Abstract: A compact plotter is disclosed, having a small area in which a plurality of print heads (10) are laterally scanned to print impressions on the paper (14), and the paper (14) is incrementally advanced by an indexer (42) past the print heads (10). A paper travel encoder (36) measures the paper advancement. A computer 22 and a processor 26 are provided to coordinate the printing of pattern data stored in a data base (24) both with the movement of the print heads (10) and the advancement of the paper (14). The computer (22) allocates data from the data base (24) to be printed according to the amount of paper advancement. If the paper (14) is advanced more than a predefined amount, more data is allocated for printing than is actually printed. If the paper (14) is advanced less than the predefined amount, less data is allocated to be printed than is actually printed.

Abstract: An automatic document handler for a duplex copier is disclosed in which an inverting drum is employed for inverting documents which are to be copied on both sides (duplex copying). The inverting drum is provided with pressure or transport belts which carry a document over a portion of the surface of said drum, and a diverter gate arrangement is provided at the exit side of the belts, adjacent the drum, for selectively providing for passage of the document to a collection station, or alternatively, for causing the documents to re-enter toward the drum for delivery to a duplex scanning station. The diverter gate arrangement includes a relatively fixed stripper which is positioned adjacent the surface of the drum, which stripper cooperates with a movable gate. In one position of the gate, a nose portion of the gate is nested with the stripper and permits documents to pass thereover to a collection station.

Abstract: A method of assembling, positioning, and making connections to a thermal printhead is disclosed. A substrate is provided upon which heating elements or mesas are mounted. Leads from these heating elements are continued on the same side of the substrate as the one on which the elements are located. The leads are brought to terminal pads where connections may be made to the logic circuit which selectively energizes the heating elements to form numerals or characters on heat sensitive paper. A flat flexible cable with conductor ends exposed is held in place so that the exposed conductor ends make contact with the terminal pads of one or more of such substrates. The substrates and cable are clamped together by two metal plates. This entire assembly is mounted on a spring-loaded pivot arrangement so as to hold the heating elements against the heat sensitive paper on an advancing platen. Connections may be made between the cable conductors and the printing logic to allow the heating elements to be energized.