Recording apparatus

Claim 3

Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said second optical means includes: a. a drive member; b. a recording zone; c. a mask positioned adjacent said recording medium in said recording zone and having an aperture therein with one dimension equal to one dimension of said recording zone; d. at least two lenses attached to said drive member and adapted to be driven thereby through said recording zone and spaced apart on said drive member by a distance equal to said one dimension of said recording zone.

Claim 4

Apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said character member is in the form of a disc, the plane of which is substantially perpendicular to the collimated light from said first optical means, and said disc having detectable indicia thereon, each one of said indicia being positioned uniquely with respect to its associated alphanumeric shaped transparent area.

Claim 5

Apparatus as defined in claim 3 wherein the center of adjacent ones of said alphanumeric shaped transparent areas being uniformly spaced from each other and adjacent ones of said indicia being uniformly spaced from each other, the spacing of said adjacent indicia being different than the spacing of said adjacent transparent areas.

Claim 6

Apparatus for recording alphanumeric characters at the rate of B characters per second and H characters per inch along a recording zone I inches inlength in response to code groups having C bits per group received at the rate of F bits per second where F/C B, comprising: a. an opaque character disc rotatable about an axis and having a character area concentric thereabout including D sets of alphanumeric shaped transparent areas centered in uniformly sized character spaces; b. an exposure zone defined by a portion of said character area; c. motive means for rotating said disc at the rate of G revolutions per second equal to B/D; d. a light responsive recording medium; e. a recording zone I inches in length measured in a predetermined direction; f. flash lamp means responsive to said code groups for transmitting light through said exposure zone; g. collimating means for collimating light passing through said exposure zone; h. a drive member; i. motive means for moving said drive member through said recording zone in said predetermined direction at a constant speed K equal to B/H inches per second, and, j. at least two lens means attached to said drive member and spaced apart therealong by I inches and responsive simultaneously tO different portions of said collimated light for focusing said portions at said recording medium when in said recording zone.

Claim 7

Apparatus for recording alphanumeric characters at the rate of B characters per second and H characters per inch along a recording zone I inches inlength in response to code groups having C bits per group received at the rate of F bits per second where F/C B, comprising: a. an opaque character disc rotatable about an axis and having a character area concentric thereabout including D sets of alphanumeric shaped transparent areas centered in uniformly sized character spaces; b. an exposure zone defined by a portion of said character area; c. motive means for rotating said disc at the rate of G revolutions per second equal to B/D; d. a light responsive recording medium; e. a recording zone I inches in length measured in a predetermined direction; f. flash lamp means responsive to said code groups for transmitting light through said exposure zone; g. collimating means for collimating light passing through said exposure zone; h. a drive member; i. motive means for moving said drive member through said recording zone in said predetermined direction at a constant speed K equal to B/H inches per second, and, j. at least two lens means attached to said drive member and spaced apart therealong by I inches and responsive simultaneously tO different portions of said collimated light for focusing said portions at said recording medium when in said recording zone.

Claim 8

Apparatus as defined in claim 5 for recording alphanumeric information in parallel lines corresponding to J lines per inch further including motive means for moving said recording medium through said recording zone at a rate L equal to (B)/(JHI) inches per second.

Claim 9

Apparatus as defined in claim 5 wherein said character disc includes indicia, each of said indicia associated with a respective one of said character spaces and identifying the position of its respective character space in said set by the unique relative position of the character space and its respective index, the center of adjacent ones of said character spaces being equal to an amount Q and the spacing between adjacent indicia being equal to ((Q/N) + Q) where N equals the number of transparent areas in said set.

Claim 10

Apparatus as defined in claim 7 further including: a. input terminal adapted to receive said code group b. counter means for storing a count representative of a received code group; c. detection means positioned relative to said character disc for altering the count in said counter means in response to the passage of said indicia; d. trigger means responsive to a predetermined count in said counter means for energizing said flash lamp means when the transparent area in said exposure zone corresponds to the character represented by said received code group.

Claim 11

Recording apparatus comprising: a. a pattern disc having an axis of rotation and at least one set of light modulating patter areas uniformly spaced on an arcuate portion thereof concentric with said axis, each of said areas having uniquely positioned relative thereto an index, the index associated with one area not differing in configuration from the index of another area; b. motive means for moving said set of light modulating areas through an exposure zone; c. means including flash lamp means for selectively directing light at said exposure zone through only one of said areas at any one time; d. collimating means for collimating light passing through said exposure zone from said flash lamp means; e. an endless drive member; f. a light responsive recording medium having a recording area; g. means for moving said drive member through a path of which a portion is substantially parallel and proximate to said recording area; h. a recording zone defined by said recording area and said portion of said path; and, i. a pair of optical units attached to said drive member and spaced therealong by a distance equal to the dimension of said recording area in the direction of said path portion, each of said optical units including a lens and a mirror in fixed relation to each other, the path of said drive member being so positioned that, during passage through said parallel portion of said path, each lens simultaneously intercepts a portion of said collimated light which is focused by only one lens on said recording area, said mirror positioned to reflect the light passing through said lens toward said recording medium.

Claim 12

Recording apparatus comprising: a. a pattern disc having an axis of rotation and at least one set of light modulating patter areas uniformly spaced on an arcuate portion thereof concentric with said axis, each of said areas having uniquely positioned relative thereto an index, the index associated with one area not differing in configuration from the index of another area; b. motive means for moving said set of light modulating areas through an exposure zone; c. means including flash lamp means for selectively directing light at said exposure zone through only one of said areas at any one time; d. collimating means for collimating light passing through said exposure zone from said flash lamp means; e. an endless drive member; f. a light responsive recording medium having a recording area; g. means for moving said drive member through a path of which a portion is substantially parallel and proximate to said recording area; h. a recording zone defined by said recording area and said portion of said path; and, i. a pair of optical units attached to said drive member and spaced therealong by a distance equal to the dimension of said recording area in the direction of said path portion, each of said optical units including a lens and a mirror in fixed relation to each other, the path of said drive member being so positioned that, during passage through said parallel portion of said path, each lens simultaneously intercepts a portion of said collimated light which is focused by only one lens on said recording area, said mirror positioned to reflect the light passing through said lens toward said recording medium.

Claim 13

Apparatus as defined in claim 9 wherein said means including flash lamp means comprises a field stop disc having an axis of rotation and a transparent spiral segment, said field stop disc being positioned parallel relative to said disc and to said arcuate portion thereof; and motive means for moving said spiral segment through said exposure zone simultaneously with said pattern disc.

Claim 14

Apparatus as defined in claim 10 further including means for moving said recording medium in a predetermined direction, which forms an obtuse angle with that portion of said path proximate to said recording area.

Claim 15

Apparatus as defined in claim 10 further including: a. an input terminal adapted to receive binary bit groups representative of patterns to be recorded; b. means responsive to the pasSage of said indicia for generating a signal; c. trigger means responsive to said signals and said bit groups for energizing said flash lamp means.