EP0474254A1 - Punktnadeldruckkopf - Google Patents

Punktnadeldruckkopf Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0474254A1
EP0474254A1 EP91115131A EP91115131A EP0474254A1 EP 0474254 A1 EP0474254 A1 EP 0474254A1 EP 91115131 A EP91115131 A EP 91115131A EP 91115131 A EP91115131 A EP 91115131A EP 0474254 A1 EP0474254 A1 EP 0474254A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
print
wires
print head
print wires
dot
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.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP91115131A
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Inventor
Minoru c/o Oki Electric Ind. Co. Ltd. Mizutani
Eisaku C/O Oki Electric Ind. Co. Ltd. Mutou
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.)
Oki Electric Industry Co Ltd
Original Assignee
Oki Electric Industry Co Ltd
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 Oki Electric Industry Co Ltd filed Critical Oki Electric Industry Co Ltd
Publication of EP0474254A1 publication Critical patent/EP0474254A1/de
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current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
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/22—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective application of impact or pressure on a printing material or impression-transfer material
    • B41J2/23—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective application of impact or pressure on a printing material or impression-transfer material using print wires
    • B41J2/235—Print head assemblies
    • B41J2/25—Print wires
    • B41J2/255—Arrangement of the print ends of the wires

Definitions

  • Printers include those which form characters by arranging plural dots in the form of a matrix. Printers of this type are called dot printers. Of these, wire dot printers which imprint dots by using wires are well known.
  • This invention relates to a wire dot print head which is to be mounted on the above-mentioned wire dot printer and makes use of wires as print elements. In particular, this invention is concerned with the arrangement of wires at a free end of such a wire dot print head.
  • the arrangement of wires the simplest is the vertical single-row arrangement disclosed in U.S. Patent 4,119,383. Besides, there are zigzag and oblique arrangements disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) No. SHO 54-127723. In addition, there is also the rhombic arrangement disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) No. SHO 60-109857.
  • the vertical single-row arrangement is used for wire dot print heads having a relatively small number of print wires, for example, 7-9 print wires (i.e., pins).
  • the zigzag arrangement is often adopted for wire dot print heads having a relative large number of pins such as 18-24 pins, whereas the rhombic or oblique arrangement is used for noise reduction and electric power saving in many instances.
  • FIG. 1 (a) shows, by way of example, nine print wires 10 arranged in a row
  • FIG. 1 (b) illustrates one example of print fonts for 9-pin heads.
  • the illustrated font is printed by a print head having print wires arranged at intervals of P per pitch in a vertical row.
  • the seven print wires arranged on the upper side are simultaneously driven to print the body stroke or stem of the font, said body stroke being indicated by solid dots.
  • desired print wires 10 are driven in accordance with print information so that printing is performed.
  • the sum of striking forces applied at once from the print wires 10 to a platen and hence the noise become greater as the number of driven wires increases.
  • magnetic interference occurs between the individual print elements so that the drive current becomes greater than that needed when such magnetic interference does not take place. As a result, more heat is produced and the throughput is reduced. Similar phenomena are also observed in the zigzag pattern.
  • plural print wires are arranged so that any plural ones of the print wires are prevented from alignment on the same line in a direction perpendicular to an advancing direction of a print head.
  • the timings of actuation of the corresponding printing wires can therefore be varied. It is generally at the time of printing a body stroke that there is a high chance of simultaneous actuation of many print wires.
  • FIG. 2 shows the construction of the wire dot print head in cross-section. For the convenience of description, other elements are also shown together with the wire dot print head.
  • a coil 8 is energized, the magnetic flux of a permanent magnet 4 flows in the order of core - armature 1 - upper yoke 6 - lower yoke 5 and then returns to the permanent magnet 4.
  • the armature 1 With a spring 2 fixed on one end thereof and a print wire 10 secured on an opposite end is attracted on the core 3. While the armature 1 is attracted on the core 3, the spring 2 has undergone resilient deformation so that the spring 2 retains resiliently restoring (spring-back) force for turning the armature 1.
  • the magnetic flux which has canceled out the magnetic flux of the permanent magnet 4 is eliminated.
  • the armature 1 is attracted again toward the core 3 and returns to its initial position.
  • print elements of such a construction as shown in FIG. 2 are generally disposed inside a wire dot print head.
  • the print wire 10 in each print element is supported at a predetermined position by the intermediate guide 12 and the end guide 11.
  • By driving the individual print elements in accordance with print information plural dots are printed on the print paper 13 so that characters, patterns or the like are formed.
  • the end guides 11 determine the arrangement of the print wires 10, so that the arrangement of the end guides 11 substantially govern the timings of actuation of the individual print elements in the wire dot print head.
  • the guides 11 arranged in rhombic format as a whole in accordance with the first embodiment of the present invention will be described.
  • the end guides 11 are arranged so that, in a vertical direction Y perpendicular to an advancing direction X of the print head, print wires to be actuated at the same instant upon printing a body stroke of a font are not aligned on the same line.
  • the arrangement of the lower half end guides 11 m-11x is offset by a P/2 pitch - P being a standard pitch and either 1/180 inch or 1/160 inch - in the advancing direction X of the print head relative to the upper half end guides 11a-11R.
  • the individual end guides 11 are arranged to give the following dimensions - A: 26-29 pitches, B: 23 pitch, C: (n + 0.5) pitches, n being an integer of 5-8, D: 2 pitches, E: 0.5 pitch, F: 1 pitch.
  • the individual print wires may be driven basically in a similar manner to conventional wire dot print heads. Namely, the print wires selected based on print information are driven at predetermined timings determined in accordance with the moving speed of the print head. Although individual print wires have heretofore been driven pitch by pitch, the print wires are driven 1/2 pitch by 1/2 pitch in this embodiment. Such drive control can be easily performed by choosing the timing at which print information is read from a memory.
  • the arrangement of end guides 11 according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described.
  • the arrangement of the lower half end guides 11m-11x x is offset by a P/2 pitch relative to the upper half end guides 11a-11R.
  • the second embodiment has another feature that a range G, in which the end guides 11 are arranged, is broadened to about 1.5 times the width of a character to be printed, namely, to 46-49 pitches.
  • the individual dimensions are set as follows - H: 23 pitches, I: (n + 0.5) pitches, J: 4 pitches, K: 0.5 pitch, L: 2 pitches, M: 1 pitch.
  • the number of print wires to be actuated at the same time when a desired string of characters is printed is plotted along the axis of abscissas, while the percentage of cumulative dots based on the total dot number is plotted along the axis of ordinates.
  • Squares ( D ) correspond to data when a print head in the zigzag arrangement shown in FIG. 7 is used, plus symbols (+) to data when a print head in the conventional rhombic arrangement shown in FIG. 8 is used, rhombi (0) to data when a print head in the arrangement according to the first embodiment depicted in FIG. 3 is used, and triangles (A) to data when a print head in the arrangement according to the second embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4 is used.
  • the string of characters to be printed are a combination of alphabetic letters, numbers and symbols.
  • P represents the standard pitch (1/180 inch or 1/160 inch) and n stands for an integer of 5-8 as described above.
  • the number of print wires to be actuated at the same time when a desired string of characters is printed is plotted along the axis of abscissas, while frequency is plotted along the axis of ordinates.
  • Left-descending coarse hatching ( ) corresponds to data when the print head in the zigzag arrangement shown in FIG. 7 is used
  • right- descending coarse hatching ( ) to data when the print head in the conventional rhombic arrangement shown in FIG. 8 is used
  • fine hatching to data when the print head in the arrangement according to the second embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4 is used.
  • the number of print wires and the string of characters to be printed are the same as those described above in connection with FIG. 5.
  • 12 wires are simultaneously actuated at the maximum in the zigzag arrangement and about 20% of the entire dots are printed by simultaneous actuation of 6 or more print wires.
  • the arrangement according to the first embodiment can reduce the frequency of occurrence of simultaneous actuation of 4 or more print wires compared to the conventional rhombic arrangement.
  • the maximum number of print wires to be actuated at the same time can be reduced to 6 and the frequency of occurrence of simultaneous actuation of 3 or more print wires can be reduced more than the arrangement according to the first embodiment.
  • the wire dot print heads according to each embodiment of the present invention can reduce the strike force to be applied at once to a platen and hence the printing noise by varying printing timings and reducing the number of print wires to be actuated at the same time.
  • varying the printing timings to reduce the number of print wires to be actuated at the same time as described above it is possible to reduce the generation of heat by a print head and thus to improve the throughput.
  • the arrangement of the lower half print wires 11m-11x was offset, by way of example, by P/2 relative to the arrangement of the upper half print wires 11 a-111. It is however not absolutely necessary to set the degree of offset at P/2 pitch. In essence, it is only necessary to avoid aligning the end guides 11 on the same line in the vertical direction Y of the font. They may therefore be arranged, for example, with the offset degree of 1/3 pitch or 3/4 pitch.

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  • Impact Printers (AREA)
EP91115131A 1990-09-06 1991-09-06 Punktnadeldruckkopf Withdrawn EP0474254A1 (de)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
JP9394390U JPH0452051U (de) 1990-09-06 1990-09-06
JP93943/90 1990-09-06

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0474254A1 true EP0474254A1 (de) 1992-03-11

Family

ID=14096519

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP91115131A Withdrawn EP0474254A1 (de) 1990-09-06 1991-09-06 Punktnadeldruckkopf

Country Status (2)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0474254A1 (de)
JP (1) JPH0452051U (de)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0639464A2 (de) * 1993-08-19 1995-02-22 Oki Electric Industry Company, Limited Punkdruckkopf und Verfahren für die Drucksteuerung
WO1996039299A1 (en) * 1995-06-06 1996-12-12 Dh Tech Dot matrix print head with bidirectional capability
US5975776A (en) * 1995-06-06 1999-11-02 Axiohm Transaction Solutions, Inc. Dot matrix print head with unitary armature assembly and method of operation thereof

Non-Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
IBM TECHNICAL DISCLOSURE BULLETIN. vol. 31, no. 3, August 1988, NEW YORK US, pages 351 - 354; 'Dot element arrangement for dot matrix printer' *
PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN, vol. 13, no. 593 (M-914) 27 December 1989; & JP-A-1 249 459 (MAKOTO) 4 October 1989 *
PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN, vol. 7, no. 189 (M-237) 18 August 1983; & JP-A-58 090 965 (MASASHI) 30 May 1983 *

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0639464A2 (de) * 1993-08-19 1995-02-22 Oki Electric Industry Company, Limited Punkdruckkopf und Verfahren für die Drucksteuerung
EP0639464A3 (de) * 1993-08-19 1996-01-31 Oki Electric Ind Co Ltd Punkdruckkopf und Verfahren für die Drucksteuerung.
WO1996039299A1 (en) * 1995-06-06 1996-12-12 Dh Tech Dot matrix print head with bidirectional capability
US5975776A (en) * 1995-06-06 1999-11-02 Axiohm Transaction Solutions, Inc. Dot matrix print head with unitary armature assembly and method of operation thereof

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
JPH0452051U (de) 1992-05-01

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