Printing systems
First Claim
1. A printer which comprises a housing;
- a printing unit;
means for feeding a substrate to said printing unit; and
means for supplying electrical power to operate the printer, characterized in that said feeding means comprises a piezoelectric motor.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The invention provides a number of improvements useful in printers which may be of the fixed, portable or hand-held types. In one aspect, the printer, which comprises a housing, a printing unit, means for feeding to said printing unit a substrate onto which indicia are to be printed, means for feeding a thermal transfer ribbon to said printing unit, and means for providing electrical power to operate the printer, is characterized by means permitting independent movement of said substrate and said thermal transfer ribbon within said printing unit. In another aspect, the printer includes means for supplying power to operate the printer, for example dynamo driven by a manual trigger. In a further aspect, the means for supplying power comprises a piezoelectric motor. In a further aspect, the printer is intended for printing bar codes, and comprises a housing; a thermographic print head; means for supplying a substrate to said print head, and a power supply for said thermographic print head, characterized in that the printer is arranged to apply substantially constant and continuous power to heat the elements of the thermographic print head during a bar code printing operation.
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Citations
10 Claims
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1. A printer which comprises a housing;
- a printing unit;
means for feeding a substrate to said printing unit; and
means for supplying electrical power to operate the printer, characterized in that said feeding means comprises a piezoelectric motor. - View Dependent Claims (2)
- a printing unit;
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3. A printer which comprises a housing;
- a printing unit;
means for feeding to said printing unit a substrate onto which indicia are to be printed;
means for feeding a thermal transfer ribbon to said printing unit; and
means for providing electrical power to operate the printer, characterised in that the printer includes means permitting independent movement of said substrate and said thermal transfer ribbon within said printing unit;
further characterised in that the printer includes an electricity generator and that said electricity generator is a dynamo, and said means for providing electric power includes said electricity generator. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6)
- a printing unit;
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7. A printer which comprises a housing;
- a printing unit;
means for feeding to said printing unit a substrate onto which indicia are to be printed;
a thermal transfer ribbon;
means for feeding said thermal transfer ribbon to said printing unit; and
means for providing electrical power to operate the printer, characterized in that the printer includes means permitting independent movement of said substrate and said thermal transfer ribbon within said printing unit; and
said printer including means for directing movement of said thermal transfer ribbon in a direction of travel different than that of said substrate, and obliquely with respect to said substrate.
- a printing unit;
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8. A printer which comprises a housing;
- a printing unit;
means for feeding to said printing unit a substrate onto which indicia are to be printed;
a thermal transfer ribbon;
means for feeding said thermal transfer ribbon to said printing unit; and
means for providing electrical power to operate the printer, characterized in that the printer includes means permitting independent movement of said substrate and said thermal transfer ribbon within said printing unit;
said printer including means for directing movement of said thermal transfer ribbon in a direction of travel different than that of said substrate, and obliquely with respect to said substrate; and
said ribbon being arranged to move in a spiral path relative to said direction of travel of said substrate.
- a printing unit;
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9. A printer which comprises a housing;
- a printing unit;
means for feeding to said printing unit a substrate onto which indicia are to be printed;
means for feeding a thermal transfer ribbon to said printing unit; and
means for providing electrical power to operate the printer, characterized in that the printer includes means permitting independent movement of said substrate and said thermal transfer ribbon within said printing unit;
said printer including separate drive means to rewind said ribbon by a predetermined amount after a preselected number of printing steps have been effected; and
said substrate being a roll of labels, and wherein said preselected number of printing steps corresponds to the printing of indicia on one label from a strip of identical labels.
- a printing unit;
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10. A printer which comprises a housing;
- a printing unit;
means for feeding to said printing unit a substrate onto which indicia are to be printed;
means for feeding a thermal transfer ribbon to said printing unit; and
means for providing electrical power to operate the printer, characterized in that the printer includes means permitting independent movement of said substrate and said thermal transfer ribbon within said printing unit;
said printer including separate drive means to rewind said ribbon by a predetermined amount after a preselected number of printing steps have been effected; and
said means for providing electrical power includes one or more solar cells.
- a printing unit;
Specification