Printing device having at least two printing stations separated spatially from one another

A printing head (106) as a first functional unit and at least one further functional unit (107) of the same kind or of a different kind are attached to a common carrier (105) and mounted by means of a carriage for displacement in each case in parallel in the direction of the print lines and are arranged so as to swivel between the individual working areas of the printing device by means of a common swivel drive. The arrangement of the individual functional units (106, 107) on the carrier (105) and the alignment of the swivel axis (104) are selected such that the functional units can be swiveled in each case in the direction of the print lines and perpendicularly to the feed direction out of and into the respective printing station (101, 102).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The invention relates to a printing device having at least two working 
areas which are separated spatially from one another and each have 
separate feed devices for the original assigned to the respective working 
area, using at least one printing head and at least one further functional 
unit of the same kind or different. 
2. Description of the Related Art 
Printing devices of this kind are preferably considered for use in counter 
workstations in which, for example, forms, savings books, checks, 
identification papers, labels or the like are printed and read and, in 
addition, receipts, cash slips etc. are issued for the customers and/or 
printed journals are kept. In view of the usual lack of space at the 
counter workstation, devices of this kind should only have very small 
external dimensions. On the other hand, simple handling and a high degree 
of accessibility are required during maintenance, for example when 
changing the ink ribbon, for the operation at the counter to proceed as 
rapidly and free of faults as possible. 
In view of these requirements, concepts in which a separate printing head 
with separate drive and, if appropriate, also a reading head are used for 
each printing station do not come into practical consideration because of 
the increased outlay in terms of costs and the space requirement due to 
the plurality of units. 
It is therefore already known (cf. DE A 3,039,124), to arrange the printing 
head and reading head next to one another on a common intermediate carrier 
and to provide a common drive for both units. This arrangement requires 
both a complicated ink ribbon guidance for the printing head, so that the 
reading window of the reading head arranged directly next to it is not 
covered and also an increased space requirement in terms of width since, 
in order to read and write the complete form width, the reading head must 
be moved beyond the form on the one side and on the other side the 
printing head must be moved beyond the form if a loss in form width is not 
to be accepted and the two margins are not to be dispensed with when 
reading and writing. Even here, the outlay is also still considerable 
because, as before, a separate printing head including drive and actuation 
must be provided for a separate printing station. 
Therefore, another known device already provides a swivelable carrier 
element to which only a single printing head and a reading head arranged 
perpendicularly to the printing head are attached. The swivel axis of the 
carrier element drive extends in such a way that the printing head can be 
swiveled forwards and backwards perpendicularly to the direction of the 
lines between two printing stations. This swivelable arrangement also 
requires a large amount of space because in one swivel position the 
reading head protrudes to the front and only assumes a park position 
there, whilst in the other swivel position the printing head extends 
backwards into the device to a corresponding degree. A further amount of 
space in terms of width may also be required under certain circumstances 
if the printing head has to be positioned laterally outside the roller 
area of the feed device to swivel. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention is based on the object of improving a printing device 
of the type mentioned at the beginning in such a way that the printing and 
reading units attached on a swivel drive can be used on the individual 
printing stations in as versatile a manner as possible, that the amount of 
space required for this arrangement can be kept as small as possible and 
that, in addition, the device can be easily handled and serviced. 
The solution of this object results according to the invention a printing 
device having at least two working areas which are separated spatially 
from one another and each having separate feed devices for a printed 
original assigned to the respective working area, the printing device 
using at least one printing head as a first functional unit and at least 
one further functional unit of the same kind or of a different kind, the 
functional units being attached to a common carrier and mounted for 
displacement in each case in a direction parallel to the direction of the 
print lines by means of a carriage. The functional units are arranged so 
as to swivel between the individual working areas by means of a common 
swivel drive, a swivel axis of the swivel drive running perpendicularly to 
the direction of the print lines. The arrangement of the individual 
functional units on the carrier is such that the functional units can be 
swiveled in each case in the direction of the lines and perpendicularly to 
the paper feed direction out of and into the respective working areas. A 
device of this kind requires a very small amount of space overall, to be 
precise, both in terms of width since the swivel movement occurs in the 
center of the printing field in the direction of the printing line, i.e. 
perpendicularly to the feeding direction of the original and in terms of 
depth because, due to the swivel process, the individual functional units 
merely interchange their working place and therefore none of the 
functional units remains in the interim in a park position which takes up 
space. 
Advantageous developments of the invention include the functional units 
being arranged on the common carrier so they are in such a way that, with 
respect to the plane running perpendicularly to the swivel axis, they are 
arranged at .alpha. angles of the same size relative to a plane 
perpendicular to the swivel axis, the angles .alpha. being in a range of 
45.degree..ltoreq..alpha..ltoreq.90.degree.. Further, apart from the 
printing head, the functional units are arranged in such a way that at the 
same time at least two functional units can be swiveled mutually into 
respectively assigned working areas. The further functional units may be 
for example, a second further printing head, a sensor head, an optical 
reading head, a magnetic writing-reading head or a cutting blade. 
An example of a swivel drive includes a swivel plate with a 
hollow-cylindrical projection which is swivelably mounted in a bushing 
provided on the carriage, and a swivel motor attached to the carriage and 
coupled mechanically via a pinion to a gearwheel on the swivel plate. The 
printing head and/or the further functional units are mounted axially 
displaceably, with respect to the spacing to the respective working area, 
by means of controllable lifting devices. These lifting devices comprise 
an axial lifting motor which, by means of cam plates, brings about a 
height adjustment of the printing head and/or of the further functional 
units. 
The working area of a preferred embodiment is constructed as a flatbed 
document printing device in which the flatbed document track has a 
pressure bar serving as a printing block and spring-loaded roller pairs 
which are arranged on both sides of the pressure bar. In each case, at 
least the lower rollers of a roller pair are coupled to a controllable 
document conveyor motor and the respective upper rollers are mounted so as 
to swivel out upwardly. 
Thus it is provided, inter alia, that the individual functional units, i.e. 
the printing head and possibly a reading head, a writing-reading head or a 
cutting blade constructed as a roller blade are arranged on a swivel plate 
in such a way that at least two of these functional units are directed to 
in each case one printing block of a working area. 
The two functional units are arranged with their axes on the swivel plate 
at, for example, an obtuse angle with respect to one another in the 
direction of the printing block, so that even when swiveling they do not 
require any space in excess of the usual contours of a printing mechanism. 
In particular applications, a right-angled or extended position of the 
functional units with respect to one another can be provided; this depends 
on the desired printing planes. If a cutting device is provided, this is 
advantageously mounted in further working positions of the swivel plate. 
The roller blade is then applied in each case to one edge of a pressure 
bar as a corresponding cutting edge. 
The functional units are advantageously mounted axially displaceably on the 
swivel plate in axial carriages and are adjustable in the axial direction 
so that they can be raised, in each case under the control of the printing 
block and document, in order to allow documents to pass which are to be 
inserted. Both axial drives are advantageously to be actuated by a 
controllable motor. In its print setting, the printing head is supported 
in a non-positively connecting manner on the document to be printed by 
means of a distancing roller so that tolerances in the head bearing with 
respect to the printing block and the document thickness do not have any 
influence on the effective pin stroke which is significant for the print 
quality. If a head lift control is provided it is advantageously possible 
to move it into the raised position in each case before swiveling the 
heads since then the required swivel area is smaller, which leads to a 
structural miniaturization of the surrounding housing. 
The drives for swiveling for the ink ribbon and/or the head lift can be 
mounted on the chassis side. They are connected by means of drive means, 
such as cables or belts, guided over the width of the carriage to the 
swivel plate to be driven, to the ink ribbon cartridge drive or the head 
lift device. 
As a further alternative for the swivel drive, the ink ribbon drive and/or 
the head lift drive, controlled clutches can also be arranged between 
parts connected rigidly to the chassis, for example the pressure bar or 
the carriage or a cable or belt, and the parts connected rigidly to the 
carriage which in each case when coupled bring about a transmission of the 
carriage movement to the associated drive. 
In a preferred embodiment, the axial drive motor and an ink ribbon drive 
motor are advantageously arranged on the swivel plate and also the swivel 
motor is advantageously arranged on the carriage so that no mechanical 
gearing elements are guided on the carriages and a compact head assembly 
is formed with the carriage. This head assembly can be installed in 
printing devices of varying widths which can be equipped with different 
document conveying devices. 
A preferred arrangement of the printing areas contains a flatbed guideway 
mounted below which has a document supply support mounted upstream of it 
outside the housing so that account cards, savings books, labels etc. are 
to be inserted there and can be read and printed on. A further upper 
printing block serves for printing on two tracks, these being expediently 
held at different widths, the one track serving to convey a journal which 
is wound up again inside the printer housing and the other, narrower track 
serving for conveying receipts which are led out from a slot in the 
housing. 
In order to offer a good degree of accessibility of the printing tracks for 
fitting new journal paper or receipt paper, the upper printing block which 
is constructed as a pressure bar is swivelably mounted on its sides. 
Furthermore, an intervention facility into the flatbed conveyor track is 
provided by mounting the upper guide plates and the pressure rollers so 
they are capable of swiveling up together when the head assembly is moved 
to the side so that parts of documents which may be causing faults can be 
easily removed. 
A particularly good degree of accessibility to the flatbed conveyor track 
is obtained by means of a swivelable bearing of the carriage track in side 
pieces which can be fixed on the chassis by locking. Any tolerances of the 
carriage track with respect to the print blocks are compensated by means 
of the axial displaceability of the heads.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show a printing device with two printing stations 101, 102 of 
which one is constructed as a flatbed printer with bidirectional feed 
device (see the feed rollers 103) and the other as a journal printer. In 
the space between the two printing stations 101, 102, a carrier 105 which 
can be swiveled about an oblique swivel axis 104 and to which a printing 
head 106 and an OCR reading head 107 are fastened is provided. The 
printing head 106, arranged perpendicularly above the flatbed printing 
station 101 and the OCR reading head 107 are at an obtuse angle to one 
another, the swivel axis 104 running in the angle bisecting line situated 
between them. With respect to the plane running perpendicularly to the 
swivel axis, the functional units printing head 106 and reading head 107 
are arranged at an acute angle .gtoreq.45.degree. of equal size. Due to 
this arrangement, the functional units can be swiveled backwards and 
forwards if required between the individual printing stations in each case 
in the direction of the print lines, i.e. transversely to the respective 
feed direction. The ink ribbon cartridge 108 assigned to the printing head 
106 does not have to be removed during the swivel process but rather 
swivels together with the printing head 106 into the respective other 
printing position. 
As required, the illustrated device can be equipped differently with 
respect to the functional units. Thus, for example, printing heads may be 
used exclusively, it being possible if required to use printing heads of 
different technology (needle, ink, thermal printing etc.). A bar code 
reader can additionally be attached to the reading head. There is also, if 
required, the possibility of additionally providing a reading head between 
two printing heads located opposite one another. 
FIG. 3 shows an embodiment in which the functional units are arranged in a 
swivel plane running perpendicularly to the swivel axis, the swivel axis 
running parallel to the two feed devices of the respective printing 
stations. 
In the embodiment according to FIG. 4 in which, as in FIG. 3, the reference 
symbols from FIGS. 1 and 2 are used, the two functional units are arranged 
at an angle of 45.degree. to the plane running perpendicularly to the axis 
of rotation so that the functional units are at a right angle to one 
another. In this arrangement, the original for the printing station 102 is 
led out perpendicularly upwards. 
FIG. 5 shows a printing device in simplified form in a lateral section with 
the side wall removed. A printing head DK and a reading head LK as further 
functional units are arranged on a swivel plate ST so as to swivel about 
the swivel axis SA. The swivel plate ST plugs with a hollow-cylindrical 
projection 2 into a bushing 20 with ball bearings 21 which is mounted on a 
carriage ZS. This carriage ZS is displaceably mounted in the direction of 
the lines on the rods serving as carriage track SB. A cable 22 is fed 
through the bushing 20 and hollow-cylindrical projection 2 so as to be 
flexible and rotatable through 180.degree., via which cable the magnets of 
the needle printing head DK, the reading head LK and an ink ribbon drive 
motor FM of an ink ribbon FB and a further motor are electrically 
supplied. The cable 22 is led out of the carriage ZS as a ribbon cable in 
a cable conduit 11 fixed to the housing in a known way and connected to an 
electronic control device SV. In the swiveled position, the printing head 
DK' and the reading head LK' are illustrated by dashed lines so that it 
can be recognized that, inclusive of the ink ribbon, virtually no 
additional space is required for a swivel area of the heads. 
Arranged in the carriage ZS is a swivel motor 25 which intermeshes with a 
pinion 26 in a gearwheel 27 of the hollow-cylindrical projection 2. The 
carriage drive occurs with a carriage motor 30, mounted on the chassis 
side, by means of a belt drive 31 and a toothed belt drive 32 to which the 
carriage ZS is attached. 
In the housing 1, a chassis 10 is used which receives the carriage track 
SB, the carriage drive 30 -32, two pressure bars DB1, DB2 serving as 
printing blocks, as well as journal paper rolls 40, 41 and their conveying 
attachment and winding drive 42 and the receipt guides and supports them 
with the side walls. The control device SV is arranged in the rear region. 
The journal is fed from the supply roller 40 by means of a spring-loaded 
pair of conveyor rollers 43, 44 and by means of a deflection roller 45 to 
the journal winding roller 41. The deflection roller and the conveying 
roller 44, 45 as well as the pressure bar DB2 can be swiveled as 
assemblies on side pieces into the position of the pressure bar DB2' shown 
by dashed lines about a swivel axis 46 so that the journal paper can be 
easily inserted. When swiveled down, this assembly is supported on and 
locked to a support 47. 
In the front, lower housing region, a flat bed document guide 51-56 is 
arranged which consists of a document baffle 55, constructed as an 
insertion funnel, a further document baffle 56 forming a document shaft 
and spring-loaded pairs of guide rollers 51, 52, 53, 54 which are 
positioned in each case in front of and behind the pressure bar DB1. At 
the same time, the printing head DK and the reading head LK can be 
displaced axially into a raised head position K". 
FIG. 6 shows details of the swivel plate ST with heads removed. Two 
angled-off retaining arm pairs 60, 61 in which guide bolts 62, 63 are held 
in pairs and received at the other end in a crossbar 64 are located on the 
said swivel plate ST. An axial carriage 65, 66, aligned in each case in 
the direction of the head axes, for the reading head and printing head 
(not illustrated) is guided axially displaceably on the guide bolts 62, 
63. The axial carriages 65, 66 are loaded by springs 67, 68 in each case 
in one direction and supported in the opposite direction thereto on in 
each case one cam plate 69 by means of in each case one dog 70. 
The axial carriage 66 bearing the printing head is supported with a spacing 
roller 80 on the pressure bar DB1 or the document lying thereon when it is 
released by the cam plate 69. 
FIG. 7 shows a view of the swivel plate ST with heads removed and axial 
carriages removed. Mounted on the said swivel plate is an axial travel 
motor 71 which bears at the end two cam plates 69, 69A on which in each 
case one of the dogs of the two axial carriages is supported. The axial 
travel motor 71 is arranged transversely to the retaining arm pairs 60, 61 
in a space-saving way. 
FIG. 8 shows a view of the swivel plate ST obliquely from below without the 
axial travel motor and with guide bolts 62, 63 which are inserted into the 
retaining arm pairs 60, 61 in pairs and are held at the other end in the 
crossbar 64. 
FIG. 9 shows a top view of the printing device with the top opened up. The 
control device SV is mounted in the rear area of the housing 1. In front 
of it, the chassis 10 is located which is composed of a plurality of 
parallel side walls by means of transverse rods. The upper pressure bar 
and the reading head are constructed so that the carriage track SB, the 
carriage ZS and the swivel plate ST with the printing head DK and the ink 
ribbon FB can be seen. Parallel to the lower pressure bar DB1, the 
pressure rollers 52, 54 can be seen which are drawn in a partially cutaway 
form. In the lateral chassis area, the drives 81, 82 of the drive rollers, 
lying below, of the flatbed guide and its document drive motor 83 can be 
seen. 
A first electromagnet M1 acts on the swivel axis 58 of the rear pressure 
rollers 54 of the flat bed conveyor and a further electromagnet, which is 
not visible, acts via a gearing connection 59 on the swivel axis 57 of the 
front pressure rollers 52. The pressure of the rollers by means of the 
magnets M1 is controlled in a known manner by means of light barriers 
which are arranged near to the roller axles in the document conveying 
area. In the end region of the axles of the pressure rollers 51, 52; 53, 
54, gearwheel pairs 92 are arranged which intermesh with one another in 
the pressed-on state and drive the roller pairs synchronously in each case 
on both sides of the document. 
For the purpose of good accessibility of the document track in the event of 
servicing, the upper roller axles can be swiveled up together with the 
guide plates through which the rollers 52, 54 project into the document 
track. Furthermore, for the sake of good accessibility the shafts of the 
carriage track SB are fastened in side pieces 10S of the chassis, which 
pieces are mounted so as to swivel about the front axle 91 and can be 
connected and locked to the chassis 10 in each case using a locking device 
93. The carriage drive M, (FIG. 1), is also attached to the side pieces 10S 
so that the entire carriage device, including the swiveling device with the 
buttons, can be swiveled out. 
In the center housing region, a newsprint roll 41 and a receipt or label 
supply roll 40A are located. The conveyor motor 42A is attached to the 
chassis wall next to the supply roller. The said motor drives a pair of 
rollers consisting of drive rollers (not shown) and the associated 
pressure rollers 44A. The pair of rollers can be swiveled about a swivel 
axis 46A, like the pressure rollers 44 of the journal transporter, and can 
be locked to a block 47. 
FIG. 10 is an exploded drawing of the housing which consists of a floor 
trough 12, a U-shaped side frame 13, an angular front flap 14, a cover 
flap 15 and a front document supply support 16 with clamp-shaped 
adjustable lateral document stops 17, 17A. All the parts can be detachably 
locked to one another so that all the assemblies are freely accessible in 
the event of servicing. In the cover flap 15, there is a viewing window 18 
for the printing of journals and a receipt slip removal slot 19. On the 
front of the floor trough 12 there are lateral openings 12A, 12B for 
operating switches and displays. 
Although other modifications and changes may be suggested by those skilled 
in the art, it is the intention of the inventors to embody within the 
patent warranted hereon all changes and modifications as reasonably and 
properly come within the scope of their contribution to the art.