Roller band reciprocating drive mechanism

Claim 2

In a rolamite device having a plurality of rotatable members, a tension band looped about said members, and guideways confining said rotatable members and tension band, the improvement creating a reciprocating drive mechanism therefrom comprising, in combination: means for mounting at least one of the guideways for convergent and divergent movement with respect to the other guideway in response to a motive force; means for applying a motive force to said movable guideway to cause it to alternately converge and diverge with respect to the other guideway; and extensible resilient support and tensioning means affixed to one end of said band for resiliently holding said band in tension and to take up the slack produced in said band due to the partial unwrapping thereof from about said rotatable members as they traverse said guideways from the convergent ends to the divergent ends thereof.

Claim 3

A device as described in claim 1, further including: a scanning transducer; and means for mounting said scanning transducer for movement by at least one of said rotatable members.

Claim 4

A device as described in claim 2, wherein said scanning transducer is attached to one of the rotatable members of said rolamite for movement therewith.

Claim 5

A roller band mechanism comprising: a housing having at least two opposed walls; a plurality of rotatable members disposed intermediate said walls and having combined cross-sectional dimensions greater than the maximum spacing between said walls; a flexible band looped in a general S-shaPed fashion about adjacent ones of said rotatable members; said band having a portion thereof secured to said housing and disposed adjacent one of said walls and having another portion thereof disposed adjacent the wall opposite; means for mounting at least one of said walls for alternate convergent and divergent movement with respect to the other said wall; means for applying a motive force to said movable wall to cause said wall to alternately converge and diverge with respect to the other wall; and extensible resilient support and band tensioning means, affixed to the end of said band which is opposite the end of said band secured to said housing, for elongating to allow for increased wrapping of said band about said rotatable members due to said convergence of said guideways caused by said motive force and for taking up slack in said flexible band created by the partial unwrapping of said band from about said rotatable members during the movement of said members along said walls and for moving said rotatable members longitudinally between said walls whenever one of said walls is moved into convergence with its opposite wall at the ends of said walls at which said rotatable members then reside.

Claim 6

A roller band mechanism comprising: a housing having at least two opposed walls; a plurality of rotatable members disposed intermediate said walls and having combined cross-sectional dimensions greater than the maximum spacing between said walls; a flexible band looped in a general S-shaPed fashion about adjacent ones of said rotatable members; said band having a portion thereof secured to said housing and disposed adjacent one of said walls and having another portion thereof disposed adjacent the wall opposite; means for mounting at least one of said walls for alternate convergent and divergent movement with respect to the other said wall; means for applying a motive force to said movable wall to cause said wall to alternately converge and diverge with respect to the other wall; and extensible resilient support and band tensioning means, affixed to the end of said band which is opposite the end of said band secured to said housing, for elongating to allow for increased wrapping of said band about said rotatable members due to said convergence of said guideways caused by said motive force and for taking up slack in said flexible band created by the partial unwrapping of said band from about said rotatable members during the movement of said members along said walls and for moving said rotatable members longitudinally between said walls whenever one of said walls is moved into convergence with its opposite wall at the ends of said walls at which said rotatable members then reside.

Claim 7

A data scanner, comprising: a housing having at least two opposed walls; a plurality of rotatable members disposed intermediate said walls and having combined cross-sectional dimensions greater than the maximum spacing between said walls; a flexible band looped in a general S-shaped fashion about adjacent ones of said rotatable members; said band having a portion thereon secured to said housing and disposed adjacent one of said walls and having another portion thereof disposed adjacent the wall opposite; means for mounting at least one of said walls for convergent and divergent movement with respect to the other said wall; force applying and releasing means for causing said movable wall to alternately converge and diverge with respect to its opposite wall; a data sensor associated with at least one of said rotatable members for longitudinal movement therewith; and resilient support and band tensioning means affixed to the end of said band which is opposite the end of said band decured to said housing, said means being for elongating to allow for increased wrapping of said band about said rotatable members due to said convergence of said walls caused by said force applying and releasing means and for taking up slack in said flexible band created by the partial unwrapping of said band from about said rotatable members during the movement of said members along said walls and for moving said rotatable members longitudinally between said walls whenever one of said walls is moved into convergence with its opposite wall by said force applying and releasing means.

Claim 8

A data scanner, comprising: a housing having at least two opposed walls; a plurality of rotatable members disposed intermediate said walls and having combined cross-sectional dimensions greater than the maximum spacing between said walls; a flexible band looped in a general S-shaped fashion about adjacent ones of said rotatable members; said band having a portion thereon secured to said housing and disposed adjacent one of said walls and having another portion thereof disposed adjacent the wall opposite; means for mounting at least one of said walls for convergent and divergent movement with respect to the other said wall; force applying and releasing means for causing said movable wall to alternately converge and diverge with respect to its opposite wall; a data sensor associated with at least one of said rotatable members for longitudinal movement therewith; and resilient support and band tensioning means affixed to the end of said band which is opposite the end of said band decured to said housing, said means being for elongating to allow for increased wrapping of said band about said rotatable members due to said convergence of said walls caused by said force applying and releasing means and for taking up slack in said flexible band created by the partial unwrapping of said band from about said rotatable members during the movement of said members along said walls and for moving said rotatable members longitudinally between said walls whenever one of said walls is moved into convergence with its opposite wall by said force applying and releasing means.

Claim 9

A data scanner as described in claim 5, wherein: at least one of said rotatable members has a mounting member affixed to a face thereof for rotation with said rotatable member; and said sensor is mounted on said mounting member for rotation therewith.

Claim 10

A data scanner, comprising: a housing having at least two opposed walls; a plurality of rotatable members disposed intermediate said walls and having combined cross-sectional dimensions greater than the maximum spacing between said walls; a flexible band looped in a general S-shaped fashion about adjacent ones of said rotatable members; said band having a portion thereon secured to said housing and disposed adjacent one of said walls and having another portion thereof disposed adjacent the wall opposite; means for mounting at least one of said walls for convergent and divergent movement with respect to the other said wall; force applying and releasing means for causing said movable wall to alternately converge and diverge with respect to its opposite wall; a data sensor associated with at least one of said rotatable members for longitudinal movement therewitH; and resilient support and band tensioning means affixed to the end of said band which is opposite the end of said band secured to said housing, said means being for elongating to allow for increased wrapping of said band about said rotatable members due to said convergence of said walls caused by said force applying and releasing means and for taking up slack in said flexible band created by the partial unwrapping of said band from about said rotatable members during the movement of said members along said walls and for moving said rotatable members longitudinally between said walls whenever one of said walls is moved into convergence with its opposite wall by said force applying and releasing means; a guide member supporting said sensor and for restraining rotation of said sensor with said rotatable member; and one of said rotatable members is provided with a central axial aperture and said sensor is mounted on a member inserted into said aperture.

Claim 11

A data scanner, comprising: a housing having at least two opposed walls; a plurality of rotatable members disposed intermediate said walls and having combined cross-sectional dimensions greater than the maximum spacing between said walls; a flexible band looped in a general S-shaped fashion about adjacent ones of said rotatable members; said band having a portion thereon secured to said housing and disposed adjacent one of said walls and having another portion thereof disposed adjacent the wall opposite; means for mounting at least one of said walls for convergent and divergent movement with respect to the other said wall; force applying and releasing means for causing said movable wall to alternately converge and diverge with respect to its opposite wall; a data sensor associated with at least one of said rotatable members for longitudinal movement therewitH; and resilient support and band tensioning means affixed to the end of said band which is opposite the end of said band secured to said housing, said means being for elongating to allow for increased wrapping of said band about said rotatable members due to said convergence of said walls caused by said force applying and releasing means and for taking up slack in said flexible band created by the partial unwrapping of said band from about said rotatable members during the movement of said members along said walls and for moving said rotatable members longitudinally between said walls whenever one of said walls is moved into convergence with its opposite wall by said force applying and releasing means; a guide member supporting said sensor and for restraining rotation of said sensor with said rotatable member; and one of said rotatable members is provided with a central axial aperture and said sensor is mounted on a member inserted into said aperture.

Claim 12

A data scanner as described in claim 7, wherein: at least one of said rotatable members is provided with enlarged diameter end face flanges for guiding said rotatable member along a guideway and for keeping said other rotatable member in longitudinal alignment with said first rotatable member.