JPS6226316B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to a printing band guiding device.

In the field of high speed printers, drum printers have proven very successful by using a rotating surface to strike a printing hammer against characters supported on the surface of the drum. However, due to demands for smaller dimensions, lower costs, and lower weight, an endless print band that passes through a print hammer and supports a group of type characters consisting of various characters on a line along a print bed has been developed. Or a printer using a belt appeared. The print hammers used therein are arranged in a row, each with a hammer drive solenoid, operable to drive each hammer to the printed characters in the order commanded by the desired print program. do.

The print band is passed around drive and driven or idle wheels, which are usually horizontally mounted. Each car will be medium and high to provide a following surface for the band. That is, consideration is given to the support structure of the pulley to allow rapid changes in the print band while maintaining adequate tension on the band during operation.

A print belt, chain, band, or similar is maintained in a precise path through the print bed to prevent the type characters from moving vertically out of line with the print hammer. Various methods and apparatus have been utilized in the past.

Typical prior art related to the gist of this invention is
No. 3,012,499 issued to S. Amada on December 12, 1961, the high speed printing device has a type belt having type to be printed thereon, A guide is provided having an upper portion and a lower portion that mate with opposite sides of the belt to reduce vibration or movement;
The center part is structured to receive the force of printing type.

KF Oldenbub (KF
No. 3,216,348, issued November 9, 1965 to Oldemburg et al., discloses a hammer timing device for a high speed belt printer having a belt with a hammer and a sprocket for driving the belt. There is. The belt is guided along a guideway in the groove structure and includes edges that overlap the ends of the belt to maintain contact with the guideway as the belt is advanced past the hammer.

U.S. Patent No. 1 issued to J.M. Cunningham on December 21, 1965.
No. 3,224,366 discloses a type support device, which takes the form of a monorail mounted on a support plate and includes a fixed guide member connected at both ends with a curved section and having spaced apart parallel direct sections, which Constructs a continuous closed guideway for the type element.

U.S. Patent No. 24, 1968, issued to JTPotter et al.
No. 3,402,657 discloses a high speed belt printer having a print slug support device in which an elastic timing belt is sandwiched around the end of a
A printing chain is provided which is defined by a plurality of integrally formed printing slugs.
The print chain is supported in correspondence with the print hammer by a skeleton that constitutes a modular or subassembly structure. Its basic component is formed from a long precision material of the same cross-sectional area.

U.S. Patent No. 17, 1973, issued to FJPerry et al.
No. 3,745,918 discloses a U-shaped type carrier with legs of increased width so as to overlap the legs of adjacent carriers to provide stability and close feeding of type characters, and to provide stability and close feeding of type characters on the print line. Upper and lower guide members are provided with inner circumferential tongues for contacting each type carrier in order to maintain uniform alignment along the line.

On April 23, 1974, J.A.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,805,697 issued to Mahe discloses carriage for printed letter bands;
It includes a pair of magnetic strips to maintain the print band against a portion of the inner wall of the cartridge cover.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,805,698, issued April 23, 1974 to G. D'Avreux Bowers, Jr., et al., has a guiding device consisting of a V-shaped ridge around the circumference of the belt. Endless printed belt or printed belt with belt
A carrier and transport cartridge is disclosed. The cartridge has a housing with side walls that are provided with recesses that cooperate with the ridges of the print belt as they pass through the hammer assembly to inhibit vertical movement of the printed characters.

On August 3, 1976, J. Konkel (J.
U.S. Patent No. 3972282 issued to Konkel
No. 5,921,102 discloses a connected type assembly including a pair of endless belts, a type carrier with type blocks, and a guide device mounted on a support having a guide with grooves for the blocks. A carrier guide bar is also mounted on the support and serves to hold the type block therein and to provide firm support to the type face when struck with a hammer.

On December 28, 1971, F. Hilpert (F.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,630,144, issued to Hilpert et al., discloses a toothed belt having a type carrier, in which printing is carried out by means of a C-shaped type carrier guide located opposite the print hammer in the printing bed. - Constructed to remain along the line.

The present invention relates to a band printer, and more particularly to a guide device for an endless belt having printed characters along its circumferential surface. The print band is wrapped around the drive pulley and idler pulley. The pulleys are biased upwardly and act to maintain the print band in a clear path along the line of the print hammer. A platen member is disposed between a drive pulley and an idler pulley along which a print band is moved by a print hammer into position for printing to be performed one line at a time. The printing hammers are arranged downwardly and are rotatable about a common axis, the action of the printing hammers causing the face of the hammers to rotate in a semi-circular manner relative to the characters on the printing band. . The upward arc of rotation of the print hammer creates an upward force on the print band. Therefore, these devices require maintaining the print band in a precise path along the desired print line on the platen. To solve this problem, a top guide is fixed to the platen and provides a surface against which the top of the print band is continuously contacted and biased, keeping the print band at its precision. keep it in a clear path and prevent it from moving up or down the print line.

Accordingly, a primary object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for maintaining a print band in a desired path.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a fixed guide member that maintains continuous contact of the print band along a precise path through a corresponding print hammer.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device that prevents longitudinal movement of the print band during striking of the print hammer.

Furthermore, an object of the present invention is to provide an upper end guide portion,
Printing is done by hitting the printing hammer.
The print resulting from the upward force transmitted to the band
The purpose is to prevent the band from rising in the vertical direction.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As previously mentioned, a printer constructed using the subject matter of the present invention uses a print band that supports a plurality of printed characters thereon. Such band printers are distinguished from drum printers by various parts and features, the most notable of which is the type support. As shown in FIG. 1, print band 10 is threaded around a drive pulley 12 and a driven or idler pulley 14. As shown in FIG. Such drive pulleys are connected to upper and lower printer skeletons 18, respectively, as shown in FIG.
It is driven by a suitable device including a drive shaft 16 supported on bearings 17, 19 mounted on the drive shaft 20. Although not shown, the drive shaft 16 is connected to a drive motor that rotates continuously during printer operation. The flywheel 22 is attached to the lower frame 20
It has a drive pin 23 which is fixed to the shaft 16 at a precise position in the upper part of the drive pin 23 and extends downwardly into sliding engagement with a connecting sleeve 24 carried by the drive pulley 12. The drive pulley 12 itself is slidably supported on a drive shaft 16 between the printer's lower frame 20 and a flywheel 22 using a linear bearing 26. A lightweight coil spring 28 is inserted directly above the framework 20 to surround the drive shaft 16, and its length is such that it continuously forces the drive pulley 12 upwardly into contact with the flywheel 22. It is the length.

The driven or idle pulley 14 is similarly
A support shaft 30 fixed to the lower frame 20 of the printer
along which it has a linear bearing (not shown) that allows sliding movement and allows rotation.
An upper ring 32 is fixed to the shaft 30 horizontally and substantially in line with the flywheel 22, and a coil spring 34 similar to spring 28 is attached to the ring 3.
Push the idler pulley 14 upwards so that it comes into contact with the idler pulley 14.

As can be seen from the above-mentioned configuration, since the pin 23 and the sleeve 24 are connected, whenever the drive shaft 16 is driven, a rotational movement is given to the drive pulley 12, and at the same time, under the control of the spring 28. In addition, it allows some axial movement of pulley 12 along axis 16. The same rotational movement is transmitted via the printing band 10 to the idler pulley 14, which is allowed to move to the same extent along its support axis 30 under the control of the spring 34.

A platen 40, shown in front in FIG. 2 and in cross-section in FIG. 3, is located between pulleys 12 and 14 and provides the striking surface for the printing operation. The platen 40 (FIG. 3) has a curved surface 44 against which a support tape 46 is provided;
It provides the lowest friction surface for the print band 10 moving along that surface. Of course, tape 4
6, or the material used thereon, may be any suitable abrasion resistant material. As seen in FIG. 3, the print band 10 has type characters thereon, the surface of the type characters protruding from the surface of the print band 10 for striking by the print hammer. A plurality of print hammers 48 as shown in FIG. 1 are provided for printing in a row, each print hammer 48 being supported on a common shaft 50 and equipped with suitable actuating devices (not shown).
The printer is configured to be rotated from the non-printing position (FIG. 3) to the printing or tapping position (FIG. 4) by the holder. The face 52 of each print hammer 48 is
As can be seen in FIG.
As shown, the ribbon 54, perforated shield 56, and recording medium or paper 58) are tapped against the printed characters 11 of the print band 10.

As shown in Figure 4, each print
When hammer 48 is rotated into contact with paper 58, ribbon 54, and print band type 11, two forces are generated. One of them is the printing force shown by the line and arrow 60;
The other is the hammer force shown by line and arrow 62. In the particular print hammer configuration mounted as represented in the preferred embodiment of this invention, the printing force 60 is directed horizontally, the hammer force 62 is directed upwardly, and the two The forces combine to create the base and hypotenuse of the triangle, resulting in a force indicated by vertically upward line 64, which in effect causes the printed band 1 to
This will transmit a rising force to zero.

While moving past the print bed, the print
In order to stop any longitudinal movement of the band 10, in particular the upward movement resulting from the lifting force transmitted from the printing hammer 48.
A top interior 66 made of a planar metal top piece 68 and a bottom support piece 70 extend along the top surface of the platen member 40 and are secured thereto to support the print band 1.
0 provides a straight surface along the top edge of the print
It acts to maintain the band in a precise path along the line. As seen in FIG. 3, support strip 70 is suitably secured to metal strip 68 with epoxy or similar adhesive. It is made of anti-friction material as well as printed band 1
Minimize frictional resistance while moving 0. As further seen in FIG. 3, the preferred embodiment of the invention uses a very thin (approximately 0.005 inch or 0.127 mm) printing band 10 with approximately three times the thickness (0.016 inch or 0.4064mm). This is for the upper end guide portion 66.
It requires precise overhang from the platen 40.
Additionally, the leading edge 72 may be textured or squared as desired to prevent the normal position of the print head 10 from creating wrinkles or other undesirable effects on the recording medium 58.
When the surface of the printed characters 11 and the front end 72 of the upper end guide section 66 are placed in line or so that the front end 72 protrudes slightly, the front end 72 is in contact with the upper end of the print band. Provide sharp corners at the bottom. With the paper 58 arranged in such a manner,
In contrast, the striking of the hammer 48 maintains the paper in a linear position as it moves past the print table.

In operation, when the print band 10 is removed from the printer, the springs 28, 34 force the respective pulleys 12, 14 upwardly against the associated flywheel 22 and upper ring 32. During installation of print band 10 in a printer, pulleys 12, 14 are moved downwardly enough so that the top end of the band is inserted under the front underside end of top guide 66.

Thereafter, due to the initial operation of the printer, the pulleys 12 and 14 are connected to the springs 28 and
The print band 10 is pushed upward by the upper end guide 66, and the print band 10 is automatically positioned at the middle height of the pulleys 12, 14, and the force of the springs 28, 34 is applied to the band 10 and the upper end guide. Ensures that the load between 66 and 66 is maintained between 50 grams and 100 grams.

This load applies to all conditions of the printer, i.e., as in this example, the print band 10
If the movement tends to be vertically upward,
or other different hammer configurations and pulley mid-high rim surfaces or rims tending to be vertically downward, sufficient to maintain sliding contact between the upper end of the band and the guide 66. It is a heavy load.

As can be seen from the foregoing, the print band top guide assembly provides structure and functionality for maintaining the print band in its precise path along the print line. Thereby, the print band is constrained to be driven in its path, and the force effect of the print hammer on the print band is such that it always bears against the top guide during the printing operation. It can be suppressed by letting

From the above explanation, it has become clear that the object of the invention can be fully achieved. Needless to say, the above description is just one embodiment, and various modifications are possible, particularly in the attachment of pulleys, biasing of springs, arrangement of printing hammers, etc., within the scope of the present invention.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the print band rotating around a pulley supported along the print line;
Figure 2 is a front view of the pulley and its support; Figure 3
The figure is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 3-3 in Figure 2, showing the relationship between the print hammer and other printing elements; Figure 4 is the print hammer in Figure 3 and the striking of the print hammer against the print band. FIG. 10... Printed band, 12... Drive pulley, 14... Driven pulley, 20... Skeleton, 22
...Flywheel, 23...Drive pin, 28,
34...Coil spring, 40...Platen member, 46...Support tape, 48...Print
Hammer, 54... Ribbon, 56... Perforated shield, 58... Paper, 66... Upper end guide section, 70...
...lower support piece.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A printer in which an endless printing band passes continuously over the surface of an elongated platen and a plurality of hammers strike the band for printing, comprising: a pair of pulleys disposed along one side of the platen and movable in the axial direction over a considerable distance; an elongated guide member having a portion extending beyond the plane of the platen to limit movement of the print band in one direction along the axis of the pulley to within the free axial range of movement of the pulley; and a spring device for deflecting the print band in the one direction so that the print band comes into contact with the guide member and moves to obtain an accurate position of the print. 2. The guide device according to claim 1, wherein the striking force of the hammer is directed toward the spring device to hold the band on the guide member. 3. The guide device of claim 1, wherein said guide member has a friction reducing surface that engages an end of said print band. 4. The pulley is buoyantly mounted on each axis extending perpendicular to the print line, and the spring device includes first and second spring members supported on each axis, respectively, for deflecting each pulley. A guide device according to claim 1.