824results about "Printing mechanisms" patented technology

An ink ribbon-print paper cassette is used in a thermal printer. A paper tray accommodates a stack of single sheets of print paper. The paper tray has an opening through which the print paper is fed into a paper path on a sheet-by-sheet basis. An ink ribbon for thermal printing runs over a thermal head located adjacent the paper tray. A housing accommodates the paper tray, thermal head, and ink ribbon therein. When the cassette is loaded into the thermal printer, the outer surface of the cassette and an inner wall of the thermal printer cooperate to form a paper path therebetween through which each of the sheets of print paper is advanced from the paper tray to the thermal head.

A first printing unit for forming a front image on one surface and a second printing unit forming a back image on the other surface are respectively constructed with two stages of printing heads. With respect to the image formed on one surface of a printing medium by the first printing unit, the image formed on the other surface of the printing medium by the second printing unit is formed as a mirror image of bilateral symmetry about an axis in a transporting direction so that the image on the other surface is consistent with the image on one surface.

A printer device, and method, is disclosed which is used in conjunction with an ink ribbon assembly. The ink ribbon assembly includes an ink ribbon and a support. A storage device is integrated with the support. Data relating to the ink ribbon characteristics is stored in the storage device. The printer reads the data in the storage device and modifies the supplied print information ascending to the data stored in the ink ribbon assembly. Ink ribbon characteristic data can include production variance, ribbon type, and remaining ribbon data.

A media cartridge is disclosed for insertion into a cartridge receptacle of a printer. The media cartridge includes a cartridge housing having one or more shifting ribs on the cartridge housing. At a position of initial insertion of the media cartridge into the cartridge receptacle, the shifting ribs are configured to center a length of media and an ink ribbon of the media cartridge between a print head and a platen roller in the cartridge receptacle. As the insertion of the media cartridge into the cartridge receptacle continues, the shifting ribs shift the length of media and the ink ribbon toward one of the print head and the platen roller.

A hardcopy printing mechanism and a greeting card feeder retrofit kit therefor, along with a retrofitting method are provided for printing images on a first-sized media, and on both surfaces a second-sized greeting card media without removing the first-sized media from its normal supply tray. The hardcopy device may be an electrophotographic or inkjet printer preferably equipped with a duplexer module which inverts media from a printed first surface to an opposing second surface for printing an image thereon. For a printer having an alignment surface, and a width adjuster to push the first-sized media against the alignment surface, the greeting card feeder includes a biasing member which pushes the card stock against the alignment surface. The retrofit kit includes a supply of pre-scored greeting card stock and a software program with a group of greeting card images for a consumer to select from to print store-bought quality greeting cards.

A label printer cassette is provided. Said label printer cassette comprises at least one supply of printing medium and a housing. The housing comprises a first surface, a second surface, said second surface being opposite said first surface, and at least one side extending between said first and second surfaces, one side having a switch operating arrangement having a ramped surface which is configured, in use to operate a switch of a label printer.

An ink ribbon cartridge to be inserted to and removed from a printer device that prints an image to a printing medium by heating the printing medium with an ink ribbon closely attached thereto. The ink ribbon cartridge includes: a cartridge body provided with a pair of housing sections for housing, with a space therebetween, a pair of spools to be able to freely rotate for winding of the ink ribbon; and a pair of guide sections that are provided on both side surfaces in a direction orthogonal to an insertion / removal direction of the cartridge body, and serving as a guide for insertion to and removal from an ink ribbon cartridge holder provided to the printer device through support by a guide support section formed to the ink ribbon cartridge holder with a cross section of a substantially square bracket shape.

A media cartridge is disclosed for insertion into a cartridge receptacle of a printer. The media cartridge includes a cartridge housing having one or more shifting ribs on the cartridge housing. At a position of initial insertion of the media cartridge into the cartridge receptacle, the shifting ribs are configured to center a length of media and an ink ribbon of the media cartridge between a print head and a platen roller in the cartridge receptacle. As the insertion of the media cartridge into the cartridge receptacle continues, the shifting ribs shift the length of media and the ink ribbon toward one of the print head and the platen roller.

A label printer cassette including a supply of print medium a housing configured to house said print medium. The housing has first and second surfaces and a least one side extending between said first and second surface. A cover is provided on one of the sides movable along the length of that one side between a first position in which the print medium is exposed for printing and a second position in which the print medium is protected.

Ribbon tension detecting means (20, 21), which are formed of a plate-like lever body (35) each, are located individually on the upstream side and the downstream side of a platen (7) with respect to its travel. The plate-like lever body (35) has first and second rollers (47, 48) on the upstream and downstream sides with respect to travel of a ribbon, and swings around an axis of rotation of the second roller (48), depending on a tension of the ribbon traveling guided by the rollers (47, 48). If the amount of its swing is not less than or not more than a fixed value, a ribbon feed motor (18) or a ribbon take-up motor (19) is driven. Further, the ribbon tension detecting means (20, 21) are provided with a smoothing member which touches the ink ribbon (13) to remove wrinkles from the ink ribbon (13).

A media cartridge is disclosed for use in a printer that prints onto the media. The media cartridge includes a cartridge housing having an exit passage. The media cartridge has a length of media with an end extending from the exit passage. The media cartridge further includes a retaining arm having a pinch position and an open position. In the pinch position, the retaining arm impinges on the media in the exit passage to inhibit passage of the media through the exit passage. In the open position, the retaining arm allows passage of the media through the exit passage.

Systems and methods for duplex printing of print sheets are described. In one aspect, a duplex module is configured so that print sheets may be controllably and reliably re-introduced into a print module in an orientation that is suitable for marking the second side of the print sheet without requiring a support structure that spans the entire width of the print sheet. In large format printing applications, this feature avoids large and heavy support structures, such as feed rollers, that otherwise would be needed to support the print sheets, as well as their own weight. In this way, a printing apparatus may provide duplex printing functionality with a structure that has a relatively light weight and a relatively small overall footprint.

Disclosed is a printer having: a fixed chassis mounted thereon; a moving chassis being engageable with the fixed chassis between an open position and a closed position; a cutter including a fixed blade and a moving blade; a paper drive roll; a thermal head; and driving means driving the paper drive roll to subject paper rolling along a paper path formed between the thermal head and the paper drive roll, and the fixed blade and moving blade; wherein the thermal head is in a path of the paper drive roll and wherein the moving blade urges the fixed blade towards the fixed chassis when the moving chassis is at the closed position, and a restraining module for maintaining an appropriate gap between the fixed blade and the moving blade when the moving chassis is engaging the fixed chassis.

A tray for holding at least one object while an image is printed on a predetermined exposed portion of the object, including at least one object retainer carried by the tray and for positioning the object in a stationary condition in relation to the tray during printing, a panel carried by the tray and having at least one opening positioned in relation to the object retainer such that the exposed portion of the object is exposed to ink projected onto the object from an ink-projecting apparatus positioned in spaced-apart relation to the object, and an indexer carried by the tray for permitting relative movement between the tray and the ink-projecting apparatus as the image is printed on the exposed portion of the object.

A color thermosensitive recording sheet extends two-dimensionally in main and sub scan directions perpendicular to each other. In a thermal printer for use with the recording sheet, two cutters remove front and rear margins from the recording sheet by cutting the recording sheet along lines extending in the main scan direction. Two slitters remove first and second side margins from the recording sheet by slitting the recording sheet along lines extending in the sub scan direction. A slitter shifter shifts the slitters in the main scan direction between a slitting position and home position. The slitters are set at the side margins when in the slitting position, and away from the recording sheet when in the home position. An externally operable mode selector selectively sets a marginless mode and margin mode. A controller causes the slitter shifter to shift the slitters to the slitting position when the marginless mode is set, and actuates the cutters and slitters. The controller causes the slitter shifter to shift the slitters to the home position when the margin mode is set, and disables the cutters and slitters.

A combined printing and binding device which includes a media tray, a printhead, an adhesive applicator, a binder and a housing. The media tray is designed to receive and retain a plurality of media sheets. The printhead is a page-width printhead designed to print ink onto a media sheet. The adhesive applicator is designed to apply adhesive to a media sheet. The binder is designed to bind a plurality of media sheets together. The housing is designed to house the media tray, the printhead, the adhesive applicator and the binder. The device is designed to print and bind a media sheet positioned in an original plane of orientation in the media tray by transporting the first media sheet from the media tray, past the printhead and the adhesive applicator, to the binder, whilst substantially maintaining the media sheet in its original plane of orientation.

A thermal printer includes a first module having a motor and a thermal head support member to fix a thermal head, the thermal head support member having a fixed blade part working as a blade and an a second module being detachably coupled with the first module, the second module having a platen roller, a movable blade member and a movable blade member movement mechanism to move the movable blade member, wherein the movable blade member is disposed to face the fixed blade part and driving force of the motor is conveyed to the movable blade member movement mechanism, and thereby a cutter part is formed.

A printer system, a printer apparatus, a printing method, an ink ribbon and a printing medium that certainly and effectively prevent a quality of printed image from being degraded without causing trouble to a user. More concretely, the printing medium is provided with memory mechanisms and the memory mechanisms stores predetermined control data, the printer apparatus reads out the control data stored in the memory mechanisms by contactless communication and controls the photographic printing operation on the basis of the control data which is read out.

The present invention provides a card recording apparatus capable of printing in high speed as well as reducing overall dimensions of the apparatus. After a card is transported to an information recording section 200 in a lateral (short length) direction of the card, an information signal is recorded on the card thereby. Then, the card is transported to a second heating section 300. An ink image formed on an intermediate recording medium 7 by a first heating section 500 is re-transferred to the card by the second heating section 300. A warp developed on the card by the second heating section 300 is corrected by a card warp correcting section 400.

An image forming apparatus includes a carriage mounted with a recording head, a carriage driving mechanism including a motor for reciprocatingly moving the carriage, a sheet conveying mechanism that conveys the sheet in a direction orthogonal to a moving direction of the carriage, a sheet guide member that has a guide section arranged below the recording head and opposed to the recording head and in which the sheet passes over the guide section, a sheet stacking unit that stacks and stores the sheet before printing, a first conveying path that conveys the sheet from this sheet stacking unit while causing the sheet to pass below the recording head, a second conveying path that conveys the sheet from this first conveying path to a space between the recording head and the sheet guide member while reversing the sheet, a third conveying path that conveys the sheet from the first conveying path to a temporary storing unit in a state in which a front-to-rear direction of the sheet is maintained, a fourth conveying path that conveys the sheet from the temporary storing unit to the space between the recording head and the sheet guide member in a state in which the front-to-rear direction of the sheet is maintained, a first switching mechanism that switches a conveying direction of the sheet fed from the first conveying path between the second conveying path and the third conveying path, and a second switching mechanism that guides the sheet fed from the second conveying path or the third conveying path to the fourth conveying path side.

A cutter device includes at least one stationary blade, which has a stationary blade cutting edge extending crosswise to a recording sheet. At least one movable blade moves in contact with the stationary blade cutting edge to cut the recording sheet. A stopper plate prevents the recording sheet from being moved by the movable blade while the movable blade cuts the recording sheet. In a preferred embodiment, the stopper plate is shiftable between a stopper position and a retracted position, and when in the stopper position, contacts a side edge of the recording sheet, and when in the retracted position, is away from the side edge.

Contactless power and communications links are established between a printer engine and a peripheral device installed on a replaceable printer component. For peripheral devices incorporated within or on the replaceable component, power is inductively transferred from a primary winding on the printer engine to an adjacent secondary winding on the replaceable component without the use of direct physical contact between electrical conductors. In addition, communications between the printer engine and at least one peripheral device on board the replaceable component are provided without making direct physical contact between electrical conductors. The communication task is accomplished in one of several ways. For a first embodiment of the invention, control signals are sent from the printer engine to the replaceable component over the inductive power coupling circuit by switching between two frequencies of alternating current applied to the primary winding on the printing engine. The frequency switching is decoded on board the replaceable component to provide control signals for the peripheral device. For communications in the opposite direction, the peripheral device may send information to the printer engine by modulating a resistive load coupled to the secondary winding. Current flow through the primary winding will vary in response to the load on the secondary winding. The variations in current flow on the printer engine side are decoded to signals which the printer engine comprehends. For a second embodiment of the invention, signals are inductively transmitted across a narrow gap. For a third embodiment of the invention, communications are handled by transmitting and receiving modulated infrared energy across a narrow gap.

To allow continuous paper to be printed a plurality of times with a time difference by ink jet printer equipment and dried each time of printing while preventing condensation from occurring on an ink discharge surface of print head at and after the second time of printing, there is provided a printing apparatus comprising: a plurality of trains of printing units each of which has print heads arranged along a direction in which a continuous sheet of paper travels and which are arranged parallel to one another as shifted mutually in position in a direction of width of the continuous sheet of paper; a dryer section in which a plurality of continuous sheets of paper from the plural printing unit trains can travel as mutually shifted in position in a direction of width of the continuous sheet of paper; a cooling roller unit disposed downstream of the dryer section and having a cooling roller on which the plurality of continuous sheets of paper from the dryer section can be wound as mutually shifted in position in a direction of width of the continuous sheet of paper; and a turnover unit disposed between the cooling roller unit and a train of printing units for shifting the continuous sheet of paper in position into a direction of its width while reversing the direction in which it travels.

The media processing apparatus has a first transportation path for guiding the check, a second transportation path and a third transportation path that diverge from the first transportation path, a front scanner that is rendered along the first transportation path for imaging the first side of the check, a back scanner that is rendered along the third transportation path for imaging the second side of the check, and a path switching guide that guides a check from the first transportation path into the second transportation path or third transportation path.