Ticket printer

Claim 1

Apparatus for printing on an elongated web of thin, flexible sheet material comprising means for advancing said web along a path across a transverse print line at a printing station, a printing assembly at said station comprising a drum mounted for rotation about a first axis transversely of and spaced parallel to said path of said web and said print line, a plurality of type symbols circumferentially spaced around at least a portion of the periphery of said drum, a secondary wheel mounted on said drum for rotation relative thereto about a second movable axis eccentric and outwardly parallel of said first axis, a plurality of type symbols circumferentially spaced around at least a portion of the periphery of said wheel, secondary indexing means for rotating said wheel relative to said drum to position a selected type symbol on the wheel adjacent a selected position on the periphery of the drum, primary indexing means operatively associated with said drum for rotating said drum to place any selected type symbol thereon into said printing position, print hammer means swingable about an axis parallel of said other axes from a rest position to a printing position urging said web into momentary printing contact against one or more selected type symbols on said drum and wheel aligned along said print line, frame means for supporting said drum for rotation, said secondary indexing means supported from said frame means including means for indexing said wheel relative to said drum only when said drum is in a selected rotational position relative to said frame means, one or more tertiary print wheels independent of said drum supported from said frame means and having a plurality of printing type spaced on a peripheral surface thereof, tertiary wheel indexing means operatively associated with said tertiary wheels for rotationally indexing said tertiary wheels to position a particular type thereon in alignment with a particular type in printing position on said drum along said print line, stepping means operatively associated with said tertiary wheels for shifting said tertiary wheels laterally toward and away from said drum between spaced apart row positions along said print line, and second print hammer means swingable from a rest position to a print position urging said web at said printing station toward printing contact with said particular type on said tertiary wheels in said spaced apart row positions with respect to type on said drum.