Paper guide for printers

Claim 1

In a printer, the combination comprising: a supporting frame; a platen supported on said frame; a shaft; a forward pair of levers having rearward ends rotatably mounted on said frame and forward ends carrying said shaft; a pair of pressure rolls rotatably mounted on said shaft in a position engageable with said platen; a rearward pair of levers having forward ends rotatably mounted on said frame adjacent said forward pair of levers, a corresponding one of each pair of levers having a set of gear teeth meshed with a set of gear teeth on the other pair; a rod carried by said rearward pair of levers to tension the paper as it approaches the platen; said pairs of levers being movable between a first position in which said pressure rolls contact said platen and said rod contacts paper being fed to said platen, and a second position in which said pressure rolls are spaced from said platen and said rod is spaced from the paper, said gear teeth on said levers enabling each of said levers to be moved simultaneously in response to movement of any one of said levers; a stop to prevent said pairs of levers from rotating beyond a limit toward said second position; and a tension spring connected to corresponding ones of said pairs of levers and operating in an over-the-center manner between said first and second positions to maintain said levers stably in either of said first or second positions.