Summagraphics Corporation

Ametek, Inc.

Bausch-lomb Incorporated

Parnell, James A.

Johnson, Robert A.

Freeman, Marvin L.

Silverberg, Eric

James A Parnell

John C Venthem

Dan Russell Poole

Charles D Zinsmeyer

Robert A Johnson

Marvin L Freeman

Carl D Massey

Marlan L Schmidt

John A Massa

Eric Silverberg

Mark Hill

The invention disclosed herein provides a method and apparatus for counteracting the effects of a localized drag on a sheet medium as it is being moved by a drive system, for example, in a printer or plotter to prevent misregistration of the sheet medium with the X-axis drive system as the sheet medium is moved past the print or plot head which creates a drag thereon. The sheet medium is stiffened in the region thereof which is contacted by the print or plot head by bending the sheet medium in a direction normal to the direction of movement of the sheet medium. The bend may be provided by a curved guide located between the print or plot head and the X-axis drive system. Friction is reduced between the sheet medium and the curved guide by mounting the curved guide, e.g., one or more rollers, to rotate freely under the action of the sheet medium moving thereover, or by pneumatically supporting the sheet medium above the curved guide as the sheet medium is moved thereover.

Sheet medium transport system, particularly for printers and plotters

A cassette for ribbon for a printer, particularly a thermal printer, is disclosed. The cassette is configured to be stably mounted to a print carriage of a thermal printer, or to a storage turret mounted to the printer for storing a number of cassettes, and to be transferred by a passive transfer system between the print carriage and the storage turret simply in response to movement of the print carriage. A smooth, low friction path is provided for the ribbon within the cassette with no acute angle changes in the path when the cassette is in a printing position and being acted upon by the printer's print head. The cassette is provided with a brake mechanism which automatically engages the supply and take-up reels in the cassette when the cassette is removed from the print carriage, and automatically disengages the brake mechanism when the cassette is mounted to the print carriage. The cassette is provided with a bar code so that cassettes on the storage turret may automatically be identified, particularly for use in an automatic cassette transfer system. The cassette housing is plastic and is provided with an anti-static additive.

Ribbon cassette for a printer

Apparatus especially X-Y plotters having a marking device for marking a surface. A support is provided for supporting the marking device. The support is movable along an axis of the housing while the marking device can be selectively raised and lowered relative to the surface. The raising and lowering is carried out by means of a flexible driving element, for example, a cable, connected to a pivotable link on the support and activated by a motor. The marking device support is freely translatable relative to the flexible driving element.

Apparatus for raising and lowering plotter marking devices

Apparatus is disclosed for use with printers (or plotters) for storing and transferring ink-containing ribbon cassettes between a print head and a storage location. The printers (or plotters) are of the type which include a print head that is not as wide as the width of the medium to be printed on so that the print head has to be moved to print (or plot) across the full width of the medium. The apparatus automatically removes a cassette mounted to the movable carriage to which the print head is also mounted and deposits it in the storage station, and automatically removes a selected cassette from the storage station and deposits it on the print carriage. The apparatus includes cassette holders at the storage location and a cassette holder mounted to the print carriage. The storage station is positioned in or adjacent the path of travel of the print carriage, and the apparatus holding the cassettes at the storage station may be indexed to position a particular cassette holder into alignment with the cassette holder mounted to the carriage. The cassette holders have cooperating structure which automatically engage each other when the holders are aligned and are moved one into the other to automatically and directly transfer a cassette from one holder to the other.

Ribbon cassette storage and transfer apparatus for a printer

Apparatus and method for determining position, tilt and offset of a pointer with respect to a grid of parallel conductors with which it is coupled by obtaining measured responses between each of a group conductors and the pointer and fitting an expression for the response to said measured responses.

Digitizer for position sensing

Apparatus, for use in conjunction with a digital plotter incorporating controlled multiple markers to create displays, for determining the position of the markers along axes of movement, comprises a detector assembly disposed at a fixed axial position relative to the plotter, and a driver for moving a marker relative to the detector assembly. The detector assembly includes means for detecting movement of the marker relative thereto and producing signals indicative of the movement. A processor interprets the signals for determining an axial position of the marker and optionally detects and compensates for a variation in the axial position of a current marker relative to the axial position of a prior marker.

Pen tip position detector

A plotter having the capability of unattended operation incorporates several innovations. An X-axis dual motor drive mechanism moves the plotting chart through the plotter using two independently controlled motors driving respective individual friction drives at either side of the chart. An automatic chart alignment mechanism aligns the chart with the plotter X-axis using the X-axis dual motor drive for swiveling of the chart as necessary and a sensor to detect and correct the position of the chart. A chart cutting mechanism allows chart stock supplied in roll form to be cut to a desired length for a plot using a knife assembly carried by the pen carriage like a pen. A cut chart handling mechanism enables cut charts to be retrieved and neatly stored.

Plotter and aligning method

A digitizer cursor is provided with a multifunctional control panel. The panel is comprised of a multiplicity of switches for defining various modes of cursor operation in use with a digitizer coordinate axes grid assembly or pad. Novel circuitry provides for a cursor of convenient size with a complex control panel in combination with a point locating device used in conjunction with the coordinate grid assembly. The circuitry provides for electrical communication through a coaxial cable permitting easy maneuverability of the cursor assembly relative to the pad and a simple electrical path for processing of the cursor coil induced point location signal, to determine coordinate location, and the cursor control signals originating as a function of switch operation initiated on the cursor panel by the operator. One digitizer grid pattern is used for each of two coordinate axes, i.e. X and Y. Each grid pattern is used for coarse and fine digitizing to determine cursor positioning on each respective axis. The digitizer has two basic modes of operation which relate to digitally representing the position of a cursor on a grid pattern. The first mode is for coarse digitizing designed to identify the position of the cursor within 11/2 grid lines of its actual position on the grid. The second mode is the fine digitizing mode which is operative to positively locate the cursor at its actual position within a triad of grid lines which have been identified through the coarse digitizing operation. Both modes are operative for each of the two axes. For coarse digitizing, a sequential line-to-ling pulsing technique is applied. For fine digitizing, a pulsed three phase system is utilized and any odd multiple of three grid lines.

Digitizing cursor and coordinate grid system

One digitizer grid pattern is used for each of two coordinate axes, i.e. X and Y. Each grid pattern is used for coarse and fine digitizing to determine cursor positioning on each respective axis. Th digitizer has two basic modes of operation which relate to digitally representing the position of a cursor on a grid pattern. The first mode is for coarse digitizing designed to identify the position of the cursor within 11/2 grid lines of its actual position on the grid. The second mode is the fine digitizing mode which is operative to positively locate the cursor at its actual position within a triad of grid lines which have been identified through the coarse digitizing operation. Both modes are operative for each of the two axes. For coarse digitizing, a sequential line-to-line pulsing technique is applied. For fine digitizing, a pulsed three phase system is utilized and any odd multiple of three grid lines.

Growing community of inventors

Austin, TX, United States of America

James A Parnell