Abstract: A device is provided for receiving a combination of two variable volume chambers and a plurality of valves for forming an ink supply circuit for an ink jet printing head. Such a device is formed by a solid one-piece block comprising a plurality of cavities which are disposed radially about a central housing receiving both a piston (P) and a pressure sensor (5). The piston (P) being formed by the stacking of at least two pieces of diameter O.sub.1 and O.sub.2 and two membranes clamped by two flanges, the whole defining two variable volume chambers. This device cooperates with a reservoir block having two compartments between which moves a link connected on one side to an eccentric and on the other to the piston for forming an extremely reliable and compact ink supply circuit.

Abstract: A holder for a thermal print medium is disclosed. The holder is adapted to be used in a thermal printer in which a donor element in a thermal print medium transfers dye to a receiver element upon receipt of a sufficient amount of thermal energy. The printer includes a plurality of diode lasers which can be individually modulated to supply energy to selected dots on the medium in accordance with an information signal. The print head of the printer includes a fiber optic array having a plurality of optical fibers coupled to the diode lasers. The holder for the thermal print medium includes a rotatable vacuum drum, and the fiber optic array is movable relative to the drum. The vacuum drum includes separate vacuum supplies for the donor sheet and for the receiver sheet so that the sheets can be independently handled.

Abstract: A scanning mode printer operates with an array of heating elements and corresponding photoelectric elements coupled in parallel so that a modulated laser beam scans in line fashion the photoelectric elements to respectively activate each heating element in a thermal head for imaging a heat-responsive medium.

Abstract: A thermal printing apparatus prints input gradational images, characters and figures by using multilevel density regulates the levels of the densities representing the gradiational images etc. to be printed by a linear thermal head having n heating resistors arranged in a row.

Abstract: In a thermal printer for thermo-sensitive recording, a plurality of heating resistors are electrically divided into N units each having M heating resistors, and N driver circuits, N latch circuits and N shift registers which are interconnected in tandem are respectively provided in association with the N units of M heating resistors. Dot data signals and associated hysteresis correction signals are collectively applied to the shift registers so that a pulse for print data and a pulse for hysteresis correction data can be applied continuously for printing.

Abstract: A thermal transfer material, comprising a support and an ink layer disposed thereon which comprises a binder and a colorant wherein the binder has a melt viscosity (.eta. poise) satisfying the following formula:1.9.times.10.sup.13.e.sup.-0.26T .ltoreq..eta..ltoreq.4.8.times.10.sup.17.e.sup.-0.26T,wherein T denotes a temperature (.degree.C.) and e denoted the base of natural logarithm, in the range of 50.degree.-150.degree. C.

Abstract: A high resolution printing method is disclosed, implemented in a printer in which a continuous ink jet is broken up into drops (G) in a charging electrode (6) where they are selectively charged electrostatically, said drops then pass between deflection electrodes (9), the appearance of a satellite drop (Sn) from a main drop is caused by application of an appropriate voltage in the charging electrode during formation of said main drop and the coalescence of a satellite drop thus formed intended for printing with the following main drop is prevented, also by application of a voltage to the charging electrode during the formation of said main drop.

Abstract: An image printing device in which desired images represented by two or more valued data are recorded with a laser beam. This image printing device allows to employ a semiconductor laser which is relatively low in an output power resulting in reducing manufacturing cost and prolonging a service life of the device.

Abstract: Franking machine with an inkjet printer wherein the inkjet nozzles are offset in the travel direction (7) of the piece of mail (3) as well as transversely thereto. Due to the offsetting, the ink drop dots can be applied to a piece of mail (3) in partially overlapping fashion and adjoining one another without gaps. In a preferred embodiment, the inkjet nozzles (5) are arranged in equidistant columns ( . . . 1 to . . . 4) perpendicular to the travel direction (7) and in likewise equidistant rows oblique to the travel direction.

Abstract: An apparatus for driving a thermal recording head having a plurality of heat-generating elements in alignment wherein energy applied to any one heat-generating element is determined on the basis of a recording energy E.sub.p determined on an assumption that both the heat-generating element and adjacent heat-generating elements are energized and also in accordance with a compensation energy E.sub.r for compensating for an energy shortage at the time of non-energization of adjacent elements in actual recording. The recording energy E.sub.p is determined from a target energy EO required for forming a recording dot, heat storage energy E.sub.s already possessed by the element before a current energization thereof and a correction quantity given by a function of the heat substrate temperature T.sub.h, and E.sub.s is stored and updated for each line recording operation in accordance with a function of E.sub.p. The compensation energy E.sub.r is given by a function of the value T.sub.

Abstract: A recording apparatus in which a heat-sensitive sheet wound in the form of a roll is drawn out for a printing operation is improved in performance in various manners, for instance, by controlling the loading and forwarding of the heat-sensitive sheet, or by controlling the printing means such as thermal printers, or by improving sheet conveying means such as conveying rollers.Specific features include a two sheet entry path into the recording apparatus, one for accommodating a single sheet and one for accommodating a roll of sheet material. Further, the printing units are arranged in a staggered manner in a transverse direction relative to the delivery direction of the recording material, and each of the printing units has a predetermined main scanning length. In addition, any wandering or meandering of the sheet material can be detected accurately by detecting an angle of a roller arm in contact with the upper surface of the sheet material.

Abstract: A wide format thermal printhead is provided which comprises a baseplate; a first substrate with a border portion removed from a first edge thereof to form a second edge, the first substrate being mounted on the baseplate; and a second substrate with a border portion removed from a first edge thereof to form a second edge, the second substrate being mounted on the baseplate with the second edge of the second substrate abutting the second edge of the first substrate to form a print surface having an extended active print width. Also provided is a thermal recording device with wide format capabilities which comprises the wide format thermal printhead as described.

Abstract: A paper advance control for a progressive X,Y plotter with unidirectional paper movement senses the actual advancement of the paper and controls the drive to a take-up roll in such a way as to keep the speed of advancement constant over the major portion of its advancement. It also through the same sensor keeps informed of its actual paper position and stops the paper with accurate positioning at the end of an advancement, its stopping procedure including a pre-stop slow down of the paper speed.

Abstract: An ink jet recording device composed of a plurality of ink jet heads reciprocally acting in a direction perpendicular to a paper sheet feeding direction, and a plurality of ink supplying tubes connected between the ink set heads and an ink supplying source to supply ink to the recording heads. The ink supplying tubes are bound together in a plane and arranged to be parallel to the movement direction of the ink jet heads so that the radius of curvature of the bending part of the ink supplying tubes can be diminished and sliding of the ink supplying tubes relative to each other is avoided.

Abstract: A multi-jet print head for a continuous ink jet printer has its individual ink jets formed electrostatically instead of using a row of individual nozzles. Ink is supplied continuously through a slot in an electrically conducting body or to an elongated edge portion of such a body, while a strong electrostatic field is applied to draw off the ink as an array of parallel cusps. These break up at their tips to form a stream of ink drops which can then be deflected in known manner. The electrostatic field preferably has a reinforcing secondary field superimposed on it, which is cyclically varied at a suitable ink drop production frequency to synchronize formation of the ink drops at each of the cusp tips. This enables means for deflecting the drops to be synchronized with the moving drops for consistent deflections and corresponding optimum resolution.

Abstract: In a thermal transfer type color printer, an ink film on which plural color inks are sequentially painted in its longitudinal direction is sequentially transported forward between an ink film supply roll and winding roll, while a printing paper is repeatedly transported forward and backward in order to print out a color image by overlapping plural color inks. In color printing, the printing paper and ink film are partially overlapped and wound around a platen roller, and a thermal head is pressed against the platen roller by sandwiching the ink film and printing paper therebetween so that the thermal head transfers the color inks on the printing paper. In order to prevent wrinkles from being formed on the ink film, tension applying means applies tension force to the ink film by temporarily controlling or stopping revolution of the ink film supply roll.

Abstract: A thimble (10) for the eye (4) of a rope (2) is provided with a sleeve (40) which receives the pin (32) of a shackle (30) and a bar (42) which attaches this sleeve to the inside wall of the thimble. The load in this beam is measured and recorded by means of a mechanical strain recording device (50) in which a scribe (56) on an arm (54) marks on a recording surface (52).

Abstract: A thermal printing apparatus is disclosed wherein a first printing operation is performed by transferring a thermo-melting ink of one primary color to a print medium and at least one subsequent printing operation may be performed by transferring a thermo-melting ink of another primary color to the previously transferred ink on the print medium in a superposed fashion, thereby printing of multiple colors is accomplished. The thermal printing apparatus includes a controlling system which determines whether a printing operation to be performed is the first printing operation or a subsequent printing operation and controls a printing speed of a carriage supporting a thermal head according to the determination. For instance, in the case where the thermo-melting ink contains a coloring agent and a binder of waxy substance, the printing speed of the carriage during subsequent printing operations is controlled to be slower than that during the first printing operation.

Abstract: A device for driving a thermal print head having a plurality of heat-producing elements arranged in the form of a single array for use in a thermosensitive or thermal transfer recording apparatus is provided. The drive device includes a void data counter for counting void data in the data of an image signal for each of the plurality of heat-producing elements and an adjusting unit for adjusting the level of a preheat energy to be supplied to each of the plurality of heat-producing elements in accordance with the void data count for the corresponding heat-producing element.

Abstract: An improved optical data storage medium is reponsive to incident electromagnetic radiation, and the surface or a surface region of the medium includes a layer of heat sensitive material which has a textured surface pattern in the form of a regular array of grooves or protuberances, the dimensions of the surface features which constitute said textured surface pattern being in the sub-micron range. The textured surface pattern is overcoated with a thin film of an alloy, said alloy comprising (1) a first component which is at least one of ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium and platinum; and (2) at least one other metallic element, preferably from Groups Va, VIa, VIIa, and Ib of the Periodic Table of elements according to Mendeleev.The preferred alloy compositions for such data storage media contain platinum and tungsten.