Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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PRINTING APPARATUS
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to printing apparatus and rnore particularly to
apparatus for printing such documents as rectangular sales slips.
s Prior conventional printing apparatuses for sales slips, which have been
generally incorporated in cash registers or point of sale terminals,
have generally been of the vertical slot type or flat bed type. In the
verticAl slot type, the document must be inserted in the side or top of
~he machine, an operation that is relatively inconvenient and awkward
for an operator to perform. If small sales slips or other articles
accidentally drop to the bottom of the slot, they are not retrievable by
the operator9 causing substantial trouble. Pressure rolls are provided
for incrementing the document in its printing slot, and these generally
must be lifted either by a magnet or manually to insert the document.
Generally also, there is a limitation on paper size with the vertical
slot type of printing apparatus.
With the flat bed type of prin-ting apparatus, printing is sometimes
reversed as the sales slip exits the machine and must be turned upside
down to be read. The number of lines of print are generally limited
with this type of printing apparatus, and the lines of print are not
visible to the operator substantially at the same time as they are
printed so that errors are not readily apparent.
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SUMMARY OF ll-IE INVENTION
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It is an object of the presen-t invention to provide an improved printing
apparatus in which the documen-t to be printed is placed by the operator
in a substantially horizontal disposition ini-tially and exits the
machine in a substan-tially vertical disposition to be readily available
t~ the operator.
It is also an object of the invention to provide an improved prin-ting
apparatus in which the lines of print provided by a print head are
visible to the operator just af-ter being made so that errors rnay be
;(~ readi1y ascertained.
1i~e inlproved printing apparatus of the invention in a preferred -Forrn
includes a guide having an initial -flat substan-tially horizontal
portion on which the document to be printed may be initially placed,
a final vertical portion providing a vertical passage from which the
document exits after printing and in which a print head prints the
lines of print on the document and an intermed;ate curved portion which
bends the document as it is pushed into the machine. The machine on
its top includes an opening provlding a line of sight for the operator
so that he can examine each of the lines of print just after it has
been made by the print head of the apparatus. Pressure and drive rolls
are provided to be effective on the document to be printed as it travels
vertically upwardly on the final portion of the guide; and the drive
rolls are controlled initially so that they continuously rotate to move
the document in a continuous motion until the line for the first print
line is reached, and then the rolls are incrementally rotated so as to
increment the document past the print head. The print head is
controlled so as to accomplish its printing by traversing across the
print line between ;ncrements of the document. A keyboard may be
located just below and in front of the initial substantially horizontal
guide por-tion, and thus the keyed entry as printed may be inspected by
the operator located at the front of the machine at the keyboard.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the printing apparatus
of the invention;
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FIG. 2 is a -Fragmentary plan view, par-tially schematic, of the printin~
apparatus; and
FIG. 3 is a plan view of a document which may be printed by the printing
apparatus.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EM80DIMENT
The printing apparatus comprises a print head 20 which may he reciprocated
on a center line 22 by any suitable propelling mechanism. The print
head 20 may be of the wire printer -type, for examp1e; and it is disposed
opposite a platen 2~ for printing an elongate rectangular sales slip or
other documen~ 26 resting upon the pla-ten 24. The motion of the prin-t
head 20 on the center line 22 may be sensed by any sui-table sensing
means, such as a sensor 28.
The apparatus comprises a lower guide 30 providing a nearly horizontal
flat guide plate portion 30a, a vertical flat guide portion 30b and a
curved guide portion 30c formed on a radius 30d connecting the guide
por-tions 30a ancl 30b and extending for about 90 degrees. The apparatus
also comprises an inner guide 32 which has a vertical surface 32a
extending parallel with the guide portion 30b to provide a vertical
passage A between these two surfaces, a horizontal guide surface 32b and
a guide surface 32c extending upwardly at an angle with respect to the
surface 32b, with the surfaces 32b and 32c being disposed opposite the
curved portion 30c of the lower guide 30. The guide 32 also has a
surface 32d extending upwardly and at an acute angle with respect to the
guide portion 30a so as to provide a document receiving throat 34. An
aligning rail 36 for the document 26 forms one end of the -throat 34 and
acts to guide the document 26 into the apparatus. A keyboard 38 is
provided in front of and below -the aligning rail 36 and horizontal guide
portion 30a as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.
A pair of document drive rolls 40 and an opposite pair of pressure rolls
42 are provided in the passage A between the surface 32a and guide
portion 30b. The pressure rolls 42 are held in forceful but yieldable
relationship with the drive rolls 40 by any suitable means. The drive
rolls 40 are propelled from a motor 44 through spur gears 46 and 48.
The motor 44 is preferably of the electrical stepping type.
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A pair o-f document sensors 50 and 52 are disposed at the bo-ttom of the
vertical passage A, and a pair of sensors 54 and 56 are disposed at the
upper end oF the passage A. The motor 44 is under the control of
controls 58; and controls 58 are under -the control of sensors 28, 50,
52, 54 and 56.
The keyboard 38 is connected to a memory 60 of any suitable type as by
means of data transferring bus 62. Memory 60 is also connected to the
print head 20 as by means of data transferring bus 64 and has control
conllections with controls 58.
In order to print the document 26, it is placed on the horizontal
portion 30a of the lower guide 30 in a substantially horizontal
disposition. The document is then manually pushed so that its forward
end contacts the curved guide portion 30c, and the document is thus bent
against whatever inherent resilience the document material may have and
moves upwardly in the passage A. The forward end of the document 26
when it passes between the sensors 50 and 52 causes the controls 58 to
so operate on the motor 44 that the motor drives the drive rolls 40 and
thus the pressure rolls 42 at a continuous speed.
As the document 26 is moved farther upwardly in the passage A under
manual force, its forward end eventually enters the nip between the
rolls 40 and 42; and these rolls then move the document at a uniform
speed upwardly in the passage A. I~hen the forward end of the document
passes between the sensors 54 and 56, these so operate on the controls
58 that the motor 44 is then caused to incrementally rotate the rolls
40; and the document incrementally moves upwardly in the passage A. The
print head 20 under the control of controls 58 traverses across the
document 26 for each of the increments of rotation of the rolls 40 and
prints a line of print, such as the print line a, for the increment of
rotation of the rolls 40. This printing occurs in the vertical passage
A and on the platen 24 which supports the document during printing. The
sensor 28 connected with the controls 58 assures that the motor 44
cannot be effective to provide another increment of rotation of the
rolls 40 until a print line has been completed. Succeeding lines of
print, such as lines b, c, d, etc., are printed on successive increments
of rotation of the rolls 40.
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The controls 5~3 may also be under the control o-f the keyboard 38 so that
a reciprocation of the print head 20 does not take place until a line of
print has been put into memory 60 by means of keyboard 38. In this
case, the line oF print a is first keyed in-to the keyboard 38 and is pu-t
into melnory 60. The print head 20 then traverses across -the document Z6
and prints the first line a. The drive rolls 40 are then effective to
move the document 26 upwardly in the passage A for an additional
increment; the keyboard 38 then has its second line of print entered
into it and thereby into memory 60; and the print head 20 is then
reciprocated and prints the second 1ine of print b on the document 26.
Subsequently, the docunlent 26 is incrementally moved upwardly in the
passage A; and the succeeding lines of print c, d, e, etc., are printed
by the print head 20 as it -traverses across the document 26.
Ihe apparatus is provided ~ith an ope~ning 66 in its top so that there
may be a line oF sight 68 toward the platen 24. Thus, as each
subse(~ufn~ line is printed, the operator may check the accuracy of the
printed line by viewing along the line of sight 68.
Advantageously, the printing apparatus allows the operator to lay the
documen-t 26 on a flat, substantially horizontal, bed (guide portion 30a)
and to push it away from him into the machine, which is very natural
from the operator's standpoint. The operator places the document 26 in
contact with the aligning rail 36, which is on the right side of the
line of movement of the document 26, into the appara-tusi and the
document 26 is thus registered in its proper line of movement. The
document 26 is pushed straight in toward the back of the machine with a
slight pressure sideways, to the right as seen in FIG. 2, to maintain
registration of the document. The portion 30c of the lower guide 30 is
formed on a generous radius (30d); and this may be, for example, 1 3/4
inches (4.44cm) to route the document 26 upwardly in passage A without
any substantial manual force required in order to cause the document to
bend through substantially 90 and without any permanent deformation or
bend lines being provided in the document. The sensors 50 and 52 just
above the radiused portion 30c of the guide 30 start the feed rolls 40
which need not be lifted or lowered to be effective; and once the
document is under.control of the.feed rolls 40, the operator can relax
his force to move the clocument upwardly through the vertical passage A.
The document 26 is then automatically incremented through the printing
transaction and is ejected out of the top of the passage A and out of
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the top o-f the machine to be re~dily available to the operator. Each oF
the lines of print as it is caused by the keyboard 38, for example, is
readily visible, right side up, to the operator on the line oF sight 68
as head 20 moves along the center line 22 off of the line of print just
printed, so that the operator can determine whether the line of print is
without error. The printing on the lines a, b, c, d, e, etc., appears
to the operator in the order in which the printing was keyed in from the
keyboard 38 and can be immediately read as the document exits the
machine. Since printing is done as the document is moved in a single
direction through the machine, the document may be of any reasonable
length with a correspondingly great number oF lines oF print.
In the even-t that a document is accidentally dropped into the document
e~it slot (the vertical passage A) from the top of the machine, the
document may be easily retrieved either by moving it upwardly out of the
passage A or off of the substantially horizontal flat guide portion 30a
if the document moves Far enough and around the curved guide portion
30c. The guide por-tion 30a is located just above the keyboard 38, so
the guide portion 30a is not only easily within reach for retrieval of
documents but also is withln easy reach for inserting documents into the
machine for printing in the usual manner.
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