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:
Jul. 28, 1992
Filed:
Apr. 06, 1990
Ulrich Buschmann, Elchingen, DE;
Gunter Gomoll, Nersingen/Leibi, DE;
Wolfgang Hauslaib, Langenau, DE;
Mannesmann Aktiengesellschaft, Dusseldorf, DE;
Abstract
In a printer, a drive motor, a drive roller arranged on the shaft of the motor, a reversal roller in spaced relation to the drive roller, and an elongated drive belt trained about the drive and reversal rollers form a tensioning device, the belt being fastened at its ends to a print-head carriage for selectively displacing the carriage in the forward and reverse directions along and relative to a printable substrate support roller or base. The reversal roller is carried in a carrier housing which movably and cooperatively engages a spring-loaded tensioning wedge for maintaining the elongated drive belt in a predetermined tensioned or stretched relation. In order to avoid the need for a separate or specialized drive motor and an additional drive belt for advancing an inked printing ribbon, the drive force for the inked-ribbon drive shaft is derived from the reversal roller which, in the normal operation of the printer, is rotatable in opposite directions for selectively positioning the print-head carriage along the printable substrate support. For this purpose, a clutch member is interposed between the reversal roller and a gearwheel associated with the inked-ribbon drive shaft, the clutch member being longitudinally movable into coupled and uncoupled relations with the inked-ribbon gearwheel as a function of the direction of rotation of the reversal roller.