Mannesmann Aktiengesellschaft

Guenter Gomoll

Wolfgang Hauslaib

Ulrich Buschmann

Gustav Frank

The drive includes a cable attached to opposite sides of the print head carrying carriage, looping on one side in several loops around a drive drum, and on the other side around a deflection pulley. The deflection pulley is mounted on a spring-biased pivot lever to tension the cable in an adjustable manner. The drum is connected to the drive motor in a compact fashion by means of a belt drive.

Driving a printhead carriage in a printer

A mono color ink ribbon is held by a pivotable ribbon holder in front of a print head being moved along the platen, and the ribbon holder rides on a rail which has a raised center or central portion and lower ends, so that on a pass by the print head from one end to the other, the ribbon holder is moved up and down over a full cycle. This way, full use is made of the ribbon which is run in a Moebius loop in a cartridge.

Ribbon shifting device for printers

The impact and associated noise of matrix printers is attenuated by a laminated platen bar construction comprising a (steel) platen proper, a bonding adhesive layer, a brass bar and a resilient decoupling layer on the platen carrier.

Laminated platen bar for noise attenuation in matrix printers

The paper feeder incudes an upstream friction roller pair for single sheet feeding, a pushing tractor for endless sheet feeding, and a common downstream (behind the platen) friction roller pair. Each pair has one roller mounted on a pivot lever and the two levers linkedly held in a spring biased linkage such that consistently the downstream roller pair exert a smaller friction force while rotating at a higher speed.

Paper feeding in printers

Multiple paper sources, including several single sheet channels and a tractor driven endless sheet channel, feed a common channel; the single sheets are friction roller driven upstream from the common channel. The common channel is curved and feeds past a flat platen off a downstream friction roller pair which however deflects the paper to hold it taut against the platen. The friction rollers and tractors are reversibly driven and the tractor is separately disconnected from the drive and through a sensor control sheets can be retracted from the platen.

Paper feeding and transport through printers

A ribbon cartridge may contain a single color ribbon or a multicolor ribbon, and is of wide U construction with a first pair of aligned (coaxial) pivot pins extending away from sides at locations therefrom remote from the legs of the U; a second pair of pins extends also from the sides and parallel to the first pair of pins; finally, a pair of support projections extend from the legs and also in opposite directions from the sides; the printer has two pivot mounts for receiving the pins of the first pair to thereby mount the cartridge, permitting pitch-like pivoting; in addition, the printer contains either (a) a second pair of mounts open from above for receiving the pins of the second pair, and thereby mounting the cartridge in a fixed position for single color printing, or (b) a cam shaft with at least one cam of different radial dimensions for engaging at least one of the projections such that upon turning of the cam a variable pivot-pitch is imparted upon the cartridge, the pins of the second pair being unimpeded.

Ink ribbon cartridge in a printer

In a printer having a platen, a printhead carriage moving along the platen, the mounting of a multicolor band ribbon with ribbon case and of a ribbon guide is improved by pivoting one end of the ribbon casing to the frame, and one end of the guide to the carriage; two cams are mounted axially immobile on a shaft and against the ribbon case such that different portions of these cams depending upon the rotational position of the shaft determines the pivot position of the case to thereby place different color bands in between said print heads and said platen; the frame for the ribbon guide is held by another cam mounted for axial movement with said carriage but rotating with the shaft so that all cams rotate in synchronism.

Multicolor ribbon shifter with separate cams for the cassette and guide

Sound attenuation for a printer which includes impacting print elements and other movable noise producing parts being mounted to a frame and further including a biparted housing; the frame bottom having downwardly extending feet by means of which the printer rests on a support surface; the housing envelops the frame and is provided with openings through which the feet project without touching the print housing; the housing is floatingly suspended on said frame through a plurality of connections each of which includes pins integral with the frame and being circumscribed by an attenuating sleeve which is being connected to the frame by a locking cap seated on the respective pin for holding down the sleeve.

Noise attenuation in printers

The print head is mounted on a carriage which, in turn, rides on a round bar which is transversely adjustable towards and away from the parallel running platen. The round bar rolls in horizontal oblong slots in side walls of the frame and has short, drum-shaped cams eccentrically connected to its ends, the cams being coaxial to each other and are held individually in abutment with reference surfaces that are individually adjustable on these side walls towards true parallelism; an adjusting lever is affixed to a third cam on the bar, and is coaxial to the two other cams, which lever is latchable in positions to thereby hold adjusted distances of the print head from the platen.

Growing community of inventors

Nersingen/Leibi, Germany

Guenter Gomoll