Thermally imaged colored baggage tags
US5707082A · kind A · utility
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 18, 1995 |
| Grant date | Jan 13, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 18, 2015 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG09F2003/0254
- WIPO fieldTextile and paper machines
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
Colors (particularly colored stripes) and black and white indicia (such as bar coding and airport codes) are variably printed, preferably on direct thermal stock, using at least one direct thermal print head and a plurality of transfer thermal print heads, a plurality of differently colored wax ribbon strips (each strip preferably being a separate ribbon) associated with the transfer thermal print heads. A web or sheet of stock having a first, thermosensitive, surface is moved in the first direction, and while doing so variable black indicia is selectively applied to the first surface with the at least one direct thermal print head, while selectively moving one or more of the transfer thermal print heads into operative association with its associated colored wax ribbon so as to apply color from the ribbon onto the first surface of the web or sheet by thermal transfer. The stock is preferably label stock used for baggage tags, elongated in a first direction, and the color is applied in stripe form typically substantially in the first direction, and/or in a second direction substantially perpendicular to the first direction. The variable black indicia and the colored stripes may be a…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.