Xerox Corporation

Frank D Ruble

John C Fravel

Louis H Chang

Carl E Herendeen

Alfred G Osterlund

A serial printer comprises a carriage, a print member rotatably mounted to the carriage and including a plurality of character elements, a first drive coupled to the print member for rotating the print member to a desired rotational position in order to place a selected character element at a printing position adjacent a record medium to be printed upon, a second drive coupled to the carriage for moving the carriage along a predetermined path whereby the print member is caused to move to a desired printing position along the path, a first servo control coupled to the first drive and responsive to a first set of input data and instructions for controlling the direction and speed of rotation of the print member, a second servo control system coupled to the second drive and responsive to a second set of input data and instructions for controlling the direction and speed of movement of the carriage, and a programmed data processor coupled to the first and second servo control system for supplying at least some of the first set of input data and instructions under program control to the first servo control system and at least some of the second set of data and instructions to the second servo control system.

Control apparatus for serial printer

A serial printer comprises a carriage, a print member rotatably mounted to the carriage and including a plurality of character elements, a first drive coupled to the print member for rotating the print member to a desired rotational position in order to place a selected character element at a printing position adjacent a record medium to be printed upon, a second drive coupled to the carriage for moving the carriage along a predetermined path whereby the print member is caused to move to a desired printing position along the path, a first servo control coupled to the first drive means and responsive to a first set of input data and instructions for controlling the direction and speed of rotation of the print member, second servo control means coupled to the second drive and responsive to a second set of input data and instructions for controlling the direction and speed of movement of the carriage, and a programmed data processor coupled to the first and second servo control system for supplying at least some of the first set of input data and instructions under program control to the first servo control system and at least some of the second set of data and instructions to the second servo control system.

A serial printer comprises a carriage, a print member rotatably mounted to the carriage and including a plurality of character elements of a predetermined font style, drive means coupled to the print member for rotating the print member to a desired rotational position in order to place a selected character element at a printing position adjacent a record medium to be printed upon, print hammer means mounted to the carriage and capable when enabled of impacting the character element located at such printing position with a desired level of force, and hammer control apparatus coupled to the print hammer means for enabling the print hammer means when the selected character element has been rotated to the desired rotational position. The hammer control apparatus comprises means responsive to a first signal representative of the selected character element to be impacted for generating a second signal proportional to a desired level of force with which the selected character element is to be impacted by the print hammer means when the plurality of character elements are defined in any one of at least two different font styles, one of which being the predetermined font style, means coupled to the means for generating a second signal for multiplying the second signal by a constant identified with the predetermined font style to form a third signal representative of the desired level of force with which the selected character element is to be impacted, means coupled to the print member for detecting when the selected character element has been rotated to the desired rotational position, and means responsive to such detection for coupling the third signal to the print hammer means thereby enabling the print hammer means to impact the selected character element with the desired level of force.

Hammer intensity selection apparatus for serial printer

Apparatus for generating a velocity command signal representing a predetermined optimum velocity of movement of a selected one of a plurality of movable elements from its actual position to a desired stopping position. The apparatus comprises means responsive to a first signal representative of the distance to be traveled by the selected movable element from its actual position to a desired stopping position for generating a second signal proportional to a predetermined optimum velocity of movement for each of the plurality of movable elements when required to be moved a distance represented by the first signal. A plurality of multiplication means are respectively associated with the plurality of movable elements, each multiplication means being coupled to the means for generating a second signal and being capable when enabled of multiplying the second signal by a constant representative of the particular motion characteristics of the associated movable element in order to form a velocity command signal representing the predetermined optimum velocity of movement for the associated movable element. The apparatus also comprises means coupled to each of the plurality of multiplication means and responsive to a third signal representative of the selection of the selected movable element for enabling the multiplication means associated with the selected movable element.

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Fremont, CA, United States of America

Frank D Ruble