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US 5,524,992 AGranted
Small printer
AssigneeSeiko Epson Corporation
InventorsShin Takeuchi, Seiya Sato
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A small printer is disclosed which contains a character member, such as a character ring or a character belt. The character member comprises a plurality of character bodies which are connected by coupling portions and which comprise dot-like projections which form dot characters. The small printer also has a device to rotate the character member in order to place a desired dot character body which contains the dot character to be printed between a hammer and a piece of paper. Subsequently, the hammer strikes the desired character body and the dot character is printed on the paper. Since the small printer has the above-described construction, the small printer is less expensive and smaller than conventional printers.
Claims21
A small printer comprising:
- a character member which comprises a plurality of linked character bodies disposed on a surface of said character member,
- wherein some of said character bodies are dot character bodies which have surfaces on which dot characters, which comprise a pattern of dot-like projections, are formed,
- wherein said pattern is represented by a dot pattern matrix having n1 rows and n2 columns which form at least two matrix locations,
- wherein at least one of said dot character bodies has a first dot character which has N number of said dot-like projections formed in all of said at least two matrix locations, and
- wherein at least another of said dot character bodies has a second dot character which has less than said N number of said dot-like projections formed in less than all of said at least two matrix locations;
- a select means for selecting a desired character body from said plurality of linked character bodies;
- a hammer for pressing said desired character body against a print paper;
- a pushing means for driving said hammer;
- and
- a character advance means for moving said hammer a first incremental distance in a horizontal direction of said print paper, wherein said first incremental distance is approximately equal to a product of a distance p2 and n2, wherein said distance p2 is approximately equal to a horizontal dot pitch of one of said dot-like projections in said horizontal direction.
7 more elements
A small printer comprising:
- a character belt which comprises a plurality of character bodies on a surface of said character belt,
- wherein said character bodies are linked by coupling portions,
- wherein some of said character bodies are dot character bodies,
- wherein a distance between a point on one dot character body and a corresponding point on an adjacent dot character body is approximately equal to a distance p11,
- wherein said dot character bodies have a row of n dot forming positions,
- wherein a distance between a point on one dot forming position and a corresponding point on an adjacent dot forming position is approximately equal to a distance p12,
- wherein n equals an integer which is greater than or equal to 2, and
- wherein a dot-like projection is located on at least one of said dot forming positions of at least one of said dot character bodies;
- support means for supporting said character belt in a manner such that said character belt is rotatable in a horizontal direction of a print paper;
- a hammer for pressing a desired character body against said print paper;
- select means for selecting said desired character body which comprises drive means for rotating said character belt in said horizontal direction and for stopping said desired character body at a location between said hammer and said print paper;
- and
- character advance means for moving said hammer a first incremental distance in said horizontal direction, wherein said first incremental distance is greater than or equal to a distance p13,
- wherein said distance p11 is approximately equal to the product of said distance p12, n, and a positive integer m1 and said distance p13 is approximately equal to the resultant of said distance p11 divided by said positive integer m1.
11 more elements
A small printer comprising:
- a character member which comprises a plurality of linked character bodies disposed on a surface of said character member,
- wherein said character bodies comprise a dot-like character body which has a surface on which a matrix of dot forming positions are formed,
- wherein said matrix has n1 rows and n2 columns which form at least two matrix locations,
- wherein a dot-like character is formed on said surface of said dot-like character body by forming dot-like projections in two adjacent dot forming positions of said matrix such that no space is formed between said dot-like projections,
- select means for selecting a desired character body from said plurality of linked character bodies;
- a hammer for pressing said desired character body against a print paper;
- pushing means for driving said hammer;
- and
- character advance means for moving said hammer a first incremental distance in a horizontal direction of said print paper, wherein said first incremental distance is approximately equal to a product of a distance p2 and n2, wherein said distance p2 is approximately equal to a horizontal dot pitch of one of said dot-like projections in said horizontal direction.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.