EP0058092A2 - Rotierendes Druckelement, versehen mit Kodifizierungsangaben - Google Patents

Rotierendes Druckelement, versehen mit Kodifizierungsangaben Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0058092A2
EP0058092A2 EP82300660A EP82300660A EP0058092A2 EP 0058092 A2 EP0058092 A2 EP 0058092A2 EP 82300660 A EP82300660 A EP 82300660A EP 82300660 A EP82300660 A EP 82300660A EP 0058092 A2 EP0058092 A2 EP 0058092A2
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
printing device
protrusions
interposer
drive shaft
identification
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Granted
Application number
EP82300660A
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0058092A3 (en
EP0058092B1 (de
Inventor
Robert A. Ragen
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Xerox Corp
Original Assignee
Xerox Corp
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Xerox Corp filed Critical Xerox Corp
Publication of EP0058092A2 publication Critical patent/EP0058092A2/de
Publication of EP0058092A3 publication Critical patent/EP0058092A3/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0058092B1 publication Critical patent/EP0058092B1/de
Expired legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J1/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the mounting, arrangement or disposition of the types or dies
    • B41J1/22—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the mounting, arrangement or disposition of the types or dies with types or dies mounted on carriers rotatable for selection
    • B41J1/24—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the mounting, arrangement or disposition of the types or dies with types or dies mounted on carriers rotatable for selection the plane of the type or die face being perpendicular to the axis of rotation
    • B41J1/28—Carriers stationary for impression, e.g. with the types or dies not moving relative to the carriers
    • B41J1/30—Carriers stationary for impression, e.g. with the types or dies not moving relative to the carriers with the types or dies moving relative to the carriers or mounted on flexible carriers

Definitions

  • This invention relates to an improved rotary printing device, such as a daisy-type printwheel or a cup-shaped printing element, for use in an impact printer.
  • the printwheel is provided with identification features thereon which, in one form, serve to locate a "home” or reference position.
  • the identification features provide to the printer, in addition to locating a "homc" position, information regarding the font style, language, pitch, point size and other characteristics. This information enables the printer to select the desired characters, to increment the carriage by the correct amount, and to impact the printwhecl at the proper energy level.
  • a method and apparatus for in silu identification of the rotary printing device is also comprehended in this invention.
  • the printwhecl is provided with an opening in the form of a keyway into which a locating key is positioned, upon mounting of the printwhcel relative to its rotatable drive shaft.
  • the keyway is fabricated to establish, within desired tolerances, the precise location of the "home" position.
  • FIG. 5 Another optical or magnetic home position sensor is taught in Figure 5 of the aforementiunned U.S. Patent No. 4.209.262. Magnetically or optically readable indicia upon the priniwheel may be accessed through an aperture in the loading cartridge, by a suitable magnetic or optical sensor. By use of this marking and detection method, the home position of the wheel may be sensed. In addition, this patent teaches that a predetermined pattern of similar indicia may be used to define a code to indicate the type of character font used.
  • the paper record member is a bonded composite material made up of diverse particulate ingredients. These include: the bulk particles of small discrete cellulosic fibers of wood pulp, fillers such as clay, sizing such as rosin, coloring dyes, and bonding agents such as starches. When the paper is repeatedly impacted at high speeds and energy, clouds of particles arc beaten off this composite material resulting in a contamination of the interior of the printer. Clearly, the particulates will detract from the effectiveness of the optical sensing devices and may even render them totally inoperative after a period of prolonged usage.
  • a further drawback of the sensed indicia approach resides in the increased manufacturing costs of the printwheel bearing the optical or magnetic indicia. Affixing the indicia, in the form of reflective stripes, requires integrally molding them or adhering them to the wheel by some other means. Both approaches arc costly. Similarly, the use of magnetic indicia in conjunction with magnetic sensors also elevates the cost of the printwheel elements.
  • the novel rotary printing device of the present invention is provided with mounting means for coupling the printing device to a drive shaft, without regard to angular alignment, "home" position identifying means and characteristic identifying means, comprising two precisely located protrusions.
  • the device only includes the "home” position identifying means.
  • a foolproof method and apparatus for the in situ interpretation of both identifying means is also comprehended.
  • FIG. 1 and 2 an overall view of a representative printer with which one form of the novel printing device of this invention may be used.
  • the illustrated printer provides one suitable environment for supporting, rotating. sensing and impacting the device.
  • the novel printing device of this invention may be in the form of a disk-shaped printwheel (as illustrated), a cup-shaped clement (as referred to above), or any other suitable construction, and may be used in conjunction with any suitable impact printer mechanism.
  • rectangular frame 10 which carries a cylindrical platen 12 having end knobs 14 and 16 for manually rotating the platen to advance and retract a paper record member wrapped thereon. Spanning the long dimension of the frame 10 arc smooth, parallelly aligned support rods 18 and 20 upon which carriage 22 is mounted. for reeiprocating lincar movement from one end of the frame to the other end, on low friction roller assemblies 24 and 26.
  • the motive force for carriage 22 is provided by carriage motor 28 secured to frame 10 by suitable fastening members.
  • the motor 28 has drive shaft 30 extending outwardly therefrom upon which is mounted a drive pulley 32, in the form of a capstan.
  • Anchored to the pulley 32 are left cable segment 34 and right cable segment 36, each countcrwound thereon.
  • Cable segment 34 passes to idler pulleys 38 and 40, then over a portion of carriage pulley 42 (see Figure 2) and is firmly secured to tensioning anchor 44 mounted upon the frame 10.
  • cable segment 36 passes to idler pulleys 46 and 48, over a portion of carriage pulley 42 (in the opposite direction) and has its end firmly secured to anchor 50 mounted upon the opposite frame wall.
  • Accurate control of the energization of carriage motor 28, by the machine logic circuitry enables the carriage to be moved incrementally, either to the left or to the right (as viewed in Figure 1), by the desired amount and at the desired speed.
  • a paper feed motor 52 fixed to the right wall of frame 10 (as viewed in Figure 1), drives the platen 12 through a gear train 54.
  • paper may be advanced incrementally.
  • a printwhccl drive motor 56 to which is secured a printwheel 58.
  • a hammer assembly 60 and a ribbon cartridge 62.
  • Inked ribbon 64 stored within and advanced by the ribbon cartridge, is interposed between the printwheel type elements and the paper 66 wrapped upon platen 12.
  • the printwlteel drive motor 56 has a central axial shaft 68 extending outwardly beyond the motor, both forwardly and rcarwardly.
  • the forward end of shaft 68 compriscs a splined printwheel engaging and driving head 70 upon which the printwheel 58 may be mounted for being positively driven thereby.
  • a transducer 72 including a rotatable disk 74, mounted upon and for rotation with shaft 68, and a fixed disk 76, secured to the motor housing.
  • the transducer provides position signals representative of the rotational position of shaft 68 (and thus printwheel 58) to the printer control electronics in a known manner, as more specifically set forth in U.S. Patent No. 3,839,665 and U.S. Patent No. 3,954,163.
  • the printwheel 58 includes a central hub portion 78 from which a plurality of spokes 80 extend radially outwardly, each spoke terminating in a pad 82 upon which a character element is formed.
  • the material of the printwheel is fabricated is of no import in the context of this invention. Preferably, it is molded of a suitable plastic material, however, heavy duty compposite (i.e. plastic and metal combination) printwheels are also prevalent today and may be constructed to incorporate the instant invention.
  • the printwheel includes a handling cap 84, secured to one side of the printwheel, and having a central cavity 86 in axial alignment with a central opening in hub 78.
  • the cavity 86 is illustrated as being splined for receiving splined head 76 of drive shaft 68.
  • any positive drive configuration may be used, such as a common square or hexagonal mating arrangement.
  • mounting and withdrawal of the printwheel from the shaft 68 is a simple and casual manual operation for the operator, since no attention need be paid to proper alignment of the printwheel, as heretofore required.
  • cap 84 may be eliminated entirely, it being sufficient to provide the printwheel hub with some suitable mating arrangement for receiving the drive shaft.
  • protrusions 88A and 88B Extending axially from the hub 78, arc a pair of protrusions or identification pins 88A and 88B.
  • the protrusions arc illustrated as being of circular cross-section, it should be understood that they may be of any desired shape. They are preferably disposed on a common circle and arc spaced from one another by a predetermined identification angle ⁇ , which must be less than 180° (its complementary angle is designated as ⁇ ).
  • ⁇ the identification angle
  • One of the pins (88A fur the sake of this description) is the home position indicator. Dashed line “R”, tangent to the pin 88A. will be the reference position from which the angular rotation to each of the characters is counted.
  • the included angle a between the pins, will identify to the printer all the information necessary to properly operate that particular prinlwheel.
  • font style viz. Pica, OCR, Emphasis
  • pitch viz. 10, 12, PS
  • font language viz French, Gcrman, English
  • a suitable detector device is required.
  • One such detector embodiment 90 is disclosed in Figures 2 and 4. It includes a selectively moveable interposer 92 which may be moved by solenoid actuator 94 mounted upon carriage 22, or any other suitable device.
  • a detection cycle is effected. Since prudent practice dictates decncrgizing the printer when the cover is opened for replacement of the printwheel, the detection cycle may be included in the usual power-up sequence.
  • a representative detection cycle may include the following steps: first, the printwheel drive motor 56 is energized to rotate the printwheel at a slow specd, i.e. less than one and one-half revolutions per second (as compared to its normal print speed, i.e. aproximately five to fifteen revolutions per second); second, the intcrposcr 92, of detector 90.
  • the printwheel drive motor is stopped when one of the pins 88 contacts the interposer 92, stopping the drive motor and arresting the train of signals from the transducer; fourth, the direction of printwheel motor 56 is reversed and printwheel 58 will be slowly rotated until the other of the pins 88 contacts the intcrposer 92, again stopping the drive motor and arresting the train of signals from the transducer; and finally, the intcrposcr is retracted by the solenoid 94.
  • the angle between pins 88A and 88B can easily be ascertained by counting the number of transducer generated zero crossing signals transmitted during the reverse rotation of the printwhccl motor. Rotation of the printwheel during the first step of the detection cycle (i.e. before introduction of the interposer 92) is effceted to prevent jamming or locking of the drive motor, which could result if one of the pins were in direct alignment with the interposer at the time the solenoid actuator 94 is energized, and the interposer is urged against a pin.
  • the drive motor and the interposer solenoid may be energized simultaneously rather than sequentially, as set forth above.
  • the printwheel 58 may be mounted upon the shaft 68 without regard to aligning it at a home position.
  • the interposer may measure either the angle a or the angle ⁇ .
  • the printer control electronics is programmed to identify an angle between 0° and 180°. In the event that an angle greater than 180° is measured, that angle is merely subtracted from 360° to determine the printwheel characteristic identification angle.
  • the printer control electronics may be programmed to generate the same output identification for the a or ⁇ angle.
  • the printwheel "home” or reference position may be arbitrarily selected to be adjacent to pin 88A in the a zone. Therefore, it is determined by the juxtaposition of wall "r" of interposer 92 and pin 88A. Clearly, if the measured angle is ⁇ , the opposite walls of interposer 92 and pin 88A will be in contact, thus, the printer control electronics must also be programmed to compensate for the pin and interposer dimensions, to correctly determine the angle a and to locate the home position, in the event that angle ⁇ is measured.
  • a detector including a fixed interposer, is mounted on the left frame clement (as viewed in Figure 1) adjacent a carriage stop, also mounted upon the left frame element
  • the carriage will be moved fully to the left until it abuts the stop.
  • the printwhccl drive motor Prior to contacting the stop, the printwhccl drive motor will begin to rotate the wheel at the slow detection speed.
  • the interposer will be in a position to interfere with the free rotation of the printwheel, but because of the premature rotation, the drive motor will not jam, if they happen to be in direct alignment.
  • the subsequent detection cycle steps as set forth above may then be carried out, namely, the printwheel is rotated in a first direction until it hits one of the pins, then the printwheel is rotatcd in the oppositc direction until it is again stopped by the other pin.
  • the measured angle a or ⁇ is determined and the printer control electronics is armed with all the information necessary for proper utilization of the new printwheel.
  • the printer control electronics restore the carriage to its previous location relative to the platen (and documcnt) after the printwheel has been identified, so that the task may be completed.
  • FIG. 6 An alternative embodiment of the unique printing device is identified as 58' in Figures 6 and 7 wherein the protrusions 88A' and 88B' are on opposite sides of the printwheel and the interposer 92' is in the form of a U-shaped clement. It is contemplated that this form of the printing device be utilized with the detector device and detection cycle described in the preceding paragraph, wherein the interposer 92' is fixed on the printer frame and the printwhcel carriage is brought into interference rclationship with the interposer during the detection cycle. It should be apparent that this embodiment will only be practical with a disk-shaped printing device.
  • a further embodiment of the printing device is suggested.
  • the printwheel 58" illustrated in Figure 8 having protrusions 88A and 88B on one side (as in Figure 3) and a third protrusion 88C located on the opposite side, a further identification region of substantially 360° becomes possible.
  • the identification region defined by the angle ⁇ between protrusion 88C and reference position ("R"), may be measured by a second interposer 93 moved into interference relationship with the protrusion 88C at the appropriate time.
  • interposer 93 has been shown in Figure 8 at the 3 o'clock position, it should be understood that it may be mounted in any advantageous location as long as it is able to perform its desired function.
  • the method of in situ identification will follow the series of steps set forth above, with respect to the Figure 3 embodiment, with the addition of the further steps of removing interposer 92, rotating the printwheel at the slow speed, and moving the interposer 93 into interference position. Since the printer electronics would have alrcady determined the location of the reference position it is a simple matter to measure the angle (up to 360°) between that position and the third protrusion, in either direction. Therefore, it is a matter of choice to rotate the printwheel in the first direction or in the second direction.
  • the novel rotary printing device of the present invention has been described as being provided with means for identifying a "home” position and for identifying the printing device characteristics, the present invention also contemplates a printing device provided solely with "home” position identifying means.
  • a printing device is illustrated in Figurc 9, as 58"', and is provided with a single protrusion 88.
  • the printer will rotate the printing device in one direction only, until the movable interposer 92 abuts the protrusion 88 and stops the drive motor. When this occursthc reference position "R" has been determined and the printer control electronics will be "armed".
  • FIG. 10 for a graphic representation of the printer control electronics capable of carrying out the in situ identification of the embodiment illustrated in Figures 1 through 5.
  • the printwheel drive motor 56 rotates the printwhecl 58 relative to the interfering interposer 92.
  • the transducer 72 also carried on the shaft of the drive motor 56, generates a cyclical signal, as the drive shaft rotates, whose cycles are sensed by the processor 96 as an indication of a predetermined incremental rotation of the printwheel.
  • the processor 96 may be similar to the processor 76 disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 4.058,195 and found in the HyType II serial printer manufactured by Diablo Systems Inc. of Hayward, California.
  • the cyclical signal train is used by the control elements of the processor 96, referred to generally as the controller 98 to increment a counter defined in a storage location of a random access memory (RAM) 100, within the processor 96.
  • the countcr will be reset by the controller, during the identification cycle, upon the first incidence of arrested movement of the drive motor, indicating that the first protrusion has been contacted. Continued rotation of the drive motor will again allow the transducer to generate cyclical position signals.
  • Each cycle is then counted by the RAM counter until the second incidence of arrested movement stops the train of signals, at which time the counter is also stopped by the controller.
  • the value stored in the RAM counter indicates the number of cycles, of the cyclical signal train, between protrusions 88A and 88B.
  • the stored value is applied as an address to a table read-only -memory (ROM) 102 which contains all the characterizing data for each printwheel to be used with the printer.
  • ROM read-only -memory
  • the table ROM will. also be programmed to generate the same charactcrizing data for a stored RAM value indicative of the ⁇ angle or ⁇ angle.

Landscapes

  • Character Spaces And Line Spaces In Printers (AREA)
  • Accessory Devices And Overall Control Thereof (AREA)
EP19820300660 1981-02-11 1982-02-10 Rotierendes Druckelement, versehen mit Kodifizierungsangaben Expired EP0058092B1 (de)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US23353881A 1981-02-11 1981-02-11
US233538 1981-02-11

Publications (3)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0058092A2 true EP0058092A2 (de) 1982-08-18
EP0058092A3 EP0058092A3 (en) 1984-03-28
EP0058092B1 EP0058092B1 (de) 1987-07-22

Family

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EP19820300660 Expired EP0058092B1 (de) 1981-02-11 1982-02-10 Rotierendes Druckelement, versehen mit Kodifizierungsangaben

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EP (1) EP0058092B1 (de)
JP (1) JPS57163573A (de)
CA (1) CA1186265A (de)
DE (1) DE3276797D1 (de)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4496254A (en) * 1983-03-18 1985-01-29 Primages, Inc. Method and apparatus for mounting a daisy print wheel on the shaft of a print head
DE3427761A1 (de) * 1984-05-22 1985-11-28 Caracteres S.A., Neuchâtel Typentraegerscheibe fuer druckende maschinen
EP0738607A2 (de) * 1995-04-21 1996-10-23 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Drucker mit abnehmbarem Druckkopf

Families Citing this family (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
IT1158917B (it) * 1983-03-30 1987-02-25 Olivetti & Co Spa Stampante seriale

Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2070622A5 (de) * 1969-12-11 1971-09-10 Ibm France
US3954163A (en) * 1970-03-30 1976-05-04 Xerox Corporation High speed printer with intermittent print wheel and carriage movement
US4074798A (en) * 1976-09-01 1978-02-21 Xerox Corporation Encoded print wheel system
US4091911A (en) * 1976-05-03 1978-05-30 Xerox Corporation Control apparatus for serial printer
FR2383020A1 (fr) * 1977-03-10 1978-10-06 Adlerwerke Kleyer Ag H Dispositif pour entrainer et commander un porte-caracteres, de preference sous forme d'un disque a caracteres, d'un mecanisme d'impression
EP0030626A2 (de) * 1979-12-12 1981-06-24 International Business Machines Corporation Verfahren zum Zurückführen einer Druckscheibe in die Ausgangsstellung

Family Cites Families (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS5478220A (en) * 1977-12-05 1979-06-22 Ricoh Kk Serial impact printer

Patent Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2070622A5 (de) * 1969-12-11 1971-09-10 Ibm France
US3954163A (en) * 1970-03-30 1976-05-04 Xerox Corporation High speed printer with intermittent print wheel and carriage movement
US4091911A (en) * 1976-05-03 1978-05-30 Xerox Corporation Control apparatus for serial printer
US4074798A (en) * 1976-09-01 1978-02-21 Xerox Corporation Encoded print wheel system
FR2383020A1 (fr) * 1977-03-10 1978-10-06 Adlerwerke Kleyer Ag H Dispositif pour entrainer et commander un porte-caracteres, de preference sous forme d'un disque a caracteres, d'un mecanisme d'impression
EP0030626A2 (de) * 1979-12-12 1981-06-24 International Business Machines Corporation Verfahren zum Zurückführen einer Druckscheibe in die Ausgangsstellung

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4496254A (en) * 1983-03-18 1985-01-29 Primages, Inc. Method and apparatus for mounting a daisy print wheel on the shaft of a print head
DE3427761A1 (de) * 1984-05-22 1985-11-28 Caracteres S.A., Neuchâtel Typentraegerscheibe fuer druckende maschinen
EP0738607A2 (de) * 1995-04-21 1996-10-23 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Drucker mit abnehmbarem Druckkopf
EP0738607A3 (de) * 1995-04-21 1997-12-10 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Drucker mit abnehmbarem Druckkopf
US6260950B1 (en) 1995-04-21 2001-07-17 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Ink jet printing system using printers with interchangeable printing units

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP0058092A3 (en) 1984-03-28
EP0058092B1 (de) 1987-07-22
DE3276797D1 (en) 1987-08-27
JPS57163573A (en) 1982-10-07
CA1186265A (en) 1985-04-30

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