Abstract: In order to avoid ribbon rollover in a high speed impact printer, a crown roller, having a crown offset from the roller's center, is used to guide the ribbon. The crown tends to center the ribbon about itself and the roller is dimensioned so that the distance from the crown to the end flange of the roller is sufficiently far that under all operating conditions the ribbon will remain separated from the flange and hence will avoid rollover. In particular the roller is positioned so that the print head will initially impact the advancing ribbon off center toward one edge of the ribbon. As printing continues, this repeated impacting will cause that edge of the ribbon to wear, the result being that the tension across the ribbon will decrease and the crown roller will constantly reposition the ribbon as if it were of an ever decreasing width.