Patents Examined by Christopher A. Bennett
  • Patent number: 5979310
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for printing images. An ink jet printhead forms an image on a transfer roller for transfer to a substrate. The substrate can be an envelope and the image can be a postal indicia. Portions of the image can be interleaved during successive revolutions of the transfer roller to increase the horizontal and/or vertical resolution of the image. A mechanism is provided to deflect the substrate away from the transfer roller after the image is printed so that formation of a new image can begin before the substrate has cleared the print station.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 1996
    Date of Patent: November 9, 1999
    Assignee: Pitney Bowes Inc.
    Inventors: Pushpavadan S. Nagarsheth, Donald T. Dolan
  • Patent number: 5979317
    Abstract: A drive for a printing group of a rotary printing machine having a form cylinder and a transfer cylinder, the transfer cylinder being swivelably adjustable through an angle, the form cylinder and the transfer cylinder each having journals. The drive includes cylinder gears attached to the journals so as to be in toothed engagement, an electric motor with a drive spur gear that drives the transfer cylinder, and a spur gear mounted on the transfer cylinder journal. The drive spur gear of the motor drivingly engaging the spur gear on the journal of the transfer cylinder in a circumferential area of the spur gear lying from a diametral midpoint of the transfer cylinder in a direction of a vertex of the angle of the swivel adjustment of the transfer cylinder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 1998
    Date of Patent: November 9, 1999
    Assignee: MAN Roland Druckmaschinen AG
    Inventor: Josef Singler
  • Patent number: 5974965
    Abstract: A single point quick disconnect spray bar is disclosed for movement between a connected position, in which the spray bar is operatively connected to a press frame, and a disconnected position. A mounting guide secured to the spray bar is engagable with the press frame and movably supports the spray bar in the disconnected position when so engaged. A closure member, having a first part affixed to a first end of the spray bar and a second end affixed to the press frame moves the spray bar into the connected position when the first and second parts are engaged. A method of connecting a spray bar is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 2, 1999
    Assignee: Baldwin Graphic Syetems, Inc.
    Inventors: John Ciofalo, Robert W. MacDonald
  • Patent number: 5975778
    Abstract: A recording apparatus for effecting recording by a recording device carried on a carriage movable along a recording material includes a platen for supporting the recording material in a recording region in which the recording device effects the recording on the recording material; a confining member for confining the recording material on the platen; a supporting member mounted on the carriage to support the carriage for movement thereof along the recording material and in contact with the confining member, wherein the supporting member engages to and disengages from an elastically deformable portion of the confining member outside the recording region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 2, 1999
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Shinji Kanemitsu
  • Patent number: 5970863
    Abstract: An apparatus for stamping skins including a plurality of stamping units of thermal transfer type, positioned side by side trasverse to a direction of advancement of the skin. Each stamping unit is provided with at least one skin presence sensor which enables the corresponding stamping unit to operate, and further includes a skin advancement sensing element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 26, 1999
    Assignee: Ger Elettronica S.R.L.
    Inventor: Giuliano Dal Ceredo
  • Patent number: 5970867
    Abstract: Machine for the silk-screen printing of flat articles such as sheets of glass (2) and the like, comprising at least four fixed uprights (10) supporting horizontal parallel beams (20) on which a bridge (30) carrying the printing means (40) is movable, and a surface (3) for resting the glass (2), said machine comprising an apparatus (100; 1000) for gripping and centring the glass (2) with respect to the fixed printing screen (4).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 26, 1999
    Assignee: Aisa S.P.A.
    Inventor: Gian Piero Barozzi
  • Patent number: 5967041
    Abstract: A dual roller stencil applicator for applying a stencil pattern to a surface. The applicator has a frame with a handle supporting first and second rollers, the first roller having a porous outer layer for receiving and holding paint and a second roller having a raised stencil design thereon, with the first and second rollers in alignment and movable with respect to each other. The second roller is mounted for selective displacement from the first roller such that when the first roller is to be loaded with paint, the second roller is not in contact with the first roller, and when the apparatus is in an operating condition, the first and second rollers are urged together, permitting the first roller to supply paint to the raised stencil of the second roller. The stencil roller is completely removable from the applicator for cleaning. A drive wheel assembly is coupled to the second roller to rotate the second roller when the second roller is urged against a surface to which a stencil pattern is to be applied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 19, 1999
    Assignee: Wagner Spray Tech Corporation
    Inventors: Richard C. Schoenert, Mark E. Snetting
  • Patent number: 5967681
    Abstract: A thermal printer (10) with a thermal head (16) for image-wise heating a heat-sensitive sheet according to an elongate printing zone, which comprises sheet feeding means having a sheet advancing mode for feeding a sheet with its leading end through the gap between the print drum (15) and the thermal head (16) of this printer beyond the position it should take at the start of printing, and a sheet-returning mode in which the sheet can move backwardly, and a stop (44, 52) against which the backwardly moving sheet abuts with its trailing edge for its longitudinal alignment, thereby to obtain with its leading end the correct printing start position in the gap.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 19, 1999
    Assignee: Agfa-Gevaert
    Inventors: Paul Leys, Daniel Verbeek
  • Patent number: 5967845
    Abstract: A card connector assembly consisting of two stacked connectors for providing prevention of noise, each includes an interface housing connected with a guiding frame having a grounding plate connected thereto. A first conductive plate and a second conductive plate are respectively engaged with an upper periphery of the guiding frame of the upper connector and a lower periphery of the guiding frame of the lower connector. The first conductive plate and the second conductive plate are engaged in order to prevent noise from acting on an electrical card received in the card connector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 19, 1999
    Assignee: Hon Hai Precision Ind. Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yu-Ming Ho, Hung-Ji Yu
  • Patent number: 5967803
    Abstract: A stacked card connector (1) includes two insulative housings (10, 11) each having a contact receiving chamber (101) defining a number of contact receiving holes (1013) therethrough for receiving a number of contacts (13). A grounding plate (12) is mounted above each contact receiving chamber (101) for shielding the contacts (13). An ejecting means (16) is connected to each housing (10, 11) for guiding a card to be received in the connector (1) and for ejecting the inserted card. The contacts (13) of each housing (10, 11) are aligned with and inserted in through holes (21) defined through a corresponding daughter board (14) by means of a guiding and fastening means (2) which also securely retains each daughter board (14) at an end of each housing (10, 11). After soldering the contacts (13) and the grounding plates (12) to the corresponding firmly secured daughter board (14), each daughter board (14) is received in a corresponding slot which is mounted to a mother board.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 19, 1999
    Assignee: Hon Hai Precision Ind. Co., Ltd
    Inventor: Yu-Ming Ho
  • Patent number: 5967043
    Abstract: A bearing assembly for a roller of an inking or wetting device includes a drive device that moves in a first direction to move a roller holder holding a roller from a print ready to an away position. The drive device also moves in a second direction to lock the roller holder onto a base of the bearing assembly at the print ready position. A spring urges the roller holder toward the print ready position when the drive device is inactive.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 19, 1999
    Assignee: MAN Roland Druckmaschinen AG
    Inventor: Robert Mayr
  • Patent number: 5964153
    Abstract: A turning device for a sheet-fed printing press contains a turning pocket (9) which is bordered by two walls (10,11) which in the interior of the turning pocket are situated close together and which at an opening side of the turning pocket are a predetermined distance from each other forming an elongated sheet intake and output opening (12) with two edges parallel to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 12, 1999
    Assignee: Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
    Inventor: Martin Greive
  • Patent number: 5961234
    Abstract: A sheet discharge roller is formed from material having great rigidity such as metal and has discharge roller convey portions and discharge roller groove portions (circumferential grooves) to which spurs are opposed. The spurs are not contacted with the sheet discharge roller. The discharge roller convey portions are surface-finished to increase a friction force. There is provided a recording apparatus in which sheet conveying accuracy is improved without transferring ink to a sheet to thereby obtain a high quality image with high resolving power.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 5, 1999
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yoshio Uchikata
  • Patent number: 5960714
    Abstract: A rotary printing machine in which cylinders are uncovered by a swinging door or a removable flap. Journals are separated from the cylinder bodies and remain, together with bearings arranged in the door or the flap. At a separation point the journals have truncated conical projections which are inserted into corresponding truncated conical depressions in the end face of the cylinder body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 5, 1999
    Assignee: Man Roland Druckmaschinen AG
    Inventors: Josef Gottling, Horst Dauer, Xaver Bachmeir, Bernhard Feller
  • Patent number: 5961228
    Abstract: There is disclosed thermal printer capable of printing on both sides of a web in a single pass wherein there is a straight-through path for the web for ease of threading of a printable web and for simplicity and economy of manufacture, maintenance and use. Print head assemblies can be quickly and easily located at the printing position and yet they can be moved to open or ineffective positions for threading, for cleaning the print head and for maintenance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 5, 1999
    Assignee: Paxar Corporation
    Inventors: Donald J. Ward, Donald A. Campbell
  • Patent number: 5957594
    Abstract: In a thermo-tape unit (1) having a supply reel hub (2) and a supply roll (5) of thermo-tape (6) wound on the supply reel hub (2), the thermo-tape has at least one marking stripe configuration (14) at least in its leading area (8), which configuration comprises at least one marking stripe section (15, 16, 17) having a given section dimension (L1, L2, L3) in the longitudinal direction (L) of the thermo-tape (6), and at least one characteristic of the thermo-tape unit (1) is encoded by means of this section dimension (L1, L2, L3) of the marking stripe section (15, 16, 17).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 1998
    Date of Patent: September 28, 1999
    Assignee: U.S. Philips Corporation
    Inventor: Martin Loidl
  • Patent number: 5957597
    Abstract: A partial cutting unit 32 is for cutting only a print tape 28 of a laminated tape 24, that is, without cutting a release tape 14 of the laminated tape 24. A blade support base 35 is mounted on a pivotal pin 34, pivotable with respect to a tape support base 33. A pair of step portions 33a, 33b is formed in the tape support base 33, one at the tip side of the tape support base 33 and the other near the pivotal pin 34. This pair of steps 33a, 33b is formed with a height H2, which is slightly smaller than the thickness of the release tape 24. A leg portion 35a for abutting against the step portion 33a is formed in the tip side of the blade support base 35. When the blade support base 35 is pivoted around the pivotal pin 34 to close against the tape support base 33, the leg portion 35a at the front tip of the blade support base 35 abuts against the step portion 33a at the tip side of the tape support base 33.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 1998
    Date of Patent: September 28, 1999
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Shigeki Kato
  • Patent number: 5957598
    Abstract: A printing device for duplex printing of a sheet, comprising a feed path for feeding an unprinted sheet and a return path for returning a sheet printed on one side in an inverted orientation to a part of the feed path which is provided with an aligning station for aligning a supplied unprinted sheet and a returned sheet printed on one side. The aligning station comprises two aligning mechanisms which are disposed in spaced relationship in the feed direction and which each comprise two activatable transport nips which, as considered in a direction transversely of the feed direction, are situated a short distance apart so that a sheet fed between the nips can be aligned against one of each of the two transport nips by lateral transport and turning.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 1997
    Date of Patent: September 28, 1999
    Assignee: OCE-Technologies, B.V.
    Inventors: Jacobus Arnoldus Peter Berkers, Lodewijk Tarcisius Holtman, Andreas Theodorus Heijnen, Martinus Peter Hendrikus Hermans
  • Patent number: 5954013
    Abstract: A ventilated cage and rack system which maximizes cage density within the rack is provided. The rack includes at least one air exhaust plenum, and at least one canopy disposed within said rack. The canopy is capable of supporting a first cage within the rack above the canopy, and also positioning a second cage below the canopy so as to maintain a gap between the top of the second cage and the canopy to permit air to be drawn into the air exhaust plenum from the interior of the second cage through the top of the second cage and to also permit ambient air to be drawn across the top of the second cage into the air exhaust plenum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 21, 1999
    Assignee: Lab Products Inc.
    Inventors: George Gabriel, Chin Soo Park, John E. Sheaffer
  • Patent number: 5954439
    Abstract: A statement printer in an automated teller machine includes a guide block (86) which supports a print head (110). The print head prints on paper (130) which is moved adjacent thereto as the guide block moves transversely relative to the paper. A cutter disk (76) is supported by the guide block. The cutter disk is journaled on an arm (82). The arm is connected to an actuating lever (92). The actuating lever is engageable with stops (106) near the transverse extremes of travel of the guide block. Selective engagement of the actuating lever with the stops moves the cutter disk between cutting and non-cutting positions. Cam members (108) adjacent to the stops dispose the cutter disk away from a cooperating cutter bar (74) as the cutter disk moves between the cutting and non-cutting positions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 1998
    Date of Patent: September 21, 1999
    Assignee: InterBold
    Inventors: Jeffrey A. Brannan, Tuyen Van Pham, Thomas S. Mason, Jay Paul Drummond, Jeffrey A. Hill, Paul T. Bruss, Mark B. Hammer, Jim Rowe, David J. Walson, Robert J. Brice