The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 29, 1987
Filed:
Oct. 27, 1986
Kevin L Glassett, San Diego, CA (US);
Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
In a plotter (10) having a plurality of pens (14) stored in a rotatable turret (16) for selective use in a plotting operation, the turret may be rotated by the drive motor (32) used to move the paper (12) bidirectionally, thereby eliminating the cost and weight associated with a pen turret drive motor. The rotation of the turret is mechanically coupled to a grit wheel shaft (34), which is used to move the paper and which is driven by the paper drive motor. The turret is positioned on a spindle (86) provided with slots (88) associated with the location of the pens. The bottom of the spindle is provided with a worm gear (110), which is continuously engaged by a worm (94) mounted on one end of a worm shaft (96). The grit wheel shaft is also provided with a gear (104) which is selectively engageable by a sliding gear (102) mounted on the other end of the worm shaft. A lever engager (98) is actuated by a foot (106 ) on the bottom of the carriage assembly (56) which supports a pen during the plotting operation. Upon actuation by the foot, the lever engager causes the sliding gear to engage the grit wheel shaft gear, thereby coupling rotation of the grit wheel shaft to the spindle. A spring (112) on the worm shaft returns the sliding gear to its disengaged position. The lever engager includes a walking stop (100) to engage the preselected slot in the spindle to provide appropriate orientation of the turret for removal or replacement of a pen therein.