Ribbon platform mechanism for extending ribbon life

A ribbon shifting mechanism for utilizing substantially all of the area of an inked ribbon, the mechanism comprising:

• a movable platform for mounting two spindles which accommodate ribbon spools thereon;
• a cam follower mounted on the platform;
• an eccentrically driven cam contacting the cam follower and driving the platform in an upward then downward direction;
• a printhead mounted separately from the platform for traversing an exposed length of ribbon in an arcuate printing pattern between a home and an end-of-travel position, during each printhead traversal;
• a ratchet connected to each spool spindle;
• means connected to said spindles for providing incremental indexing of said ribbon when said printhead returns to a home position, and
• pawl members selectively engaging the ratchets in between incremental indexing of the ribbon at the initiation of each of said printing patterns, a sequence of printing patterns resulting in overlapping arcuate patterns covering substantially all of the ribbon.

A ribbon shifting mechanism for utilizing substantially all of the area of an inked ribbon, the mechanism comprising:

• a movable platform for mounting two spindles which accommodate ribbon spools thereon;
• a cam follower mounted on the platform;
• an eccentrically driven cam contacting the cam follower and driving the platform in an upward then downward direction;
• a printhead mounted separately from the platform for traversing an exposed length of ribbon in a pattern comprising uniformly closely spaced portions, each portion having a plurality of contiguous sections lying in directions transverse to the length of the ribbon, successive portions of said pattern overlapping one another;
• a ratchet connected to each spool spindle;
• means connected to said spindles for providing incremental indexing of said ribbon when said printhead returns to a home position;
• and
• pawl members selectively engaging the ratchets in between incremental indexing of the ribbon at the initiation of each of said portions, the pattern resulting in portions covering substantially all of the ribbon.

A ribbon shifting mechanism for utilizing substantially all of the area of an inked ribbon, the mecchanism comprising:

• a movable platform for mounting two spindles which accommodate ribbon spools thereon;
• a cam follower mounted on the platform;
• an eccentrically driven cam contacting the cam follower and driving the platform in an upward then downward direction;
• a printhead mounted separately from the platform for traversing an exposed length of ribbon in a printing pattern between a home and an end-of-travel position, during each printhead traversal;
• a ratchet connected to each spool spindle;
• means connected to said spindles for providing incremental indexing of said ribbon when said printhead returns to a home position;
• and
• pawl members selectively engaging the ratchets in between incremental indexing of the ribbon at the initiation of each of said printing patterns, a sequence of printing patterns resulting in overlapping patterns covering substantially all of the ribbon.