 446 has a threaded end 452 that competes with threaded bore 444 . Adjustment of the head is simply made by inserting a screwdriver into a slot in the head 412 of the adjustment screw and turning it.

This blocks 4 to provide axial alignment of each print head.
22 and the disk 28. This helps ensure that each character printed by the printer is properly spaced from the characters printed by each of the other stylus heads. Mounting and Removing the Rotor The rotor 28 is mounted to the shaft 48 by the structure shown in FIG.

A hub 400 is provided. Rotor 28 is secured to the hub by four screws 402 (FIG. 16). hub 4
Fixed to the end of the 00 is a flip-ring disk 104, which makes electrical contact with the printer's electrical circuitry, as will be explained in detail below. A stop member 108 is provided on the shaft. It has a central concave window into which the pin 456 is placed. These are the pins to which spring 454 is attached. Note that the first
Referring to Figure 4, the hub 400 has a recess 457 at its rear.
A compression spring 459 is inserted into the recess.

This compression spring supports the stop village 108 and the hub 400 and pushes the rotor outwardly away from the shaft 48 to assist in removing the rotor. Now, the first
Referring to FIG. 6, rotor 28 is secured to the end of drive shaft 48 by a latch mechanism. The latch mechanism includes a latch member or plate 404 with two vertical end tabs 406;
Tap 406 can be pressed to slide 04. The village 404 is secured to the outer surface of the rotor 28 by a pair of glue pet 410, and rivets 410 retain the slide member 404 in a pair of elongated slots. There is a warp between the rivet head and the slide member to ensure a constant frictional engagement between the slide member 404 and the face of the rotor to hold the slide member in the position from which it is moved. A washer (not shown) is placed.
Slide member 404 has a slot with a large hole 408 whose diameter is slightly larger than the end of drive shaft 48 . The drive shaft 48 has a circumferential group 418
(FIG. 14), in which the edge of the slide member 404 is ironed into the slot to grip the end of the shaft 48. Accordingly, by simply sliding the slide member 404 downward as shown in FIG. 16, the slide portion can be disengaged from the shaft end and the disk can be removed.

Spring 459 then pushes the rotor outward to assist in removal of the rotor. When replacing the rotor, the end of shaft 48 is inserted through hole 408 and slide member 404 is pushed upwardly to re-engage the slide member with the shaft end and lock the rotor in place.

The rotor mounting and needle adjustment structures described above are very advantageous. When it is desired to remove the rotor from the printer, or especially when it is desired to start passing a new strip of recording vapor through the printer, the needle is retracted and removed from engagement with the recording vapor. Therefore, the needle 68 does not cause any obstruction. Furthermore, because the friction of the stylus against the vapor is not present until the desired minimum operating speed is reached, the printer reaches the proper printing speed more quickly. The apparatus includes means for adjusting the needle in the direction of the needle without removing the rotor from the printer. This adjustment can be easily made by turning the screw 412 exposed at the open left end of the printer. A simple mechanical means is also provided to adjust the effective length of the needle by simply turning the screw 432. This facilitates initial alignment of the needles to produce properly aligned and readable print.
Two of the three photocells and their associated electronics used in the embodiments referred to with respect to FIGS. Since it has mechanical adjustment depending on its use, it can be removed. The rotor was made very easy to remove by providing a simple slide latch as shown in FIG.

Ease of removal was increased through the use of spring 459. Movement of the needle toward and away from the recording paper can be accomplished by other than centrifugal means if desired.

For example, the needle can be extended by a solenoid that is activated some time after the needle begins to rotate. This solenoid can also be used to retract and hold the needle out of contact with the vapor after the rotor begins to decelerate, or alternatively after the rotor has stopped. This solenoid can be manually operated if desired. Alternative Vapor Grounding Structure FIG. 14 shows an alternative structure for grounding the recording vapor 36.

Instead of the curved spring structure 58 described above, the vapor feed wheel 56 is made of metal (eg, steel) and is grounded by brushes 461. This brush 4
61 contacts the weave of the shaft 96 on which the wheel 56 is mounted. This structure provides a convenient rotating ground contact for grounding the recording server. This eliminates wear and tear caused by sliding contacts and reduces vapor scratches. Furthermore, the wheels 56 are made of metal instead of rubber.
This is achieved by crimping wheel 56 against wheel 98 during a substantial period of rest.
Prevents 6 from being dented. Materials and Specifications Specifications for some materials and components of printers constructed and successfully tested in accordance with the present invention are set forth below.

Suitable recording materials are readily available. Suitable vapors coated with a black opaque material and then coated with either aluminum or zinc oxide are available from Fitchberg C., Scranton, Pennsylvania.
P. 1. and AtlanTol Industries
Available from. The preferred beba has a total thickness of 0.002 inches. Aluminum coated beber is preferred. This is because the vapor typically requires only a low needle voltage to vaporize the aluminum coating and expose the black material underneath. The needles used successfully were 0.175 fields (0.007 inches) in diameter and approximately 0.4 sides (0.4 inches) from each other from center to center.
．． 016 inches) apart.

The desired spacing of dots on the vapor is approximately 0.4 columns in both the horizontal and vertical directions. However, it should be noted that the vertical spacing of the dots is sometimes small due to the rotation of the rotor. This sometimes improves printing in that when printing characters it tends to join the dots together into solid vertical lines. The needle material is thoriated tungsten.

The most desirable angular range between the needle and the platen is 60 degrees to 7 degrees (see FIG. 6). Preferably, as much of the printer body as possible is molded from plastic to obtain low cost and light weight.

Thus, while the main drive shaft 48 is made of metal, the negative body 24 and many other components are molded from a reinforced plastic material such as glass fiber filled polystyrene.
The material has good strength and wear properties. Platen 26
is preferably molded from glass fiber-filled rSAN'' (styrene-acrylonitrile polymer) or from glass fiber-filled rLe-n'' polycarbonate plastic material or nylon.

30% shorter (e.g. 0.78 kite (1/32 inch)
Platens made of glass-fiber-filled SAN are non-conducting and do not wear significantly when the needles are subjected to erosion, even though the needles are made of a very hard material. It is known that it has excellent properties in this respect.

A direct current motor known to be suitable for driving this printer is manufactured by Coleman CO. Part number FYOM-63200-51 was manufactured on the same day.

The motor has a diameter of 315 mm (1.26 inches) and a length of 4 mm. It is spotted (1.95 inches). Its operating voltage is 12 volts DC and 4400R. P. M,
It has an output torque of 1 oz. inch at 1.3 amps. Optical sensors 1 4 6 used to sense marks on timing disc 54
is manufactured by Optron Corporation.

This sensor is called an "optical switch" and has part number OBP.
It is 800. A similar device manufactured by Spectronjc, part number PNSPX1872-s, is also suitable. This sensor was improved by simply adding a mask as explained above. The code used to encode characters is a well-known code called ASCII.

This is advantageous because code converters for use with such codes are readily available. In the electric control circuit shown in FIG. 9, some parts are specifically specified as follows.

These parts are readily available from a number of different companies unless otherwise indicated. The above description of the invention is intended to be illustrative and not limiting.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes or modifications can be made to the embodiments described above without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a printer constructed according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view of the printer of FIG.
Figure 3 shows a part of the recording base strip used in the printer shown in Figure 1, and shows the prints actually made by this printer. One of the recording base strips holding the reenactment
FIG. 4 is an exploded front perspective view of the printer shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line 5-5 in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a front view of the timing disc of the apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 to 5;
FIG. 8 is a set of waveform diagrams illustrating the operation of the timing disk and its associated electronic circuitry; FIGS. 9 and 10 are diagrams showing the operation of the printer shown in FIGS. 1-5. FIGS. 11 and 12 are partial schematic diagrams of the components of the printer, each showing the components in two alternative operating positions; FIG. FIG. 14 is a partial cross-sectional side view of another embodiment of the printer of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 16 is an alternative front view of the rotor shown in FIGS. 14 and 15; FIG. 17 is a partial sectional front view taken along line 15-15; 18 is a side view showing one of the print heads of the printer with
19 is a front view of the print head shown in FIG.
14 is a cutaway cross-sectional view of a portion of the structure of FIG. 14 taken along line 19-19 of FIG. 4; FIG. 20... printer, 24... formation, 26.
... Sleeve (platen), 28 ... Rotor, 3
0... Drive motor, 32... Vapor supply combination device, 34... 0-ru, 36... Vapor, 38...
Vapor guide body, 48...Shaft, 54...Timing disk, 56...Drive roller, 62, 64, 6
6...needle head, 68...needle. '/G/'/G2'/G. 3 F/○. 4 f no G. Evening'/G 6'/〇 A'/G 8'/G〃 F/G 9 'ノG ^0 F/○'2 F/G ^3 ''G'5 ''G. '4 f/6. '6'/6'A'no G. '8'/G'9

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A rotor, a means for rotating the rotor, a plurality of heads fixed to the rotor, a group of needles fixed to each head, the needles of the needle group being arranged on a line along the rotational axis direction of the rotor. a feeding means for bringing the needle group into contact with the recording sheet and causing the recording sheet to pass in a direction transverse to the rotational direction of the rotor; and means for adjustably fixing each head in said position so that the position of said group of needles in the circumferential or axial direction of said rotor can be adjusted.