Airline ticket printer with stepper motor for selectively engaging print head and platen
AssigneeSCI Systems, Inc.
InventorsSteven M. Faes, Alfred L. Fulton, Martin J. Hnetynka, Laird Campbell, David Preston, Michael Missios, Scott D. Sampson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An airline ticket printer includes a thermal printer engine with a platen and a print head. A gap is maintained between the platen and the print head except when a ticket is present for printing. A ticket is fed toward the gap and the feeding of the ticket is sensed. At a timed interval after sensing the feeding of the ticket, the print head is moved toward the platen by a stepper motor so that the ticket is engaged between the print head and the platen.
Claims12
An apparatus for printing information on a ticket, said ticket having a thickness T, comprising:
- a frame;
- a platen mounted for rotation on said frame;
- print head means for printing said information on said ticket;
- mounting means for mounting said print head means on said frame adjacent to said platen to form a gap between said platen and said print head means, at least one of said platen and said mounting means being displaceable with respect to one another
- feed means for feeding said ticket toward said gap along a feed path;
- sensor means disposed in said feed path for sensing the feeding of said ticket and for providing a feed time signal upon sensing the feeding of the ticket;
- control means for receiving said feed time signal and for generating engage signals at a timed interval after receiving said feed time signal;
- engage means, including a stepper motor responsive to said engage signals, for moving at least one of said platen and said print head means in steps between a first relative position in which said gap is wider than said thickness T of said ticket and a second relative position in which said ticket is engaged between said platen and said print head means;
- said print head means being disengaged from said platen except when said ticket is present therebetween.
A method of operating an apparatus for printing information on a ticket, said apparatus including a platen and a print head, said ticket having a thickness T, the method comprising the steps of:
- maintaining a gap between said platen and said print head when said ticket is not present therebetween, said gap being wider than the thickness T of said ticket;
- feeding said ticket toward said gap;
- sensing the feeding of said ticket;
- and
- at a timed interval after sensing the feeding of said ticket, moving at least one of said platen and said print head toward one another in steps until said ticket is engaged between said platen and said print head.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.