JPS642078B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

The present invention relates to image recording and printing,
Particularly related to rotary printing. The invention, in its preferred embodiment, is described using a type of rotary printer in which images are formed by electrical discharges selectively placed on electrical discharge sensing paper. Since the speed of modern data processing equipment has increased considerably, there is a need for a high speed, low cost data printer. Very high speed data printers have been developed. However, such printers are usually very complex and expensive. Although fairly inexpensive printers have been devised, such printers are typically slow and complex. As a result, the cost of such printers in terms of dollars per unit of print speed (characters per second) is undesirably high. Furthermore, such known printers are extremely complex and large. Maintenance costs are relatively high;
The loss of operating time due to malfunctions is also undesirably large. Also, many known printers are very noisy during operation. According to the above description, the main object of the present invention is to provide a recorder or printer with relatively high speed and low cost; the cost per unit speed is very reasonable. Furthermore, it is an object of the invention to propose a printer that is compact, simple and reliable. The main object of the present invention is to make an electric rotary printer very compact and inexpensive to manufacture. Accordingly, the present invention includes a round housing, a shaft within the housing that rotatably supports the rotor, a paper feed roller is attached to the housing, one edge of which extends near the housing opening, and a drive roller. There is a curved guide body facing the roller, and its purpose is to guide the recording paper strip out of the housing in an arcuate manner. According to this configuration, the cylindrical casing simultaneously fulfills the following two functions. That is, this housing accommodates the rotor and the shaft for the feed roller, and serves as part of a curved paper feed guide body, as well as another guide body, i.e. another curved guide body for guiding the recording paper out of the housing. It serves as a guide body. According to one feature of the invention, means are provided for changing the position of the print made on the recording surface by at least one of the printing members, the changing means being adapted to means for varying the time separation between actuations. By this means, the relative position of the printed image can be adjusted on the recording member without moving the printing member on the rotor. This eliminates the need to rebalance the rotor and other adverse effects that may result from mechanical adjustment of the printing member. Preferably, the recording surface is in the form of a strip of discharge sensitive paper and the paper is wrapped around a portion of the rotor when it comes into contact with the printing member. Preferably, the paper strip is moved across the rotor in a direction perpendicular to the plane of rotation of the rotor. According to another feature of the invention, the characters are printed by forming them from dots made by a plurality of needles arranged in axially extending groups.
Each printing member or head includes one such needle group. Preferably, there are enough needles in each group to form one complete character in one pass across the recording surface. Thus, one pass of the rotor across the recording surface prints at least as many characters as there are print heads. Preferably, the characters are formed in words extending along the length of the recording strip, and the recording strip is wide enough to accommodate multiple lines of the document to be printed. In this case, coded information representing a character is stored in electrical memory, and said coded information is read out sequentially such that each print head prints a character in a vertical column, and the characters in each column are stored in an electrical memory. are located on separate lines. Therefore, during each pass across the recording strip, each head does not simply print one character;
Print as many characters as there are characters in the line of characters to be printed. In the preferred system, there are three such heads so that the number of characters printed on each rotation of the rotor is equal to three times the number of lines in the document. Therefore, higher printing speeds can be obtained even with moderate rotor speeds. It is also within the scope of the invention to print words in directions other than longitudinally across the recording strip.
In this case, the printing speed is also relatively high. According to a further feature of the invention, the electrical position signal for indicating the position of the rotor is provided by an indicator rotating with the rotor and spaced apart by a desired spacing between the dots of the printed image. It is generated depending on the display object. Preferably, this indicator is an opaque line on a transparent disk mounted on the same shaft as the rotor. A plurality of detectors are provided to detect this display. Preferably, the number of detectors is equal to the number of recording heads. One detector remains fixed, and the other two detectors move the disks to effectively change the enabling and disabling of each of the three needle heads without actually moving any of the heads. You can adjust the angle around it.
This allows character alignment to be adjusted to compensate for uneven needle wear and similar problems without mechanically adjusting the head relative to the rotor. Preferably, the memory used to store the character codes is such that the data can be recycled so that repeated copies of the printed document can be made. Preferably, the paper strip is fed continuously past the rotor at a speed directly proportional to the speed of the rotor. This is independent of rotor speed (based on which direction the word is printed)
Use the same spacing between letters or lines. This is easily accomplished by linking the paper feed roller to the same shaft that drives the rotor. The shaft is driven by a relatively high torque DC motor at low speeds, which is relatively inexpensive and can be powered by a battery to make the printer portable. A paper feed roller extends outwardly from the housing. A curved guide body is fitted over the housing to hold the recording paper and guide it to a cylindrical sleeve which serves as a platen on which the needle rests when the paper is not in contact. A paper feed roller pairs with an idle roller mounted on the guide body to pull the paper from the roll. The paper is passed from the rollers over a guide bar that is positioned generally in the plane of travel of the top of the arched paper through the printer. The guide bar is positioned to bend the paper at a substantial angle such that the point of delivery of the paper to the printer remains substantially the same despite variations in the diameter of the paper roll. This prevents the paper from becoming jammed and crinkling. Particularly simple means are provided for electrically connecting the electrically conductive part of the paper to the return contact of the power supply, ie electrical grounding means. This must be provided to ensure electrical discharge between the needle and the paper. One embodiment consists of a helical spring on a bent rod. The preferred embodiment is such that the paper drive wheel is made of metal and is used to ground the paper, thus performing two functions simultaneously. In order to feed the paper at a certain speed, the timing disk and rollers are all always equal to each other or directly proportional to each other, and the printer operates accurately over a very wide range of speeds. To ensure that the print is relatively uniform in blackness and legibility despite such speed variations, automatic blackness control circuitry is provided. The speed of the rotor is sensed,
The voltage applied to the needle then varies directly with speed such that the higher the rotor speed, the higher the voltage applied, and the lower the rotor speed, the lower the voltage applied. This helps ensure that the blackness of the printed image is relatively uniform. A mechanism is provided to automatically retract the needle from the recording paper when the rotor speed falls below a predetermined minimum value. Preferably, the needle is retracted by a spring. When the rotor reaches the desired minimum speed, the needle is automatically brought into engagement with the recording paper by the centrifugal force acting against the spring and keeping the needle in contact with the paper. This prevents the needle from damaging or tearing the recording paper as new paper is fed through the printer, and also facilitates removal of the rotor containing the needle from the printer. The present invention also provides a simple and economical adjustment mechanism for adjusting the axial position of the needle. Furthermore, another simple mechanical structure is provided for adjusting the radial extent of the needle to compensate for wear, as well as for alignment purposes. The present invention also provides a means for easily installing and removing the rotor from the printer via a simple slide latch. A spring is provided to push the rotor away from the drive shaft when the latch is released. The result of the above features is a printer that satisfies the above objectives. That is, this printer is extremely compact, simple in structure, and lightweight. Nevertheless, the printer is fast, relatively inexpensive, easy to maintain, and quiet in operation. The above and other objects and effects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings. General Description Figures 1 and 2 illustrate an embodiment of a printer 20 constructed in accordance with the present invention. The printer 2
0 includes a base plate 22, a cylindrical housing 24, a cylindrical sleeve 26 used as a platen, a rotor 28 mounted on a shaft 48 to rotate within the sleeve 26, and a drive motor 30 for rotating the rotor 28. We are prepared. A timing disk 54 for timing the printing is also mounted on the shaft 48. Discharge sensing paper 36 is stored on a roll 34 included in supply device 32 . This paper 36 is passed upwardly from the roll 34 and through a straight guide bar 35.
The paper is then passed through the bent paper guide body 38. The guide body 38 is attached to the housing 24 at 40 so that it can be easily lifted as shown in FIG.
hinged on the outside of the As shown in FIG. 1, latch 42 retains guide body 38 when the printer is in operation. Referring to FIG. 2, a drive roller 56 is provided which pulls the paper from the roll 34, pulls the paper through the curved guide body 38 so that the paper forms an arc, and pulls the paper through the curved guide body 38 at the top of the sleeve 26. The paper is fed through the sleeve 26 near the upper inner surface. After the print is formed on the underside of the paper 36, the paper emerges from the left edge of the sleeve 26 as shown in FIG. sleeve 26
A ring 46 for tearing the paper is provided on the left edge of the paper. The ring 46 has a serrated upper edge 47 to facilitate tearing off a length of paper strip. The lower (or concave) surface of the paper strip 36 is first coated with a dark colored material and then with a light colored material such as aluminum or zinc oxide, which light colored material is energized by an electrical discharge or spark. It can be removed by erosion or vaporization.
The rotor 28 has three needle heads 62, 64 and 66.
Each head has five parallel needles 68 spaced equidistantly apart in the axial direction (see FIGS. 5 and 6). Paper feed roller 56 and rotor 28 are continuously driven by drive motor 30, as will be explained in detail below. The needles are selectively energized to form an image on the underside of the paper by forming dots in a 5 x 7 matrix. The third example of the print made by the printer 20 is
As shown in the figure. Each needle head has five wires, which are sufficient to make all the dots for the horizontal portion of the character to be printed. Thus, each time a needle head passes over the recording paper, it produces at least one printed character. The word is as shown in FIG. 3, i.e. arrow 31
Preferably, it is printed on the paper strip in the longitudinal direction indicated by . Additionally, if multiple lines of a document are to be printed, the data is stored in the device's memory and each needle head prints one full vertical column of characters, one character from each line. is read out. For example, the first column A of characters in FIG. 3 is printed by one pass of one needle head, and the column B is printed by one pass of one needle head.
and column C is printed by one pass of the third needle head. Since there are three needle heads, three columns of characters are printed each time the rotor rotates. Therefore, the number of characters per revolution that the printer prints is equal to three times the number of lines that are being printed. Of course, the words can also be formed in a vertical direction rather than horizontally as shown in FIG. The printer's speed capabilities when operating in such mode are comparable to those in other modes. Now, the printer 20 will be explained in detail. Drive Device Now referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, the drive device of the printer 20 includes a shaft 48 and a drive motor 3.
0, both of which have already been described. The motor 30 is attached to an end plate 70 of the housing 24 by a screw 30. motor 30
The output shaft 76 has a toothed drive wheel 7.
8 is fixed and the drive wheel drives a toothed timing belt 50 (FIGS. 2 and 4) to drive a large toothed wheel 52 fixed to shaft 48. Wheels 78 and 52 are sized to provide a 4:1 reduction. A timing disk 54 is fixed to the wheel 52,
Therefore, it is fixed to the shaft 48. Shaft 48 is mounted on ball bearings 72 of end plate 70, and retainer 74 is secured to the right end of the shaft (see FIG. 5). Another end plate 88 is provided at the opposite end of the housing 24. The shaft 48 is the end plate 8
8 on ball bearings 92, and is held by a holder 108 fixed to the shaft. The rotor 28 is attached to the spacer 11 by the screw.
0 (FIGS. 4 and 5), the spacer is likewise attached at its other end to a slip-ring disk 104, which abuts against a holder 108. The spacer, slip ring and rotor 128 are held against the retainer 108 by a threaded nut 114 which is screwed into a screw 49 (FIG. 4) at the left end of the shaft 48. Thus, the rotor 28, spacer 110, slip ring disk 104, gear wheel 52, and timing disk 54 all rotate together at the same speed. Rubber paper feed roller 56 is driven by its gear connection to shaft 48. Fourth
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 5, roller 56 is rotatably mounted on a shaft 96 secured to an upper extension 89 of end plate 88. As shown in FIGS. slot 91
is provided, and the roller 5 is inserted through the slot.
The upper surface of 6 extends. A downward extension 90 of end plate 88 forms a bearing support for shaft 84, to which is secured a worm gear 86 which meshes with worm gear 82 secured to shaft 48. This combination drives the umbrella gear 92,
The gear 92 is connected to another umbrella gear 94 of the shaft 96.
This drives paper feed roller 56 at a substantially lower speed than rotor 28. The feed roller 56 is a curved paper guide body 38
The idler roller 9 attached to the shaft 100 of
Paired with 8. A cover 102 is fitted over the idler roller 98 to protect it. As is clear from FIG. 5, the recording paper 36
2 such that rotation of roller 56 pulls the paper through the printer without substantially slipping.
It is tightly sandwiched between two rubber rollers 56 and 98. Paper Grounding Means FIG. 10 schematically shows the electrical circuit formed when a spark is formed between the needle 68 and the paper 36. The conductive lower surface 39 of the preferred recording paper must be connected to the return terminal of a power source 69 connected to the needle 68 in order to create an electrical discharge. This return terminal is grounded, so
The underside of the paper must also be grounded. This is accomplished through the unique grounding arrangement shown in FIGS. 2, 4, and 5. The grounding device consists of a helical conductive spring 58 wrapped around a bent metal rod 60.
is fixed to the end plate 70 and grounded as shown in FIG. Both ends of the spring 58 are held in position by a retaining ring 61. As shown in FIG. 5, the rod 60 is arched forward to fit under the right edge of the cover 38. The upper part of the spring coil resiliently presses against the underside of the paper 36, forcing it upwardly against the guide body 38. The multiple coils of the spring make a number of relatively closely spaced contacts to make good ground contact with the underside of the paper. This combined ground connection and paper tensioning means also performs a third function of assisting in arching the paper to facilitate its passage through the guide body 38. Paper supply device As shown in Figures 1, 2, 4 and 5,
Paper roll 34 is housed in a spindle 120 whose ends fit into slots 118 in a pair of end plates 122 of feeder 32. End plate 122 is fixed to base plate 22 of the printer. The wear caused by the various components of the feed system tends to prevent the paper feed rolls from turning too far after paper feed has been stopped. As is most readily apparent from FIG. 5, bar or roller 35 serves to bend the paper coming from roll 34 by a substantial angle before passing it through the printer. However, this bar always presents the paper to the printer at approximately the same height, unlike when the paper is pulled directly from the roll 34. Substantial movement of the feeding point is undesirable in that it tends to crease or wrinkle the paper, which prevents smooth feeding of the paper. Therefore, the feeding device 32 feeds the paper strip to the printer evenly and smoothly. Rotor Structure FIG. 6 shows the structure of the rotor 28 and the positions of its three needle heads 62, 64 and 66. Figure 6 shows the rotor 28 seen in the direction of line 6--6 in Figure 5.
It is a partial schematic diagram of , in which the spacer 110 and other elements are omitted. As is clear from Fig. 6, the platen sleeve 2
The points of contact between the circle 125 representing the inner surface of the needle 68 and the needle 68 are indicated by reference numerals 119, 121, 123. The needle 68 is mounted on a solid epoxy resin base which is secured to a bracket 128 mounted on the rotor 28. Bracket 12
8 has a curved slot 130 with a screw 132 for allowing the needle head to move outwardly or inwardly to increase or decrease the pressure of the needle against the platen or the paper on the platen. As is clear in Figure 6, points 119 and 12
The angle between the needle and the radius line extending through 1,123 is approximately 70 degrees. The angle formed between needle 68 and tangent 127 to point 119 is therefore 20°.
The needle thus moves over the platen and paper at an angle substantially less than vertical. This makes the operation of the mechanism smoother and reduces the possibility that the needle will tear the paper as it traverses from the platen to the edge of the paper. Referring again to FIG. 5, platen sleeve 2
It will be appreciated that 6 is a diameter that is substantially larger than the diameter of the housing 24. This is necessary to allow the paper 36 to enter the inside of this platen sleeve. The lower two-thirds (116) of the trailing edge of the sleeve 26 has a diameter such that it fits into a flange 93 of the end plate 88 and is secured therein by three screws (not shown). is small. The paper-breaking ring 46 fits into a recess 95 on the inner surface of the leading edge of the sleeve 26. Similarly, as is clear from FIG.
2, 64 and 66 are each connected to the rear terminal of slip ring plate 104 by wire 112 (see also FIG. 9). This terminal is connected through plate 104 to a slip ring on the other side of plate 104. needle head 6
2 and 64 are shown offset from their actual positions in FIG. 5 so that they can be seen more clearly. Discharge Timing Structure The timing of dot formation by the needle is important to accurately print characters and other images. Referring now to FIGS. 2, 4, 5, and 7, this timing function is illustrated by a series of thin opaque black lines 166.
(FIG. 7) and a single thick black line 168 is provided by the painted transparent disk 54. Three sensors A, B, C connect three needle heads 62, 64, 66
Ideally, they should be separated from each other by 120 degrees, but this cannot be done depending on the structure of the housing 24 and paper guide body 38. Due to such structural constraints, sensors A and C are located 180° apart from each other, and sensors A and B are located 60° apart. Sensor B is fixed in position. However, sensors A and C are circumferentially movable relative to disk 54 to adjust the start and stop timing of printing by the stylus head relative to each other. This makes initial head alignment relatively easy and also allows for easy adjustments without moving the needle head to prevent uneven needle wear or other print misalignments. do. This prevents rotor imbalance and makes the adjustment process quite simple. Timing Adjustment Referring to FIGS. 4, 11, 12, and 7, a fixed sensor, sensor B, includes a detector structure 146 secured to a mounting plate 148. The detector structure 148 has a U-shaped housing, one arm of which contains a small light-emitting diode (LED) 153 (Figure 11) that detects the light. In order to do this, light is emitted toward the other arm containing a small phototransistor 155. A mask (not shown) consisting of a small piece of film that is opaque except for a small narrow slit covers the phototransistor in a manner that allows only light incident on the narrow slit to pass through. The detector 146 of sensor B is located in the hole 138 of the housing 24.
and fixed in position after the disk 54 is mounted on the housing. Detector 146-2
The two arms are mounted around the edge of the disk so that light from the LEDs is emitted through the disk and detected by the phototransistor in the areas where marks 166 and 168 are located. Each of the other sensors A and C also has the same detector 146
Contains. Detector 146 for each sensor A and C
is mounted at 152 to an L-shaped bracket 154 which is pivotally connected to mounting bracket 150. Bracket 154 has elongated arms with longitudinal groups 156. Figure 4 is 2 if you refer to Figures 11 and 12.
Two cam-adjacent cam arrangements 158 and 160 are provided. Each cam device has a body that rotatably fits into a hole in the end plate 70 of the housing 24 and has a slotted head that allows the device to be turned with a screwdriver. Each cam device 158 and 160 has an eccentrically mounted pin 16
It also has 2 or 164. As shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, pins 162 or 164 are fitted into group 156. When the head of cam device 158 or 160 is turned, bracket 15
The arm of 4 is raised or lowered about pivot point 152 to change the position where the detector senses lines 166 and 168. Pivot point 152 is shown schematically in FIG. The detailed operation of the disk 54 and sensors A, B, and C when determining the printing timing of the printer is described in the eighth section.
A detailed explanation will be given with reference to FIGS. 10 to 10. However, generally each thin closely spaced line 1
66 is timed to place one dot (or one row of up to 5 dots) and the wide pulse mark 1
68 serves as a reference mark. A very precise adjustment for placing a print can be made by slightly moving the position of either or both sensors A and B relative to sensor B using cams 158 and 160 to adjust the relative position of the print made by the stylus head. This can be done by varying the start and stop times. Electrical Control Circuit FIG. 9 shows the electrical control circuit of the printer 20. Drive motor 30 is shown in the lower left corner of FIG. 9, and needle 68 is shown in the upper right corner. The slip ring disc 104, the brush 106 in contact with the slip ring, and the wire 112 from the slip ring to the needle are also shown in the upper right corner. It will be apparent from FIG. 9 that each slip ring continues in such a way that each brush 106 is in constant contact with three needles, one from each of the three needle heads. The position of each such needle is the same in each needle head. That is, the outermost brush is connected to the first needle of each head, the next brush is connected to the second needle, and so on. This means that the needles of all three heads (labeled groups A, B, and C in FIG. 9) are energized simultaneously. Therefore, the paper strip 36 is connected to the platen 2.
It must not be wider than 1/3 of the circumference of 6. Otherwise, another print will be made on the paper strip. Of course, if it is desired to use a wider paper strip, the needles can be selectively biased by a segmented slip ring. Direct current is supplied throughout the control circuit from the DC power supply when 117 Volt 60 Hz power is supplied, or alternatively from the battery. At the top center of FIG. 9 is shown a memory 200 consisting of six 480-bit shift registers. Connected to the output of this memory 200 is a ROM code converter 202, commonly referred to as a "character generator", which converts the character identification signals from the memory 200 into corresponding characters appearing on five output lines 203. Convert to dot matrix signal. This dot matrix signal is used to enable a selected one of the five needles in contact with the paper strip to be energized to form a row of dots of a particular character to be printed. . The code converter 202 generates information on an output line 203 one after another to form seven successive rows of dots for a given character to enable printing of the character in the form of a 5x7 dot matrix. Book input leads 264, 266, 268
addressed by. This procedure is explained in detail below. Data Input Memory 200 has sufficient capacity to store characters for a twelve line document. By adding more shift registers, the storage capacity of memory 200 can be increased. Up to 24 character lines can be printed between paper strips if the paper strip width is 10 cm (4 inches), the character height is approximately 4.68 mm (3/16 inch), and the spacing between character lines is minimal. . Character lines can be made as long as desired if the required storage capacity is to be added to memory. In practice,
If the characters are printed on one line and a "FIFO" memory is used in place of memory 200, the character line can be made virtually infinite in length. A memory control circuit 206 is provided for reading from and writing to memory 200. High frequency clock signal (e.g. 1MHz)
is applied to one input of NAND gate 228 via input line 226. A slightly lower frequency strobe pulse is applied via another input line 216. This strobe pulse is applied to one input of gate 218. During data input, the D-type flip-flop 236 (shown in the lower left corner of FIG. 9) is in a reset state, with a signal present at the output and no signal present at the output Q. This "low" signal on output Q enables gate 218, which passes the strobe pulse through another gate 220 and AND gate 222 to read/write line 22.
4 to the memory 200. This strobe pulse causes data to be input to the memory's shift register via a common data input line 225. When flip-flop 236 is reset, a signal from flip-flop 236 is applied via line 244 to inhibit gate 219 and prevent reading of data through the gate. At the same time as reading data into the memory 200,
The output of gate 222 is provided via line 230 to the clock input of another shift register 232;
The shift register also has a storage capacity of 480 bits and is the same as the shift register of memory 200. Shift register 232 is used as a detection device to detect when memory 200 is full and to signal the start of a printing operation. Starting the Motor When shift register 232 is full, it sends an output signal on line 234 to the clock input of flip-flop 236. This sets flip-flop 236 and generates a signal on the Q output line, which is sent via line 238 to motor drive circuit 208, which is a solid state relay, which drives drive motor 30.
Complete the circuit to the motor and start operating the motor. Changing flip-flop 236 to the set state enables gate 219, thus allowing data to be read from memory during printing. This will be explained below. Also, the gate 218 is Q
input line 204
It is no longer possible to write data from to memory. Setting the End Margin of the Recording Paper Strip The operation of flip-flop 236 also causes the state of its leads to change, which activates the margin counter circuit. Counter 246 is used to counter timing disk 54 (FIG. 9) before the printer can begin printing to provide a certain amount of unprinted space on the paper between the cut end of the paper strip and the document to be printed. Count two "column sync" signals representing two revolutions of . Generation of Column Synchronization Signals In the lower left corner of FIG. 9 are shown the three sensors A, B, and C shown in FIGS. and a thick timing mark 166 are detected. Detectors A, B, and C shown in FIG. 9 may include amplifiers and Schmitt trigger circuits to amplify and shape the pulses from the detectors. The "column synchronization" signal shown in the waveform diagram of FIG. 8 is a signal counted by the margin counter. These signals are generated as follows. A column synchronization counter 212 is provided, and the counter 2
12 is two JK type flip-flops 30
0 and 302. Flip-flop 302 receives the signal from sensor C at its clock input and both flip-flops 300
and 302 receive the sensor B signal via their "clear" leads. Referring now to FIG. 7, disk 54 rotates counterclockwise. Sensors A, B, and C generate signals when the transparent portion of disk 54 is between the LED and the phototransistor and allows light to reach the phototransistor. Therefore, when the transparent area of the disk 54 faces the sensor B, a flip-flop occurs.
The "clear" input leads of flops 302 and 300 are pulled low to reset column sync counter 212. Thick mark 168 (any mark 1
66) passes sensor B, flip-flops 300 and 30
The "clear" signal is temporarily removed from 2 to allow these flip-flops to count the pulses received from sensor C, which is now sensing thin mark 166. When the thick mark 168 is first detected by sensor B, it seems that the thin mark 166 ends;
This is not the case since sensor B is nominally only 60 degrees from sensor A, while sensor B is located 64.1 degrees from the front edge of mark row 166. Therefore,
Sensor C is spaced 220 degrees clockwise from sensor B, and the trailing edge of the thin mark 166 is spaced 224.1 degrees apart, leaving several marks 166 to pass past sensor C. Therefore, the counter 21
2 counts up 2 by the end of fat pulse 168 and the counter is cleared again.
This produces an output pulse on the Q of flip-flop 300, which is the "column sync" signal shown in FIG. 8 and appears on line 248 of FIG. After the thick pulse passes through sensor B, but before the thin line reaches sensor B, counter 212 remains cleared and no "column sync" signal is generated. After thin lines 166 reach sensor B and after both sensors B and C sense these thin lines, counter 212 is reset once for each transparent interval between these thin lines. Therefore, it is not possible to count 2, and the "column synchronization" signal cannot be generated. As a result, the "column sync" signal is generated only once per revolution of disk 54, and only when fat mark 168 passes sensor B. As mentioned above, this "Column Sync" signal is provided on line 248 to a margin counter 246 which counts two signals. This counter 246 then provides an output signal on line 250 to start the printing operation. Starting Printing Referring to the lower center portion of FIG. 9, the signal on line 250 of margin counter 246 is applied to the clock input of another D-type flip-flop 251, which changes its state. and generates a signal on its Q output line. This signal is provided on line 254 to the margin counter to inhibit the margin counter, and is also provided on line 252 to print enable flip-flop 254 as a "start" signal. Flip-flop 254 is a D-type flip-flop and is clocked by a signal applied to its clock lead 253 from an AND gate 290 in the center right side of FIG. This AND gate 290 receives an enable input on its lower lead and is enabled by a pulse from sensor A received on line 298. This AND gate actually sends the pulse from sensor A to the clock input of flip-flop 254. Therefore, the first pulse generated at sensor A by thin line 166 on the code disk, together with the "start" signal on line 252,
The state of flip-flop 254 is changed. A subsequent clock pulse from sensor A also times the subsequent operation of flip-flop 254. This operation of flip-flop 254 is Q
The states of output line 256 and output line 274 are changed. At the same time, a "high" signal on line 256 is applied to one input of another Nand gate 260. The other input of the NAND gate is also
It is high because it is connected to the output of another D-type flip-flop 258, which is cleared at this time. Dot row counter The output of the gate 260 is the dot row counter 26.
2. The function of the counter is to count the spacing between character lines in the line of dots being printed; it addresses the ROM code converter 202 via address lines 264, 266, and 268, and the converter 202 AND gates the information. 272 and amplifier 314 to brush 106 and then to needle 68.
Of course, neither AND gate 272 will produce a proper output signal unless both inputs of AND gate 272 are in the same state. One input of each gate 272 is connected to the output of a three-input positive NAND gate 270. The output of gate 270 is connected to input leads 274 and 276.
enable each of the AND gates 272 when the signals of each of the AND gates 272 are in the proper state. The signal on line 274 is in its proper state when flip-flop 254 is set to enable printing.
Lead 276 connects multiplexer circuit 282 (9th
(in the lower right-hand part of the figure), which multiplexer constantly receives the pulses generated by sensors A, B, and C by means of thin wires 166, as will be explained further below. . Gate 270 is therefore enabled repeatedly by the timing pulses generated by thin line 166, but only during short periods of these pulses. These timing pulses are also provided from line 284 to line 263 to dot row counter 262. The dot row counter counts this timing pulse and therefore steps through its address routine and counts the number of dot rows that are being printed. Since there are seven dots in the vertical direction for each character, this dot row counter steps by seven pulses, repeatedly changing the combination of outputs on lines 264, 266, and 268 to ROM code converter 202.
are addressed sequentially. During the eighth count, line 271 of the dot row counter goes "high". This inhibits gate 270 and sends an enable signal over "clear" line 277 to enable flip-flop 258. This flip-flop 258 does not actually change its state at this time. This is because the flip-flop is a D-type device and requires a clock pulse at its clock input in order for it to be able to change state. The signal on line 271 is also sent to character line counter 278, causing it to advance by one count. Character Line Spacing Selection The clock output line 257 of flip-flop 258 is effectively connected to line 264 or 268 for selecting the character line spacing. Line 264 is energized when counter 262 counts to 2, and line 268 is energized when counter 262 counts to 2.
It is activated when 2 counts up to 5. If a character line spacing of 2 was selected by connecting line 257 to line 264, then on the ninth count by dot line counter 262, line 264 would go high, indicating that the flip-flop Set 258. If a character line spacing of 5 were selected, the same operation would occur at a count of 12 instead of 9. Reading the Next Character When flip-flop 258 is set, its Q output goes high, providing a signal to activate one-shot multivibrator 261 of memory control circuit 206 in the upper left portion of FIG.
This one-shot multivibrator generates pulses which are sent to the gates 219 and 220 for reading information for another character from the memory 200.
and 222 to read/write line 224. Information for the first character is in memory 2
Note that since the first information stored at 00, it already appears on the output lead of memory 200. The setting of flip-flop 258 causes its output to be low, which is connected to gate 260.
causes the output of the dot row counter 262 to go high and resets all outputs of the dot row counter 262 to zero. The resulting low signals on lines 271 and 277 reset flip-flop 258 and re-enable gate 270 to allow the next character to be printed. The dot row counter 262 now starts anew counting the timing pulses received via line 263, and printing of the next character in the column begins. The next character is printed in the same manner as the first character, and the process is repeated until a character has been printed in each of the 12 or 24 character lines to be printed. In this way, one column of characters is completed. Character line counter Output read 2 from dot line counter 262
The signal on 71 is also applied to a character line counter 278 which counts the number of character lines printed in the printhead's pass across the recording paper strip. Character line counter 278
Two separate connections are made to the , one that allows the internal circuitry to count up to 12 character lines and the other that allows the user to count up to 24 character lines. Select arbitrarily. If 12 character lines are to be printed, then
After the twelfth character has been printed by a particular printhead, character line counter 278 provides an output signal on line 280 to AND gate 282, which receives the input from flip-flop 236 on line 240. is also received, so flip-flop 254 is now cleared. This disables the printer until it is time to start the next vertical character column when the next print head is in position to start printing. Dot Timing The dot timing circuit 210 includes a multiplexer 282 and a column synchronization counter 212, as well as a data selection counter 214 and a divide-by-117 counter 288. Multiplexer 282 has its input line 291
and 292 to connect separate input signals to output leads 284 and 286. The following table describes the operation of multiplexer 282.

[Table]
Data selection counter 214 includes a pair of JK type flip-flops 304 and 306. The first from counter 288 divided by 117
When a pulse changes the state of flip-flop 304, it is output to output line 284 based on the table above.
In addition, 286 data are changed. When the next pulse is received from circuit 288, the state of second flip-flop 306 is changed and line 28
4 and 286 data vary again based on the table above. In this way, first the A signal, then the B signal, and then the C signal are applied to the circuit to control printing. Referring now to FIG. 8, the "Column Sync" signal occurs at time t ₀ and the sensor timing signal starts slightly later at time t ₁ . Now, with particular reference to the B sensor waveform of FIG. 8, it will be apparent that sensor B begins generating timing pulses at time _t2 . Referring again to FIG. 9, the pulse from sensor B is provided to a counter 288 which divides by 117 via multiplexer output lead 286. Printing by needle head A ends at time t ₃ (FIG. 8) when the character line counter clears print enable flip-flop 254. When the counter 288 has counted 117 pulses (1/3 of the 351 pulses caused by the thin mark 166 on the disk), the counter 288 generates an output signal that is output from the AND gate 294. one input and the other input of the gate is connected to the flip-flop 300 line. This AND gate 294 is therefore enabled and sends a signal on line 296 to clear character line counter 278. This removes the output of the character line counter on line 280, thereby disabling AND gate 282, and printing enable flip-flop 254.
and causes print head B to start printing another character field. This is a short time after t ₃
Occurs at t ₄ . From time t ₄ to t ₆ needle head B prints characters. At time _t6 , the character line counter operates again to stop printing. Meanwhile, the timing pulse from sensor C is output from time _t5 to counter 288.
is given to. When counter 288 generates an output again after counting 117 pulses from sensor C, the third needle head is ready to start printing at _t7 , and the character line counter reaches t. Printing continues until printing is stopped at _{step 8} . The column sync pulse then occurs again at t ₀ and the printing process is repeated again for another revolution of rotor 28. This is repeated many times until all the information in the memory 200 has been read out and printed. While information is being read from memory 200, shift register 232 shifts the same number of times as each of the memory's shift registers. Circuitry (not shown) is provided to provide a pulse on line 234 to return flip-flop 236 to its initial state when register 232 is full, deenergizing motor drive circuit 208 and stopping the motor. There is. This circuit resets any previously set shift registers or flip-flops to prepare the circuit for the next print run. Repeating Printing If it is desired to repeat the same printing process to make duplicate copies of a document, this can be easily accomplished as follows. “R strobe” to shift register 232 before loading memory
“R” to input and shift register of memory 200
The inputs are connected together and connected to a source of a low state signal. The shift register of the memory 200 does not read data destructively, but instead reads the memory 200.
This type of shift register allows for recirculation and restoring. The same applies to the shift register 232. Thus, in this mode of operation, the printer automatically prints the same document over and over again as many times as desired. Automatic Blackness Control Circuit According to another feature of the invention, an automatic blackness control circuit 215 is provided. This circuit includes a one-shot multivibrator tachometer 308 whose output is provided to an integrator circuit 310;
The output of the integrator circuit is then amplified by a linear amplifier 312. The output of the amplifier 312 is applied to the input of an amplifier 314 to increase or decrease the voltage printed to the needle depending on the speed of the rotor. The pulses provided via line 284 have a frequency that is directly proportional to the speed of the rotor. This is because these pulses are fine pulses generated one after another by lines 166 at sensors A, B, and C. The pulses at the output of tachometer 308 are constant in width. This is because their width is determined only by the characteristics of the multivibrator. However, since the time between pulses varies with rotor speed, the output of integrator 310 varies directly with rotor speed. This increases or decreases the output of amplifier 312 and amplifier 314. For example, in the preferred embodiment of the invention, which has been constructed and successfully tested, the voltage applied to the needle is 500 characters per second.
The printing speed was 50 volts. If the printing speed was 3000 characters per second and the number of character lines and line spacing were the same, the needle voltage was 70 volts. The automatic blackness control circuit maintains the blackness and legibility of printed characters at a relatively constant level despite such wide variations in rotor speed. As a demonstration example, very satisfactory printing was achieved when the rotor was turned simply by hand at a very slow speed and at speeds of up to 3000 characters per second. It should be understood that a speed of 3000 characters per second cannot be considered an upper speed limit for this device. Although this speed varies with the number of lines of characters being printed, etc., a remarkable advantage of the present invention is that speeds of up to 3000 characters per second can be achieved at relatively low cost and with a simple and compact machine. It is. Applications and Modifications It is apparent that the present invention has wide utility in printing alphanumeric characters. For example, the present invention may be particularly useful for making "hard copies" from cathode ray tubes or TV screens at computer terminals or elsewhere. The "pages" of data that appear on a cathode ray tube screen at any given time can easily be printed as a group. The printer of the present invention is small (e.g. 10 cm (4 inches) x 10 cm x 20 cm).
(8 inches) or smaller), so it can be mounted on the same module with multiple cathode ray tube display screens. This printer can be effectively used in many applications where small size is important. for example,
This printer is useful on aircraft, spacecraft, police vehicles, fire trucks, and other emergency vehicles. The printer of the present invention is believed to make an excellent low cost, reliable stock quote printer, particularly when operated in a mode in which the printout consists of a single line of characters. In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the logic circuitry of a computer terminal may be used to replace some of the control circuitry shown in FIG. Alternatively, a general purpose computer can be specifically programmed to generate the printer control signals. Although it is preferred to use an electrical discharge process in the present invention, the rotor's three print heads can have other configurations. One is to use a group of pushrods instead of needles for each head. In such embodiments, each push rod is actuated by an electromagnet to strike an inked ribbon or the like to form characters in dot matrix form on ordinary paper. Apparatus for forming dots from ink can similarly be used to form characters by dots on ordinary paper. The number of print heads on the rotor can be varied as can the number of needles in each head. However, it has been found that using three print heads, with each head printing one character field per pass, has distinct advantages. It is evident in FIG. 3 that there is a slight variation from left to right in the starting points of the top and bottom rows of print. This is because the recording paper is continuously moved as the rotor rotates, which means that the starting position of the last character line is shifted longitudinally by a small amount from the starting position of the first character line. It means something. It has been conveniently found that this small amount of skew is usually acceptable and need not be compensated for in data printers. However, if a skew occurs in a particular use of the printer, this skew can be compensated for as shown in FIG. FIG. 13 shows the accompanying drawings, except that the direction of paper feed is at an angle θ of 2°4 from the longitudinal axis of the printer, and that this angle is sufficient to compensate for skew caused by the printer. 1 is a schematic plan view of a printer similar to that shown in FIG. Of course, if changes are made to the number of heads and/or the number of needle wires, this compensation angle θ can be changed as required. Although a mechanical device has been described for aligning the print by means of three heads, i.e., making adjustments by turning cam wheels 158 and 160, this same adjustment can be made by purely electronic means. can be done. In this variation, the counters that time the start of printing by each head are adjusted so that the printing by that head is advanced or delayed by a certain amount relative to the printing by other heads. The same function can be achieved. However, with current technology, it is believed that the mechanical adjustments described above provide better accuracy at a lower cost than that required to obtain the same accuracy by electronic means. Removable Rotor Construction FIG. 14 shows a rotary printer 20 that is substantially identical to the printer shown in the accompanying drawings, except for the rotor construction and paper grounding construction at the left end of the printer. 14 and 15, three needle heads 420 are pivotally mounted on the inner surface of rotor 28. Referring now to FIGS. For clarity, only two heads 420 are shown in FIG. 15, and only one head is shown in FIG. 14. Now, Figures 17 and 18 and Figures 14 and 1
Referring to FIG. 5, each needle head includes five closely spaced parallel needle wires 68 that are molded into a needle support 424. Electrical energy is supplied to the needle by means of a printed circuit panel 426 secured to this support 424.
This assembly is secured to an L-shaped slide member 428. The member 428 slides in a groove in the mounting block 422. Adjustment screw 4
32 is the lower part 43 where the slide member 428 hangs down.
0 and rotatably engaged with body 422. Thus, by turning this screw 432, the slide members 428 are moved and the position of the needles 68 on their bodies can be adjusted. Each of the three needle heads is pivotally connected to rotor 28 by a support structure shown in FIGS. 14 and 19 and described below. Each needle head 420 has an arm 434 secured to the body 422, which arm 434 is connected to the needle 68.
extends in a direction perpendicular to the direction of extension. A large hollow portion 436 is provided at the end of this arm 434.
The section includes a lead-loaded or heavy metal insert 438. This insert 438 provides a relatively large mass for use in centrifugally extending the needle into engagement with the recording paper 36. Now, referring to FIG. 15, each arm 43
A tension spring 454 is attached to 4,
The other end is attached to a pin 456 that extends parallel to drive shaft 48. The connection point between spring 454 and arm 434 is between block 422 and end 436 of arm 434. The structure operates to automatically retract the needle 68 from the recording paper 36 when the rotational speed of the rotor 28 falls below some predetermined minimum speed, such as 500 revolutions per minute. The tension spring rotates print head 420 clockwise about a pivot axis indicated at 452. This is paper 36
Move the needle away from the When rotor 28 begins to rotate, centrifugal force acts on heavy insert 438 at the end of arm 34, tensioning the spring and turning arm 434 counterclockwise. When the desired speed is reached, needle 68 engages the surface of recording paper 36. A stop structure is provided to prevent increased rotational speed from compressing the needle 68 too much against the paper 36. This stop structure consists of a cam 458 (FIG. 15) and a screw 460. The trailing edge of each printhead body 422 engages the cam to stop counterclockwise rotation of the printhead due to centrifugal force and stabilize the position of the needle 68 in the desired position. This position can be changed by rotating screw 460. Needle Adjustment The extent to which the needle 68 is moved in the radial direction is determined by rotating the screw 432 to adjust the needle or to compensate for the initial position of the needle or the wear of the needle, as explained above. Adjustment can be made by simply moving the valve outward or retracting it inward. Each needle head 420 can also be adjusted axially (parallel to drive shaft 48) by structures shown in detail in FIGS. 19 and 14. An adjustment screw 412 having a head on the outer surface of the rotor disk 28 is provided. This screw 412 is fitted into a sleeve 448 and has a smooth shaft 44 that slides within the sleeve.
6, the sleeve 448 has a shaft 44
6 and the inner surface of block 422. As shown in FIG. 17, block 422 has a large hole 442 into which a sleeve 448 fits, and a small screw in plate 440 (FIG. 18) attached to one side of the needle head. A hole 444 is provided. Referring again to FIG. 19, the snap ring 45 is fitted into a groove in the end of the shaft 446.
0 holds the screw in position. Shaft 446 has a threaded end 452 that fits into threaded hole 444 . Adjust the head using the adjustment screw head 412.
This is easily done by inserting a screwdriver into the slot of the screwdriver and turning it. This changes the distance between block 422 and disk 28 to provide axial alignment of each printhead. This helps ensure that each character printed by the printer is properly spaced from the characters printed by each of the other needle heads. Mounting and Removal of the Rotor The rotor 28 is mounted to the shaft 48 by the structure shown in FIG. A hub 400 is provided. Rotor 28 is secured to the hub by four screws 402 (FIG. 16). hub 400
Fixed to the other end is a flip-ring disk 104, which makes electrical contact with the printer's electrical circuitry, as will be explained in detail below. A stop member 108 is provided on the shaft. Hub 400 has a central recess in which pin 456 is located. These are the pins to which spring 454 is attached. Referring to FIG. 14, the hub 400 has a recess 457 at its rear, into which a compression spring 459 is inserted. This compression spring supports against the stop member 108 and the hub 400 and pushes the rotor outwardly away from the shaft 48 to assist in removing the rotor. Referring now to FIG. 16, rotor 28 is secured to the end of drive shaft 48 by a latch mechanism. The latch mechanism includes a latch plate 404 with two vertical end tabs 406 that can be pushed to slide the member 404. Member 404 is secured to the outer surface of rotor 28 by a pair of rivets 410 that secure slide member 40 in a pair of elongated slots.
Holds 4. A warped washer is provided between the rivet head and the slide member to ensure a constant wear engagement between the slide member 404 and the face of the rotor to hold the slide member in the position to which it has been moved. (not shown) are placed. Slide member 404 has a slot with a large hole 408, the diameter of which is slightly larger than the end of drive shaft 48. Drive shaft 48
has a circumferential groove 418 (FIG. 14) into which the edge of slide member 404 fits into a slot to grip the end of shaft 48. Therefore, as shown in FIG.
By simply sliding 4 downward, the slide member disengages from the shaft member and the disk can be removed. Spring 459 then pushes the rotor outward to assist in rotor removal. To replace the rotor, the end of shaft 48 is inserted through hole 408 and slide member 404 is pushed upwardly to reengage the slide member with the shaft end and lock the rotor in place. The rotor mounting and needle adjustment structures described above are very advantageous. When it is desired to remove the rotor from the printer, or alternatively when it is desired to begin threading a new strip of recording paper through the printer, the needle is retracted out of engagement with the recording paper so that the needle 68 will not cause any interference. Additionally, the printer reaches the proper printing speed more quickly because there is no wear of the needle against the paper until the desired minimum operating speed is reached. The apparatus includes means for axially adjusting the needle without removing the rotor from the printer. This adjustment can be easily made by turning the screw 412 exposed at the open left end of the printer. A simple mechanical means is also provided to adjust the effective length of the needle by simply turning the screw 432. This facilitates initial alignment of the needles to produce properly aligned and readable print.
Two of the three photocells and their associated electronics used in the embodiments described above with respect to FIGS. 1-13 to time and circumferentially coordinate the movement of the hands use screws 432 This can be eliminated by providing a mechanical adjustment that depends on the The rotor was made very easy to remove by providing a simple slide latch as shown in FIG. Ease of removal was increased through the use of spring 459. Movement of the needle toward and away from the recording paper can be accomplished by other than centrifugal means if desired.
For example, the needle may be extended by a solenoid that is actuated some time after the needle begins to rotate. This solenoid can also be used to retract and hold the needle out of contact with the paper after the rotor begins to decelerate or alternatively after the rotor has stopped. This solenoid can be manually operated if desired. Alternative Paper Grounding Structure FIG. 14 also shows an alternative structure for grounding the recording paper 36. Instead of the curved spring structure 58 described above, the paper feed wheel 5
6 is made of metal (eg steel) and is grounded by a brush 461. This brush 461
contacts the end of the shaft 96 on which the wheel 56 is mounted. This structure provides a convenient rotating ground contact for grounding the recording paper. This eliminates the wear and tear caused by sliding contacts and reduces paper scratches. Additionally, making the wheel 56 metal rather than rubber means that the wheel 56 will not fit into the wheel 98 when at rest for a substantial period of time.
This prevents the wheel 56 from being dented due to being pressed against the wheel. Materials and Specifications Specifications for some materials and components of printers constructed and successfully tested in accordance with the present invention are set forth below. Suitable recording papers are readily available. Suitable papers coated with a black opaque material and then coated with either aluminum or zinc oxide are available from Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Available from Fitchberg CPI and Atlan Tol industries. The preferred paper has a total thickness of 0.05mm
(0.002 inch). Aluminum coated paper is preferred. This is because this paper typically requires only a low needle voltage to vaporize the aluminum coating and expose the black material underneath. The successfully used needle had a diameter of 0.175 mm (0.007
inches) and are approximately 100cm from each other from center to center.
0.4 mm (0.016 inch) apart. The desired spacing of the dots on the paper is approximately 0.4 mm both horizontally and vertically. However, it should be noted that the vertical spacing of the dots is sometimes small due to the rotation of the rotor. This sometimes improves printing in that when printing characters, it tends to join the dots together into vertical solid lines. The needle material is thoriated tungsten. The most desirable angular range between the needle and platen is 60° to 70° (see Figure 6). It is preferred that as much of the printer body as possible be molded from plastic to obtain low cost and light weight. Therefore, the main drive shaft 48
Although made of metal, the housing 24 and many other parts are molded from a reinforced plastic material, such as glass fiber filled polystyrene, which has good strength and wear properties. The platen 26 is filled with glass fiber “SAN”
(styrene-acrylonitrile polymer),
Alternatively, it is preferably molded from glass fibre-filled "Lexan" polycarbonate plastic material or nylon. 30% shorter (e.g. 0.78mm
(less than 1/32 inch) length) filled with glass fiber
Platens made of SAN have excellent properties in that they are non-conductive and do not wear significantly when the needles are subjected to erosion, even though they are made of a very hard material. I know it's happening. A DC motor found suitable for driving the present printer is part number FYOM-63200-51 manufactured by Barber-Coleman Co. The motor is 1.26 inches in diameter and 1.95 inches long. Its working voltage is 12 volts DC and 4400R.P.
M, has an output torque of 72 gcm (1 oz-in) at 1.3 amps. The optical sensor 146 used to sense the marks on the timing disk 54 is an Optrom
Manufactured by the Corporation. This sensor is called an “optical switch” and has a part number of
OBP800. A similar device manufactured by Spectronic, part number PNSPX1872-s, is also suitable. This sensor was modified by simply adding a mask as described above. The code used to encode characters is a well-known code called "ASCII".
This is advantageous because code converters for use with such codes are readily available. In the electric control circuit shown in FIG. 9, some parts are specifically specified as follows. These parts are readily available from a number of different companies unless otherwise indicated.

【table】

TABLE The above description of the invention is illustrative and not intended to be limiting. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes or modifications can be made to the embodiments described above without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 is a front perspective view of a printer configured according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view of the printer of FIG. 1 with the paper guide body lifted and some paper removed, and FIG. 3 1 is a part of the recording paper strip used in the printer shown in FIG. 1, and is a diagram showing a part of the recording paper strip that holds the printed reproduction material actually produced by this printer; FIG. 4 is the same as that shown in FIG. 1. 5 is an exploded front perspective view of the printer shown in FIG. 5, a sectional view taken along line 5--5 in FIG. Front view showing the rotor of the device shown in Figure 7.
Figure 8 is a front view, partially schematic, of the timing disk of the apparatus shown in Figures 1-5; Figure 8 is a set of diagrams illustrating the operation of the timing disk and its associated electronic circuitry; Waveform diagrams, FIGS. 9 and 10 are diagrams showing the electrical control circuit of the printer shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, and FIGS. 11 and 12 are partial schematic diagrams of the components of this printer, and the configuration Figure 13, each showing the parts in two different operating positions.
The figure is a partial plan schematic diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 14 is a partially sectional side view of another embodiment of the printer of the present invention, FIG. 15 is a partially sectional front view taken along line 15--15 in FIG. 14, and FIG. Another front view of the rotor shown, number 17
14, 15 and 16; FIG. 18 is a front view of the print head shown in FIG. 17; FIG. 19 is a front view of the print head shown in FIG. The first line along line 19-19 in Figure 14
FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway cross-sectional view of the structure. 20...Printer, 24...Housing, 26...Sleeve (platen), 28...Rotor, 30...
Drive motor, 32...Paper supply device, 34...
Roll, 36... Paper, 38... Paper guide body, 48... Shaft, 54... Timing disk, 56... Drive roller, 62, 64, 66...
...needle head, 68...needle.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 a rotor, a plurality of needles on the rotor, a means for selectively energizing the needles to mark marks on recording paper, a cylindrical housing having an opening, extending in the axial direction of the housing to rotate the rotor; a supporting shaft, a motor coupled to rotate the shaft, a paper feed roller having one edge extending adjacent the opening and mounted to the housing, drivingly coupling the feed roller to the shaft. a driving coupling means, a curved guide means facing the roller and guiding the recording paper strip in an arc over the outside of the housing, and means for removably attaching the curved guide to the outside of the housing. An electric rotary printer characterized by: