JPH0316908B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to impact printers, and more particularly to color matrix impact printers that have all dot locations addressable and do not require ribbons.

[Prior art]

There are conventional techniques listed below in connection with the present invention.

U.S. Patent No. 3672297, U.S. Patent No. 3915276, U.S. Patent No.
No. 4056183, No. 4069755, No. 4191104, No. 4194846, IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin Vol. 13, No. 9 (February 1971) No.
2476 pages, Vol. 16, No. 1 (June 1973 issue) No. 310
Page, Vol. 21, No. 5 (October 1978 issue) No. 1828,
Vol. 21 No. 11 (April 1979 issue), page 4448,
Vol.22, No.8B (January 1980 issue), page 3671, same
Vol.22, No.10 (March 1980 issue), page 4364, same
Vol.22, No.10 (March 1980 issue), page 4481, same
Vol.23, No.1 (June 1980 issue), page 144, same
Vol.23, No.4 (September 1980 issue), page 1347, and
Vol.23, No.11 (April 1981 issue), page 5218.

Of these, US Pat. No. 3,915,276 discloses an impact printer with printing elements on a rotatable belt, but uses a single ribbon and does not print in color. US Pat. No. 3,672,297 discloses an impact printer of the same type as US Pat. No. 3,915,276. U.S. Pat. No. 4,056,183 shows a matrix printer using a rotatable ink platen. U.S. Pat. No. 4,069,755 shows a wire matrix printer that does not have a ribbon and uses a rotatable ink stamp. US Patent No.
No. 4,191,104 shows a printer with a rotating belt having printing elements on its surface. US Patent No.
No. 4,194,846 shows an impact matrix printer in which ink from an ink reservoir is directed to a printing element. No ribbons or rotatable belts are used.

[Summary of the invention]

It is an object of the present invention to provide an impact printer that does not require a ribbon.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an impact printer that is capable of color printing and does not have a ribbon.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a ribbonless color impact printer that performs matrix printing in which all dot positions are addressable.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a full dot location addressable, ribbonless color matrix impact printer that includes ballpoint printing elements.

Another object of the invention is to provide a full dot location addressable, ribbonless color matrix impact printer that includes ballpoint type printing elements on a rotating belt.

Another object of the invention is to provide a full dot location addressable, ribbonless color matrix impact printer that includes ballpoint printing elements on a rotating cylinder.

[Explanation of Examples]

Figures 1, 2 and 3 respectively illustrate a full dot addressable, ribbonless color matrix impact printer using printing elements such as ballpoint pens on a rotatable belt. They are a side view, a top view, and a front view.

1, 2, and 3, ballpoint pen printing elements 10 are mounted on a rotatable belt 12 by molding or the like at predetermined intervals. belt 1
2 is continuously rotated by a drive pulley 26. Printing hammer 14 is positioned behind paper 16 that is moved by final drive mechanism 20 . Printing hammer 14
Printing is accomplished by forcing the vertically moving paper 16 into contact with the ballpoint pen printing element 10 when energized by a signal applied to the solenoid 28 . During this contact, the ballpoint printing element 10 is moving horizontally on a rotating belt 12 between platens 24 having surfaces 22 that serve as paper guides.

Each ballpoint printing element 10 may have one ink reservoir 18 (FIG. 3), or several printing elements may share one common ink reservoir. The interior of this common ink reservoir may be divided into separate chambers each containing ink of a different color. The ballpoint pen printing element may have a typical ballpoint pen tip.

The print format obtained on paper 16 depends on the speed of the printing belt and paper 16, the printing element 1
It depends on the spacing between zeros and the width of the printing hammer 14 and the time interval or repetition rate over which it can be repeatedly activated. For example, with a hammer that is three characters wide, the width of the hammer face is approximately 7.6 mm (0.3 inches), the spacing between printing elements is approximately 8.6 mm (0.34 inches), the repetition rate of the printing hammer is 1 millisecond, and the paper advance is approximately 7.6 mm (0.3 inches). A configuration with a speed of 5 milliseconds and a belt speed of approximately 51 mm/sec (20 in/sec) results in a 380 lines/min line printer.

Another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, has a ballpoint pen printing element mounted on the surface of a rotating cylinder, resulting in faster printing speeds.
The structure of FIG. 4 is similar to that shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, with the ballpoint pen printing element 1
0, printing hammer 14, paper 16, ink chamber 18,
Includes a paper drive mechanism 20 and a shield or platen structure 24.

In FIG. 4, the ballpoint pen printing element 10 is mounted on the circumference of the cylinder 28, and the ink reservoir is disposed inside the cylinder 28. The printing element 10 moves in the same direction as the paper 16, rather than across the paper 16 as shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3. and if the vertical spacing between the printing elements is approximately 1.27 mm (0.05 inch), the cylinder diameter is approximately 76.2 mm (3.0 inch), its rotational speed is 320 rpm, and the hammer repetition rate is 1 millisecond.
A printing speed of 1200 lines/minute is achieved.

FIG. 5 shows five groups of ballpoint pen tips arranged in a spiral pattern. The width of the hammer 14 is the same as the width of the set of ballpoint pens. If the cylinder rotates and the hammer strikes the paper so that all ballpoint pens in the set can produce dot marks, a horizontal line of five dots is drawn. If this operation is repeated n times (i.e., n times for each set of 5 dots), n×5
matrix is printed. By appropriately selecting the signal pulse that energizes the hammer, various characters can be printed.

Thus, an improved impact printer has been disclosed that does not require ribbons, uses simple ballpoint printing elements, can print in one or multiple colors, and has all dot locations addressable.

The printer can be implemented with a rotating flexible belt or with a rotating cylinder.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of one embodiment of an impact printer according to the present invention employing printing elements on a rotating belt. Figure 2 shows the first
FIG. 3 is a plan view of the illustrated embodiment together with its printing hammer; FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the mutual relationship among the rotating belt, printing hammer, printing element, and paper in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. Fourth
The figure shows a side view of another embodiment of an impact printer according to the invention, in which printing elements are mounted on the surface of a rotatable cylinder. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the printing hammer and the printing element in the embodiment of FIG. 4. 10... Ballpoint pen printing element, 12...
Belt, 14...Printing hammer, 16...Paper, 1
8... Ink reservoir, 24... Platen.

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. In an impact printer for directly and selectively printing information on a print medium that moves through a printing position, a rotatable motor positioned on one side of the print medium at the print position; a plurality of ink reservoirs each holding ink of various colors; and a plurality of printing elements disposed on the rotatable printing element carrier, each of which has a tip of a ballpoint pen. , coupled to one of the ink reservoirs so as to supply ink directly to the print medium when the tip is brought into contact with the print medium, and a plurality of ink reservoirs disposed in close proximity to the other side of the print medium. a printing hammer; means for selectively biasing a selected one of the printing hammers, the printing element being rotated into a position facing the printing hammer, and the printing medium between the two; moving the selected printing hammer into contact with the impact printer.