Wire dot printer
AssigneeKabushiki Kaisha Suwa Seikosha & Epson Corporation
InventorsYoshifumi Gomi, Masanao Matsuzawa, Yoshito Ikeda, Yoshihisa Morita
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A wire dot printer using fluid ink in which printing is carried out with the ink adhering to the end faces of the wires. A front wire guide guides the end portions of the wires adjacent to the printing end faces of the wires. A rear wire guide is positioned behind the front wire guide. An ink path fed by capillary action is provided between the front and rear wire guides which crosses the wires at positions adjacent the end faces of the wires. Also disclosed is a pump for conveying the ink within the printer and preferred compositions of the ink itself.
Claims67
A wire dot printer having a print head using a fluid ink in which printing is carried out with the ink adhering to the end faces at the end portions of printing wires for direct transfer of said adhering ink to a print medium upon impact therewith, comprising:
- printing wires each having an end face;
- means for selectively displacing said wires between an inking position and a printing position;
- a front wire guide adapted to guide said end portions of said wires through openings in said front wire guide;
- a rear wire guide positioned behind said front wire guide;
- and
- means for providing ink to an ink path, said ink path crossing said wires between said front wire guide and said rear wire guide at positions adjacent to the end faces of said wires, the space between said front and rear wire guides defining said ink path and being dimensioned for capillary flow therein at least in the region adjacent said wires, and further including an auxiliary wire guide provided on a front surface of said front wire guide and a holder adapted to hold said auxiliary wire guide, a space being formed between said holder and auxiliary wire guide to interrupt the flow of ink due to capillary action.
A wire dot printer having a print head using a fluid ink in which printing is carried out with the ink adhering to the end faces at the end portions of printing wires for direct transfer of said adhering ink to a print medium upon impact therewith, comprising:
- printing wires each having an end face;
- means for selectively displacing said wires between an inking position and a printing position;
- a front wire guide adapted to guide said end portions of said wires through openings in said front wire guide, said front wire guide including partition walls separating the plurality of wire guide openings formed in said front wire guide, said partition walls having a fine ink path therein through which adjacent wire guide openings on both sides of said partition wall communicate with each other.
- a rear wire guide positioned behind said front wire guide;
- and
- means for providing ink to an ink path, said ink path crossing said wires between said front wire guide and said rear wire guide at positions adjacent to the end faces of said wires, the space between said front and rear wire guides defining said ink path and being dimensioned for capillary flow therein at least in the region adjacent said wires.
A wire dot printer having a print head using a fluid ink in which printing is carried out with the ink adhering to the end faces at the end portions of printing wires for direct transfer of said adhering ink to a print medium upon impact therewith, comprising:
- printing wires each having an end face;
- means for selectively displacing said wires between an inking position and a printing position;
- a front wire guide adapted to guide said end portions of said wires through openings in said front wire guide;
- a rear wire guide positioned behind said front wire guide;
- and
- means for providing ink to an ink path, said ink path crossing said wires between said front wire guide and said rear wire guide at positions adjacent to the end faces of said wires, the space between said front and rear wire guides defining said ink path and being dimensioned for capillary flow therein at least in the region adjacent said wires, said means for providing ink including an ink supplying port for supplying said ink to said ink path and an ink discharging port for discharging surplus ink supplied through said ink supplying port, and an ink bypass communicating with said ink supplying port and said ink discharging port, said bypass being a parallel, ink flow channel with said ink path.
A wire dot printer having a print head using a fluid ink in which printing is carried out with the ink adhering to end faces at the end portions of wires comprising:
- a front wire guide adapted to guide said end portions of said wires adjacent said printing end faces of said wires;
- a rear wire guide opposing said front wire guide, said wires passing through openings in said guides;
- an ink path for providing a capillary force, said ink path being formed between said front wire guide and said rear wire guide, said ink path crossing said wires;
- an ink recovering plate forming a capillary path with the rear of said rear wire guide, a space being provided between said ink recovering plate and said rear wire guide in the region between the capillary path and the wires, said space being larger in the region adjacent said ink recovering plate than in the region adjacent the front of the rear wire guide, said space communicating with said ink path through said opening in said rear wire guide,;
- an ink supplying port for supplying said ink to said ink path;
- and
- an ink discharging port for discharging surplus ink supplied through said ink supplying port and communicating with said ink path and further communicating with said capillary path for receiving surplus ink therefrom.
A wire dot printer having a print head using a fluid ink and an inking mechanism in which printing is carried out with the ink adhered to the printing end faces at the end portions of wires comprising:
- a front wire guide adapted to guide said end portions of said wires adjacent said printing end faces of said wires;
- a rear wire guide provided behind said front wire guide, said front wire guide and said rear wire guide forming an ink path therebetween said ink path crossing said wires;
- an inking mechanism for supplying ink to said printing end faces;
- an ink supplying port for supplying ink to said inking mechanism;
- an ink discharging port for discharging surplus ink supplied through said ink supplying port;
- and
- a pump, said ink being supplied through said ink supplying port by said pump and being discharged through said ink discharging port by said pump, the pump capacity for discharging ink from said inking mechanism being larger than the pump capacity for supplying ink to said inking mechanism.
A wire dot printer having a print head using a fluid ink in which printing is carried out with the ink adhering to the end faces at the end portions of printing wires for direct transfer of said adhering ink to a print medium upon impact therewith, comprising:
- printing wires each having an end face;
- wire guide means adapted to guide said end portions of said wires through openings in said wire guide means;
- means for applying ink to the end faces of the printing wires from within said wire guide means;
- said wire guide means being provided with a plurality of grooves formed in and extending along a surface of said wire guide means on the side of said printing end faces of said printing wires, said grooves extending transverse to said printing wires and at least a portion of said grooves intersecting said openings.
A wire dot printer having a print head using a fluid ink in which printing is carried out with the ink adhering to the end faces at the end portions of printing wires for direct transfer of said adhering ink to a print medium upon impact therewith, comprising:
- printing wires each having an end face;
- means for selectively displacing said wires between an inking position and a printing position;
- a front wire guide adapted to guide said end portions of said wires through openings in said front wire guide;
- a rear wire guide positioned behind said front wire guide;
- and
- means for providing ink to an ink path, said ink path crossing said wires between said front wire guide and said rear wire guide at positions adjacent to the end faces of said wires, the space between said front and rear wire guides defining said ink path and being dimensioned for capillary flow therein at least in the region adjacent said wires, and further including a plurality of grooves formed in and extending along a surface of said front wire guide on the side of said printing end faces of said wires, said grooves being transversed to said wires.
The wire dot printer as claimed in 44, wherein in each of said plurality of grooves the upper cross-sectional dimension thereof is larger than the lower cross-sectional dimension thereof.
A wire dot printer having a print head using a fluid ink in which printing is carried out with the ink adhering to the end faces at the end portions of printing wires for direct transfer of said adhering ink to a print medium upon impact therewith, comprising:
- printing wires each having an end face;
- means for selectively displacing said wires between an inking position and a printing position;
- a front wire guide adapted to guide said end portions of said wires through openings in said front wire guide;
- a rear wire guide positioned behind said front wire guide;
- and
- means for providing ink to an ink path, said ink path crossing said wires between said front wire guide and said rear wire guide at positions adjacent to the end faces of said wires, the space between said front and rear wire guides defining said ink path and being dimensioned for capillary flow therein at least in the region adjacent said wires, and further including an auxiliary wire guide provided on a front surface of said front wire guide, said auxiliary wire guide being movable with respect to said front wire guide.
A wire dot printer having a print head using a fluid ink in which printing is carried out with the ink adhering to the end faces at the end portions of printing wires for direct transfer of said adhering ink to a print medium upon impact therewith, comprising:
- printing wires each having an end face;
- means for selectively displacing said wires between an inking position and a printing position;
- a front wire guide adapted to guide said end portions of said wires through openings in said front wire guide;
- a rear wire guide positioned behind said front wire guide;
- and
- means for providing ink to an ink path, said ink path crossing said wires between said front wire guide and said rear wire guide at positions adjacent to the end faces of said wires, the space between said front and rear wire guides defining said ink path and being dimensioned for capillary flow therein at least in the region adjacent said wires, and further including an auxiliary wire guide provided on a front surface of said front wire guide, said auxiliary wire guide comprising a plurality of stacked auxiliary wire guide members.
A wire dot printer having a print head using a fluid ink in which printing is carried out with the ink adhering to the end faces at the end portions of printing wires for direct transfer of said adhering ink to a print medium upon impact therewith, comprising:
- printing wires each having an end face;
- means for selectively displacing said wires between an inking position and a printing position;
- a front wire guide adapted to guide said end portions of said wires through openings in said front wire guide;
- a rear wire guide positioned behind said front wire guide;
- and
- means for providing ink to an ink path, said ink path crossing said wires between said front wire guide and said rear wire guide at positions adjacent to the end faces of said wires, the space between said front and rear wire guides defining said ink path and being dimensioned for capillary flow therein at least in the region adjacent said wires, and further including an auxiliary wire guide provided on a front surface of said front wire guide, said auxiliary wire guide having grooves in a surface thereof, and at least one thin additional guide being provided on said auxiliary wire guide on the rear side of said grooves.
A wire dot printer having a print head using a fluid ink in which printing is carried out with the ink adhering to the end faces at the end portions of wires for direct transfer of said adhering ink to a print medium upon impact therewith, comprising:
- printing wires each having an end face;
- means for selectively displacing said wire between an inking position and a printing position;
- wire guide means formed with opening means for receipt of said wires;
- means for providing ink including an ink supplying port, an ink discharging port and an ink path for the flow of ink through said ink path between said ports;
- said wire guide means being formed with a passage therethrough at least in part intersecting said opening means, to define at least a portion of said ink path, said passage including an enlarged bypass region connecting said ports and a capillary region between said enlarged bypass region and said opening means for drawing ink from said enlarged bypass region to said opening means said bypass region of said passage being spaced from said opening means, said opening means being dimensioned to define a capillary channel with each said wire to draw ink from said ink path to said printing wire end face when said printing wire is at its inking position.
A wire dot printer having a print head using a fluid ink in which printing is carried out with the ink adhering to the end faces at the end portions of printing wires for direct transfer of said adhering ink to a print medium upon impact therewith, comprising:
- printing wires each having an end face;
- means for selectively displacing said wires between an inking position and a printing position;
- a front wire guide adapted to guide said end portions of said wires through openings in said front wire guide;
- a rear wire guide positioned behind said front wire guide;
- and
- means for providing ink to an ink path, said ink path crossing said wires between said front wire guide and said rear wire guide at positions adjacent to the end faces of said wires, the space between said front and rear wire guides defining said ink path and being dimensioned for capillary flow therein at least in the region adjacent said wires, and further including a grooved surface provided in said ink path for holding ink adjacent said end portions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.