OFF-THE-CARRIER RIBBON FEED AND DRIVE ON A HIGH SPEED MOVABLE-CARRIER IMPACT PRINTER

摘要

OFF-THE-CARRIER RIBBON FEED ANDDRIVE ON A HIGH SPEED MOVABLE-CARRIER IMPACT PRINTERABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREIn order to maintain constant tension on a relativelylong expanse of ribbon stretched along the carrier path inimpact printer apparatus having off-the-carrier ribbon driveand feed, apparatus is provided for driving a first and asecond reel in forward and reverse directions, each reelbeing adapted to support a portion of an inventory of aribbon web running along said carrier path from one of saidreels to the other at a constant speed differential betweenthe portion of the web being taken up on one of the reelsand the portion of the web being supplied on the other ofsaid reels irrespective of the drive direction which com-prises a first inelastic drive belt for peripherally non-slip driving the web portion on the first reel and a sec-ond inelastic drive belt for peripherally non-slip drivingthe web portion on the second reel. A first drive meansprovided for selectively engaging and driving the first andsecond belts in the forward direction wherein the first reeltakes up the ribbon; in this case, the second drive belt isdriven at a speed slower than the first drive belt whereinthe ribbon between the reels is maintained under a constantstrain. Second drive means to provide for selectivelyengaging and driving the first and second belts in thereverse direction wherein the second reel takes up the web;the first drive belt in this case is driven at a speedslower than the second belt whereby the ribbon between thereels is also maintained under a constant strain.AT9-78-037