Shuttle printer with shifting wire guides
AssigneeBrother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsAtsushi Hirota, Atsuo Sakaida
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A shuttle printer has a flexible arm made of a resilient member, to which tip guides are fixed. Print wires driven by a plurality of piezoelectric actuators are supported by the flexible arm. Midway guides are provided to support and guide the intermediate portions of the print wires. The tip guides guide and support the tip ends of the print wires. The tip guides and the midway guides are rotatably supported by the flexible arm. When the tip guides are reciprocated in the lateral direction thereof by a reciprocating mechanism, the resilient arm is also driven to swing. Therefore, printing is carried out while a pair of resilient members of the flexible arm are elastically deformed in the lateral direction.
Claims22
A shuttle printer comprising:
- a plurality of elongated print wires laterally arranged at predetermined intervals in a reference plane, each print wire having a fixed end and a free end;
- an actuator unit including a plurality of actuators, each actuator being coupled to the fixed end of a print wire to drive the print wire based on print data;
- a reciprocating mechanism coupled to the plurality of print wires for swinging the print wires transversely within the reference plane;
- and
- a wire guide coupled to the actuator unit supporting the plurality of print wires during transverse movement within the reference plane, including a flexible arm extending in the reference plane having a pair of elastic side walls extending on both sides of the plurality of print wires, an end connecting member extending between the side walls and supporting the free ends of the print wires, and at least one intermediate guide rotatably secured between the side walls, wherein the intermediate guide supports the plurality of print wires between the actuators and the end connecting member.
A shuttle printer with a frame, plurality of print wires laterally arranged at predetermined intervals and having tip ends facing a platen, a plurality of actuators supported by said frame coupled to said print wires respectively driving said print wires, tip guides guiding and supporting said tip ends of said print wires, and a reciprocating mechanism coupled to said frame and said tip guides reciprocating said tip guides in a lateral swinging plane, comprising:
- a gate-shaped flexible arm including an end member to which said tip guides are fixed, a pair of right and left resilient members fixed to said end member and to the frame extending in a direction generally parallel to said print wires at a right side and a left side of said print wires, respectively, and a midway guide laterally rotatably coupled between said right and left resilient members to guide add support said print wires such that said midway guide is rotatable on an axis orthogonal to the swinging plane in which said tip guides are laterally reciprocated.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.