GB1569643A - Recorder having modular construction - Google Patents

Description

(54) RECORDER HAVING MODULAR CONSTRUCTION (71) We, YOKOGAWA ELECTRIC WORKS, LTD., a Japanese Company, of 9-32, Nakacho 2-chome, Musashino-shi, Tokyo, 180 Japan, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to a recorder having a modular construction and drive mechanism for one or more marking instruments, such as pens, for recording variable signals.

A prior art recorder has been such that electric circuits of pre-amplifiers and balanced amplifiers are separately printed on individual wiring boards in the form of a unit, and these individual units are separately attached to a casing and connected by means of separate wires to a power source.

With such a recorder, it has also been customary that record pens or a balanced motor are mounted in the casing independently of the balanced amplifier. This construction entails increased assembling and wiring steps, resulting in the frequent occurance of an electric trouble such as a misfiring disconnection of wire or noise. Due to the fact that a number of wirings are used and respective elements of a recording mechanism are attached to the casing independently of one another, a poor maintenance results.

According to the invention, a recorder having a modular construction comprises one or more servo units respectively including a drive mechanism for a marking instrument for recording a varying signal and a balanced amplifier, said drive mechanism and said balanced amplifier being attached to a frame, and the amplifier of each servo unit being connected to a connector of a mother board.

The present invention enables a recorder having a modular construction to be constructed wherein members incorporated in the recorder are assembled as one or more units, and main electric circuits are all printed on a wiring board, so as to accomplish the electrical connection by a plug-in system to a mother board, thereby facilitating the wiring or assembling works, greatly diminishing the occurance of electric troubles, and providing ease of maintenance.

Description will be given to a preferred embodiment of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying draw ing & Figure 1 is an exploded, perspective view of a portable multi-pen recorder in which the present invention is embodied; Figure 2 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view taken along the longitudinal axis of the device of Figure 1; and Figure 3 is an explanatory view of an example of a record pen driving mechanism.

Referring first to Figure 1, shown at 1 is a casing, at 2 a side lid adapted to be pivotally moved about a shaft into open and dosed positions, and at 3 a chart bed, one end of which is arcuate, having sprockets 4 on the opposite sides thereof, and which is adapted to slide in a direction of the arrow. Designated 5 is a cover for a record mechanism, which is adapted to be turned rearwards by means of hinges into an open position. Shown at 6 is a front cover of casing 1, at 7 a knob of a pen lifter, at 8 a group of buttons for shifting a record sheet, at 9 a power source switch, and at 10 a cover for these members.

In this embodiment, three servo assemblies, 11, 12 and 13 are shown, each of which comprises; three record pens, a record pen drive mechanism, and a balanced amplifier. These servo assemblies are the same in construction and hence servo assembly 11 will typically be referred to. This servo assembly has a frame 17, to the under surface of which are rigidly secured for each pen 25 a balanced motor 18, a slide resistor 19, a balanced amplifier 20 incorporated on a print board, (i.e. printed circuit board) and a g2ar mechanism 22. The print board having thereon balanced amplifier 20 is attached to frame 17 perpendicularly thereto, and has a connecting portion 21 at the bottom end thereof. A guide pin 23 is provided adjacent to balanced amplifier 20. These members and elements form a servo unit 14.

In this embodiment, three servo units 14, 15 and 16 one for each pen 25 constitute one servo assembly 11. Guide rails 24 are provided for the record pens 25. The plurality of guide rails 24 are arranged in parallel relation at a spacing from each other, so as to allow respective record pens 25 to move, without a likelihood of one record pen being interfered with by another.

A record pen drive mechanism is shown by way of example in Figure 3. Balanced motor 18 is attached to frame 17, with a pulley 27 mounted on the motor shaft being located on the top surface of frame 17. A drive thread 30 trained about pulleys 28 and 29, with the intermediate portion thereof wound on pulley 27 of balanced motor are rigidly secured at the opposite ends thereof to a pen carriage 31, the pulleys 28 and 29 being attached to the opposite sides of frame 17. Therefore, when balanced motor 18 is run in the normal or reverse direction according to a polarity of an input signal, then record pen 25 is moved by means of pen carriage 31 rightwards or leftwards along guide rails 24.

Turning back to Figure 1, shown at 32, 33, . . . are preamplifiers for amplifying the input signals to feed same to balanced amplifiers 20 of respective servo units, at input terminals 35, and at 36 a plug which is to be plugged into a mother board described = below. The number of pre-amplifiers 32, 33, . . . is dependent on the number of record channels. In this drawing, there is shown a recorder of nine channels, and hence nine pre-amplifiers are provided.

There is provided a mother board 40 for electrically connecting servo assemblies 11, 12 . . ., pre-amplifiers 32, 33 . . ., and so forth to a power source by means of a print board, this mother board being attached to the casing. Shown at 41, 42,.

are connectors, which are to receive the plugs 36 of respective pre-amplifiers 32, 33 . . . Reference numerals 43, 44, designate connectors in which are to be plugged the connecting portions 21 of balanced amplifiers of respective servo units.

Shown at 45, 46 . . are holes in which are to be inserted guide pins 23 of respective servo units.

Referring to a record sheet shifting mechanism shown in Figure 2, chart bed 3 is slidingly shifted leftwards (Figure 1), then unused, folded record sheets 50 are set in a stacked fashion in a stock box 51, and then the leading end of a topmost sheet is pulled upwards. When chart bed 3 is returned to its home position, then the leading end of the topmost record sheet 50 will pass through a gap defined by the arcuate end of chart bed 3 and a guide plate 52, then shifted leftwards along the surface of chart bed 3 by means of sprockets 4, and eventually enter between tension rollers 53 and 54, by which the record sheet will be stretched in tension. Record sheet 50 past tension rollers 53 and 54 will be delivered through an opening 55 provided in side cover 2 to the outside of the casing, and placed in folded state sideways the casing 1.In case a long record sheet in a roll form is used, the roll of record sheet is taken up to a take-up roller 56 provided in the casing.

This take-up roller may be provided outside the casing. Sprockets 4, tension roller 53 and take-up roller 56 (only for the case where a long record sheet in a roll form is used) are driven in the same direction by means of an electric motor (not shown).

Shown at 57 is a power source transformer, which is connected by means of wire to mother board 40. Recesses 58 and 59 are provided in the bottom plate of the casing, for the convenience of carrying away the recorder from one place to another.

The foregoing description has been given to the case where the present invention is embodied in a portable 9-pen recorder. For the servo assembly 12, the balanced amplifier 201, pin 231 and connector 43 are shown in Figure 2. This arrangement should not be construed in a limited sense. It will be readily understood for those skilled in the art that the present invention can be applied to a recorder having one or more pens, as well as any type recorder, other than a portable type. In the embodiment, annular slide resistors are attached to the undersurface of the frame, but linear slide resistors may be attached to the top surface of the frame along the guide rails. The power source transformer and the mother board are shown as being connected to each other by means of a wire, but such power source transformer may be connected by a plug-in system to the mother board.

As is apparent from the foregoing description, since, according to the present invention, the members and elements of a record mechanism are assembled in the form of unit, and the mother board is adopted, there is obtained a recorder free of the above-described drawbacks of the prior art.

The present invention enables a recorder to be constructed which has the following features: 1) The mother board is adopted, and the main electric circuits are all printed on a wiring board, so as to achieve the electric connection by the plug-in system. This lessens the wire-distributing works to a great extent, resulting in little or no electrical trouble which might be caused by wiring, thus ensuring ease of maintenance.

2) Since the members and elements of each record mechanism are assembled in the form of unit, there results ease of assembly as well as maintenance.

3) An efficient use of a space for housing servo units and servo assemblies allows reduction in size of the recorder itself.

4) A balanced amplifier, balanced motor, slide resistor and gear mechanism are integrally formed. This facilitates adjustment as well as being convenient for maintenance.

5) The number of parts to be incorporated in the recorder of the present invention is reduced, as compared with that of a prior art recorder. This contributes to achieving reduction in size of the recorder itself.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A recorder having a modular construction comprising; one or more servo units respectively including a drive mechanism for a marking instrument for recording a varying signal and a balanced amplifier, said drive mechanism and said balanced amplifier being attached to a frame, and the amplifier of each servo unit being connected to a connector of a mother board.

2. A recorder having a modular construction as defined in Claim 1, wherein said marking instrument is a pen.

3. A recorder having a modular construction as defined in Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein one or more pre-amplifiers are detachably connected to connectors of said mother board.

4. A recorder having a modular construction as defined in any one of the preceding claims, wherein respective servo units have a guide pin and the mother board is provided with holes for receiving therein the guide pins of respective servo units.

5. A recorder having a modular construction as defined in any one of the preceding claims comprising at least two of said servo units each including a balanced motor, slide resistor, a balanced amplifier incorporated on a print board, guide rails and one or more record pens, said servo units being attached to said frame and the assembly of said servo units on said frame being attached to a casing of the recorder.

6. A recorder having a modular construction as defined in Claim 5, wherein balanced amplifiers allocated respectively to the servo units are connected to connectors of the mother board.

7. A recorder having a modular construction as defined in Claim 5 or Claim 6, wherein a number of assemblies each including at least two servo units attached to a frame are separately detachably mounted on the mother board.

8. A recorder having a modular construction and substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (8)

1. **WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **.

   connection by the plug-in system. This lessens the wire-distributing works to a great extent, resulting in little or no electrical trouble which might be caused by wiring, thus ensuring ease of maintenance.

   2) Since the members and elements of each record mechanism are assembled in the form of unit, there results ease of assembly as well as maintenance.

   3) An efficient use of a space for housing servo units and servo assemblies allows reduction in size of the recorder itself.

   4) A balanced amplifier, balanced motor, slide resistor and gear mechanism are integrally formed. This facilitates adjustment as well as being convenient for maintenance.

   5) The number of parts to be incorporated in the recorder of the present invention is reduced, as compared with that of a prior art recorder. This contributes to achieving reduction in size of the recorder itself.

   WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A recorder having a modular construction comprising; one or more servo units respectively including a drive mechanism for a marking instrument for recording a varying signal and a balanced amplifier, said drive mechanism and said balanced amplifier being attached to a frame, and the amplifier of each servo unit being connected to a connector of a mother board.
2. 2. A recorder having a modular construction as defined in Claim 1, wherein said marking instrument is a pen.
3. 3. A recorder having a modular construction as defined in Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein one or more pre-amplifiers are detachably connected to connectors of said mother board.
4. 4. A recorder having a modular construction as defined in any one of the preceding claims, wherein respective servo units have a guide pin and the mother board is provided with holes for receiving therein the guide pins of respective servo units.
5. 5. A recorder having a modular construction as defined in any one of the preceding claims comprising at least two of said servo units each including a balanced motor, slide resistor, a balanced amplifier incorporated on a print board, guide rails and one or more record pens, said servo units being attached to said frame and the assembly of said servo units on said frame being attached to a casing of the recorder.
6. 6. A recorder having a modular construction as defined in Claim 5, wherein balanced amplifiers allocated respectively to the servo units are connected to connectors of the mother board.
7. 7. A recorder having a modular construction as defined in Claim 5 or Claim 6, wherein a number of assemblies each including at least two servo units attached to a frame are separately detachably mounted on the mother board.
8. 8. A recorder having a modular construction and substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.