Did You Know...
...that the Eveready Battery began as an invention called the "electric flowerpot," which was a tube with a battery and light bulb inside? The idea was to fasten this gizmo to the side of a flowerpot so it would illuminate the flowers from the bottom. The idea died on the vine and the businessman who licensed the flower pot, Conrad Huber, was left with a pile of useless tubes -- until he found a way to market them as batteries to light the world!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8189025 | Thermal printer A thermal printer includes a thermal head, a platen roller configured to press the thermal head, an engaging part configured to engage the platen roller provided at a side part of a main part where the thermal head is provided, and a spring part provided at a part o... | 05/29/2012 |
| 8179411 | Printer module and electronic apparatus A printer module for a clam-shell type printing apparatus having a lid that opens and closes with respect to a housing, includes a head assembly including a head and mounted on the housing, a platen roller mounted on the lid, and a main assembly including a frame an... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8115791 | Tape printing apparatus A printing apparatus that receives a supply of an image receiving medium and includes a platen arranged to feed the image receiving medium selectively in one of a forward and reverse direction. A print head arranged to print an image on the image receiving medium wh... | 02/14/2012 |
| 8111274 | Thermal printer A thermal printer has a thermal head pivotally mounted on a main body frame to pivot toward and away from a platen roller. The platen roller has shaft bearings at opposite ends thereof that are removably inserted in two spaced-apart opposed slots formed in the main ... | 02/07/2012 |
| 8094175 | Thermal printer In order to place both ends of a platen roller in bearing portions of a frame to perform accurate printing on a recording sheet with improved operability, a thermal printer comprises: a pair of concave portions (10d) provided to a frame to receive both... | 01/10/2012 |
| 8044987 | Printer with a print head urged to come into contact with a platen roller The invention provides a printer in which a lock lever comes into contact with a roller shaft of a platen roller in upper open grooves disposed in a frame and controls the position of the upper portion of the upper open grooves so that the platen roller is supported... | 10/25/2011 |
| 7561173 | Thermal printer There is provided a thermal printer (1) including: a main body frame (2); a thermal head (4) swingably mounted to the main body frame (2); a platen roller (6) disposed to be opposed to a printing surface (4a) of the t... | 07/14/2009 |
| 7551191 | Printing apparatus A printing apparatus includes (a) a lever member which displaces at least one of a thermal head and a platen roller so that the head and the roller come close to each other or come away from each other, and (b) a driving unit which operates the lever member. The dri... | 06/23/2009 |
| 7538786 | Printing apparatus A printing apparatus is provided which has an eject guide capable of guiding print mediums of different thicknesses, that have been transported there, to a nip portion of the eject rollers of the fixed diameters. To this end, the eject guide is pivotally supported a... | 05/26/2009 |
| 7492383 | Thermal printer There is provided a thermal printer (1) including: a main body frame (2); a thermal head (4) mounted to the main body frame (2); a platen roller (6) disposed to be opposed to a printing surface (4a) of the thermal hea... | 02/17/2009 |
| 7492384 | Platen retaining structure and recording unit A shaft portion 2a of a platen roller 2 is inserted into an elongated hole-like recess 5a of a platen frame 5 so as to be movable therein. A release arm 9 having an engagement portion 9b engaged with a s... | 02/17/2009 |
| 7477276 | Thermal activation device, printing device, and printer Thermal activation device, Printing device, and Printer for preventing an insufficient press-contact state of a sheet material relative to a heating means or a printing means, and suppressing an occurrence of thin spot on the sheet material. A thermal activation dev... | 01/13/2009 |
| 7446790 | Thermal printer A thermal printer including a thermal head; a platen cooperating with the thermal head to nip a printing sheet between the platen and the thermal head; an elastic member applying a biasing force to the thermal head in a direction to make contact with the platen; a f... | 11/04/2008 |
| 7427132 | Image forming apparatus An image forming apparatus has a chassis, a head portion, a platen roller a plurality of elastically deformable support rods, a U-shaped rotary member and a drive mechanism. The head portion is pivotally supported on the chassis. The platen roller is rotatably suppo... | 09/23/2008 |
| 7408565 | Thermal activation apparatus and printer A thermal activation apparatus includes a thermal head for thermally activating a heat-sensitive adhesive layer of a heat-sensitive adhesive sheet by heating, and a platen roller for thermal activation opposed to the thermal head for thermal activation. The thermal ... | 08/05/2008 |
| 7367726 | Thermal image forming apparatus A thermal image forming apparatus includes a platen roller which supports a medium, a print head, including a heating unit which applies heat to the medium to form an image thereon, which rotates around the platen roller and moves the heating unit to a first locatio... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7344324 | Image forming apparatus having a member for pressing a print head element against a platen roller The image forming apparatus includes the print unit pivotably supported by the chassis, and the pivoting member rotatably supported by the support rod. The print unit has arm portions and the print head element. One of the arm portions has a downward facing portion.... | 03/18/2008 |
| 7281874 | Thermal printer unit A thermal printer unit is disclosed that comprises a main body module, a platen module, and a thermal head module. The platen module is detachably connected to the main body module. The thermal head module is detachably connected to the main body module and the plat... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7278793 | Image generating apparatus An image generating apparatus capable of rotating a pressing member pressing a print head against a platen roller at a large rotation angle with a cam is obtained. This thermal transfer printer (image generating apparatus) comprises a drive cam for driving the press... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7273323 | Printing apparatus and methods A printing apparatus (10) has at a printing station (11), a print head (12) with an array (13) of heating elements individually selectable by a computer controller (15), a feed path (16) for feeding carrier ribbon (18... | 09/25/2007 |
| 7271819 | Thermal printer that effectively controls heat buildup A thermal head has heating elements and is movable relative to a printing medium. A pulse application portion applies a drive voltage pulse selectively to the heating elements. A voltage measurement portion measures a head voltage applied to the thermal head. A tota... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7265771 | Printer capable of detecting status of unutilized ribbon A printer includes a ribbon supply end, a ribbon retrieving end, and a ribbon. The two ends of the ribbon are installed on the ribbon supply end and the ribbon retrieving end respectively. The printer further includes a print head, a print medium fixture, a driving ... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7234883 | Tape printer It is intended to provide a tape printer which enables to forcibly separate a platen roller and a print head along with an opening operation of a cover element in case the platen roller and the print head have adhered to each other because of a long-period storage o... | 06/26/2007 |
| 7213993 | Thermally activating device and printer apparatus A thermally activating device has a pair of conveyor rollers which convey a heat-sensitive adhesive sheet while sandwiching the sheet therebetween, and a guide member provided at an anterior stage of the conveyor rollers for abutting on one surface of the heat-sensi... | 05/08/2007 |
| 7172353 | Image forming apparatus An image forming apparatus has a chassis; a print head unit pivotably supported by the chassis; a platen roller rotatably supported by the chassis to perform printing with the print head unit; a metal feed roller rotatably supported by the chassis to convey paper; a... | 02/06/2007 |
| 7145583 | Thermal printer Provided is a thermal printer which provides ease of maintenance, such as ease of replacement of the thermal head, and which can shorten the time required for maintenance work and reduce maintenance cost. The thermal printer is one which performs printing on a sheet... | 12/05/2006 |
| 7121748 | Image forming device The image forming device includes a chassis; a thermal head unit pivotably supported by the chassis for executing printing; a platen roller supported by the chassis opposite the thermal head unit; a pressing member that is pivotably supported by the chassis and conf... | 10/17/2006 |
| 7104713 | Printer for a heat-sensitive adhesive sheet A printer has a sheet housing unit for storing a heat-sensitive adhesive sheet having a heat-sensitive adhesive layer on one side and a printable surface on the other side. A set of pull-out rollers pulls the heat-sensitive adhesive sheet out of the sheet housing un... | 09/12/2006 |
| 7081910 | Preventing crease formation in donor web in dye transfer printer that can cause line artifact on print A thermal printer is adapted to prevent crease formation in successive dye transfer areas of a dye donor web that can cause line artifacts to be printed on a dye receiver during dye transfer from each dye transfer area to the dye receiver in a dye transfer printer. | 07/25/2006 |
| 7042480 | Thermal printer A thermal printer has an outer frame that rotatably supports a platen roller. An inner frame is detachably attachable to the outer frame and has assembled thereon a head support body, a thermal head supported by the head support body, and biasing springs for urging ... | 05/09/2006 |
| 7025518 | Printer for thermally sensitive adhesive sheet A printer has a printing unit for printing during a printing operation on a printable surface of a thermally sensitive adhesive sheet having a thermally sensitive adhesive layer formed on a surface opposite to the printable surface. A first transporting mechanism tr... | 04/11/2006 |
| 7027077 | Platen assembly for thermal printer There is disclosed a thermal print head platen which includes a pair of support members separated by a gap wherein the support members are adapted to be oriented to press media against a thermal print head for printing purposes with the gap approximately aligned wit... | 04/11/2006 |
| 7001089 | Thermal printer A thermal printer has a main body frame and a platen roller rotatably and removably mounted in a preselected position on the main body frame. A thermal head is mounted on the main body frame for movement into and out of pressure contact with the platen roller during... | 02/21/2006 |
| 7002611 | Thermal printer A thermal printer, including a drive platen, which has its external dimensions reduced to a level suitable for use in connection with portable information apparatuses. The thermal printer includes a thermal head; a platen cooperating with the thermal head to nip a p... | 02/21/2006 |
| 6989850 | Thermal printer apparatus There is described a thermal printer apparatus including one or more thermal print heads fixedly mounted with respect to a print media path, one or more platen roller assemblies each including a platen roller adapted to press print media in the print media path agai... | 01/24/2006 |
| 6982739 | Tube thermal transfer printer machine A thermal transfer printer passing a long soft tube (5) and an ink ribbon (4) between a platen roller (2) rotatably provided at a printer main body (1) and a printing head (3) arranged opposedly to the platen roller (2) and ... | 01/03/2006 |
| 6981810 | Printer apparatus having platen roller with sheet feed guide A printer apparatus includes: a platen roller around which paper sheets wind; a printing structure arranged for being drawn near to and away from the platen roller; a plurality of winding support members circumferentially disposed around the platen roller, for guidi... | 01/03/2006 |
| 6977669 | Preventing crease formation in donor web in dye transfer printer that can cause line artifact on print A thermal printer is adapted to prevent crease formation in successive dye transfer areas of a dye donor web that can cause line artifacts to be printed on a dye receiver during dye transfer from each dye transfer area to the dye receiver in a dye transfer printer. | 12/20/2005 |
| 6975343 | Preventing crease formation in donor web in dye transfer printer that can cause line artifact on print A thermal printer is adapted to prevent crease formation in a dye transfer area of a dye donor web that can cause line artifacts to be printed on a dye receiver during a dye transfer from the dye transfer area to the dye receiver in a dye transfer printer. ... | 12/13/2005 |
| 6966711 | Dynamic registration device for mailing system A dynamic registration device for a mailing system that reduces the problems of dust generation, ink smearing, and print head contact is provided. The biasing force normally applied to the back panel of a mail piece, such that the front panel maintains contact with ... | 11/22/2005 |
