In 1608, Dutch eyeglass maker Hans Lipperhey filed the first patent for a working telescope. The patent was denied.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7300220 | Hand-separable ribbon spool assembly A hand-separable ribbon spool shaft assembly adapts a plain ribbon spool so as to provide drive and location functions. The shaft assembly is composed of at least two shaft parts that are assembled to the ribbon spool and cooperate to provide a manual hand-action lo... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7222572 | Printing apparatus, printing method, and program This printing apparatus comprises a support tray provided with a rotatable base, and an optical disk as a printing object is mounted on the rotatable base. A control section of the printing apparatus selectively operates rotation drive means for driving the rotatabl... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7073963 | Film support devices and printing system handling ink film for printing A system is provided for movably supporting an ink film in a printer. The system has cylindrical supply and take-up cores for supporting and taking up the film during printing operations. The cores may be made of molded plastic resin. The ends of the cores are sized... | 07/11/2006 |
| 7033093 | Film support devices, printing system, and method of handling ink film for printing A system is provided for movably supporting an ink film in a printer. The system has cylindrical supply and take-up cores for supporting and taking up the film during printing operations. The cores may be made of molded plastic resin. The ends of the cores are sized... | 04/25/2006 |
| 6877918 | Mechanism for adjusting tension of an inked ribbon of a printer A ribbon winding side ribbon and a ribbon supply side ribbon holder are provided for supplying an inked ribbon to a thermal printer. A ribbon tension detecting plate is rotatably supported on a frame so as to be rotated in dependency on tension of the inked ribbon. ... | 04/12/2005 |
| 6764234 | Torque clutch apparatus and printer apparatus A simple and lightweight torque clutch apparatus capable of freely changing a torque and a printer apparatus capable of tension controlling of ink ribbon in a simplified structure are proposed. A torque clutch apparatus includes a shaft, a first gear rotatably fitte... | 07/20/2004 |
| 6666597 | Geared drive hub assembly for a printer cartridge A geared drive hub assembly for a printer cartridge containing a geared drive hub removably engaged with a spool. The geared drive hub contains a gear and a base connected to the gear; the base is integrally connected to a first stepped spline, a second s... | 12/23/2003 |
| 6648527 | Mechanism for adjusting tension of an inked ribbon of a printer A ribbon winding side ribbon and a ribbon supply side ribbon holder are provided for supplying an inked ribbon to a thermal printer. A ribbon tension detecting plate is rotatably supported on a frame so as to be rotated in dependency on tension of the ink... | 11/18/2003 |
| 6478486 | Printer with ribbon advance mechanism A ribbon advance mechanism has a advancing spool, a metal support shaft for supporting a advancing spool base part for rotation, and a coil spring attached between a base part of the advancing spool and the support shaft. The coil spring is mounted on a c... | 11/12/2002 |
| 6174096 | Printing apparatus An apparatus to drive a ribbon carrying a printing medium in an impact printer is implemented. The apparatus accommodates manual tightening of the ribbon by decoupling the drive motor from the ribbon cartridge without use of a clutch mechanism. A gear tra... | 01/16/2001 |
| 6082912 | Thermal printer with a mode changing gear A thermal transfer type printer comprising a sun gear 10 connected (indirectly) with a motor 1, exchanging arms 11, 14 having a pin 13,16 respectively, planet gears 12,15, an exchanging gear having bosses 18,19 and engaging with the planet gear 12, a cam ... | 07/04/2000 |
| 6039477 | Ink ribbon take-up mechanism having transfer member It is an object of the present invention to provide an ink ribbon take-up mechanism whereby a core and a pinch roller both disposed in an ink ribbon cassette are prevented from being tilted or wobbled under the tension of an ink ribbon housed within the i... | 03/21/2000 |
| 6034708 | Ribbon drive for a thermal demand printer A thermal demand printer for printing on media is a novel system which includes a case structure including a hinged cover panel, easily removable guide structures and media hanger, and a single central support wall to which the various components are atta... | 03/07/2000 |
| 5993091 | Ink ribbon feeder that equalizes ribbon tension over the entire ink ribbon width An ink ribbon feeder wherein a feed roll support section rotatably supports an ink ribbon feed roll and a take-up roll support section rotatably supports a take-up roll support section; a first driving section turns a take-up roll to wind the ink ribbon i... | 11/30/1999 |
| 5709488 | Printer A printer is capable of preventing the formation of creases in a portion of an ink ribbon corresponding to a print head and of printing characters and images in good print quality without forming streaks attributable to creases in the ink ribbon. A main f... | 01/20/1998 |
| 5707159 | Recording apparatus and ribbon cassette installed therein A printer is provided with a platen having a sloping plane platen surface, a medium guide path for smoothly guiding paper along the plane including the platen surface, a transparent open/close paper guide positioned above the medium guide path, and two pa... | 01/13/1998 |
| 5451996 | Multiprint ink sheet cartridge and recording apparatus capable of mounting the same An ink sheet cartridge mountable on a recording apparatus includes a frame, an ink sheet provided in the frame, a takeup reel for winding the ink sheet, a supply reel for unwinding the ink sheet, and a driving force transmission means for transmitting a d... | 09/19/1995 |
| 5429443 | Thermal transfer printer with ink ribbon feed controller A ribbon cassette of which the type of ink ribbon accommodated in the ribbon cassette may be identified by detection switches arranged on the carriage of a thermal transfer printer, without using a plurality of types of ribbon cassette case which are diff... | 07/04/1995 |
| 5399036 | Tape taking-up mechanism A first power transmitting shaft is fitted to a second power transmitting shaft in such a manner as to be freely rotated independently of each other, The first power transmitting shaft is applied to a cartridge provided with a wide ribbon taking-up spool ... | 03/21/1995 |
| 5383734 | Image recording apparatus having a ribbon drive slip clutch An image recording apparatus for performing image recording on a recording medium by using an ink sheet having a plurality of colors of ink includes a recording head acting on the ink sheet to perform image recording on the recording medium, a first feedi... | 01/24/1995 |
| 5384584 | Thermal transfer recording method and apparatus with oppositely conveyed ink sheet and recording medium controlled to maintain a substantially constant conveyance ratio A thermal transfer recording apparatus for transferring an ink contained in an ink sheet onto a recording medium to record an image on the recording medium, includes a take-up roller for taking up the ink sheet, a driving unit for driving the take-up roll... | 01/24/1995 |
| 5379055 | Thermal transfer recording apparatus and facsimile terminal equipment using said apparatus There is disclosed a thermal transfer recording apparatus for recording an image by transferring the ink contained in an ink sheet onto a recording medium, wherein the apparatus comprises ink sheet conveying means for conveying said ink sheet, recording m... | 01/03/1995 |
| 5355152 | Thermal ribbon encoder assembly for a thermal printing postage meter The thermal printing apparatus includes a base supported registration wall. The registration wall has claps mounted thereto for supporting a thermal ribbon cassette. Also, mounted to the registration wall is a thermal print head which extends over the dec... | 10/11/1994 |
| 5215391 | Ribbon cassette A ribbon cassette has an endless ribbon contained in the cavity of the cassette and the ribbon is directed by guide arms in a path past a printing station. A ribbon drive roller and a driven roller are positioned within the cavity and the drive roller has... | 06/01/1993 |
| 5168286 | Electrophotographic image forming apparatus and a thermal printer for such apparatus for adding supplemental data An image forming apparatus having a main body with an opening portion provided in one face of the main body, and a thermal transfer printer. The thermal transfer printer records desired information additively on paper on which a toner image has been fixed... | 12/01/1992 |
| 5162815 | Thermal printing apparatus with tensionless donor web during printing A thermal printer includes motor control apparatus for variably controlling the rotational speed of a take-up spool used to wind-up an expended dye-bearing donor web after passage through a print zone. The donor web is moved through the print zone at a su... | 11/10/1992 |
| 5121136 | Recorder for thermal transfer recording operations A recorder has a feeder for feeding a sheet of recording paper and an ink sheet wound around a circumferential face of a winding member from a supplying roller portion between a recording head and a platen in a state in which the ink sheet overlaps with t... | 06/09/1992 |
| 5096315 | Ink ribbon winding mechanism The present invention relates to an ink ribbon winding mechanism for a printer which prints with an ink ribbon. It is constructed by disposing a ribbon winding gear, which is connected with an ink ribbon winding shaft through a slipping mechanism, and a d... | 03/17/1992 |
| 5085532 | Multiple ribbon mandril for multiple print head printers In medium to high volume printers using more than one print head, multiple documents may be printed side by side in one pass. Multiple rolls of ribbon are utilized on the ribbon mandril to accommodate the documents. The ribbon is kept taut across its prin... | 02/04/1992 |
| 4973985 | Thermal recorder with ink sheet tension A thermal transfer recording apparatus, such as a thermal transfer printer, which winds up at constant speed an ink sheet having ink to be transferred while applying a constant tension to the ink sheet by a DC motor through a speed reduction mechanism, so... | 11/27/1990 |
| 4924242 | Thermal recording apparatus using a detachable ink sheet cassette A transfer type thermal recording apparatus suitable for use in a facsimile machine and the like is provided. The apparatus includes a thermal print head and a sheet of recording paper is transported as pressed against the thermal print head with an ink s... | 05/08/1990 |
| 4878773 | Ribbon feed control apparatus and method Ribbon feed control apparatus includes a rotatable supply roll on which a supply of ribbon to be dispensed is placed, a rotatable take-up roll on which the ribbon is collected after being used in printing, a mechanism for driving the take-up roll in one d... | 11/07/1989 |
| 4869607 | Line printer ribbon reverse mechanism A ribbon reverse mechanism for a high-speed line printer having a towel ribbon driven between a pair of spring-loaded spools by gear means coupled to band drive motor includes an input shaft coupled to the drive motor and having mounted thereon a pair of ... | 09/26/1989 |
| 4869455 | Motor and gear mounting bracket A snap-fit fastening or mounting arrangement for a motor having a mounting flange. The fastening or mounting arrangement includes a side frame member having a pair of spring-like snap elements that are integral with the side frame member for securing the ... | 09/26/1989 |
| 4861176 | Cartridge including epicyclic gearing drive for a multistrike typing ribbon for printing machines A cartridge for a multistrike typing ribbon for printing machines engages a single drive shaft for unidirectional advance movement of the multristrike ribbon and comprises a container having a bottom and two arms which project from a rear wall and which e... | 08/29/1989 |
| 4850725 | Unidirectional ribbon drive mechanism A ribbon is driven past the printing station of a printer only when the print head is moved in the right-to-left direction across the printer. An endless timing belt causes rotation of a gear pulley that is in mesh with an idler gear. The idler gear is su... | 07/25/1989 |
| 4844636 | Unitary tape-ribbon cartridge for lettering system A unitary tape-ribbon cartridge having an improved ribbon rewind feature for use in a lettering system. The cartridge includes both a tape supply and a ribbon supply provided from tape and ribbon supply housing portions, a guide member for guiding the rib... | 07/04/1989 |
| 4822189 | Drive arrangement for a ribbon cassette A drive arrangement for an ink ribbon cassette or the like having a transport roll arranged inside of the cassette permits the cassette to be inserted and ejected in a direction perpendicular to the transport roll axis relative to the receiving compartmen... | 04/18/1989 |
| 4812063 | Bidirectional ink sheet driving mechanism in a thermal transfer printer The thermal transfer printer of the present invention rotates a take-up roll and supply roll for an ink sheet by means of a first friction ring, which transmits the forward directed rotation of a driving motor for carrying the ink sheet to a take-up roll ... | 03/14/1989 |
| 4798487 | Thermal printer having ribbon take-up mechanism utilizing carriage movement A thermal printer having a take-up spool for taking up a print ribbon, an elongate normally stationary member disposed parallel to a direction of movement of a carriage along a platen, and a power transmitting mechanism supported on the carriage, for enga... | 01/17/1989 |