A printer for printing on a continuous medium

Abstract: A thermal printer for printing on a continuous print medium by ink transfer from a thermal print ribbon has a print head (22) which is pivotally mounted and which is driven in an oscillatory nodding motion by means of a stepper motor (14) so as repeatedly to bring a linear array of energisable printing elements to bear against a platen roller (44). Both the element array and the platen (44) extend transversely to respective paths of travel of the print medium (50) and the ribbon (42). The print medium is fed through the printer from an inlet region (53), between the platen and print head, and thence to an outlet region (54). The instantaneous rate of travel of the print medium past the print head is substantially the same as the rate of feed of print medium to the printer. Typically this rate is of the order of 250 to 400 mm per second. The ribbon (42) also travels between the print head and the platen, overlying the print medium and is driven in such a manner that it travels at the same rate as the print medium during each printing operation. Between each printing operation the ribbon (42) is driven in reverse to rewind any unused portion of ribbon which has overshot the printhead (22).

Description: This invention relates to a thermal printer for printing on a continuous print medium by thermal ink transfer from a print ribbon. It is known to print continuous packaging material and other continuous print media such as label bearing substrates with alphanumeric information and other symbols using a thermal transfer printer. A print head having a row of electronically driven heating elements is brought to bear against an ink-carrying thermal transfer ribbon lying over the print medium while the print medium is driven perpendicularly to the row of print elements. In one known printer, disclosed in EP-A-0734876, the ribbon is supplied from a take-off spool and then passes along a ribbon path which extends between the print head and the path of the print medium, and thereafter is fed onto a take-up spool, the ribbon travelling across the print head at at least approximately the same speed as the print medium whilst printing is taking place. The path followed by the print medium extends around movable rollers which deflect the print medium by variable amounts both upstream and downstream of the print head. The ribbon drive mechanism has considerable "inertia"; both true mechanical inertia in the drive mechanism and that resulting from delays in the control system which starts and stops the mechanism. This inertia causes ribbon wastage since gaps are left between successive used areas of the ribbon. JP-A-60187580 discloses a printer in which a transfer ribbon is re-wound by a predetermined amount after releasing the pressing of a thermal head in order that the length of the ribbon taken up by a taking-up means during releasing the pressing and in the period from the start of the pressing to the start of the printing is utilized. It is an object of this invention to provide a printer for continuous printing which makes more efficient use of ribbon. According to a first aspect of this invention there is provided a thermal printer for printing on a continuous print medium by ink transfer from a thermal print ribbon, comprising means defining a print medium path between inlet and outlet regions of the printer, a platen extending transversely of the said path, a thermal print head having energisable print elements and located in an opposing relationship with respect to the platen on the other side of the print medium path from the platen, means defining a ribbon path which, between the print head and the platen, runs in the same direction as and lies adjacent the print medium path, a printing actuator operable to bring the print head and the platen together in successive printing operations, and ribbon drive means operable to drive the ribbon along the ribbon path in a first direction at variable rates during the printing operations, and to drive the ribbon between printing operations; in a second direction opposite to the first direction, characterised in that the ribbon drive means are arranged to vary the length of ribbon driven in the second direction depending on the speed of ribbon driving in the first direction in the preceding printing operation. By driving the ribbon in the second direction, the gaps left in ribbon usage due to the drive mechanism's inertia are virtually eliminated. Over many printing operations, this results in a significant saving in ribbon usage and therefore in printer running costs. Preferably, the speed with which the ribbon is driven during each printing operation is variable in response to the print medium speed of travel so as to match the speed with which the print medium is fed past the print head. This may be achieved, for example, by forming the platen as a roller around which the print medium is wrapped so that the speed of rotation of the roller is a measure of the speed of passage of the print medium. A shaft encoder, typically an optical encoder, is used to provide an input to processing means forming part of the printing actuator to control movement of the print head and energisation of the printing elements. In addition, the ribbon may be driven by a stepper motor coupled to a ribbon drive roller, the speed of operation of the stepper motor being governed by the sensed speed of rotation of the platen roller. The speed and duration of the movement of the ribbon in the second direction is preferably adjusted so that the unused portion of the ribbon immediately adjacent the portion used in the previous printing operation is beneath the printhead ready for the next printing operation. The result sought is to move the ribbon back by a length equal to the unused portion caused by the drive inertia. In an embodiment using a stepper motor for ribbon driving, the length required is equivalent to a predetermined number of steps of the motor. In practice, the length of ribbon which must be reversed varies at least with the operational speed of the printer since typically the speed of ribbon drive varies with printer speed which causes the magnitude of ribbon drive overshoot to vary. Thus the ribbon drive means are preferably operable to drive the ribbon in the second direction until a predetermined length of ribbon has been reversed past the printhead. The predetermined length may be varied in response to the speed of ribbon driving in the first direction. Typically, the ribbon drive means is operable to reverse the ribbon just less than the unused portion of the ribbon to allow an error margin to ensure that printing does not recommence on a used part of the ribbon. In this way it is possible to operate the printer over a wider range of speeds than prior art printers, with the print medium passing the print head at substantially the same rate as it is fed to and extracted from the printer. Typically, the printer is capable of operating at print medium speeds up to 400 mm per second. According to a method aspect, the invention includes a method of printing on a continuous print medium, comprising providing a printer having a print head with energisable print elements, and a platen, the print head and the platen being located in an opposing relationship with respect to each other, feeding the print medium to the printer at a continuous feed rate and passing it between the print head and the platen in the same direction as and adjacent the print medium, feeding a print ribbon between the print head and the platen, and periodically bringing the print head and the platen together and energising the print elements with the ribbon in contact with the print medium to cause transfer of ink from the ribbon to the print medium in a printing operation, wherein the print medium is passed between the print head and the platen at a rate corresponding to the rate at which the print medium is fed to the printer during and between successive printing operations wherein, during each printing operation, the ribbon is passed in a first direction between the print head and the platen in contact with the print medium, the rate at which the ribbon moves during the printing operation being variable in response to the rate of travel of the print medium in the printer and wherein the ribbon is moved in a second direction which is the reverse of the first direction, between printing operations characterised in that the length of ribbon (42) moved in the second direction is varied according to the speed of ribbon movement in the first direction in the preceding printing operation. The ribbon path may be defined by guides and, between the print head and the platen, runs in the same direction as and lies adjacent the print medium path, the printing actuator being operable to move the print head towards and away from the platen in successive printing operations, to compress the ribbon and the print medium together along a line of printing elements on the printing head. The print head may be mounted on a print head carrier which is pivotable about an axis running transversely to the print medium path, the print elements being spaced from this axis to execute the above-mentioned movement towards and away from the platen as a nodding motion. Advantageously, the print head carrier is linked to the shaft of a stepper motor coupled to the printing actuator, with the printing elements spaced from the axis of rotation of the motor so that they follow an arcuate locus which passes through the surface of the platen roller at a location where it supports the print medium. Operation of the stepper motor over a small angular range successively in opposite directions moves the print head towards and away from the platen roller at the beginning and end respectively of each successive printing operation. Rigid coupling of the print head carrier to the motor shaft (e.g. by means of cranks and a connecting rod or by direct co-axial connection) results in accurate positioning of the print head elements with respect to the print medium as it travels over the platen roller and with respect to the platen roller axis of rotation. The printer may further comprise a ribbon drive pulley located in the ribbon path between the print head and the take-up spool, and a ribbon drive motor coupled to the drive pulley, the take-up spool being belt-driven by the said motor. The take-up spool may be belt-driven directly from the print medium or from the roller driven by the passage of the print medium. Thus, the belt drive may include a driven roller arranged to bear against either the print medium where it lies over the platen or an alternative supporting surface, or against a roller which is rotated by the passage of the print medium. The driven roller may be mounted on the print head carrier so as to drive the take-up spool only during a print operation, i.e. when the print head bears against the ribbon, the print medium and the platen. The invention is applicable primarily to printing variable information on continuous plastics film packaging material, with each print operation being triggered by, for example, sensing the position of products to which the packaging material is to be applied as they travel along an adjacent conveyor. Typically, the information includes sell-by dates, serial numbers, pricing information, and bar codes. The invention will be described below by way of example with reference to the drawings in which:- Figure 1 is a diagrammatic exploded side view of a printer in accordance with the invention; Figure 2 is a front view of a base unit printer of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a rear view of a ribbon cassette of the printer of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a block diagram of electrical parts of the printer; and Figure 5 is a plan view of a ribbon drive roller for the printer of Figure 1. Referring to Figures 1, 2 and 3 together, a printer for the continuous printing of a continuous print medium by transfer from a thermal transfer print ribbon has a base unit 10 and a removable ribbon cassette unit 12. The base unit, which is mounted to a frame of the printer (not shown), contains a print head stepper motor 14 mounted on a front plate 16 of the unit 10, and a ribbon drive stepper motor 18 similarly mounted on the front plate 16. Coupled to the motor shaft 14S of the print head stepper motor 14 is a pivotable print head carrier 20 which supports a print head 22. Coupling of the print head carrier 20 to the motor shaft 14S is by way of a parallelogram linkage lying behind the front plate 16 and comprising a first crank 24 fixed to the motor shaft 14S, a connecting link or rod 26, and a second crank 28 generally in the form of a semi-circular plate which is mounted on a shaft 30 supporting the print head carrier 20. Shaft 30 takes the form of a boss 30B on the front side of plate 16, with an axially extending tongue 30T to which the print head carrier 20 is bolted. The motor shaft 18S of the ribbon drive stepper motor 18 is attached to a drive spindle 32 which, like the print head carrier 20, projects perpendicularly from the front plate 16 of the base unit 10. For clarity, the cassette unit 12 is shown in Figure 1 spaced from the base unit 10. In practice, when fitted to the base unit 10, the cassette unit 12 is closer to the base unit 16, such that ribbon spools 34, 36, which are rotatably mounted on a front plate 38 of the cassette unit 12, are coextensive with the print head 22 in terms of their location in a direction perpendicular to the front plate 38 of the base unit 40. Also attached to the cassette unit front plate 30 is a ribbon drive roller 32 visible in Figure 1 below ribbon spool 34, and also in Figure 3. The relative positioning of the ribbon spools 34, 36, the print head 22, and the ribbon drive roller 40 may be ascertained by comparison of Figure 1 with Figure 3. The ribbon 42 itself is shown in full lines in Figure 3, but in phantom lines in Figure 1 for clarity. Certain items shown in Figure 1 are not shown in Figure 2, and vice versa. In particular, a platen roller 44 and a deflection roller 46 are shown in Figure 2 but not in Figures 1 and 3. These components are mounted on the printer frame or other apparatus which the printer is associated. Referring to Figure 2, continuous film material to be printed (shown by reference numeral 50) enters the printer in an inlet region 52, passes over and wraps around platen roller 44 from where it follows a downwardly inclined path to pass underneath and wrap around a deflection roller 46 before passing to an outlet region 54 of the printer. The positioning of platen and deflection rollers 44 and 46 is such that the film substrate 50 is nowhere deflected through an angle greater than 60° by any one guiding element, and preferably not greater than 45°. The function of the deflection roller 46 may be performed instead by any deflecting support for the film substrate 50 positioned to cause the substrate to be wrapped partly around the platen roller. Both platen roller 44 and deflection roller 46 have axes of rotation which extend at right angles to the direction of travel of the substrate film 50, and both axes are fixed in position so that the path of the substrate film 50 remains substantially constant during and between successive printing operations. As a result, the instantaneous rate at which the film 50 passes over the platen 44 always matches the rate at which it is supplied to and extracted from the printer through the inlet and outlet regions 52 and 54. The thermal transfer ribbon 42 follows a ribbon path as follows. Firstly, a supply of the ribbon is provided on a feed spool 36 which is mounted by means of a bearing (not shown) fixed to the cassette unit front plate 38. A degree of friction is built into this bearing to maintain tension in ribbon 42. From spool 36, the ribbon 42 passes over a break detector roller 58 attached to the end of a break detector arm 60 which is rotatable about the rotation axis of the feed spool 36 and biased in a clockwise direction as seen in Figure 3 by a spring 62. From roller 58, the ribbon 42 passes over guide rollers 64 and 66 attached to the cassette unit front plate 30 and thence through a region which, when the cassette unit 12 is loaded into the base unit 10, lies between the print head 22 and the platen 44. The ribbon then passes over a further guide roller 68. The head and the platen are seen in Figure 2, as are also guide rollers 66 to 68, so that the location of the ribbon path relative to the head and platen can be seen. Where the ribbon 42 passes over platen 44 it is in frictional contact with the substrate film 50. The ribbon 42 is held in contact with substrate film 50 only between the start and finish of each printing operation, during which the lower surface of the print head 22 bears against the platen 44 through the ribbon 42 and film 50, as shown in Figure 2. At other times, the print head 22 is raised by operation of its stepper motor 14. From the print head 22, the ribbon 42 travels over guide roller 70 and is then wrapped around the drive roller 40. A pinch roller 72, mounted on a pivotable support arm 74, maintains the ribbon 42 in gripping contact with drive roller 40. Drive roller 40 has a rubber sleeve and is driven by motor 18 via a toothed belt 75 and toothed pulleys 75P behind base unit front plate 16 on the motor shaft 18S and the spindle 32, (shown in Figures 1 and 2) so that the ribbon 42 is pulled through the space between the print head 22 and the platen 44. From the drive roller 40, the ribbon 42 passes to a take-up spool 38 which is belt-driven by a belt 76 from a pulley 78 (see Figure 1) mounted on the shaft of drive roller 40. The mounting bearing (not shown) of the take-up spool 34 is mounted on a shaft fixed to the cassette unit front plate 30 and, like the mounting bearing of the feed spool 36, has a degree of friction built in. The diameter of the pulley 34P associated with take-up spool 34 together with the diameter of the pulley associated with drive roller 40 are such that the shaft bearing the take-up spool 34 is always driven faster than the speed of rotation necessary to take up the ribbon 42 from the drive roller 40, regardless of the diameter of the ribbon reel. The friction slip built into the connection between spool 34 and the belt-driven shaft allows the respective speeds of rotation of the drive roller 40 and the take-up spool 34 to be different from each other. The print head 22 has side-facing printing elements 82 (Figure 1) extending along a line parallel to the axis of rotation 84 of the print head carrier 20. These printing elements 82 project from a lower surface 86 of the print head 22 which, in the printing position of the print head 22 is tangential to the platen roller 44, as shown by the chain lines in Figure 2. The arcuate locus followed by the line of printing elements 82 when the print head 22 is pivoted about axis 84 passes through the intersection of a tangent parallel to the print head lower surface 86 and the platen roller surface. Consequently, the ribbon 42 and the substrate film 50 are pinched between the print head 22 and the platen roller 44 precisely at the line of printing elements 82. When these elements are heated under electronic control, and the film 50 and ribbon 42 are passed together over the element, ink is transferred from the ribbon 42 to the film 50 to print characters and symbols according to pre-programmed information incorporated in the signals fed to the print head 22. During printing, the ribbon 42 is in contact with film 50 and normally travels at the same speed. This is achieved by mounting an optical shaft encoder on a shaft bearing the platen roller 44. The output of the encoder is representative of the speed of the film 50, and by processing this output signal, the stepper motor 18 driving ribbon drive roller 40 is adjusted such that the ribbon is driven at the correct speed. This synchronisation between ribbon 42 and film 50 can be maintained over a wide range of speeds. The preferred embodiment is capable of operating at a film speed of 400 mm per second. The shaft encoder associated with the platen roller 44 is shown in Figure 4 by reference numeral 90. Encoder 90 provides an input signal representative of film speed to an input 92 of a processor unit 94. The processor unit has at its heart a microprocessor, and has three outputs. These are a first output 96 coupled to a first motor driver circuit 98 for moving the print head between its inactive retracted position and its active extended position (respectively shown in Figure 2) by means of stepper motor 14 and its associated linkage. A second output of the processor unit 94 is a multi-wire input 100 coupled to the energisable elements 82 of the print head 22. The third output 102 is coupled to a second motor driver 104 to control stepper motor 18, thereby stopping and starting the ribbon, and controlling the ribbon speed during each printing operation. Other inputs to the processor include trigger input 106 which receives a trigger signal initiating each printing operation. Typically, the trigger signal is generated by sensing the position of products to which the substrate film is to be applied as packaging, as the products travel along an adjacent conveyer. Another input 108 receives the information to be printed from a memory 110. Thus, on receipt of a trigger signal at input 106, the processor is programmed firstly to move the print head 22 to its extended position, to start the ribbon drive motor, and to initiate printing by energising the elements of the print head 22 in accordance with the information stored in the memory 110 thereby to print the information as a pattern or a series of characters. Whilst the printing operation is progressing, the speed at which the ribbon is driven via driver 104 and motor 18 is determined according to the film speed signal input received by the processor at input 92, so as to drive the ribbon at the same speed as the film. The rate at which the print head elements are driven (i.e. the rate at which the pattern or characters are printed) is also varied by processor unit 94 according to the film speed signal input. When the processor senses that all of the information relating to the required design has been supplied from memory 110 and has been fed to the print head 22, it issues a stop signal to the ribbon driver 104 to stop ribbon travel and the driver 98 for the print head motor 14 receives a signal causing the motor to withdraw the print head to its retracted, inactive position. A processor 94 then waits for the next trigger signal on 106 before repeating the above process. Before the printing process is repeated, the motor 18 is driven in reverse to rewind a portion of the ribbon. The processor 94 waits a predetermined period of time after issuing the stop signal to the ribbon driver 104 to allow the ribbon and drive mechanism to decelerate. A reverse signal is then issued to the ribbon driver 104 to cause the motor 18 to step backwards by a predetermined number of steps. In the printer's simplest embodiment, the predetermined number of steps is fixed and is equivalent to the rewinding of the minimum length of ribbon which overshoots the printing head after printing has stopped. This minimum length occurs when the printer is operating at its lowest printing speed (which means that the ribbon and drive mechanism are also operating at their lowest speed). However, greater ribbon savings can be made if the length of ribbon which is reversed is related to the forward speed of the ribbon during the previous printing operation. Since the ribbon is driven under control of the processor 94, information on the forward speed of the ribbon is available within the processor 94 and the processor preferably adjusts the number of reverse steps which the ribbon driver 104 is instructed to drive the motor 18 depending on the forward speed of the ribbon during the previous printing operation. Generally, more ribbon will need to be rewound as the printer is operated at faster speeds. The relationship between the reversal length and the forward speed may be maintained using a lookup table or a calculation (mathematical or conditional) in software running on the processor 94. Further inputs 112 and 114 of the processor 94 are called respectively to a ribbon status sensor 116 and a ribbon break sensor 118 which are respectively associated with a spring loaded pivotable arm 120, seen in Figure 3. This arm 120 has a roller 122 at its distal end contacting the periphery of the ribbon supply on ribbon feed spool 36, so that when the ribbon supply runs low, an alarm can be activated and/or operation of the packaging apparatus of which the printer is part can be halted. Similarly, the break sensor 118 is responsive to excessive clockwise movement of arm 60 (see Figure 3) to sense breakage of the ribbon 42 which, during normal operation, keeps roller 58 approximately in the position shown in Figure 3. Further details of the preferred printer in accordance with the invention will now be described. Limits on the movement of print carrier 20 and print head 22 are determined firstly by the striking of the print head elements 82 against the platen 44 (see Figure 2) through the ribbon 42 and film 50, and, in the retractive position, by an adjustable stop (not shown) associated with the semi-circular plate 28 behind the front plate 16 of the base unit. Drive to the ribbon drive roller 40, which, it will be seen, is mounted on the cassette front plate 30, is transferred from the base unit 10 to the roller by means of drive spindle 32 shown in Figure 1. Referring to Figure 5, roller 40 contains a splined or multi-faced drive socket 40C. The socket 40C is formed in a sliding drive block 40B which is arranged to slide in the direction of arrow A. The block 40B is biased towards the right of the Figure by a coil spring 40S. When the cassette unit 12 is mounted on base unit 10, the splined or multi-faced drive shaft or spindle 32 attached to ribbon drive motor 18 (see Figure 1) enters drive socket 40C (Figure 3). The drive is transferred from spindle 32 to the bearing 40C and thence via pins 40P (engaged in elongate slots 40L formed in block 40B) to the roller 40. The cassette unit 12 is located on base unit 10 by means of a retention pin 132 and a tubular socket 134, as shown in Figure 1.

Claims: A thermal printer for printing on a continuous print medium (50) by ink transfer from a thermal print ribbon (42), comprising means (44,46) defining a print medium path between inlet (52) and outlet (54) regions of the printer, a platen (44) extending transversely of the said path, a thermal print head (22) having energisable print elements and located in an opposing relationship with respect to the platen (44) on the other side of the print medium path from the platen (44), means (66, 68) defining a ribbon path which, between the print head (22) and the platen (44), runs in the same direction as and lies adjacent the print medium path, a printing actuator (14,20) operable to bring the print head (22) and the platen (44) together in successive printing operations, and ribbon drive means (18, 32) operable to drive the ribbon (42) along the ribbon path in a first direction at variable rates during the printing operations, and to drive the ribbon (42) between printing operations in a second direction opposite to the first direction, characterised in that the ribbon drive means (18, 32) are arranged to vary the length of ribbon (42) driven in the second direction depending on the speed of ribbon driving in the first direction in the preceding printing operation. A printer according to claim 1, wherein the ribbon drive means (18, 32) comprises signal processing means (94) that is arranged to receive an input signal representative of the speed of the ribbon (42) in the first direction and which supplies to the ribbon drive means (98, 14, 18, 32) an output signal that is derived from the input signal such that the drive means drives the ribbon (42) in the second direction by an amount dependent on the ribbon speed during the preceding printing operation, thereby to drive the ribbon (42) in the second direction by a length substantially equal to the length travelled in the first direction due to the inertia of the drive means (98, 14, 18, 32) after completion of that printing operation. A printer according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the signal processing means comprises a print medium speed sensor (90) and control means (94) coupled to the speed sensor to receive a sensor (90) output signal therefrom, and wherein the ribbon drive means comprises a ribbon drive roller (32) connected to a motor (18), the control means (94) having an output coupled to the motor (18) and being operable to drive the motor (18) at a rate dependent on the sensor (90) output signal. A printer according to claim 3, wherein the control means (94) are operable to cause the motor (18) to run at a rate which is dynamically variable during the printing operations in response to the sensor (90) output signal. A printer according to claim 2, wherein the ribbon drive means (18, 32) Includes a stepper motor (18), and wherein the signal processing means (94) is arranged to cause the motor (18) to carry out a predetermined number of steps in the second direction, in dependence on the speed of the ribbon (42) in the first direction during the preceding printing operation. A printer according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the print head (22) is mounted on a frame and movable between an inactive retracted position and an active extended position, the print head (22) including an elongate array of energisable printing elements; and wherein a printing actuator (14,20) is operable to move the print head (22) between the retracted and extended positions. A printer according to claim 6 when dependent on claim 3, wherein the print head (22) is rotatable about an axis extending parallel to the array of printing elements, the printing actuator (14, 20) and the control means (94) being operable to cause the print head (22) to oscillate about the axis to bring the print head (22) repeatedly into the extended position for respective successive printing operations in which ink is transferred from the ribbon (42) to the print medium (50) whilst both ribbon and print medium are moving past the head and whilst the head is held stationary in the extended position. A printer according to claim 6 including: a roller (44,46) associated with the print medium path extending in the same direction as the ribbon path across the print head (22), the roller being located to receive the print medium (50) therearound; and a sensor (90) for sensing the speed of the print medium (50), comprising a shaft encoder connected to the roller. A printer according to any preceding claim, wherein the ribbon drive means (18,32) are operable to drive the ribbon (42) at the same speed as the print medium (50). A printer according to any preceding claim, wherein the print medium path is substantially fixed. A printer according to any preceding claim, wherein the platen (44) has a cylindrical surface and the print medium path defining means (44,46) are arranged to cause the print medium to wrap around the said surface. A printer according to claim 11, wherein the platen (44,) is a roller and wherein the print medium path defining means include a print medium deflector (46) parallel to and adjacent the platen (44) to cause the print medium (50) to wrap around the platen. A printer according to any preceding claim, wherein the platen (44) is fixed in position and the print head (22) is movable towards and away from the platen (44) in response to operation of the printing actuator (14,20). A printer according to claim 13, wherein the print head (22) is mounted in a print head carrier (20), and wherein the printer further comprises a motor (14) coupled to the print head carrier (20) and operable to drive the carrier (20) and the head (22) in an oscillating motion. A printer according to claim 13 or claim 14, wherein the print head (22) is mounted on a print head carrier (20) which is pivotable about an axis running transversely to the print medium path, the print elements being spaced from the said transverse axis to execute the movement towards and away from the platen (44) and to follow an arcuate locus intersecting the platen. A printer according to claim 15, including a stepper motor (14) coupled to the print head carrier (20) for pivoting the print head carrier about the transverse axis, the print head (22) being moved towards and away from the platen (44) at the start and finish respectively of each printing operation. A printer according to claim 1, including a print medium speed sensor (90), the printing actuator (14, 20) being responsive to an output from the speed sensor (90). A printer according to any of claims 3, 4 and 17, wherein the sensor (90) is a shaft encoder associated with a roller (44) positioned with respect to the print medium path so as to be in contact with the print medium (50) as it passes along the said path with the surface speed of the roller (44) matching the speed of the print medium (50). A printer according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising a ribbon take-off spool (36) and a ribbon take-up spool (34), which is belt driven via a slipping clutch drive. A printer according to claim 19, further comprising a ribbon drive pulley (36) located in the ribbon path between the print head (22) and the take-up spool (34), and a ribbon drive motor (18) coupled to the drive pulley, wherein the take-up spool is belt-driven by said motor. A method of printing on a continuous print medium (50), comprising providing a printer having a print head (22) with energisable print elements, and a platen (44), the print head (22) and the platen (44) being located in an opposing relationship with respect to each other, feeding the print medium (50) to the printer at a continuous feed rate and passing it between the print head (22) and the platen (44) in the same direction as and adjacent the print medium (50), feeding a print ribbon (42) between the print head (22) and the platen (44), and periodically bringing the print head (22) and the platen (44) together and energising the print elements with the ribbon (42) in contact with the print medium (50) to cause transfer of ink from the ribbon (42) to the print medium (50) in a printing operation, wherein the print medium (50) is passed between the print head (22) and the platen (44) at a rate corresponding to the rate at which the print medium (50) is fed to the printer during and between successive printing operations wherein, during each printing operation, the ribbon (42) is passed in a first direction between the print head (22) and the platen (44) in contact with the print medium (50), the rate at which the ribbon (42) moves during the printing operation being variable in response to the rate of travel of the print medium (50) in the printer and wherein the ribbon (42) is moved in a second direction, which is the reverse of the first direction, between printing operations, characterised in that the length of ribbon (42) moved in the second direction is varied according to the speed of ribbon movement in the first direction in the preceding printing operation. A method according to claim 21, wherein the relative approaching movement of the print head (22) and the platen (44) takes place as movement of the print head (22) , the platen (44) remaining fixed in position. A method according to claim 22, wherein the print head (22) is pivoted about an axis extending transversely to the direction of travel of the print medium (50). A method according to claim 21, including sensing the rate of travel of the print medium (50) and driving the ribbon (42) during the printing operation at a rate which is dynamically variable in response to the sensed rate of travel of the print medium (50). A method according to any of claims 21 to 24, wherein the ribbon (42) is driven at a rate which, during each printing operation, is substantially the same as the rate of travel of the print medium (50).

Inventors: PALMER ANTHONY JAMES, PALMER, ANTHONY JAMES
Applicants: ITW LTD, ITW LIMITED
Application year: 1997
Main classification: B41J17
IPC codes: B41J33, B41J17