US 4,182,261 AGranted

Credit card printer for fingerprints and solutions

AssigneeIdenticator Corporation

InventorsJay Smith, III, Virgle Hedgcoth

Life of this patent

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Abstract

The present invention comprises a credit card printer apparatus which includes inkless fingerprinting directly on a medium, such as a check or credit card slip. The printer can include a housing or bed having one or more replaceable cartridges with a pair of reservoir resilient foam cell pads having a semi-sealed surface. A platen roller is movable across the bed to both print the information from a credit card and to deposit fluid from the pads for a subsequent fingerprint development. Generally, the pads can be resiliently mounted to the bed to permit a pressure contact of the respective pads with the surface of the medium. One of the pads will contain a liquid developer solution with a carrier solvent that is relatively non-evaporative over the life of the applicator, and has a viscosity value that permits the liquid developer solution to be deposited on a porous medium surface and maintain a coating having only sufficient thickness above the medium surface to contact and adhere to substantially only the ridge pattern of a finger. A second liquid reagent solution will be contained in the other pad and has a relatively lower viscosity to permit the reagent solution to be absorbed to a greater degree into the porous medium. The surfactant can be added to control the penetration rate.

Claims10

Dependent claims

In a printing apparatus wherein indicia is deposited on a medium from an individualized credit card, the improvement comprising;

first means for applying a quantity of a first liquid developer solution to the medium, the developer solution as applied maintaining for a limited time period sufficient film thickness on the porous medium to contact and adhere to substantially only the ridge pattern of a finger when the finger is applied to the coated medium;
second means for applying a quantity of a second liquid reagent solution to the medium, the second liquid reagent having a greater penetration rate to effectively penetrate into the medium while the first liquid developer solution is still available on the medium surface, the first liquid developer solution and second liquid reagent solution capable of chemically interacting in the medium when intermixed to provide a permanent perceivable colorant product representative of a fingerprint ridge pattern in the medium while substantially not leaving any staining colorant product on the finger, whereby a finger can be first applied to the liquid developer coating on the medium to coat substantially only the fingerprint ridge pattern and then subsequently applied to the liquid reagent on the medium to provide a colorant product representative of the fingerprint ridge pattern and,
means for recording the individual indicia from the credit card so that it is operatively associated with a porous medium such as a credit card receipt including means for operatively activating the first and second means to apply the first developer solution and second liquid reagent solution to the credit card receipt.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 05/793,946Filed 5 May 1977 · continuation in part
Priority: 18 Dec 1975
Granted: 8 Jan 1980
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification6 codes

A61B 5/1172
Based on the shapes or appearances of their bodies or parts thereof: using fingerprinting
B41F 19/00
Apparatus or machines for carrying out printing operations combined with other operations
B41L 19/00
Duplicating or printing apparatus or machines for office or other commercial purposes
A61B
Medical diagnosis and surgery