Wire printing heads

A wire printer head including a body member;

• a plurality of printing wires;
• a first end of each wire effective for printing;
• a wire guide on said body member supporting said wires in closely spaced relationship adjacent said first ends;
• a second end of each wire opposite to said first end;
• a plurality of solenoids each connected to a different one of said second ends of said wires, each solenoid being operable to cause longitudinal movement of the wire connected thereto to effect printing by the first end of that wire;
• a support member on said body member supporting a group of the solenoids in a first arcuate formation and the remainder of the solenoids in a second arcuate formation so that the wires extend from said wire guide to said solenoids along a plurality of diverging smooth curves;
• a plurality of curved tubes;
• each wire extending through a different one of said tubes, the wires connected to said group of solenoids extending through a first group of the curved tubes and the wires connected to the remainder of the solenoids extending through a second group of the curved tubes, each tube having a length less than the length of the wire extending therethrough and said tubes being preformed to a curvature substantially corresponding to the curvature of the wire extending therethrough;
• a tube guide plate on the body member adjacent the wire guide and effective to locate one end of each tube in alignment with the curve of the wire enclosed therein;
• a further support member on the body member spaced from the tube guide plate and extending between the first group of tubes and the second group of tubes;
• the further support member having a plurality of open-ended slots in first and second opposite faces for receiving the tubes, each of said slots being sufficiently large to ensure that the tubes extend in positions determined by the wires extending therethrough without constraint from the further support member, each of the tubes of the first group being secured respectively in a slot in the first face by a casting of adhesive material in said slot and each of the tubes of the second group being secured respectively in a slot in the second face by a casting of adhesive material in said slot.