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US 5,627,578 AGranted
Desk top printing of raised text, graphics, and braille
AssigneeThermoTek, Inc.
InventorJeffrey Weintraub
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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AssigneeThermoTek, Inc.
InventorJeffrey Weintraub
Estimating the term…
A method and device for raised letter or graphics printing, by means of a sprayed wet ink deposition on a print substrate. Subsequent dispensed thermographic powder thereon, with adherence of the powder only to the wet ink and heating thereafter, to a fixing temperature of the powder, results in the raised lettering or graphics. A standard portable ink jet printer of the bubble jet type, controlled, with graphics software control, by a personal computer, provides the requisite non-contacting ink deposition. The dispensing cartridge(s) of the ink jet printer is (are) provided with non-contact-drying ink formulations (with two or more separate colors, if desired) for the portion of graphics or printing which is to be in raised form. A thermographic powder dispenser and heating member is connected to the output of the ink jet printer, or integrated therewith for completion of the raised printing process. In operation, the non-contact drying ink is dispensed from the ink jet printer onto a print substrate, with program controlled bit-mapped instructions of graphics and text, via the personal computer. Simultaneous inking of the substrate with separate colored non-drying inks permits single pass multi-colored raised printing. Raised and non-raised printing is also possible by use of separately dispensed drying and non-drying inks. The device is particularly useful in providing non-impact formed braille lettering; and graphics, with full or partial raised portions and separated color segments.
A system for printing raised text and/or graphics on a single sheet substrate, said system comprising:
A method for producing raised braille lettering comprising the steps of spraying a single sheet substrate, for said braille lettering, with a computer controlled ink jet printer spray of a non-contact-delayed drying ink which forms the desired braille lettering configuration, dusting said substrate, with wet ink thereon, with a thermographic powder which adheres only to said wet ink and which thermographic powder provides a raised braille output of at least 0.019 inches in height, and sufficient for touch sensitive reading, removing non-adhered powder and thereafter heating the adhered thermographic powder to produce said raised braille lettering.
A method for simultaneously printing raised and flat text and/or graphics on a substrate, comprising the steps of simultaneously spraying the substrate with a non-contact-delayed drying ink and a contact drying ink the form of said raised and flat text and/or graphics respectively, dusting said substrate, with wet and dry ink thereon, with a thermographic powder which adheres only to said wet ink, removing non-adhered powder and thereafter heating the adhered thermographic powder to produce said raised text and/or graphics only in a configuration as defined by the wet ink.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.