US3583315A — High-speed printer having controlled acceleration…

Claim 1

Independent Claim 220 words

In a printer for printing over a printing ribbon along a print line on a record medium, an arrangement comprising a pair of pivoted cantilever arms each having a respective ribbon guide at its free end and being pivoted at the other end about a common pivot axis, said ribbon guides being positioned at the respective sides of said print line such that a ribbon supported between said guides lies along said print line, means for raising and lowering a ribbon supported between said guides and along said print line as a relatively rigid beam between a printing position and a different position for viewing what has been printed comprising drive means, cam means, cam follower means, means for operating said drive means to rotate said cam means about an axis, linkage means intercoupling said cam follower means to at least one of said cantilever arms, said linkage means responsive to cam follower movement responding to cam rotation about its axis for causing movement of at least one cantilever arm about said common pivot axis. and means intercoupling the two cantilever arms whereby pivotal movement of one of the arms about said common pivot axis results in a corresponding movement of the other about said common pivot axis in a manner such that the two cantilever arms pivot in unison.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 220 words

In a printer for printing over a printing ribbon along a print line on a record medium, an arrangement comprising a pair of pivoted cantilever arms each having a respective ribbon guide at its free end and being pivoted at the other end about a common pivot axis, said ribbon guides being positioned at the respective sides of said print line such that a ribbon supported between said guides lies along said print line, means for raising and lowering a ribbon supported between said guides and along said print line as a relatively rigid beam between a printing position and a different position for viewing what has been printed comprising drive means, cam means, cam follower means, means for operating said drive means to rotate said cam means about an axis, linkage means intercoupling said cam follower means to at least one of said cantilever arms, said linkage means responsive to cam follower movement responding to cam rotation about its axis for causing movement of at least one cantilever arm about said common pivot axis. and means intercoupling the two cantilever arms whereby pivotal movement of one of the arms about said common pivot axis results in a corresponding movement of the other about said common pivot axis in a manner such that the two cantilever arms pivot in unison.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 36 words

A high-speed printer according to claim 1 wherein the means intercoupling the two cantilever arms comprises a rotatable shaft rigidly connected to both said cantilever arms and coupled to and selectively rotated by said linkage means.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 65 words

A high-speed printer according to claim 1 further including a plurality of character impression forming hammers for selectively engaging the ribbon at desired points to form character impressions on a recording medium supported on the printer, said character impression forming hammers being selectively moved by a drive mechanism that it independently driven with respect to the drive means for raising and lowering the cantilever arms.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 31 words

A high-speed printer according to claim 2 wherein said drive means comprises a constant speed rotating drive shaft and clutch means for selectively coupling the cam means to the drive shaft.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 26 words

A high-speed printer according to claim 4 wherein the clutch means comprises a wrap spring clutch for selectively intercoupling the drive shaft and the cam means.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 105 words

A high-speed printer according to claim 5 further including a selectively movable armature member having a pair of spaced-apart respective raise and lower tabs for selectively engaging the wrap spring clutch to cause the clutch to intercouple the drive shaft to the cam means upon release of the wrap spring clutch from either one of the tabs and to release the drive shaft from the cam means upon engagement by either one of the tabs, and selectively operable respective raise and lower electromagnet means for positioning the movable armature member to cause a respective raise and lower tab to selectively engage the wrap spring clutch.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 37 words

A high-speed printer according to claim 6 further including overcenter spring means acting on said armature member for holding the member in either the raise or lower position after placement by the raise and lower electromagnet means.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 83 words

A high-speed printer according to claim 7 further including return spring means acting on at least one of the cantilever arms for restoring the ribbon to its viewing position after placement in the printing position, and second wrap spring clutch means operable in a direction counter to that of the first-mentioned wrap spring clutch means for further intercoupling the cam means to the drive shaft during return movement of the cantilever arms and preventing overrunning of the drive shaft by the cam means.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 58 words

A high-speed printer according to claim 11 wherein said interposer means comprises a selectively actuable interposer lever arm for engaGing said linkage means to cause the same to increase its stroke and thereby increase the angular pivotal movement of the cantilever arms, and selectively operable electromagnet means acting on said interposer lever arm for selectively actuating the same.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 44 words

A high-speed printer according to claim 8 further including interposer means acting on said linkage means to cause said linkage means to increase the angular pivotal movement of said cantilever arms and thereby change the nature of the character impression formed by the ribbon.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 56 words

A high-speed printer according to claim 1 further including means for changing the color of the character impression formed by the ribbon comprising interposer means acting on said linkage means to cause said linkage means to increase the angular pivotal movement of said cantilever arms and expose a portion of the ribbon having a different color.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 59 words

A high-speed printer according to claim 10 wherein said interposer means comprises a selectively actuable interposer lever arm for engaging said linkage means to cause the same to increase its stroke and thereby increase the angular pivotal movement of the cantilever arms, and third selectively operable electromagnet means acting on said interposer lever arm for selectively actuating the same.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 208 words

A high-speed printer according to claim 11 wherein said linkage means comprises an elongated cam follower lever arm having the cam follower means centrally disposed thereon and movable therewith, a first elongated connecting link having a first end pivotally secured to one side of the first cam follower lever arm adjacent the cam follower means and having its central portion loosely pivotally secured to a mounting plate, a second connecting link, and a shaft crank arm secured to the rotatable shaft for the cantilever arms, the connecting link being interconnected between the second end of the first elongated connecting link and the shaft crank arm for rotating the rotatable shaft in response to movement of said cam follower means by said cam means, the elongated cam follower lever arm having the end of the side thereof to which the first elongated connecting link is pivotally secured engageable with a stopping pin secured to the mounting plate under conditions where the remaining end of the elongated cam follower lever arm is normally free to move whereby the cam follower means during rotation of the cam means pivots the elongated cam follower lever arm about the stopping pin and results in a first angular pivotal movement of the cantilever arms.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 70 words

A high-speed printer according to claim 13 wherein the interposer means upon actuation serves to fix the normally free remaining end of the elongated cam lever arm in a manner such that upon movement of the cam follower means due to rotation of the cam means the elongated cam lever arm pivots about the fixed normally free end and results in increasing the angular pivotal movement of the cantilever arms.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 80 words

A high-speed printer according to claim 14 wherein said interposer means comprises a selectively actuable interposer lever arm for engaging the normally free remaining end of the elongated lever arm to cause the same to increase the movement of the side thereof to which the first elongated connecting link is pivotally connected to thereby increase the pivotal angular movement of the cantilever arms, and third selectively operable electromagnet means acting one said interposer lever arm for selectively actuating the same.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 66 words

A high-speed printer according to claim 15 further including a plurality of character impression forming hammers for selectively engaging the ribbon at desired points to form character impressions on a recording medium supported on the printer, said character impression forming hammers being selectively moved by a drive mechanism that is driven independently of the operation of said drive means for raising and lowering the cantilever arms.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 260 words

In a printer, a platen roll for feeding and supporting a recording Medium in position on the platen roll for printing thereon, printing means having type faces which can be positioned to confront said recording medium on the platen roll for printing thereon along a print line and over a two-color printing ribbon interposed between said type faces and said recording medium, ribbon feeding means for feeding said ribbon between said positioned type faces and said recording medium, ribbon-shifting means for shifting said ribbon in a transverse direction relative to said positioned type faces, printing means for causing relative printing movement of said type faces and said platen roll, said ribbon-shifting means comprising two cantilever arms positioned at the respective sides of said print line and each having a respective ribbon guide thereon for guiding a printing ribbon along a straight path between the platen roll and the positioned type faces, each cantilever arm having its respective ribbon guide at its free end and being pivoted at the other end about a common pivot axis whereby said ribbon guides are rotatable about said common pivot axis, means for positioning a ribbon supported between said guide means as a relatively rigid beam in the transverse width direction of the ribbon between a first color printing position on said ribbon, a second color printing position on said ribbon, and a third nonprinting position for viewing what has been printed comprising means for causing said cantilever arms to rotate simultaneously about said common pivot axis to first, second and third angular positions respectively.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 260 words

In a printer, a platen roll for feeding and supporting a recording Medium in position on the platen roll for printing thereon, printing means having type faces which can be positioned to confront said recording medium on the platen roll for printing thereon along a print line and over a two-color printing ribbon interposed between said type faces and said recording medium, ribbon feeding means for feeding said ribbon between said positioned type faces and said recording medium, ribbon-shifting means for shifting said ribbon in a transverse direction relative to said positioned type faces, printing means for causing relative printing movement of said type faces and said platen roll, said ribbon-shifting means comprising two cantilever arms positioned at the respective sides of said print line and each having a respective ribbon guide thereon for guiding a printing ribbon along a straight path between the platen roll and the positioned type faces, each cantilever arm having its respective ribbon guide at its free end and being pivoted at the other end about a common pivot axis whereby said ribbon guides are rotatable about said common pivot axis, means for positioning a ribbon supported between said guide means as a relatively rigid beam in the transverse width direction of the ribbon between a first color printing position on said ribbon, a second color printing position on said ribbon, and a third nonprinting position for viewing what has been printed comprising means for causing said cantilever arms to rotate simultaneously about said common pivot axis to first, second and third angular positions respectively.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	1974-06-07	1974-12-07	1975-06-08	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	1978-06-07	1978-12-07	1979-06-08	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	1982-06-07	1982-12-07	1983-06-08	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

High-speed printer having controlled acceleration ribbon positioning differential mechanism

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