Print head includes donor guide and receiver guide
US5499880A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 15, 1995 |
| Grant date | Mar 19, 1996 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 15, 2015 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC B)Performing Operations; Transporting
- CPC primaryB41J2/325
- WIPO fieldTextile and paper machines
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
A thermal printer, which is adapted to transfer an image from a donor web to a sheet of receiver medium, includes a thermal print head and a platen that together define a print nip. There are respective paths for the donor web and the sheet, and the paths converge in a forward direction, to a position at which they abut, before proceeding past the nip defined by the thermal head and the platen. A transport system moves the donor web and the sheet in the forward direction along their respective paths to the nip, whereat heat from the thermal head causes an image to be transferred from the donor web to the sheet between leading and trailing edges of the sheet. The transport system also moves the sheet in a reverse direction along its respective path. A loading guide surface directs the leading edge of the sheet between the loading guide surface and the platen, toward the nip during an initial loading stage. A rewinding guide surface directs the trailing edge of the sheet of receiver medium between the loading edge guide surface and the platen during movement of the sheet in the reverse direction.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.