Parallel line printer

Parallel line printing apparatus for printing successive lines of characters across a print support material, comprising:

• parallel printing head means arranged to extend in the direction of a line across the print support material;
• electrical signal storage means for receiving and storing electrical signals representative of characters to be printed, said storage means having a capacity sufficient to store electrical signals corresponding to a plurality of characters;
• print control means for receiving print command signals and controlling the performance of a printing operation in response to each such print command signal received by causing said printing head means to print characters corresponding to electrical signals stored in said storage means along the line of print support material opposite said printing head means;
• and
• moving means for producing relative displacement between the printing head means and the print support material transversely of the direction of said printing head means;
• said print control means being also operative for controlling said moving means to produce such relative displacement in a forward direction after each such print command signal has been received so that the printing head means is displaced with respect to the line containing any character just printed in response to such print command signal at the end of a printing operation;
• and
• said print control means being selectively responsive to at least one such print command signal to produce such a relative displacement in a reverse direction to a position wherein a line containing at least one character already printed is back opposite said printing head means.

Parallel line printing apparatus for printing successive lines of characters across a print support material, comprising:

• parallel printing head means arranged to extend in the direction of a line across the print support material;
• signal storage means for receiving and storing signals representative of characters to be printed, said storage means having a capacity sufficient to store signals corresponding to a plurality of characters;
• timing means for producing a print command signal when the duration of a time interval between successive ones of said received signals exceeds a predetermined value;
• and
• print control means responsive to said print command signal for causing said printing head means to print characters corresponding to signals stored in said storage means when said print command signal is produced on the print support material along the line opposite said printing head means.

Parallel printing apparatus for printing successive lines of characters across a print support material comprising:

• parallel printing head means arranged to extend in the direction of a line across the print support material for allowing the parallel printing of a plurality of marks belonging to different characters along the line opposite said printing head means on said print support material;
• storage means for receiving and storing signals representative of a plurality of characters to be printed;
• and
• print control means responsive to the interval between the respective times when the signals representative of successive characters are received by said storage means for controlling the performance of a printing operation when such time interval satisfies a predetermined relationship by causing said printing head means to effect the parallel printing of character marks corresponding to a plurality of the signals stored in said storage means when such predetermined relationship is satisfied along the line opposite said printing head means on the print support material.