Variable position, force and velocity printer
AssigneePrimera Technology, Inc.
InventorsErick Hagstrom, Michael R. Tolrud
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A printer for printing onto substrates includes a housing that mounts a movable carrier for the substrates such as a compact disc or digital versatile disc. The carrier for the substrate is driven relative to the printhead while printing takes place, and a platen is provided to urge the substrate toward the printhead for printing and to a position to space the substrate from the printhead when raised surface areas of the substrate underlie the printhead. The force applied by the platen can be varied as a function of the position of the substrate as well, in addition the carrier can be driven at a variable speed selected as a function of the length of the line being printed.
Claims22
A printer for printing onto a substrate comprising a housing, a printhead mounted in said housing and secured in a reference position, a support for the substrate to be printed, the support being movable toward and away from the printhead, a variable position platen movable toward the support to move the support toward the printhead for holding a substrate on the support in printing contact with the printhead, a drive for said support to drive said support and a substrate thereon movable relative to said printhead, a controller for varying the position of the platen and support in correlation to the position of the substrate under the printhead to change force acting between the substrate and printhead.
A printer for printing on substrates comprising a housing, a printhead mounted in said housing and having a length and having a plurality of heater elements along a print line, a ribbon underlying the printhead, a platen movably mounted in said housing, an adjustable loading device for exerting a force to move the platen toward the printhead, a movable generally planar carrier for supporting a substrate and movable to a printing position with a substrate supported thereby operably engaging the ribbon and printhead for printing, a power drive to move the carrier relative to the printhead while the printhead prints on the object, and a controller for the loading device to control the position of the loading device and the platen relative to the printhead to vary the force of the carrier against the printhead as a function of the position of a substrate supported thereon relative to the printhead, the loading device being movable to space the platen from the carrier so the substrate clears the printhead in selected positions of the substrate.
A thermal printer comprising a heated, controllable thermal printhead for printing along a print line, and a carrier for supporting a circular object to be printed in position urged against the printhead, a platen providing a variable force against the carrier to urge the carrier toward the printhead, a drive for driving the carrier to move in a path substantially perpendicular to the print line of the printhead, and a controller for varying the force transmitted by the platen against the carrier and the thermal printhead and for varying the speed of drive of the carrier as functions of a print line length used for printing.
A method of printing on a substrate having a raised portion on the surface on which printing takes place using a printhead and platen, comprising moving the substrate transversely to the printhead, determining a position of a leading edge of the raised portion, and separating the substrate and printhead when the leading edge is closely adjacent the printhead.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.