Thor expandable ring printer for wide print media
OwnerDwain Gipsoninventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A printing machine for use with paper roll stock is disclosed. The print head consists of an expandable cylindrical ring print head where the printing brushes are integrated in a spiral pattern around the ring print head. Ink wells are located outside of the print head, and electromagnets, located outside of the ring print head, attract or repel the print brushes towards or away from the ink wells or paper. The printing machine is ideally suited for advertising or other elongated print media. Due to the use of standard paper roll stock and speed of the printing, signs can be printed on demand and displayed in a real-time basis. Two printing machines can be configured to print on both sides of the paper at the same time with the same or different images being printed on each side.
Claims20
An expandable printer comprising:
- a roller marking ring with multiple marking heads configured in a spiral manner around the roller marking ring,
- at least one ink blotting station with an electromagnetic coil placed outside the roller marking ring for providing ink to the marking heads,
- at least one electromagnetic marking platen for attracting the marking heads to the electromagnetic marking platen wherein at least a portion of the ink on the marking heads is transferred to the media that is fed through the printer.
A printer that operates by incrementally rotating a roller with multiple marking heads past at least one inking station where the marking heads collect ink and then the roller is further incrementally rotated over a platen where the ink on the marking heads is transferred to media.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.