Type carrier toothed belt

Claim 1

In a printer in combination with a toothed drive wheel having a plurality of teeth, a flexible belt positioned about said wheel having a relatively smooth outer periphery and a plurality of teeth about its inner periphery with openings through said teeth, said teeth being disposed to mesh with said teeth on said drive wheel, a plurality of substantially U-shaped type carriers each having a pair of substantially parallel limbs spaced apart a distance greater than the width of said belt positioned on opposite sides of said belt to extend inwardly about said belt and provide limited vertical movement of said carrier in the direction of the width of said belt and a bight portion connecting said limbs at one end and having an inner face and an outer face with a character on said outer face, Said limbs having aligned holes therein spaced from the inner face of said bight portion a distance greater than the distance of the tooth opening from the outer periphery of said belt to provide a clearance between said inner face and said outer periphery. C-shaped channel guide means positioned along a portion of said belt to receive said type carriers, said guide means having spaced-apart side bars and lip portions engaging said type carriers at the junction of said limbs and said bight portions to prevent vertical and lateral motion of said type carriers in said guide means, and a pin positioned in said aligned holes and having a sliding fit in one of said tooth openings to provide limited vertical and rotational movement of said type carrier relative to said belt when said type carrier is outside said guide means.