Apparatus for re-inking a ribbon in a thermal transfer printing system
AssigneeIBM Corporation
InventorsWalter Crooks, Keith S. Pennington
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A doctor blade is used to apply a powdered toner to the depleted regions of a resistive thermal transfer ribbon. The ribbon is then moved adjacent a heating electrode that passes current through a resistive substrate of the ribbon so that a transverse line on the ribbon is heated and the added toner is fused in the depleted regions of the ribbon. The heated area of the ribbon is thereafter compressed by a cold roller to provide a uniform re-inked surface.
Claims13
A re-inking apparatus for a thermal printing resistive ribbon of a type including an electrically resistive substrate and a thermally fusible ink layer having ink depleted regions, the re-inking apparatus comprising:
- dispensing means for adding a quantity of thermally fusible ink to said depleted regions;
- and
- electrode means for passing a current through said resistive substrate to heat a portion of the thermally fusible ink layer of said ribbon and to fuse the added thermally fusible ink in depleted regions adjacent the heated portion of the fusible ink layer.
A re-inking apparatus for a thermal printing resistive ribbon including an electrically resistive substrate and a thermally fusible ink layer having ink depleted regions, the re-inking apparatus comprising:
- electrode means for passing a current through said resistive substrate to heat a portion of the thermally fusible ink layer;
- and
- roller means for pressing the heated portion of said thermally fusible ink layer and spreading heated ink from areas adjacent a depleted region into the depleted region to define a uniform re-inked surface for the ribbon.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.