Tape Drive and Printing Apparatus
AssigneeZipher Limited
InventorsMartin McNestry, Keith Buxton, Philip Hart
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tape drive for use in for example a transfer printing apparatus to drive a printer ribbon. The printer ribbon is mounted on two spools each of which is driven by a respective stepper motor. A controller controls the energization of the motor such that the ribbon is transported in at least one direction between spools mounted on the spool support. The controller is operative to energize both motors to drive the spools of ribbon in the direction of ribbon transport to achieve push-pull operations. Ribbon tension is monitored to enable accurate control of ribbon supply and ribbon take-up, the ribbon tension being monitored, for example, by monitoring power supply to the two stepper motors.
Claims37
A tape drive for transfer printing apparatus comprising:
- two motors, at least one of which is a stepper motor;
- two tape spool supports on which spools of tape are to be mounted, each tape spool being moveable by a respective one of said motors;
- a controller controlling energization of each of said two motors to selectively rotate the respective tape spool supports and tape spools positioned on the tape spool supports;
- the controller further determining a correction amount of tape to be added to or subtracted from tape extending between the tape spools in order to maintain tension in the tape extending between the tape spools at an acceptable level;
- wherein with tape spools mounted on the tape spool supports and with tape extending between the tape spools past a print head positioned between the tape spools, the controller energizes at least one of said motors to rotate the spools to advance the tape in a tape transport direction past the print head, and wherein said controller energizes at least one of said motors to rotate at least one of the spools to add the correction amount of tape to the tape extending between said spools to decease tension in the tape between the spools or to subtract the correction amount of tape from the tape extending between said spools to increase tension in the tape extending between the spools, so as to maintain tension in the tape extending between the spools at the acceptable level.
A method of maintaining tension in a tape of a tape drive for transfer printing apparatus at a acceptable tension level, the transfer printing apparatus using two tape spools with tape extending between the spools past a print head positioned between the tape spools and with the tape drive including two motors, at least one of which is a stepper motor, two tape spool supports, on which the tape spools are mounted, with each tape spool being moveable by a respective one of said motors, and a controller controlling the energization of at least one of the motors to selectively rotate the respective spool, the method comprising:
- determining a correction amount of tape to be added or subtracted from the tape extending between the tape spools to maintain tension in the tape extending between the tape spools at the acceptable level;
- energizing at least one of the motors to rotate the spools to advance the tape in a tape transport direction past the print head;
- and
- energizing at least one of the motors to rotate at least one of the spools to add the correction amount of tape to the tape extending between said spools to decrease tension in the tape extending between the spools or to subtract the correction amount of tape from the tape extending between said spools to increase tension in the tape extending between the spools, so as to maintain tension in the tape extending between the tape spools at the acceptable level.
A tape drive for transfer printing apparatus comprising:
- two motors, at least one of which is a stepper motor;
- two tape spool supports on which spools of tape are to be mounted, each tape spool being moveable by a respective one of said motors;
- a controller controlling energization of each of said two motors to selectively rotate the respective tape spool supports and tape spools positioned on the tape spool supports;
- the controller further determining a correction amount of tape to be added to or subtracted from tape extending between the tape spools in order to maintain tension in the tape extending between the tape spools at an acceptable level;
- wherein with tape spools mounted on the tape spool supports and with tape extending between the tape spools past a print head positioned between the tape spools, the controller energizes at least one of said motors to rotate the spools to advance the tape in a tape transport direction past the print head, and wherein said controller energizes only one of said motors to rotate at least one of the spools to add the correction amount of tape to the tape extending between said spools to decease tension in the tape between the spools or to subtract the correction amount of tape from the tape extending between said spools to increase tension in the tape extending between the spools, so as to maintain tension in the tape extending between the spools at the acceptable level.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.