Stepping mechanism for teleprinter

Claim 1

In an automatic teleprinter capable of receiving asynchronous electronic pulses representing characters the combination comprising: a. a character printing mechanism; b. electronic control for said character printing mechanism responsive to said electronic pulses representing characters; c. said printing mechanism mounted on guide means for lateral movement of said printing mechanism across a surface to be printed; d. a plurality of rachet tooth racks; e. said racks being parallel to said guide means and cooperating with said printing mechanism; f. one of said racks being stationary; g. means to continuously reciprocate at least one of said racks in a stroke of one character space in a direction parallel to said guide means; h. a pawl for each rack, pivotally attached to said printing mechanism; i. each of said pawls in an extended position, engaging the teeth of a respective rack; j. a solenoid for each of said pawls controlling the engagement of said pawls with said racks; k. electronic circuitry to accept incoming character signals at random intervals; l. said circuitry storing said signals in a buffer; m. said circuitry accessing said stored signals in synchronism with said continuously reciprocable rack; n. means for a character signal to control the operation of the solenoid associated with the pawl associated with the rack which first commences an advance stroke following receipt of said character signal; o. said continuously reciprocable rack during an advancing stroke incrementing said character printing mechanism one character position; and, p. means for a character signal to activate the printing mechanism to print a character.