GB2235655A - Embossing Braille and like coded symbols - Google Patents

Abstract

Apparatus for producing braille characters on a length of paper comprises a series of three pins (18) disposed for movement in corresponding respective bores 16 formed in a support (8). The pins are activated by respective solenoid operated wedges 19 and when activated a stamping bar presses the material down onto the support. A stepper motor is provided for advancing the paper over the support 2. The paper is advanced twice and the pins activated twice to produce each braille character which is made up of two adjacent columns of embossed indicia produced by the pins. The apparatus is controlled in accordance with a predetermined program by a computer which receives its input from a keyboard. The arrangement described as being less cumbersome, less expensive and simple to operate than existing apparatus. <IMAGE>

Description

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING A CODED OUTPUT The present invention relates to apparatus for producing a coded output.

The apparatus is particularly, but not exclusively, intended for producing an embossed pattern such as braille. Braille typrewriters are known but they are cumbersome, complex, expensive and require considerable skill to operate as the braille pattern is imprinted from above.

According to the present invention there is provided apparatus for producing a coded output having a series of characters each composed of a plurality of individual indicia comprising a support for supporting a piece of material on which the coded output is to be produced, means for advancing the material to the support, a plurality of indicia producing members arranged for movement towards and away from the support and means operatively associated with respective members for moving these members towards and away from the support in accordance with a predetermined program to contact the material to produce the indicia.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the characters are braille characters each made up of a plurality of individual embossed dots in a predetermined pattern comprising two parallel columns of three dot positions. There are three indicia producing members of pin form arranged in a column and three solenoid operated wedges for moving respective pin form members towards and away from the material as desired from beneath the material. As each character comprises two columns, the material, usually paper, is advanced twice, and appropriate solenoids energised after each advance, to produce each character.

The support defines a number of bores in which the members in the form of pins are raised and lowered under the action of the means for moving in the form of wedges operated by solenoids. The means for advancing the material comprises a stepper motor. A bar presses the material down onto the support under the action of a cam driven by a motor.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood, one embodiment thereof will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a diagrammatic perspective view of one embodiment of the invention, Figure 2 shows a diagrammatic plan view of the embodiment of Figure 1, Figure 3 is a detail view of part of the apparatus of Figures 1 and 2, and Figure 4 shows a representation of a letter Z.

Referring t6 Figures 1 and 2, the apparatus generally comprises a paper feed mechanism, a printing head a bar and a printing control comprising a computer. The paper feed mechanism comprises a drum 1 mounted on a support 2 from which a strip of paper 3 is drawn through the printing head by means of a stepper motor 4. The paper passes between two rollers 5 and 6 one of which is driven by the motor 4 and one of which carries friction strips 7 to facilitate accurate control of the paper 3.

The printing head comprises a support 8, a stamping bar 9 and a d.c. motor 10 driving a cam 11. The bar 9 is pivotally mounted at 12 on a support bracket 13 and is spring loaded by means of a compression spring 14. A microswitch 14a is activated when the bar 9 is down. A rubber pad 15 is disposed under the bar 9 above the support 8. Referring to Figure 3, the support 8 is shown in section. Five bores 16 are machined in the support 8. The outer bores are internally screwthreaded and receive screws 17 to connect the support to the apparatus base. The three inner bores are smooth walled and house respective printing pins 18. Three wedges 19 (two only visible) are disposed for movement in and out of the support 8 under the pins 18 to raise and lower these pins.The three wedges are operated by means of respective solenoids 20, the energisation of the solenoids being controlled by the computer 21 through a driver circuit 22 in accordance with a predetermined program.

The operation of the above apparatus will now be described by reference to the printing of a braille letter Z. This is shown in Figure 4 where a cross represents an embossed dot and a letter 0 the absence of a dot. The paper 3 is fed from the roll 1 between the rubber pad 15 and the support 8 and then between the rollers 5 and 6 associated with the stepper motor 4 with the cam 11 in the "up" position. Under the control of the computer, which may be actuated by pressing the appropriate key on the keyboard the first and third pins 18 are set to the up position by pulsing the corresponding solenoids 20 to push in the corresponding wedges 19. The cam 11 is rotated by the d.c. motor 10 to press the bar 9 down onto the paper 3 against the action of the spring 14 to produce the dots in the first column of the letter. The motor 10 is pulsed until the microswitch 14a is activated.The motor 10 continues to rotate the cam 11 to the up position, thus allowing the bar 9 to rise under the action of the spring 14. The solenoids 20 are de-energised to withdraw the wedges 19 thus allowing the corresponding pins to fall. The stepper motor 4 is pulsed to draw the paper through the printing head by a predetermined amount and the process is repeated but with the second and third pins being raised to produce the required dots in the second column of the letter. A series of braille characters can be produced by a repeated application of this process, all under the control of the computer. An appropriate program and explanation of program terms follows. The computer may pronounce the letter selected so that a blind person can audibly check.

10 ON ERROR GOTO 1060 20 *SPEECH 30 CLS 40 ?65122=127:?65120=0*KEY1 ?65122=255:?65120=0 50 *KEYO ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 60 *SAY INPUT MESSAGE 70 INPUT" INPUT MESSAGE ", A$ 80 IF AS="l" THEN END 90 FOR X= 1 TO LEN(AS)-1 100 YS=LEFTS(AS,X) 110 ZS=RIGKTS(YS,1) 120 LET B=0:LET Q=l 130 IF Z$="A" THEN LET B=l:*SAY A 140 IF Z$="B" THEN LET B=5:*SAY BEE 150 IF ZS="C" THEN LET B=1:*SAY SEE 160 IF Z$="D" THEN LET B=1:*SAY DEE 170 IF Z$="E" THEN LET B=1:*SAY EEE 180 IF Z$="F" THEN LET B=5:*SAY EFF 190 IF Z$="G" THEN LET B=5:*SAY GEE 200 IF Z$="H" THEN LET B=5:*SAY HAYCH 210 IF ZS="I" THEN LET B=4:*SAY I 220 IF Z$="J" THEN LET B=4: :*SAY JAY 230 IF Z$="K" THEN LET B=3:*SAY KAY 240 IF ZS="L" THEN LET B=7:*SAY ELL 250 IF Z$="M" THEN LET B=3:*SAY EMM 260 IF ZS="N" THEN LET B=3:*SAY ENN 270 IF Z$="O" THEN LET B=3:*SAY O 280 IF ZS="P" THEN LET B=7:*SAY PEE 290 IF Z$="Q" THEN LET B=7:*SAY QYOU 300 IF Z$="R" THEN LET B=7:*SAY ARE 310 IF Z$="S" THEN LET B=6:*SAY ESS 320 IF ZS="T" THEN LET B=6:*SAY TEE 330 IF Z$="U" THEN LET B=3:*SAY YOU 340 IF Z$="V" THEN LET B=7:*SAY VEE 350 IF Z$="W" THEN LET B=4:*SAY DUBBLE YOU 360 IF ZS="X" THEN LET B=3:*SAY EX 370 IF Z$="Y" THEN LET B=3:*SAY WIY 380 IF Z$="Z" THEN LET B=3:*SAY ZED 390 PRINT Z$; 400 GOTO 680 410 LET B=0:LET Q=2 420 IF Z$="A" THE LET B=0 430 IF Z$="B" THE LET B=0 440 IF Z$="C" THE LET B=l 450 IF ZS="D" THE LET B=5 460 IF ZS="E" THE LET B=4 470 IF ZS="F" THE LET B=l 480 IF Z$="G" THE LET B=5 490 IF Z$="H" THE LET B=4 500 IF Z$="I" THE LET B=1 510 IF Z$="J" THE LET B=5 520 IF ZS="K" THE LET 3=0 530 IF Z$="L" THE LET B=0 540 IF ZS="M" THE LET B=l 550 IF Z$="N" THE LET B=5 560 IF Z$="0" THE LET B=4 570 IF Z$="P" THE LET B=1 580 IF Z$="Q" THE LET B=5 590 IF Z$="R" THE LET B=4 600 IF Z$="S" THE LET B=1 610 IF Z$="T" THE LET B=5 620 IF Z$="U" THE LET B=2 630 IF Z$="V" THE LET B=2 640 IF Z$="W" THE LET B=7 650 IF ZS="X" THE LET B=3 660 IF Z$="Y" THE LET B=7 670 IF Z$="Z" THE LET B=6 680 PROCSET 690 PROCPINS 700 PROCSTAMP 710 PROCSET 720 PROCMOVE 730 IF Q=l THEN GOTO 410 740 NEXT X:GOTO 100 750 DEF PROCSET 760 ?65120=0 770 IF ?65120 < 127 THEN ENDPROC 780 ?65120=32:FOR D=l TO 2:NEXT D:?65120=0 790 IF ?65120 > 127 THEN GOTO 770 800 FOR D=l TO 200:NEXT D 810 ENDPROC 820 DEF PROCPINS 830 LET ?65120=?65120+B 840 FOR D=l TO 5:NEXT D 850 FOR D=l TO 200:NEXT D 860 ENDPROC 870 DEF PROCSTAMP 880 ?65120=?65120+32 890 IF ?65120 > 127 THEN GOTO 890 900 FOR D=l TO 140:NEXT D 910 ?65120=?65120-32 920 FOR D=l TO 200:NEXT D 930 ENDPROC 940 DEF PROCMOVE 950 ?65120=0 960 IF Q=1 THEN LET P=3 ELSE LET P=5 970 FOR R=l TO P 980 FOR D=l TO 50:NEXT D 990 ?65120=16 1000 FOR D=l TO 60:NEXT D 1010 ?65120=0 1020 FOR D=l TO 60:NEXT D 1030 NEXT R 1040 FOR D=l TO 200:NEXT D 1050 ENDPROC 1060 *SAY MESSAGE PRINTED 1070 LET P=180:LET ?65120=0:PROCSET::PROCMOVE 1080 GOTO 30 Terms and Statements Used in the Computer Programmes CLS : Clears the monitor screen of any text or graphics.

GOSUB : Goes to the stated line and runs through the program until a 'return' statement is reached and then the program continues from the command after the 'GOSUB' statement.

TRACE : Tells the computer to print out the line number of each line that the program comes to before it executes the commands in the line.

INPUT : Accepts the 'input' of data from the keyboard.

LEN(A$) : Counts the number of characters (letters) in the string (input) A$.

LET Y$=): Tells the computer to let LET Z$=) the variable (Y$, Z$) equal the amount stated on the other side of the equals sign.

LEFT $(A$,X):Copies X letters of the string (AS) from the left.

RIGHT S(YS,1)Copies 1 letter of the string (Y$) from the right.

PROC : Goes to the DEFINED PROCEDURE and carries (procedure) it out. This command is terminated by ENDPROC.

?65122 : Sets up the user part bits (channels) to either output or input.

?65120 : Sends a 'pulse' or signal to the stated 'Bit' switching it on or of f.

?65120 < 127: Checks whether microswitch (Bit 128) is up or down.

For more information: BBC Microcomputer User Manual Microporcessor Control Handbook (K.Evans) It will be appreciated that the above embodiment has been described by way of example only and that many variations are possible without departing from the invention.

Claims (13)

1. Apparatus for producing a coded output having a series of characters each composed of a plurality of individual indicia comprising a support for supporting a piece of material on which the coded output is to be produced, means for advancing the material to the support, a plurality of indicia producing members arranged for movement towards and away from the support and means operatively associated with respective members for moving these members towards and away from the support in accordance with a predetermined program to contact the material to produce the indicia.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which each indicia producing member comprises a pin.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 or 2 in which there are three indicia producing members arranged on line.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, in which the means for moving the members comprises solenoid operable wedges respectively associated with the members.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 4, in which the members and associated wedges are disposed to act on the piece of material from beneath the material.

6. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the support defines a number of bores in which respective members are disposed to move under the action of the means for moving.

7. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the means for advancing the material to the support comprises a stepper motor.

8. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the means for advancing operate to advance the material twice and the means for moving are operated after each advance whereby to produce characters comprising two lines of indicia from a single line of indicia producing member.

9. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, in which means are provided for pressing the material onto the support.

10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9, in which the means for pressing comprises a bar operated by a cam driven by a motor.

11. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the computer control is provided to control the operation of the means for advancing and the movement of the indicia producing members in accordance with the predetermined program.

12. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the indicia produced constitute braille characters.

13. Apparatus for producing a coded output substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.