Continuous form printer having adjustable tractors
AssigneeAsahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsYutaka Ishikawa, Tsutomu Sato
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A continuous form printer includes a tractor feed system that adapts to changes in paper width while printing. A tractor body is movable on a shaft, and a movable housing supporting tractor pulleys and a tractor belt is resiliently movable with respect to the tractor body. A locking member, in a first position, allows the tractor body to be adjusted for paper size while holding a movable member. In a second position, the locking member holds the tractor body in place, and frees the movable member to move relative to the tractor body, so that the movable member, supporting the tractor pulleys and belt, may resiliently move to compensate for changes in paper width during printing.
Claims27
A printer, using continuous form paper having a width and a length, said printer comprising:
- printing means;
- a pair of tractors, each of said tractors provided with a tractor belt, said tractors feeding the paper along a paper path of said printer, and one of said pair of tractors provided to each lateral side of said paper path, and
- means for shifting the lateral position of each of said pair of tractors across the width of the paper while the paper is in motion and during said feeding of the paper, said means for shifting operating in response to changes in the width of the paper.
An adaptive tractor unit comprising:
- a pair of tractors for feeding a continuous form paper thereamong, wherein one of said pair of tractors is provided along each of opposite lateral sides of a paper path along which the continuous form paper is fed;
- and
- means for shifting the lateral position of each of said pair of tractors to change a distance between said pair of tractors, said means for shifting operating during feeding of the continuous form paper, to accommodate a change in width of the continuous form paper.
A printer, using continuous form paper having a width and a length, said printer comprising:
- printing means;
- a pair of tractors, each of said tractors provided with a tractor belt, said tractors together feeding the paper along a paper path of said printer, and one of said pair of tractors provided to each lateral side of said paper path;
- means for movably supporting said tractor belts to be laterally shiftable across the width of the paper;
- and
- means for compensating for changes in paper width in response to changes in the width of the paper while the paper is in motion, said compensating means allowing said tractor belts to laterally shift in response to changes in the width of the paper while the paper is in motion and during feeding of the paper.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.