Media positioning means for a printer

A media positioning means for a printer having first and second transport mechanisms which are positioned in opposed relation with each other to form a common throat therebetween. Each of the first and second transport mechanisms includes first and second endless belts, a cross bar whose ends are secured to the belts, and grippers mounted on the cross bar to enable first and second record media inserted in the throat to be individually gripped thereby and positioned in side by side or overlapping relationship with regard to a print line in the printer.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to a media positioning means for a machine like a 
printer for independently feeding a plurality of record media to a print 
station in the printer; the record media may be positioned in side by side 
relationship or in overlapping relationship at the print station. 
In order to make certain business machines, like accounting machines, more 
versatile, it is necessary that such machines be capable of printing on a 
variety of record media or forms. Some of the record media to be printed 
upon are continuous forms, and others are manually inserted forms like 
ledger cards, passbooks, and the like. In certain situations it may be 
desirable to print the same information simultaneously or in one operation 
on two or more record media which are inserted in the machine. 
Some prior art media positioning means are shown in the following U.S. 
Patent Nos. 
3,426,345; -- 3,653,483; and 3,553,649; -- 3,684,076. 
A German laid-open Application No. 2,118,414 discloses a record feeding 
mechanism in which a record material is held by electromagnetically 
operated clamps which are fixed to a bar whose ends are carried by a pair 
of endless belts; however, this prior art mechanism does not appear to be 
capable of independently feeding a plurality of record media to a print 
station so as to enable such media to be independently positioned in side 
by side relationship or in overlapping relationship at a print station as 
is done with the media positioning means of the present invention. 
The media positioning means of the present invention is also simple to 
manufacture, is economical to produce, and can be readily incorporated in 
a variety of machines like printers, accounting machines, or other 
business machines. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to a media positioning means having first and second 
transport means which are positioned in opposed relationship to each other 
so as to form a common throat therebetween thereby enabling at least first 
and second record media inserted in the throat to be independently moved 
and positioned with reference to a reference line like a print line in a 
printer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
FIG. 1 is a general perspective view of a machine 10, like an accounting 
machine or other business machine, in which the media positioning means of 
this invention may be incorporated. A first record medium 12 and a second 
record medium 14 are shown positioned in side by side relationship in the 
machine 10. 
FIG. 2 is a general perspective view of the media positioning means of this 
invention which is designated generally as 16 and which includes first and 
second transport means designated generally as 18 and 20 respectively, as 
are best shown in FIG. 3. The first and second transport means 18, 20 are 
positioned in opposed relationship to each other to form a common throat 
22 therebetween. The machine 10 also includes a platen means 24 having a 
reference line 26 or print line associated therewith, and a print head 
means 28 in printing relationship with the platen means 24. The means for 
moving the print head means 28 along the print line 26 may be conventional 
and may include a supporting carriage 30 moveably mounted on spaced, 
parallel supporting rods 32 and 34 (parallel to reference line 26) and 
moved by a reversible motor 36 and endless belt 38. The motor 36 is 
mounted on a plate 39, and its output pulley 37 is drivingly connected to 
a pulley 41 by a belt 43. A pulley 45 and timing disc 47 are fixed to 
pulley 41 to rotate therewith, and these three elements are conventionally 
supported for rotation on an axle (not shown) which is mounted in the 
plate 39. The timing disc 47 has optical markings 49 thereon which are 
detected by a conventional detector 51 for use in conventionally 
controlling the movement of the print head means 28 along the reference 
line 26. The endless belt 38 is supported near bar 74 by a pulley (not 
shown) and the belt 38 is secured to the carriage 30 to enable the 
carriage and print head means 28 to be conventionally traversed along the 
reference line 26. 
The first transport means 18 includes first and second belt member or means 
like a first endless belt 42 which is mounted on spaced pulleys 44 and 46, 
and a second endless belt 48 which is mounted on spaced pulleys 50 and 52, 
as is best shown in FIG. 2. The pulleys 44 and 50 are fixed to rotate with 
a driving shaft 54 which is conventionally, rotatably supported in 
suitable supports not shown. One end of the shaft 54 has fixed thereto a 
gear 56 whose teeth are in driving engagement with a worm gear 58 which is 
reversibly driven by a reversible motor 60. The shaft 54 also has fixed 
thereto a conventional timing disc 62 which cooperates with a first 
conventional disc detector 64 as will be described later herein. 
The first transport means 18 also includes a first bar member or means 66 
(FIG. 2) having a first end 68 which is conventionally secured to the 
first endless belt 42 and a second end 70 which is similarly secured to 
the second endless belt 48. The first end 68 of the bar means 66 is 
slidably mounted in an upper slot 72 in a stationary bar 74 and the second 
end 70 of the bar means 66 is slidably mounted in an upper slot 76 in a 
stationary bar 78 to enable the bar means 66 to be moved in a direction 
which is perpendicular to the reference line 26 and in a plane which is 
perpendicular to the printing axis of the print head means 28. The bar 
means 66 is moved towards the reference line 26 by the belts 42 and 48 
when the motor 60 is driven in one direction and is moved away therefrom 
when the motor 60 is driven in the opposite direction. 
The first bar means 66 also has a plurality of attachment or gripper means 
80 thereon for gripping a document or record medium and moving it relative 
to the reference line 26. The bar means 66 includes a support bar 82 which 
is positioned perpendicularly to the bar means 66, as is best shown in 
FIGS. 2 and 4. Each gripper means 80 includes a solenoid 84 and a 
"U"-shaped core piece 86 which is secured to the support bar 82. The 
solenoid 84 has an "L"-shaped armature or clapper 88 which is 
conventionally, pivotally mounted on a leg 90 of the core piece 86, as for 
example, by notching out a portion of the leg 90 and having shoulders on 
the clapper 88 abut against the leg 90, as is best shown in FIG. 4. The 
clapper 88 is retained on the solenoid 84 by utilizing a tension spring 92 
having one end secured to an extension 94 of the support bar 82 and the 
remaining end secured to a generally "L"-shaped extension 96 which is 
formed from a portion of the armature or clapper 88. The spring 92 
normally keeps the clapper 88 in the position shown in FIG. 4 in which the 
forward end 98 of the clapper is pulled out of the common throat 22. When 
the solenoid 84 is energized, the clapper 88 is pivoted on the leg 90, and 
the end 100 of the clapper 88 is attracted to the solenoid 84, causing the 
forward end 98 to enter the common throat 22, as shown in dashed outline 
98', to receive a record medium inserted therein. The common throat 22 has 
an upper stationary plate 102 forming the upper boundary thereof and also 
has a lower stationary plate 104 forming the lower boundary thereof. The 
upper and lower plates 102, 104 have aligned slots therein as at 106, 108 
respectively, which slots are formed perpendicularly to the reference line 
26 to enable the gripper means 80 to be moved towards and away from the 
reference line 26 and to facilitate the gripping of a record medium 
inserted in the common throat 22 by having the end 98 of the clapper drop 
below the lower plate 104 through the slot 108 as shown at 98' in FIG. 4. 
The bar means 66 also has a hole 110 therein (FIGS. 2 and 4) for each 
gripper means 80 to enable the associated extension 96 and spring 92 to 
pass therethrough. 
The first transport means 18 also has first detector means like 112 (shown 
in FIG. 4) associated therewith for detecting the edge of a record medium 
when it is inserted in the common throat 22 between the upper and lower 
plates 102, 104. The detector means 112 may be any conventional light 
source and light responsive member which coact to detect the presence of 
the edge of the record medium thereat, and several of such detector means 
112 are positioned along the length of the bar means 66 with their 
associated gripper means 80. While only two gripper means 80 are shown 
along the length of bar means 66 to simplify the drawings, there are 
several such gripper means positioned along the length of bar means to 
enable a record medium to be positioned anywhere along the width of the 
common throat 22, and gripped by the gripper means 80. 
In order to grip a document or record medium inserted in the throat 22, the 
solenoids 84 of all the gripper means 80 are energized by a control means 
(FIG. 7) to be later described herein, and the associated clappers 88 
pivot on their respective legs 90 (FIG. 4) and the forward ends 98 of the 
clappers 88 pass through the associated slots (like 108) in the lower 
plate 104 to assume the position shown as at 98' in FIG. 4. In general, 
the gripper means 80 of the first transport means 18 have a home position 
in which they are positioned in the rearmost position shown in FIG. 4. As 
the record medium is inserted into the throat 22, the innermost edge 
thereof comes into operative proximity with the first detector means 112 
which produce a signal which is fed to a line finding control means 114 
(FIG. 7) to deenergize the solenoids 84, permitting the record medium to 
be gripped between the ends 98 of the clappers 88 and associated abutment 
members 116 (secured to the underside of the bar means 66) of the gripper 
means 80. The gripped record medium is then positioned with reference to 
the reference line 26 by the line finding control means 114 by energizing 
a first drive means 118 (including the reversible motor 60) to thereby 
position a particular line on the record medium (like 12 in FIG. 1) at the 
reference line 26 in preparation for printing by the print head means 28. 
The second transport means 20 is generally similar to the first transport 
means 18 already described, and includes first and second belt member or 
means like a first endless belt 120 (FIG. 2) which is mounted on spaced 
pulleys 122 and 124, and a second endless belt 126 which is mounted on 
spaced pulleys 128 (not shown in FIG. 2) and 130. The pulleys 128 and 130 
are fixed to rotate with a driving shaft 132 which is conventionally, 
rotatably supported in suitable supports (not shown). One end of the shaft 
132 has fixed thereto a gear 134 (FIG. 3) whose teeth are in driving 
engagement with a worm gear 136 which is reversibly driven by a reversible 
motor 138. The shaft 132 also has fixed thereto a conventional timing disc 
140 which cooperates with a second conventional disc detector 142 as will 
be described later herein. 
The second transport means 20 also includes a second bar member or means 
144 (FIG. 2) having a first end 146 which is conventionally secured to the 
first endless belt 120 and a second end 148 (not shown) which is similarly 
secured to the second endless belt 126. The first end 146 of the bar means 
144 is slidably mounted in a lower slot 150 (FIG. 2) of the stationary bar 
74, and the second end 148 of the bar means 144 is slidably mounted in a 
lower slot 152 of the stationary bar 78 to enable the bar means 144 to be 
moved in a direction which is perpendicular to the reference line 26 and 
in a plane which is perpendicular to the printing axis of the print head 
means 28. The bar means 144 is moved towards the reference line 26 by the 
belts 120 and 126 when the motor 138 is driven in one direction and is 
moved away therefrom when the motor 138 is driven in the opposite 
direction. 
The second bar means 144 also has a plurality of attachment or gripper 
means 80-2 thereon as is best shown in FIG. 4 for gripping a document or 
record medium and moving it relative to the reference line 26. The bar 
means 144 includes a support bar 82-2 which is positioned perpendicularly 
to the bar means 144 as is best shown in FIGS. 2 and 4. The second gripper 
means 80-2 are identical to the first gripper means 80 and are spaced 
along the support bar 82-2 and are offset in a vertical plane with 
reference to the first gripper means 80 so as to enable the clappers 88-2 
of the second gripper means 80-2 to enter the throat 22 without 
interfering with the clappers 88 of the first gripper means 80. Because 
the gripper means 80-2 are identical to the gripper means 80, the gripper 
means 80-2 are not described in further detail except to say that the 
individual elements thereof are given the same reference numerals as the 
elements of gripper means 80 except the elements in gripper means 80-2 are 
given the added reference numeral 2, as for example, clapper 88-2 of 
gripper means 80-2 is identical to the clapper 88 of gripper means 80. 
The second gripper means 80-2 operate in the same manner as the first 
gripper means 80, except the gripper means 80-2 have a home position which 
is close to reference line 26 while the gripper means 80 have a home 
position which is more distant from the reference line 26 as is best shown 
in FIG. 4, and the gripper means 80-2 are inverted with respect to the 
gripper means 80. 
The second transport means 20 also has a second detector means like 112-2 
(FIG. 4) associated therewith for detecting when the edge of a record 
medium is inserted in the common throat between the upper and lower plates 
102, 104 and approaches the end 98-2 of the clapper 88-2. The second 
detector means 112-2 is identical to detector means 112 already described. 
If a document is to be gripped by the second transport means 20, the 
solenoids 84-2 of the second gripper means 80-2 are energized by the 
control means shown in FIG. 7, and the clappers 88-2 pivot on their 
respective legs 90-2 (FIG. 4), and the forward ends 98-2 of the clappers 
88-2 pass through associated slots in the upper plate 102 in a manner 
similar to that as was described in relation to the first gripper means 
80. As the record medium is inserted in the throat 22, the innermost edge 
thereof comes into operative proximity with the second detector means 
112-2 which produce a signal which is fed to the line finding control 
means 114 (FIG. 7) to deenergize the solenoids 84-2, permitting the record 
medium to be gripped between the ends 98-2 of the clappers 88-2 and the 
associated abutment members 116-2 (secured to the top side of bar means 
144) of the gripper means 80-2. The gripped record medium is then 
positioned with reference to reference line 26 by the line finding control 
means 114 by energizing the second drive means 154 (including the 
reversible motor 138) to thereby position a particular line on the record 
medium (like 14 in FIG. 1) at reference line 26 in preparation for 
printing by the print head means 28. 
The operation of the media positioning means 16 is as follows. If a first 
record medium 12 is to be gripped by the first transport means 18 and 
printed upon, and a second record medium 14 is to be gripped by the second 
transport means 20 and printed upon, the appropriate data can be entered 
on a keyboard or entry means 156 which is interconnected with a 
conventional control means 158 and the line finding control means 114 as 
shown in FIG. 7. The first record medium 12 will be gripped by the first 
gripper means 80 as previously described and the second record medium 14 
will be gripped similarly by the second gripper means 80-2. The first disc 
62 (FIG. 2) has a plurality of optical markings 158 thereon which 
cooperate with the first detector 64 to enable the first drive means 118 
(including the motor 60) under the control of the line finding control 
means 114 to accurately position a line on the record medium with respect 
to the reference line 26. 
Similarly, the second disc 140 (FIG. 2) has a plurality of optical markings 
160 thereon which cooperate with the second disc detector 142 to enable 
the second drive means 154 (including the motor 138) under the control of 
the line finding control means 114 to accurately position a line on the 
record medium 14 with respect to the reference line 26. Because the 
control means 158, and the line finding control means 114 (FIG. 7) may be 
conventional, they are not described in further detail. While worm gears 
58 and 136 (FIG. 2) are used in the first and second drive means 118 and 
154 respectively, it is understood that other connecting techniques may be 
used, as for example, the belt 43, pulleys 37, 41, 45 and timing disc 47 
associated with motor 36 in FIG. 2 may also be used. 
While the record media 12, 14 are shown in side by side relation in FIG. 1, 
a feature of this invention is that the media 12, 14 can be placed in 
overlapping relationship to enable the print head means 28 to print 
simultaneously on both media on specific lines thereon after having been 
set by the line finding control means 114. Because the first gripper means 
80 are located along the entire length of the bar means 66 and the second 
gripper means 88-2 are located along the entire length of the bar means 
144, the record media 12, 14 may be positioned in any location along the 
width of the common throat 22. After printing by the print head means 28 
under the control of a conventional print head carriage drive means 162 
(including the reversible motor 36), the record media 12, 14 are moved out 
of the throat 22 towards the reference line 26, whereupon the solenoids 
84, 84-2 are energized to release the record media 12, 14, enabling them 
to be removed from the machine 10. 
In addition to receiving record media 12, 14 in the form of ledger cards, 
for example, the machine 10 is also capable of receiving and printing upon 
continuous forms as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. In order to effect this, the 
platen means 24 includes a stationary platen 164 which is conventionally 
mounted in side frames 166 and 168 (FIG. 2) which are part of a supporting 
unit 170 including a printer table 171 (FIG. 5) which is conventionally, 
slidably mounted in the frame means of the machine 10 to enable the 
supporting unit 170 to be pulled out between the extended position shown 
in FIG. 5 and the operating position shown in FIG. 6. The media 
positioning means 16 is also conventionally slidably mounted in the frame 
means 179 (by a conventional sliding means 181) of the machine 10 to 
enable it to be moved back from the platen means 24 (as shown in FIG. 5) 
and returned to the home position shown in FIG. 6 in which the print head 
means 28 is positioned in operative relationship with the platen means 24. 
The supporting unit 170 also includes a first supply 172 of continuous 
forms 174 and may include a second supply 176 of continuous forms 178 
which are routed around the platen means 24 as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. Any 
conventional feed means such as pin feed means 180 and 182 under the 
control of the control means 158 (FIG. 7) may be used to feed the forms 
174 and 178 respectively to the platen means 24. If found necessary or 
desirable, a suitable conventional platen indexing means (not shown but 
under the control of the control means 158) could be used to index the 
platen means 24. By this construction, the machine 10 could be utilized to 
print on continuous forms 174, 178 or ledger type record media 12, 14.