High speed printer with variable cycle control

Claim 1

IN A PRINTER APPARATUS, THE COMBINATION COMPRISING (A) A PRINT MECHANISM HAVING AN IMPRESSION DEVICE AT PLURAL PRINT POSITIONS OF A PRINT LINE FOR FORMING IMPRESSIONS FROM CHARACTER TYPE ON A CONSTANTLY MOVING TYPE MEANS, (B) MEANS FOR CYCLICALLY OPERATING SAID PRINT MECHANISM, INCLUDING (C) FIRST MEANS FOR GENERATING CHARACTER SIGNALS TO DETERMINE CHARACTERS IN POSITION TO BE PRINTED, (D) SECOND MEANS INCLUDING A DATA STORAGE MEANS FOR PRESENTING SIGNALS OF CHARACTERS IN A LINE OF DATA TO BE PRINTED AT VARIOUS PRINT POSITIONS, (E) THIRD MEANS FOR GENERATING AN EQUAL COMPARE SIGNAL EACH TIME AN IDENTITY OCCURS BETWEEN SIGNALS FROM SAID FIRST AND SECOND MEANS, (F) AND MEANS FOR REGULATING THE CYCLE OF SAID PRINT MECHANISM AS A FUNCTION OF THE NUMBER OF CHARACTERS TO BE RECORDED IN A LINE OF DATA INCLUDING (G) A CYCLE CONTROL STORAGE DEVICE COMPRISING PLURAL BISTABLE STORAGE ELEMENTS ADAPTED TO BE SWITCHED FROM A FIRST TO A SECOND STATE FOR INDICATING POSITIONS AT WHICH CHARACTERS ARE TO BE PRINTED, (H) MEANS FOR CONTROLLING THE SWITCHING OF SAID BISTABLE STORAGE ELEMENTS, (I) SAID CONTROL MEANS BEING RESPONSIVE TO EQUAL COMPARE SIGNALS GENERATED BY SAID THIRD MEANS FOR SWITCHING BISTABLE STORAGE ELEMENTS TO SAID FIRST STATE, (J) MEANS OPERABLE DURING THE OPERATING CYCLE OF SAID PRINT MECHANISM FOR PERIODICALLY INTERROGATING SAID CYCLE CONTROL STORAGE PRINT CYCLE TO DETERMINE WHEN ALL BISTABLE ELEMENTS THEREOF HAVE BEEN RESTORED TO THE SAME STATE, (K) AND MEANS FOR TERMINATING THE PRINT CYCLE OF SAID PRINT MECHANISM INCLUDING MEANS RESPONSIVE TO A LINE FULL SIGNAL FROM SAID INTERROGATING MEANS INDICATING THAT ALL BISTABLE ELEMENTS ARE IN SAID FIRST STATE.