Wenderoth, Lind & Ponack
Continuous sheet guide mechanism
 A continuous sheet guide mechanism for a printer having a rotatable cylindrical platen and a bottom guide plate disposed below the cylindrical platen forming a sheet guide path therebetween as well as a sheet inlet opening and a sheet outlet opening, a sheet guide plane formed upstream of the bottom guide plate for guiding a sheet into the sheet inlet opening and a pair of tractor units provided near the sheet outlet opening, the tractor units being supported on a fixed support shaft disposed near and parallel to the platen, and on a driving shaft for driving the tractor units, extending parallel to the support shaft. A sheet guide member is slidably mounted on the fixed support shaft and rotatably mounted on the driving shaft, the sheet guide member being composed of an upper gide wall for guiding the continuous sheet wound around the platen, a guide leg depending from the upper guide wall and having an inclined section forming an obtuse angle with the sheet guide plane so as to guide the continuous sheet downward toward a space below the platen and allow the sheet to be wound correctly around the platen. The guide leg includes a supporting section defining a recess which engages the driving shaft and a front end of the supporting section is rounded for guiding the sheet in the upward and reverse directions. The guide mechanism can include a paper separator for separating a sheet being guided from the printer. 
Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.
B G
B41J G01D
inventional inventional
Takashi Hiroshi
Itaya Kikuchi