Including Particular Surface Characteristic (e.g., Translucent, Pigment Yielding, Corrugated, Of Varying Hardness, Etc.) Patents (Class 400/662)
  • Patent number: 8696110
    Abstract: There is provided an ink jet recording apparatus including: a platen, a contact portion disposed between a pair of first ribs of the plurality of first ribs with respect to a scanning direction. A lower end of the contact portion is located lower than each upper end of the pair of first ribs. The platen includes a second rib disposed between one first rib of the pair of first ribs and the contact portion with respect to the scanning direction, and an upper end of the second rib is located lower than the upper end of the one first rib of the pair of first ribs and higher than the lower end of the contact portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 15, 2014
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Ito, Yuji Koga
  • Patent number: 8690316
    Abstract: An image recording apparatus includes a recording section which is provided over a transport passage for transporting a sheet in a transport direction and which has nozzles for discharging an ink onto the sheet; a platen which is provided under the recording section with the transport passage intervening therebetween and which has a plurality of ribs provided to support the sheet while being separated from each other in a widthwise direction of the transport passage perpendicular to the transport direction, the respective ribs protruding upwardly and extending in the transport direction; and a plurality of holding members which are provided to be positioned between the plurality of ribs in the widthwise direction of the transport passage over the platen on an upstream side in the transport direction from the nozzles and which abut against an upper surface of the sheet and press the sheet toward the platen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2014
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Tsuyoshi Ito
  • Publication number: 20080089732
    Abstract: An apparatus and system for using a gritty-type roller for performing a printing process, is provided. An apparatus includes a roller for modifying a position of a print medium relative to a print head. The roller includes an exterior lining. The lining includes a plurality of particles for providing traction between the roller and the print medium.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 12, 2006
    Publication date: April 17, 2008
    Inventor: Ezra Szoke
  • Patent number: 7322690
    Abstract: There are provided a sucking unit having a recording medium transportation surface including a plurality of sucking holes, a decompression chamber communicating with the sucking holes and a sucking device for sucking air in the decompression chamber, and a delivering device for sucking a recording medium supplied onto the recording medium transportation surface of the sucking unit onto the recording medium transportation surface through the sucking hole by the sucking device, and delivering the recording medium from an upstream side of the sucking unit to a downstream side thereof. Each sucking hole of the sucking unit is formed by a through hole section communicating with the decompression chamber and a sucking chamber having a larger area of a sucking surface opposed to the recording medium than a sectional area of the through hole section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2008
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Takayuki Ishii, Yoshitaka Shimada
  • Publication number: 20080003041
    Abstract: A thermal printer includes a first thermal head, a first platen roller, first biasing means, a second thermal head, a second platen roller, and second biasing means. The first thermal head, the first platen roller, the first biasing means are in contact with a heat-sensitive layer of thermal recording paper. The second thermal head, the second platen roller, and the second biasing means are in contact with a heat-sensitive layer of the thermal recording paper. The second thermal head is arranged on the upstream side of the first thermal head in a paper feed direction. A paper feed speed of the first platen roller to the thermal recording paper is larger than a paper feed speed of the second platen roller. The first platen roller is in contact with the thermal recording paper while being more slippery compared with the second platen roller.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 5, 2007
    Publication date: January 3, 2008
    Applicant: TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Toshiharu Sekino, Kenji Eoka, Kiyotaka Nihashi, Takeshi Hiyoshi, Tsuyoshi Sanada, Akira Suzuki
  • Patent number: 7186043
    Abstract: There is disclosed a printer with an arrangement for assuring that a linerless tacky adhesive-backed web is reliably fed. The printer has stripper elements which terminate at tip portions which extend into the platen roll to initially cut grooves in the platen roll, and because the tip portions extend below the outer periphery of the platen roll into these grooves, the stripper elements continue to strip the web reliably from the platen roll during subsequent printing cycles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2007
    Assignee: Paxar Americas, Inc.
    Inventor: Thomas Patrick Keller
  • Patent number: 6918709
    Abstract: A flat platen is provided in an image forming apparatus having a side edge detector that detects a side edge of a recording medium to be fed in a predetermined direction. The flat platen has a surface on which the recording medium to be fed is supported and is disposed facing the side edge detector. The side edge detector has a light emitting device and a light receiving device, which are disposed such as to face the recording medium. The side edge detector detects a side edge of the recording sheet while moving in a direction perpendicular to the predetermined direction to emit light from the light emitting device. In such a flat platen, an anti-reflective treatment, which reduces or prevents light led to the light receiving device from the light emitting device through the reflection on the surface, is applied to the surface of which corresponds to at least a vicinity of a side edge of a standard-size recording medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2004
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2005
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masaru Takeuchi, Takatoshi Takemoto
  • Patent number: 6890112
    Abstract: There is disclosed a linerless label web roll wherein the label web has a patterned coating of pressure sensitive adhesive on its underside between marginal side edges and at marginal side edges of the label web. The adhesive is provided in longitudinally extending laterally spaced stripes of adhesive with intervening adhesive-free zones. The label web can be supported and/or guided by support or guide elements which contact the adhesive-free zones in a suitable utilization device such as a printer or label applicator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2005
    Assignee: Paxar Americas, Inc.
    Inventor: James Richard Kline
  • Patent number: 6695496
    Abstract: A dot printer not using any type, nor requiring any ink ribbon has an ink roller 1, a platen 2 having an outer surface coated with ink by contacting the ink roller 1, and a printing head 3 facing the platen 2 in an appropriately spaced apart relation thereto. The printing head 3 is a dot impact type printing head having a plurality of printing wires caused to project selectively to form letters, and a recording medium 6 is conveyed between the platen 2 and the printing head 3 to have printing made thereon by the printing head 3. A protective film 8 is employed between the printing head 3 and the recording medium 6.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2004
    Assignee: Seiko Precision Inc.
    Inventors: Yuji Nakagaki, Mitsuharu Shishido
  • Patent number: 6454478
    Abstract: Predetermined geometric constructs reduce heat loss in a vacuum platen and assist in the reduction of paper cockle in ink-jet printing. A vacuum platen for supporting media during printing is provided with a plurality of heating elements and surfaces interspersed with vacuum ports. The heater elements are laid into surface channels of the platen such that an insulative gap separates the heaters from the main platen support structure. In an alternative embodiment, an insulative gasket is provided for the gap.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2002
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Co.
    Inventors: Geoff Wotton, Steve O. Rasmussen
  • Publication number: 20020102123
    Abstract: A print media handling device comprising a roller element having a rotational axis, the device being adapted to be mounted substantially coaxially between two adjacent pinch wheels of a ink jet apparatus such that in it is free to rotate about its rotational axis, the device being arranged in operation to limit the height of print media between said adjacent pinch wheels.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 31, 2001
    Publication date: August 1, 2002
    Inventors: Macia Sole, Lluis Hierro, Xavier Alonso
  • Publication number: 20020044812
    Abstract: In the present invention, a flat platen having a flat surface opposed to a print head is fixed to a platen supporting member by a fixing member, and a first impact absorbing member is disposed elastically between the platen and the platen supporting member. Accordingly, the propagation of vibration between the platen and the platen supporting member is prevented by a vibration absorbing action of the first impact absorbing member and vibrations in a vibration generation source are absorbed quickly. Thus, according to the present invention, a printing noise can be damped effectively.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 6, 2001
    Publication date: April 18, 2002
    Applicant: Toshiba TEC Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hajime Yamamoto
  • Publication number: 20010010776
    Abstract: To avoid the effects of unwanted variations in the pen-to-paper spacing of a printer, deliberate and effectively randomised variations are introduced by using paper drive rollers (20) with an irregular cross-section. In one embodiment, an overdrive roller comprises rollers (23-26) the surfaces of which incorporate flattened portions (27, 28) of differing widths and spacings. The number, size and/or spacing of the portions (27, 28) differ from roller to roller. Instead or in addition, variations may be incorporated into a pinch wheel (101), platen (15) or other component of the paper drive system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 19, 2001
    Publication date: August 2, 2001
    Inventor: Antoni Gil Miquel
  • Patent number: 6261008
    Abstract: An apparatus and method technique to secure smooth transporting of a recording medium in a printing device. A gap between the print head and the platen is included in a transport path for another purpose, e.g., reading of magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) characters on the recording medium, through use of a platen which is rotatable between two positions: a support position and a guide position. The gap adjacent the platen is minimized in the guide position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 1999
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2001
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Kunio Omura
  • Patent number: 6244768
    Abstract: A line printer with a hammerbank having print hammers with printing tips and a ribbon supported for impact by the tips for printing on media and a metal platen for supporting the media. An elastomer on the metal platen supports the media and has a layer of material harder than the elastomer extending inwardly from its surface which receives the impacts of the hammer tips. The harder material can be particles extending inwardly randomly from the surface of the elastomer of a ceramic having a sphericity exceeding 0.50 up to 35 percent of the thickness of the elastomer, and in the range of 20 microns to 400 microns in size.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 1999
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2001
    Assignee: Printronix, Inc.
    Inventors: Y. Grant Chang, Norman E. Farb
  • Patent number: 6243121
    Abstract: The thermal printer includes a thermal recording head and a platen roller. The thermal recording head records the image on a thermal recording material by contacting therewith at a predetermined pressure. The platen roller is arranged to face the thermal recording head and supports and transports the thermal recording material to be recorded thereon. The platen roller is covered with covering rubber in which the relation between hardness H (degree) and thickness t (mm) satisfies the following formula: 5t+30≦H≦5t+50. The thermal printer is capable of obtaining a recorded image of high-quality without generating unevenness of an image, unevenness derived from a streak, a blur or the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2001
    Assignee: Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Toshitaka Agano
  • Patent number: 6048120
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus (10) comprises a vacuum imaging drum (300) for holding thermal print media (32) and dye donor material (36), in registration with the thermal print media (32), on a surface of the vacuum imaging drum (300). A printhead (500) prints information to the thermal print media (32) as the printhead is moved parallel to the surface (305) of the vacuum imaging drum (300). Angled vacuum holes (306) connect the surface (305) and an interior (304) of the vacuum imaging drum (300) to maintain the thermal print media (32) on the surface. The angled vacuum holes (306) are at an acute angle to the surface (305) of the vacuum imaging drum (300).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2000
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventor: Roger S. Kerr
  • Patent number: 6045276
    Abstract: When different tape cartridges accommodating printing tapes having different hardness, thicknesses or widths are exchangeably mounted in the same printing apparatus, excellent printing can be obtained using the present embodiment. In a platen 12 provided in a tape cartridge 10, the harder, thicker or wider the tape T accommodated in the tape cartridge 10, the softer a platen rubber provided on a surface of the platen. The platen rubber 14 having a hardness corresponding to the properties of the tape T is used so as to obtain an ideal contact state between a printing head and the tape T regardless of the properties of the tape T when the tape cartridge 10 is mounted in a tape writer 1. Accordingly, the tape T can be properly conveyed by the platen 12 and a tape guide pin 26 regardless of its properties, and can be brought into contact with a printing head through an ink ribbon R in an ideal and consistent contact state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 1997
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2000
    Assignees: Seiko Epson Corporation, King Jim Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kunihiko Matsuhashi, Hideo Sodeyama, Daisuke Inakoshi
  • Patent number: 6039480
    Abstract: In the present invention, the thermal efficiency and concentration of a thermal head on a transfer film over the surface of a transfer drum are improved, thereby improving the reproducibility of gradation in printing, which enables highly minute transfer images to be printed on the transfer film. This makes it possible to form a highly minute image on an image-transferred member. To do this, a cushion layer made of elastomer and a rigid layer with a surface finish of less than 2.0 .mu.m on a surface of the cushion layer are provided on a surface of the drum base of the transfer drum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 1998
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2000
    Assignee: Toppan Printing Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomio Andoh, Shiro Shibata, Tomoyuki Marugame
  • Patent number: 6036380
    Abstract: An inkjet printer includes a plastic platen and a structural member extending upward from the base of the printer. The printing surface is supported by the upper surface of the structural member. This surface is held flat to within very tight tolerances. The bottom of the platen printing surface is retained against this surface so that it conforms to the shape of this surface structural member to create a substantially flat printing surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 1998
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2000
    Assignee: ENCAD, Inc.
    Inventors: Dennis J. Astroth, Gary Graham, Scott D. Slade, Barry Schwartz, Truong Nguyen, Linda Schott, Don Spann
  • Patent number: 5893210
    Abstract: A roller for an image forming apparatus comprises: a core body having a shaft positioned in the center thereof, the core body being formed by solidifying a fluid around an outer circumference of the shaft; and a surface layer formed on a surface of said core body, the surface layer being made of hard rubber and having a uniform thickness over the surface of the core body. A mold for the roller, comprises: an inner surface whose section is the same as a section of the core body; a pair of half-split bodies, one end wall of each half-split body having a recess for clamping the shaft, other end wall of each half-split body having a injecting hole for injecting a core body forming fluid therefrom; and a stopper body serving as an aligning member having a through hole in the middle thereof for inserting the shaft thereinto, the stopper body further projecting a stopper on an outer circumference thereof for fitting the stopper into the injecting hole.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 13, 1999
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Masafumi Takei, Kenji Sakurai
  • Patent number: 5882131
    Abstract: A drive roller for an ink-jet printer. The drive roller has a media engaging surface that is roughened by grit blasting along an entire media engaging longitudinal peripheral extent. The surface is hardened by anodizing. The roller is relatively inexpensive to fabricate yet has a small error on diameter and run out, and high traction due to the surface roughness, to provide highly accurate media positioning performance. The drive roller rotates about shaft mounted bearings. The shaft journal is formed with a small raised bump, which has very loose diametrical tolerance requirements, but is short in comparison to the bearing length dimension. When the bearing is press fit onto the shaft journal, the material forming the raised bump is sheared by the bearing. The sheared material drops into a recess on the journal, and does not interfere with the axial positioning of the bearing. The axial position of the bearing is controlled by placing the bearing next to a shoulder formed on the shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 1997
    Date of Patent: March 16, 1999
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company
    Inventors: Juan B. Belon, Ravi T. Singh
  • Patent number: 5865548
    Abstract: A resistive thermal printer has a platen drive mechanism which includes (1) a thermal printhead having an array of selectively-activatable thermal elements and (2) a rotatably-driven platen roller opposed to the printhead and forming a nip with the printhead through which a receiver medium is driven by the platen roller while the thermal elements are selectively activated. The platen roller has an outer layer of perfluorinated polymer. The platen roller includes a compliant layer below the outer layer of perfluorinated polymer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 1996
    Date of Patent: February 2, 1999
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventors: Xin Wen, William Irvin Morris, Steven J. Sparer
  • Patent number: 5820284
    Abstract: The present invention provides a thermal transfer printer which causes neither blur in first printing nor stain on a sheet even in both-side printing, and which can securely maintain ink writing properties in recording to write an ink image by an intermediate transfer member, and re-transfer properties in re-transfer of an ink image to a printing medium over a long period time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 13, 1998
    Assignee: Alps Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Isao Owada, Hiroyoshi Zama, Koichi Dobashi
  • Patent number: 5795088
    Abstract: A resistive thermal printer has a platen drive mechanism which includes (1) a thermal printhead having an array of selectively-activatable thermal elements and (2) a rotatably-driven platen roller opposed to the printhead and forming a nip with the printhead through which a receiver medium is driven by the platen roller while the thermal elements are selectively activated. The platen roller has an inner core and an outer sleeve formed of a heat shrunk material. The platen roller includes a compliant layer below the outer sleeve.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 1996
    Date of Patent: August 18, 1998
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventors: Xin Wen, Joseph C. Olsovsky
  • Patent number: 5733052
    Abstract: A thermal printer has a thermal line printhead, which contacts a recording sheet and creates images on the recording sheet. A platen roller is positioned in a fixed location and bears against the thermal line printhead. When a covering member is closed, the platen roller feeds the recording sheet against the thermal line printhead. The platen roller has a roller unit of rubber composition, the surface of which is coated with an adsorption preventing powder agent to prevent it from adhering to the thermal line printhead.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 1996
    Date of Patent: March 31, 1998
    Assignee: Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Minoru Suzuki
  • Patent number: 5702192
    Abstract: When different tape cartridges accommodating printing tapes having different hardness, thicknesses or widths are exchangeably mounted in the same printing apparatus, excellent printing can be obtained using the present embodiment. In a platen 12 provided in a tape cartridge 10, the harder, thicker or wider the tape T accommodated in the tape cartridge 10, the softer a platen rubber provided on a surface of the platen. The platen rubber 14 having a hardness corresponding to the properties of the tape T is used so as to obtain an ideal contact state between a printing head and the tape T regardless of the properties of the tape T when the tape cartridge 10 is mounted in a tape writer 1. Accordingly, the tape T can be properly conveyed by the platen 12 and a tape guide pin 26 regardless of its properties, and can be brought into contact with a printing head through an ink ribbon R in an ideal and consistent contact state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 1995
    Date of Patent: December 30, 1997
    Assignees: Seiko Epson Corporation, King Jim Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kunihiko Matsuhashi, Hideo Sodeyama, Daisuke Inakoshi
  • Patent number: 5673078
    Abstract: A platen roller for a thermal printer includes a compliant base material having a network stretch-resistant material embedded in it. The stretch-resistant material is preferably a network of nonwoven nylon, woven polyester, woven fiberglass, or similar structure which resists shear forces in a platen roller that transports a receiver through a nip in contact with a donor, which, in turn, is contacted by a thermal head. The reduction in shear forces improves the registration of color images in making a quality multicolor image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 30, 1997
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventors: Xin Wen, Joseph C. Olsovsky
  • Patent number: 5551786
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for preparing graphic products utilizes a printer to print on sheet material and a cutter to cut the sheet material with the printed material within the periphery of the cut edges. Both the printer and the cutter are controlled by machine readable data having a common data base so that the printed material and the cut material correspond positionally in the final graphic product. The printer is a thermal printer that places the printed material on a strip of sheet material generally before the sheet material is cut. The thermal printer utilizes a donor web bearing a transfer ink to create enhanced printed images on the sheet material with half tones, color and other attractive features. The printer is controlled to regulate a number of printing parameters through coding on a cassette in which the donor web is supported.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 1995
    Date of Patent: September 3, 1996
    Assignee: Gerber Scientific Products, Inc.
    Inventors: Ronald B. Webster, David J. Logan, Jay T. Niland, William Loos, Joseph W. Stempien
  • Patent number: 5511892
    Abstract: A resistive thermal printer receives dye donor and dye receiver media between a printhead and a platen having an elastomeric surface. The platen and one of the media is wider than the printhead, and the other media is narrower than the printhead, whereby pressure between the printhead and the platen, with the media there between, tends to compress the platen in the region of the narrow medium. End portions of the platen beyond the narrow medium are relieved so as to not be compressed by pressure between the printhead and the platen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 1994
    Date of Patent: April 30, 1996
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventor: James E. Pickering
  • Patent number: 5451991
    Abstract: A recording apparatus for performing recording on a recording medium includes a feed roller for feeding a recording medium, a recording head reciprocally movable along a feed path of the recording medium conveyed by the feed roller, the recording head being arranged to perform recording on the recording medium, a motor rotatable in a forward and a reverse direction, a first driving force transmitting unit for driving the feed roller upon rotation of the motor, and a second driving force transmitting unit capable of not receiving the driving force when the driving force is transmitted from the motor to the first driving force transmitting unit. The second driving force transmitting unit is arranged to reciprocate the recording head upon reversible rotation of the motor. A particularly configured drive belt with toothed and non-toothed portions accomplishes this operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 1994
    Date of Patent: September 19, 1995
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yasuhide Saito, Isao Tsukada
  • Patent number: 5344246
    Abstract: A printer for recording information on one of opposite surfaces of a recording medium, including a recording head displaceable along the one surface of the recording medium, for recording the information on the one surface, a platen device for defining a platen surface which is opposed to the recording head, a vibration device for applying vibration to the platen means and thereby vibrating the platen surface, and an actuating device for, when the recording head is displaced along the one surface of the recording medium, displacing the platen device along the other of the opposite surfaces of the recording medium in a same direction as a direction of the displacement of the recording head and in synchronism with the displacement of the recording head, so that the platen surface continues to be opposed to the recording head.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 1992
    Date of Patent: September 6, 1994
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yasuo Imoto, Akira Iriguchi, Atsuo Sakaida, Yasuji Chikaoka, Akira Ninomiya
  • Patent number: 5315928
    Abstract: An impact printer has a print band moving longitudinally around pulleys with one side of the band moving in contact along a rigid platen and the other side having engraved characters presented along a print line of a print medium (e.g. paper and ink ribbon). The leading edge of platen is squared off (e.g. sharp) to scrape contamination off the band. A row of hammers impact the print medium against the band between the hammers and an impact surface of the platen. The impact surface of the platen contains multiple longitudinal grooves which start slightly back from the leading edge of the platen and which prevent increased friction force between the band and platen from occurring as the band wears the platen impact surface smooth.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 1992
    Date of Patent: May 31, 1994
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: D. Michael Bocinski, Craig A. Kaufman, Randy J. Kisacky, Barton H. Kunz, Lawrence A. Stone, Jerry Z. Raski, David B. Schaefer, Douglas A. Schmidt
  • Patent number: 5205663
    Abstract: A printing mechanism such as a thermal printer includes an elastomer coated platen having a circumference smaller than the printing length of an image to be reproduced on a print medium. The platen has a width which is wider than the width of the print medium. The platen includes a rigid central longitudinally-disposed shaft, and opposing end sections. Each end section extends under the nearest edge of the print medium from an associated end of the platen, and includes means for coupling a contacting print medium to a rotation of the shaft. In a preferred embodiment, the coupling means is formed of a non-elastomeric thin-walled cup either disposed near the surface of the platen within the elastomer coating or at the surface of the platen with a thin layer of fine grit particles formed thereon. Each thin-walled cup is fixedly connected to the shaft by a rigid torsion coupling member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 1991
    Date of Patent: April 27, 1993
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventors: Stanley W. Stephenson, William D. Goodwin
  • Patent number: 5152618
    Abstract: A printing mechanism such as a thermal printer includes a rotatable cylindrical platen having a circumference which is smaller than the printing length of a complete image to be reproduced on a print medium, and at least one pinch roller. The platen has a width which is wider than a width of the print medium. The platen includes a rigid central longitudinally-disposed shaft, a cylindrical elastomeric layer formed around a central logitudinal section of the shaft, and first and second opposing cyclindrical registration members. The first and second registration members are fixedly coupled to the shaft and engage a first and a second end of the elastomeric layer, respectively, so that the shaft, layer, and members rotate together. Each pinch roller is formed of a rigid material and is disposed longitudinally to the platen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 1991
    Date of Patent: October 6, 1992
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventors: William D. Goodwin, Stanley W. Stephenson
  • Patent number: 5013170
    Abstract: A method of producing platens for typewriters and similar office equipment. Conventional platens often include a large number of individual parts and are relatively expensive because of their high assembly and finishing costs. According to the invention, an impact-resistant polyolefin with the addition of a delayed-reacting foaming agent is employed in an injection molding process in such a fashion that, by means of differential cooling of the mold, the material on the platen surface and in areas of other functional elements such as line-advance wheel/notched wheel combinations hardens, while the core of the platen remains a foam. The process allows platens with other functional elements molded to them to be manufactured from a single material in a single operation and without any additional work, despite different demands made on the print backing and the other functional elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 1989
    Date of Patent: May 7, 1991
    Assignee: TA TRIUMPH ADLER Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Johannes Haftmann, Rudolf Schmeykal
  • Patent number: 4981381
    Abstract: A platen roller includes a core member and a rubber member which covers the circumferential surface of the core member. The rubber member is arranged to have a hardness value of 95.+-.3, JIS A, at 20.degree. to 25.degree. C. on the basis of JIS K6301-5.2 and a rebound resilience value of 4 to 7% at 20.degree. to 30.degree. on the basis of JIS K6301-11.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 1989
    Date of Patent: January 1, 1991
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Jun Murata
  • Patent number: 4982207
    Abstract: An improved heater construction for an ink jet printer of the kind having a rotary print platen for holding and transporting a print sheet through a print path. The platen heater includes a hollow shell mounted for rotation through the print path and has vacuum holes for sheet attachment. A heating foil is detachably mounted in heat transfer relation with a major portion of the interior periphery of said shell and is coupled by brush contacts to an electrical power source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 1989
    Date of Patent: January 1, 1991
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventors: David F. Tunmore, Michael J. Poccia
  • Patent number: 4957378
    Abstract: In a printing-plate preparation apparatus employed in a screen printing machine comprising a thermal printhead provided with a heating-element portion, a rotatably supported platen roller for delivering a stencil paper and urging the same against a surface of the heating-element portion of the thermal printhead, and a manuscript-reading unit movable back and forth between a first position and a second position an improvement resides in that an outer peripheral surface of the platen roller is made of non-adhesive material while urged against a surface of the heating-element portion of the thermal printhead, whereby the stencil paper is clamped between the platen roller and the thermal printhead so as to be delivered while subjected to a perforation operation conducted by the heating-element portion of the thermal printhead.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 1988
    Date of Patent: September 18, 1990
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Masayuki Shima
  • Patent number: 4934850
    Abstract: A platen for a printer includes a tubular body section, shaft sections extending from opposite ends of the body section away from each other and coaxially with the body section and an elastic layer provided on an outer periphery of the body section. The shaft sections are smaller in diameter than the body section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 1988
    Date of Patent: June 19, 1990
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshimitsu Okubo, Mamoru Takezawa, Mitsuyoshi Satoh, Kazuhiro Suzuki
  • Patent number: 4929106
    Abstract: An article of manufacture is provided which includes a molded piece-part having a substantially rectangularly-shaped plate portion including opposed surfaces. The piece-part also includes a pair of elongate parallel-spaced rack gear portions depending from one of the surfaces of the plate portion. The article further includes a member made of a resilient material having an inner surface facing the other of the surfaces of the plate portion and fixedly attached thereto. Moreover, the member includes a plurality of intersecting channels extending into the member from the inner surface thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 1988
    Date of Patent: May 29, 1990
    Assignee: Pitney Bowes Inc.
    Inventors: Danilo P. Buan, Jovito N. Abellana, Donald T. Dolan
  • Patent number: 4918463
    Abstract: Printer apparatus of the kind having a housing, a print zone and a serial printing device for printing along line sectors of print media that are successively advanced into and out of the print zone includes an integral subsystem for handling discrete sheets of print media. This subsystem includes (a) transport member having a peripheral surface that is movable around an endless path past a sheet ingress zone, the print zone and a sheet egress zone; (b) a drive for moving the transport member surface around the endless path; (c) a sheet supply station formed within the housing and including a device for positioning the face of a sheet-stack adjacent the path of the transport member at a position upstream of the sheet ingress zone; and (d) engagement device for effecting periodic feeding engagements between the transport means and successive face sheets of a positioned stack.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 1988
    Date of Patent: April 17, 1990
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventor: Michael J. Piatt
  • Patent number: 4898489
    Abstract: A printer system containing an elastic endless sheet member which extends between roller members in front of a print head. The roller members are disposed so as to form a flat surface of the elastic endless sheet member in front of the print head in order to ensure clean printing. One of the roller members is connected to a paper feed motor so that a paper sheet is fed in front of the print head in the vertical direction in unison with the rotation of the elastic endless sheet member around the roller members.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 1984
    Date of Patent: February 6, 1990
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Junichiro Matsumoto, Mitsuhiro Shimada, Yoichi Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 4893952
    Abstract: This invention relates to an improved dot matrix-type printing system wherein the wires of the print head are arranged to impinge on the reverse side of the workpiece to cause it to be moved into contact with a cavitated ink transfer roller, whereby, the workpiece is brought into direct contact with ink droplets carried by the caves in the cavitated surface in such a fashion as to create a symbolic array on the frontside of the workpiece. Secondary embodiments utilize finely apertured belt means and a source of ink disposed inside of said belt with the workpiece being impinged into contact with the ink carrying belt means.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 1987
    Date of Patent: January 16, 1990
    Assignee: Bell & Howell Company
    Inventor: Eduard Svyatsky
  • Patent number: 4887923
    Abstract: There is provided a platen roll low in generation of noise with keeping superior printability which comprises a shaft and a single layer of rubber composition concentrically and tightly applied around said shaft or two layers of an inner layer of a resin concentrically and tightly applied around said shaft and an outer layer of a rubber composition concentrically and tightly applied around said inner layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 1987
    Date of Patent: December 19, 1989
    Assignee: Bridgestone Corporation
    Inventors: Takumi Ishiwaka, Yukio Andoh, Michiyuki Yamaguchi, Shosuke Suzuki, Yoshinori Egashira, Takeo Yokobori, Takashi Ohashi
  • Patent number: 4882593
    Abstract: Image recording is indirectly achieved on a recording sheet via an intermediate transferring medium. First, the circumferential surface of a rotatable transferring medium having heat-transferable ink contained therein is fused or softened in response to image information by means of a recording electrode which is disposed at the position opposite to the transferring medium while the intermediate transferring medium is interposed therebetween. After completion of the first transferring step the ink image which has been transferred onto the intermediate transferring medium is transported to the position where a second transferring step is achieved while the ink image is kept in the fused or softened state. The second transferring step is achieved in such a manner that the ink image is transferred onto the recording sheet under the effect of pressure which is imparted by a pressure roller. The intermediate transferring medium may be made of electric conductive material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 1986
    Date of Patent: November 21, 1989
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kouichi Touma, Tetsuo Hasegawa, Naoki Kushida, Hisao Yaegashi, Yasuyuki Tamura, Shuzo Kaneko
  • Patent number: 4881838
    Abstract: A printing platen particularly for matrix printers is comprised of an aluminum or synthetic body carrying a thin layer of a ceramic material, preferably aluminum oxide, titanium oxide, chromium dioxide or a blend thereof. Such a platen is sufficiently frictional and hard for withstanding the impact of high speed print hammers or needles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 1985
    Date of Patent: November 21, 1989
    Assignee: Mannesmann AG
    Inventors: Gerhard Lohrmann, Guenter Engelhardt, Thomas Werner
  • Patent number: 4855756
    Abstract: In apparatus for thermally transferring ink from a ribbon, having backing and ink donor layers, to a letter, wherein the apparatus includes a frame, a thermal printhead, structure connected to the frame for controlling the printhead, and a roller, wherein the printhead is disposable in a non-printing position permitting a ribbon to be located between the printhead and roller and in a printing position in which the printhead is in engagement with the backing layer of a ribbon, and wherein the roller is adapted for rotation when in engagement with a letter fed between the roller and a ribbon, an improvement for urging a ribbon and letter into engagement with one another, the improvement comprising: the printhead controlling structure including structure for resiliently supporting the printhead for urging the ink donor layer of a ribbon into contact with a letter when the printhead is disposed in the printing position; and the roller including a body portion adapted to flex when engaging a letter for urging a le
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 1987
    Date of Patent: August 8, 1989
    Assignee: Pitney Bowes, Inc.
    Inventors: Julius Gluck, Patrick Murphy, Duc H. Tran
  • Patent number: 4839667
    Abstract: A platen for use in thermal printer of a type designed to effect a printing with the use of at least one thermal print head for printing on a recording medium positioned between the platen and the thermal print head, which platen comprises a generally elongated elastic body having an exterior surface adapted to be brought into contact with the heating elements of the thermal print head assembly with at least the recording medium intervening therebetween, and a layer of porous material lined on the exterior surface of the elastic body and having a hardness greater than that of the elastic body and also having a thermal conductivity lower than that of the elastic body. The thermal conductivity and the porosity of the layer of porous material may be within the range of 0.05 to 0.10 Kcal/m.sup.2 .multidot.hr.multidot..degree.C. and within the range of 50 to 95%, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 1987
    Date of Patent: June 13, 1989
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Sadatoshi Murakami, Satoru Yamasaki, Masayuki Tanaka, Sayoko Hirata, Hiromi Morimoto, Kenji Nomura, Kenichiro Oka, Masaru Ohnishi
  • Patent number: 4780729
    Abstract: A platen for use in a thermal printer of a type designed to effect printing with the use of at least one thermal print head for printing a recording medium positioned between the platen and the thermal print head, which platen comprises a generally elongated elastic body having an exterior surface adapted to be brought into contact with the heating elements of the thermal print head assembly with at least the recording medium intervening therebetween. At least the exterior surface of the elastic body is mixed with a mass of porous fine particles having a hardness greater than that of the elastic body and also having a thermal conductivity lower than that of the elastic body. The thermal conductivity and the porosity of the porous fine particles may be within the range of 0.04 to 0.09 Kcal/m.sup.2.hr..degree.C. and within the range of 60 to 95%, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 1987
    Date of Patent: October 25, 1988
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Sadatoshi Murakami, Satoru Yamasaki, Kenji Nomura, Masayuki Tanaka, Kenichiro Oka, Masaru Ohnishi, Sayoko Hirata