US3659524A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Printer control system
Assignee: Unisys Corp
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Filing: 1970-10-15
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Granted: 1972-05-02
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Expires: 1990-10-15
Abstract
Abstract In a document printing machine comprising a plurality of interconnected modular sections, there is disclosed herein a printer module having a self container control system. Documents, to be printed upon, are sequentially passed through the printer module under the control and drive of either one of two different speed drive units. The second drive unit initially functions as a control gate to control the feeding of documents into the printer module. When the printing operation is to begin, the second drive unit moves the documents through the printer module at a positively controlled printing speed. After the printing operation, the first drive unit moves the documents out of the printer module at a high speed. In order to maintain the correct character pitch between adjacent serially printed characters, a timing unit is operatively connected to the first drive unit. This timing unit is responsive to drive variations and accurately divides each character pitch into a plurality of intervals. Each interval controls one or more printer operation functions including the actual print operation. In order to maintain the synchronism between the movement of the documents and the character pitch, the second drive unit is clutched from the first drive unit.
Inventors
- 👤 Jack Beery
- 👤 William B Templeton
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-25 04:18
CPC Classifications
B; B41; B41J; B41J11/00; B41J11/48; B41J11/52; B41J1/00; B41J1/22; B41J1/32; G; G06; G06K; G06K13/00; G06K13/02
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 13
Claim 1
Independent Claim
240 words
In a document printer, a printing control apparatus comprising: a guideway for guiding a plurality of documents singly and on an edge between a pair of parallel spaced apart elongated members, first drive means positioned along said guideway for moving each document at a first speed, second drive means positioned along said guideway and longitudinally disposed upstream from said first drive means to controllably move each document along said guideway at a second speed, said second drive means operatively driven by said first drive means, detection means positioned at said second drive means to detect the presence of a document in said guideway, printing means longitudinally disposed along said guideway from said detection means, said printing means including a print wheel mounted along one side of said guideway for rotation in a plane parallel to the direction of movement of the documents, a print hammer diametrically across said guideway from said print wheel, and a Print wheel detent for securely holding said print wheel at a selected print character, timing means operatively coupled to said first drive means and responsive to the rotational speed thereof to generate a plurality of timing pulses, and control means responsive to each of said timing pulses to generate a plurality of control signals at predetermined intervals within a character pitch to control the positioning of the print wheel detent and the operation of the print hammer at consecutive character positions on the moving document.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
240 words
In a document printer, a printing control apparatus comprising: a guideway for guiding a plurality of documents singly and on an edge between a pair of parallel spaced apart elongated members, first drive means positioned along said guideway for moving each document at a first speed, second drive means positioned along said guideway and longitudinally disposed upstream from said first drive means to controllably move each document along said guideway at a second speed, said second drive means operatively driven by said first drive means, detection means positioned at said second drive means to detect the presence of a document in said guideway, printing means longitudinally disposed along said guideway from said detection means, said printing means including a print wheel mounted along one side of said guideway for rotation in a plane parallel to the direction of movement of the documents, a print hammer diametrically across said guideway from said print wheel, and a Print wheel detent for securely holding said print wheel at a selected print character, timing means operatively coupled to said first drive means and responsive to the rotational speed thereof to generate a plurality of timing pulses, and control means responsive to each of said timing pulses to generate a plurality of control signals at predetermined intervals within a character pitch to control the positioning of the print wheel detent and the operation of the print hammer at consecutive character positions on the moving document.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
25 words
The document printer according to claim 1 wherein said control means is a counter dividing the time of each character pitch into eight equal intervals.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
17 words
The document printer according to claim 1 wherein said first speed is greater than said second speed.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
28 words
The document printer according to claim 3 wherein said first drive means is constantly driving and is subordinate to said second drive means during printing on the document.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
18 words
The document printer according to claim 3 wherein the said first speed is thirty times said second speed.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
229 words
In a document printer a control system for synchronizing the printing with the movement of a document, said control system comprising: a document guideway to guide a plurality of sequential documents singly and on edge, a first drive means positioned along said guideway to move the documents therealong at a first speed, a print wheel positioned along said document guideway for serially printing a plurality of characters on the document at a predetermined character pitch and positioned for rotation in a plane parallel to the movement of the document, a print hammer positioned diametrically opposite the face of said print wheel, said hammer operable to move the document against the print wheel for printing, a print wheel detent member operable to rigidly hold said print wheel during printing, a second drive means operatively coupled to and longitudinally disposed from said first drive means said second drive means operative to move the documents along said guideway between said print wheel and print hammer at a second speed proportional to said first speed, timing means operatively connected to said first drive means to generate a plurality of timing pulses synchronously with the movement of the document along said guideway, and control means responsive to said timing pulses to divide the character pitch into a plurality of equal intervals for controlling the operation of the print wheel detent and the print hammer.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
229 words
In a document printer a control system for synchronizing the printing with the movement of a document, said control system comprising: a document guideway to guide a plurality of sequential documents singly and on edge, a first drive means positioned along said guideway to move the documents therealong at a first speed, a print wheel positioned along said document guideway for serially printing a plurality of characters on the document at a predetermined character pitch and positioned for rotation in a plane parallel to the movement of the document, a print hammer positioned diametrically opposite the face of said print wheel, said hammer operable to move the document against the print wheel for printing, a print wheel detent member operable to rigidly hold said print wheel during printing, a second drive means operatively coupled to and longitudinally disposed from said first drive means said second drive means operative to move the documents along said guideway between said print wheel and print hammer at a second speed proportional to said first speed, timing means operatively connected to said first drive means to generate a plurality of timing pulses synchronously with the movement of the document along said guideway, and control means responsive to said timing pulses to divide the character pitch into a plurality of equal intervals for controlling the operation of the print wheel detent and the print hammer.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
46 words
In the document printer according to claim 6 wherein said timing means comprises a wheel having a plurality of radially extending slots equally and angularly spaced along its circumference and a solar cell responsive to said slots to generate eight timing pulses for each character pitch.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
41 words
In the document printer according to claim 7 wherein said control means is a base eight counter for operatively disengaging the print wheel detent from the first through the sixth count and to operate the print hammer at the eight count.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
33 words
In the document printer according to claim 8 wherein said print wheel additionally includes a print wheel positioning control for rotating said print wheel at a maximum 180* prior to the sixth count.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
60 words
In the document printer according to claim 6 wherein said second drive means comprises a clutched drive wheel operatively coupled to said first drive means and a biased idler wheel in operative contact with the periphery of said drive wheel to stop the document thereby and to controllably drive the document along said guideway irrespective of said first drive means.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
25 words
In the document printer according to claim 10 wherein said first drive means drives the document at a greater speed than said second drive means.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1975-05-02 | 1975-11-01 | 1976-05-02 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1979-05-02 | 1979-11-01 | 1980-05-02 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1983-05-02 | 1983-11-01 | 1984-05-02 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |