US2757605A

US2757605A - Multiple sequency type wheel printer

Info

Publication number: US2757605A
Application number: US426236A
Authority: US
Inventors: Arnold I Dumey
Original assignee: Potter Instrument Co Inc
Current assignee: Potter Instrument Co Inc
Priority date: 1954-04-28
Filing date: 1954-04-28
Publication date: 1956-08-07
Anticipated expiration: 1973-08-07

Description

5 Sheets-Sheet l A. l. DUMEY MULTIPLE SEQUENCY TYPE WHEEL PRINTER LTE INVENTOR. ARNOLD I. DUMEY BY 5 ATTORNEY FIGJ.

Aug. 7, 1956 Filed April 28, 1954 Aug. 7, 1956 A. l. DUMEY I 2,757,605

MULTIPLE SEQUENCY TYPE WHEEL PRINTER Filed April 28, 1954 5 Shets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

A'RNOLD I. DUMEY WW. M

ATTORNEY A g- 7 1956 1. DUMEY 2,757,605

' MULTIPLE SEQUENCY TYPE WHEEL PRINTER Filed April 28, 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG.3.

INVENTOR. ARNOLD I. DUMEY agzumm A TTOHNEY Aug. 7, 1956 A. l. DUMEY MULTIPLE SEQUENCY TYPE WHEEL PRINTER Filed April 28, 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 FIG.6. o /O 9 9o 98 95 a4 97 96a 69 c; as

INVENTOR.

ARNOLD I. DUMEY ATTORNEY 7 9 A. 1. DUMEY 2,757,605

MULTIPLE SEQUENCY TYPE WHEEL PRINTER Filed April 28, 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 I01 AMPLIFIER 107 PREDETERMINED COUNTER |o COUNTER STORAGE TO HAMMER coNTRo| 102 GATE THYRATRONS CHARACTER' SIGNAL INPUT TO SOURCE OF PRINT INITIATING SIGNAL FIG. '7.

A Mojave? United States Patent 2,757,605 MULTIPLE SEQUENCY TYPE WHEEL, PRINTER Arnold I. Dumey, Roslyn Heights, N. assign or to Potter Instrument Co., Inc., Great Neck, N. Y., a cor poration of New York Application April 28, 1954, Serial-No. 426,236 I '1 Claim. (Cl. 101 -93 Printing hammers are actuated by means of electronically stored and coded information which provides impressions while the type wheel is in motion. In the system described, a hammer is provided for each character to be printed in a given line across the paper and on the type wheel a series of font characters is provided one for each different character to be printed. The time required to print one line on the paper is the time which elapses from the time the first character of the font approaches the first hammer until the lastcharacter of the font leaves the last hammer position; If one pulse unit of time is assigned to the time required for one character to pass one hammer, the time required to print one line is equal,

in pulse units of time, to the number of characters in the font plus the number of hammers. Thus, -with an 2,757,605 Patented Aug. 7, 1 956 Fig. 5 shows a representation of a modification of the type wheel according to the present invention.

Fig. 6 shows a representation of a further modification of the type wheel according to the present invention.

Fig. 7 shows, in block diagram, one method of printing with the modified type wheels of the present invention.

' Fig. 1 shows a type wheel 1 carrying a plurality of type faces 2 around its outer edge. One possible arrangement of type faces is represented by the letters placed adjacent to these type faces as A, B, C etc. Printing is carried out upon a sheet of paper 6 through the medium of type-writer ribbon 3 extending between spools 4 and S. The impression of the type faces through the ribbon upon the paper is accomplished by means of hammers 7 supported in yoke 8 and actuated over linkage 9 by relay clapper 10. Relay 11 is energized over

leads

12 and 13 from plate'14 of a thermionic tube also including control grid 16 and cathode 17. The tubes receive plate current from a suitable source such as battery 20 and grids 16 receive an initial cut-off bias from the'negative end of battery 20 through grid resistor 19. Pulses to cause tubes 14-1617 to conduct and thereby to energize relays 11 and to print are derived from counters 24 through coupling capacitors 23 over leads 22 to grids 16. Suitable pulses to the counters are supplied over

leads

25, 26, 27 etc. Pulses are generated each time a character advances on the type Wheel by means of light passing through one of holes 100 in index wheel 30 and impinging on photoelectric cell 29. Each time a sequence of type begins on the type wheel a starting pulse is generated in photoelectric cell 102 due to light passing through one of ice holes 101. Further details of the operation of the system 80 character line and a 63 character font, 143 units of I pulse time would be required to print one line. I

According to the present inventionthe time required to print one line is reduced to approximately the pulse time of the characters in the font or 63 in the above This improved result is accomplishedby utiof, printing of a rotary type wheel printer.

Another object is to greatly reduce lost time in arotary type wheel printer.

7 Still another object is to provide a rotary type wheel printer utilizing a plurality of type sequences around the circumference of a single type wheel.

A further object is to provide a type wheelu printer with which printing may be initiated at aplurality of points around the circumference of the type wheel.

These and other objects of the present invention will The apparent from the detailed description of the [inven- 'tion given in connection with the various figures of the drawing.

.In the drawing:

Y Fig. 1 shows one form of the present invention.

Fig. 2 shows a side view partly in section of the form "ofthe invention shown inFig. 1..

1 Fig. 3-shows a representation of. a type wheel available prior to the present invention.

Fig. 4 shows a representation ofatype wheel according to the present, invention.

the invention of the above referred to application.

are contained in the above referred to application.

Fig. 2 shows a side view, partly in section, of the device shown in Fig. 1. Type wheel 1, index wheel 30 and commutator drum 35 are carried by a common shaft 31 which in turn isrotated by motor 39 operating through gear box 40 and receiving power from a suitable source over leads 4142. Pulses from photo-electric cell 29 are amplified by-amplifier 33 and applied to commutator 36 over lead 34. Commutator 36 distributes the pulses to the counters over leads 2526--27 etc. The entire device is supported by a suitable frame 43. The printing sheet 6 is advanced by an amount equal to the space occupied by a line of type for each line printing cycle. One way -in which the printing sheet may be advanced is shown where sheet 6 passes over an idler roller 108 to a takeup roll 107 mounted on a shaft 109. The paper advance mechanism consists in a ratchet 110 advanced by armature 111 each time it is pulled down by electro-magnet 113 against the tension of return spring 112. The electro-magnet may be energized by a pulse at the end of each printing line which is applied over leads 114-115.

Fig. 3 shows a print wheel such as was contemplated by An arc of m hammers is shown at 36. The type wheel'is shown divided into an integral number of sectors 35, 3'7, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42 and 43. Since a given sequence of .printing could'not start until the last type face of the preceding sequence had cleared the last hammer, only two fonts of

type

35 and 40 were possible on one wheel. Printing starting points could be at 53 and 54. A maximum of two printing sequences per revolution only can be utilized =since prior to the present invention it was not known how to operate a type wheel of this kind except in such a way as to start a given printing sequence only when the type font of a previous sequence had passed entirely beyond the arc of printing hammers. Thus, although each type font occupies only 45 degrees of are on the printing wheel, only two fonts could be utilized on a given wheel.

Fig. 4 shows a type font and hammer arrangement ac- 3 cording to the present invention wherein eight type fonts are utilized on the circumference of one type Wheel, each font being a repetition of the same sequence. The 1: fonts are shown at 4 4, 46, 47, 48,49, 50, 51 and 52. The characters and the order in which they are mounted in each font are identical. The m hammers occupy an are which is about two character spaces less than the total number of character spaces in two font sequences. Expressed mathematically m is equal to or less than Zn or in this particular case 111' equals 2n'-2. Also it will be seen that if the type wheel is rotated through an angle equal to the angle occupied by one type font sequence, each of the different characters in the fonts will pass by every hammer in the hammer are 45. Thus, a complete scanning of the fonts by the hammers is accomplished by rotating the type wheel from the position shown until font 44 occupies the position of font 46 at which position font 46 will occupy the position of font 47. A scanning pass may start each time the hammers and any one of the fonts are in a predetermined relative position which may be called a collating position. This position may be chosen, for instance, when the first character of any font reaches a position adjacent to the first hammer. Such a position is shown in Fig. 4. A starting signal generating hole is also located with a predetermined position relative to its associated font on the type wheel for each font. These holes are shown at 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61 and 62 for

fonts

44, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51 and 52 respectively. Whenever any one of these holes is in a predetermined spot it indicates that the fonts are at the collating position and a scanning pass may be started. A light passing through the hole into a photoelectric cell may be used to generate a signal to start a scanning pass. It will be seen that as the type wheel rotates it reaches a collating position eight times.

In other words, as the type wheel rotates continuously, it is in the proper position to start printing eight times during each revolution. Another way of saying this is that the system of the present invention is ready to start a scanning pass each time the type wheel moves n spaces I whereas according to prior systems the type wheel had to move n plus In space positions to reach a new starting point. Thus, according to the present invention, the type wheel of Fig. 4 reaches a position where it is ready to start a scanning pass eight times per revolution of the type wheel whereas according to prior systems it would require three revolutions of the type Wheel for the starting position to be reached eight times. This means an increase in printing speed of three times for the particular arrangement of type and hammers shown in Fig. 4. The increase in printing speed for any particular case depends on the number of type characters in a font and the number of hammers and is equal to n plus m divided by n. In practical systems the increase will usually be greater than the theoretical increase as reference to Fig. 3 will show. According to prior systems it would be possible to use only two type fonts in a circumference of the type wheel if the numbers of type characters and hammers were to be the same as those in Fig. 4 and the increase in speed would be four times instead of the theoretical three times.

Fig. 5 shows one possible type font arrangement when a font does not occupy an integral subdivision of the circumference of the type wheel. In this case the hammers form an are 63 equal to slightly less than the total are of two type fonts. The seven

type fonts

64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69 and 70 are located adjacent to each other around the circumference of the type wheel but since they do not add up to a full circumference, a blank space 77 is left at the end. Since the starting point for a scanning pass must be such that during a given pass the type fonts involved are identical sequences including any spaces, only six collating positions are reached per revolution of this particular type wheel. These starting points are located by the starting signal holes 73, 74, 75, 72, '76 and 71.

There is no starting point at the start of font 64 since the followingfont would be involved in a scanning pass and it is not identical being separated by the space 77.

Fig. 6 shows how with the same type fonts as were used in Fig. 5 an additional starting point may be provided. As in Fig. 5, seven type fonts are used at 81, 83, 85, 87, 89, 91 and 79 each equal to the individual fonts of Fig. 5. However, in Fig. 6 the residual space around the circumference of the type wheel is equally divided into seven parts and the

equal spaces

82, 84, 86, 88, 90, 92 and between the type fonts. Thus, seven identical sequences are provided each sequence consisting of a type font and a space so that seven collating positions are provided instead of the six of Fig. 5. These seven starting positions are provided with starting signal holes 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99 and 93. Thus, according to the present invention almost any complement of font characters and hammers may be arranged to provide greatly increased printing speeds.

Fig. 7 shows in block diagram, one method of printing with the modified type wheels of the present invention. As set forth above wheel 30 carrying periphery mounted type 48 rotates between light source 107 and photo electric cell 29 and the pulse generating holes in wheel 30 generate a pulse in photo-electric cell 29 each time the wheel advances by an amount equal to the space occupied by a type character. The pulses generated in the photo-electric cell 29 are amplified by amplifier 33 and fed to predetermined counter 100 over lead 101. The predetermined counter 100 is set to count a number equal to the number of type characters in one font on the type wheel. Thus, if counting is started at the point where the type characters and printing hammers are in the first relative position, the count at any subsequent type character position remaining in the counter will equal the subsequent positions which must be traversed to bring the relative positions back to one again. It is thus possible to start printing at any relative type character and hammer position merely by subtracting this count from all the counter storage units. Since subtracting a count is equivalent to adding the complement the actual count in the predetermined counters 100 is inserted in counter storage 24 just prior to printing.

The sequence of operation is that character signals are fed to counter storage 24 over lead 25 until all character signals are entered. When the entry is complete, a printing initiating, signal is fed over lead 106 to gate 102 which then passes the count in predetermined counter 100 over lead 103 and over lead 104 to counter storage 24 making the system ready to print at once. This method of operation greatly reduces time lost in the cycle and allows greatly increased printing speed.

Whileonly a few forms of the present invention have been shown and described, many variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art and within the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

In a line by line printing system the combination of, a type wheel, at least two identical sequences of type faces arrangedsymmetrically around the periphery of said wheel, a'plurality of printing hammers at least equal in number to the number of type faces in one of said sequences arranged in an arc coaxial with and at least partially surrounding said wheel, means for continually rotating said wheel, means for generating signals in accordance with a plurality of predetermined instantaneous angular positions of said wheel equal in number to the number of type faces on said wheel, means for generating additional signals in accordance with a plurality of predetermined instantaneous angular positions of said wheel equal in number to the number of said sequences of type faces on said wheel, and means for utilizing both of said signals in combination to initiate actuation of said hammers to print said characters at 5 6- predetermined positions on a record sheet during said 1,675,969 Bull July 3, 1928 rotation of said wheel. 2,030,427 Buhler Feb. 11, 1936 2,053,063 Bryce Sept. 1, 1936 References Cited in the file of this patent 2,227,143 Knutsen D 31, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 2 gler ly 29, 947

734,526 Ennis July 28, 1903