Patent GB-905951-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to high speed printers
Inventor: ELLSON ALAN HENRY
IPC: G06K15/10
Filed: 1959-01-21
Abstract: 905,951. Selective printing. INTERNATIONAL COMPUTERS & TABULATORS Ltd. Jan. 21, 1960 [Jan. 21, 1959], No. 2316/59. Class 100 (4). [Also in Groups XIX and XXXVIII] A high-speed printer comprises a number of styli which are each axially movable under control of electrical impulses from a magnetic core buffer storage matrix to form a character as a pattern of marks on movable impressionreceiving material. In one embodiment the buffer storage matrix comprises a number of cores 1, Fig. 1, arranged to form 96 columns, respectively corresponding to one character position in a line to be printed, and 121 rows respectively corresponding to one of eleven possible marking positions of the styli in each of eleven line scans performed by the styli in printing a character. Successive groups of pulses representing successive characters to be printed are supplied to a decoder 7 (see Group XXXVIII) which selects, for each group, one of its 64 outputs to represent a character, there being 64 possible characters. A column selection device 8 selects columns in sequence, and successive characters are stored in successive columns by means of setting-windings 5, a certain combination of which are connected in series to each output of decoder 7. The cores which are set in a particular column represent the marking positions for the character stored in that column. When a complete line has been entered into the matrix, a timing-pulse is supplied over line 10 from the printing-machine to a read-out device 9 which then energizes readout windings 6 in succession. Each output winding 3 is connected to a stylus, and the pulses read out define the character printed during the eleven line scans of the stylus. When a line has been printed in this manner, the next line is fed into the storage matrix. In another embodiment, Fig. 4, the buffer store comprises a matrix of 96 columns and eleven rows of cores 1, the buffer store being supplied by an input store and a charactergenerating store. Six input lines 42 feed successive characters into the 96 columns of cores 46 in the input store, the columns being selected by a commutator 49. When the complete line has been entered in the input store, generator 55 supplies a pulse on line 53 to a commutator 48 which then applies a read-out pulse on a line 46 to the first column of the input store, and the pulses read out on row windings 45 set decoder 57. Generator 55 next supplies a pulse on line S4, a reset pulse is applied to the first column of the input store, and at the same time, a pulse is fed through amplifier 59 to transfer the information stored in decoder 57 back to column one of the input store and to energize the selected one of the 64 outputs of decoder 57. Each output of the decoder is conected to selected cores 61 of the charactergenerating store so as to define a character, the character " 5 " being illustrated. The columns of the character-generating store are selected by a decoder 64 controlled by an address device 65. Initially decoder 64 is arranged to repeatedly address column one. The next pulse supplied by generator 55 is over line 53, and is fed to the second column of the input store to read the second character into decoder 57 and to energize the first column windings of the buffer store. At the same time, the pulse is fed from line 53 to decoder 64 and information stored in column one of the character-generating store (representing the first line scan for the first character) is fed into column one of the buffer store. The process is repeated until the buffer store is full. A signal from printer 4 then initiates operation of a commutator 40 which supplies read-out pulses to successive row-windings 6 whereby the first line scan of each character is printed. While the styli are being returned before commencing the second line scan, address device 65 and decoder 64 select the second column of the character-generating store and the marks for the second line scans are fed into the buffer store from the input store via decoder 57 and the character-generating store. The process is again repeated until a complete line has been printed, whereupon the input store is cleared and the next line to be printed is fed in on lines 42. Specification 707,736 is referred to.