Claims
- 1. An electronic control circuit for an address printing office machine using an ink jet printer for repetitively printing a plurality of address labels, said control circuit comprising repertoire data storage means for bulk storing a preexisting plurality of complete sets of data, each of said sets of data representing the alphanumerical symbols required to print an address label, clock pulse generator means for supplying a stream of clock pulses, label memory means coordinated by said clock pulses for repeatedly reading out of said bulk storing means and storing in said label memory means blocks a predetermined number of said data sets without destruction of said stored data in said bulk storage means, whereby the same data may be repeatedly read out from said bulk storage means on different occasions, ink jet means responsive to a readout of each of said data sets from said label memory means for individually printing a plurality of alphanumerical characters in the form of an address label, the total compilation of characters of each of said labels corresponding to one complete data set, said ink jet means comprising means for mechanically oscillating a jet nozzle over a cyclically repetitive path, means responsive to said readout of said data for off/on modulating a stream from said ink jet simultaneously coordinated with said mechanical oscillations, automatic feeder means for successively transporting a plurality of media, one at a time, in the path of said ink jet stream at a fixed speed synchronized with the oscillation cycle of said jet nozzle and the off/on modulation responsive to said readout of data, and means for coordinating the printing of alphanumerical characters forming each label with a reading out of said sets of data and a passage of one of said media through said automatic feeder means.
- 2. The electronic control circuit of claim 1 and a media pick up gate means for selecting and delivering one at a time of said stacked plurality of media to said ink jet means, vacuum means next to said gate means for sucking downwardly the bottom one of said stacked media, shuttle means supporting both said stacked media and said vacuum means for reciprocally moving the downwardly sucked media toward and away from said gate means, the mechanical disposition of said gate means being such that said sucked down media passes under said gate means at one extremity of said suttle movement.
- 3. The electronic control circuit of claim 2 and means for vertically adjusting said gate means to a height which enables only the sucked down bottom one media to pass under said gate regardless of the thickness or the transverse uniformity of thickness of said media.
- 4. The electronic control circuit of claim 1 wherein said mechanically oscillating jet nozzle follows said repetitive cyclic path with an upsweeping and a downsweeping motion, matrix means for successively resolving said data into alphanumeric characters defined by row and column positions, a plurality of means for individually storing data relative to each column in said matrix, and means for transferring said stored column data from said matrix to said data storage means during said downsweeping motion and for reading out said data storage means to said jet stream modulating means during said upsweeping motion.
- 5. The control circuit of claim 1 wherein said repertoire data storage means comprises a bulk data storage medium which may be changed, updated, increased or decreased, or deleted in whole or in part, means comprising a microprocessor for calling up said blocks of data from said bulk storage by reading out a predetermined number of sets of data forming a block of said data, and means for directing a ganged multiplicity of said ink jet means to simultaneously print out a plurality of lines at a time responsive to each of said sets of data, until said predetermined number of sets have been used to print out data after which the next block of data is called up from said bulk storage, said transport means comprising means coordinated by said microprocessor for picking up and feeding the media under the ganged ink jet means, and means responsive to said microprocessor for performing a number of housekeeping functions simultaneously with said printout to insure delivery of an adequate supply of ink to and collection of spent ink from the ink jet means.
Parent Case Info
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 722,899, filed Sept. 13, 1976 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,122,457.
US Referenced Citations (7)
Non-Patent Literature Citations (3)
Entry |
Videojet Printer for Computer Print-Out, GAM, Feb. 1970, pp. 46-50. |
Ernbo, Arne, Application of Intensity-Modulated Ink Jets to A-N Printing Devices, IREE Trans. on Computers, vol. C.-21, No. 9, Sep. 1972, pp. 942-947. |
Ink Jet Printing: At the Crossroads in 1974, Inland Printer/American Lithographer, Jan. 1974, pp. 48-51. |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
722899 |
Sep 1976 |
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