High speed front impact printer

Claim 2

A printer for imprinting a print medium lying adjacent a backing member, said printer comprising: at least one type carrier, said type carrier comprising an arcuate element, means for moving said carrier along a path parallel to the plane of said print medium on the side opposite said backing member, flexible reed means for pivotably supporting said type carrier on said carrier moving means for pivotable movement about an axis orthogonal to the path of carrier movement, with said flexible reed means defining said pivot axis for said arcuate element, a type on one end of said arcuate element for contact with said print medium, and at least one laterally shiftable latch means to the side of said carrier opposite that of said print medium for selected movement into the path of the other end of said arcuate element to pivot said moving carrier under impact toward said print medium for type contact therewith, said flexible reed means acting to return said carrier into non-contact position following printing.

Claim 3

The printer as claimed in claim 1 wherein said means for pivotably supporting said carrier on said carrier moving means comprises angularly disposed, flexible reeds having intersecting ends defining the pivot axis with their outer ends connected respectively to the ends of the arcuate element.

Claim 4

The printer as claimed in claim number 2 wherein said latch means comprises a laterally shiftable latch member having a longitudinally notched surface facing said moving carrier for selectively receiving within the one of said latch notches the end of said arcuate element remote from print medium to effect imprinting on different lines of said print medium depending upon the longitudinal position of said type carrier when lateral shifting of said latch member occurs.

Claim 5

The printer as claimed in claim 3 further comprising: electromagnetic means for causing lateral shifting of said latch member towards said type carrier and cyclically operable cam means for restoring said latch member to non-imprint position.

Claim 6

The printer as claimed in claim 4 further comprising: means for moving said print medium parallel to the path of movement of said type carrier, in the opposite direction to the movement of the type carrier moving means, and at a speed generally inversely proportional to the number of notches on said latch member.

Claim 7

The printer as claimed in claim 5, wherein a plurality of type carriers comprise segments of an endless chain and said printer further includes means for rotating said endless chain in synchronism with said means for moving said print medium, a plurality of latch members are provided at distinct longitudinal positions along the path of said type carrier each having electromagnetic actuating means and means for selectively actuating the electromagnetic means associated with a given latch member when a selected carrier is in imprint position with respect to said laterally shiftable latch member.

Claim 8

A printer for selectively printing a plurality of characters simultaneously along multiple imprint lines in multiple columnar fashion parallel to a print medium comprising: a plurality of transversely abutting, flexibly supported type carriers forming segments of an endless chain, means for driving said endless chain to move type carriers along longitudinal, parallel paths, each type carrier comprising an arcuate member having a type on the end facing said print medium and right angle flexible reeds for supporting respective ends of said arcuate carrier element for pivotable movement about an axis orthogonal to the direction of movement of said type carriers to allow said type to move into contact with said print medium, an imprint surface of said print media lying adjacent to and parallel to the paths of said flexible type carriers, a plurality of transversely abutting, laterally shiftable latch members in a longitudinally fixed array on the side of said type carriers opposite that of said imprint surface, and means for selectively shifting individual latch members at various columnar and line positions into contact with a type carrier to print said type carriers into contact with said print medium.

Claim 9

A printer for selectively printing a plurality of characters simultaneously along multiple imprint lines in multiple columnar fashion parallel to a print medium comprising: a plurality of transversely abutting, flexibly supported type carriers forming segments of an endless chain, means for driving said endless chain to move type carriers along longitudinal, parallel paths, each type carrier comprising an arcuate member having a type on the end facing said print medium and right angle flexible reeds for supporting respective ends of said arcuate carrier element for pivotable movement about an axis orthogonal to the direction of movement of said type carriers to allow said type to move into contact with said print medium, an imprint surface of said print media lying adjacent to and parallel to the paths of said flexible type carriers, a plurality of transversely abutting, laterally shiftable latch members in a longitudinally fixed array on the side of said type carriers opposite that of said imprint surface, and means for selectively shifting individual latch members at various columnar and line positions into contact with a type carrier to print said type carriers into contact with said print medium.

Claim 10

The printer as claimed in claim 7, wherein said laterally shiftable latch members are movable into the path of said type carriers such that the end of said carrier opposite that carrying said type momentarily impacts a latch member to pivot said type carrier about a pivot axis defined by the intersection of said flexible reeds into contact with said print medium.

Claim 11

The printer as claimed in claim 8 wherein said laterally shiftable latch members comprise integral armatures, and said printer further includes a continuously energizable electromagnetic hold coil for each latch armature for normally maintaining each latch armature out of the path of said moving type carrier, means spring biasing said latch members toward said moving type carrier, and at least one selectively energizable electromagnetic buck coil for each armature to magnetically cancel the effect of said hold coil and to thereby allow the spring biasing means to shift the latch member into the path of the moving type carrier.

Claim 12

The printer as claimed in claim 9 wherein said latch armature comprises a surface, notched in the direction of carrier movement, whereby the line of imprint for a given type carrier depends upon which notch is opposite said movable carrier when said buck coil associated therewith is energized.

Claim 13

The printer as claimed in claim 10 wherein each arcuate type carrier includes a radial projection intermediate of its end and said printer further includes a laterally shiftable impression control rod positioned in the path of movement of said radial projection to limit pivoting of said reeds about said pivot axis.

Claim 14

The printer as claimed in claim 11 where each print carrier is supported in transversely abutting fashion upon a common transversely extending shaft member, and said shaft member has coupled thereto, a fixed carrier stop including V-shaped notches facing the print medium for controlling rebound of respective type carriers as they move away from said print medium after imprinting.

Claim 15

The printer as claimed in claim 12 further comprising means for moving said print medium along a parallel longitudinal path to that of said type carriers and in a direction opposite thereto and at a speed generally inversely proportional to the number of notches on columnarly aligned latch armatures.

Claim 16

The printer as claimed in claim 13 wherein each latch armature is hollow and each group of transversely abutting type carriers includes a rotatable restore cam carried within the same and means for commonly rotating said restore cams of said longitudinal array to mechanically restore all of said latch armatures during each cycle of operation of said printer.