Did You Know...
...that Charles Goodyear performed some of his experiments on rubber while in debtor's prison? He was there so often he referred to it as his "hotel". Chronically in debt because of poor business sense and ill health, Goodyear depended on the generosity of friends and family. Even after he unlocked the secret to vulcanizing rubber, he was unable to improve his financial situation. When he died, his estate was $200,000 in debt.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 6774819 | Flexible keyboard A flexible keyboard formed from a grid of flexible wires. Crosspoints between the wires are used to define characters to be selected via the keyboard. The characters are selected by pressing at a location, pressing two wires against one another. ... | 08/10/2004 |
| 6734888 | Apparatus and method for determining mismatch involving availability of dye donor and receiver supplies in thermal printer A method for determining a mismatch involving the availability of a dye donor supply and a dye receiver supply in a thermal printer when a particular print size and print quantity are selected, comprises: comparing a remaining number of similar-size donor patches av... | 05/11/2004 |
| 6680677 | Proximity detector to indicate function of a key An input device with a user-selectable key that includes a proximity detector associated with the key. The proximity detector detects the proximity or touch of a user's finger and provides user feedback related to the function of the key, without actually... | 01/20/2004 |
| 6236339 | Key, input unit using such key, and control system comprising such input unit and electronic apparatus acoustically connected to such input unit A key for transmitting data to an electronic apparatus includes a key top, a sound generating mechanism connected to the key top for generating a predetermined sound without any electrical power supply when the key top is depressed, and an outer sleeve re... | 05/22/2001 |
| 5486061 | Paper feeding method and apparatus for preventing the double feeding of papers In a paper feeding method and an apparatus therefor, papers are selectively fed to a paper-processing station through at least two paper guide paths. The respective papers fed through the paper guide paths are monitored to determine whether or not a doubl... | 01/23/1996 |
| 5230573 | Printer with upstream sensor used to determine paper empty condition A printer improved in the accuracy of detection as to whether or not recording paper exists. The printer has a sensor provided upstream a printing head in a paper feed direction to detect whether or not recording paper exists, a device for measuring a pap... | 07/27/1993 |
| 5213422 | Bicameral pictographic-language keyboard A Bicameral Keyboard is provided for generating pictographic characters wherein twenty keys are sufficient to specify the roughly 3000 characters required for ordinary personal and business correspondence. The Bicameral Keyboard is compatible with pictogr... | 05/25/1993 |
| 5108209 | Apparatus and method for detecting depletion of ink in an ink ribbon A method and apparatus for electronically determining when a ribbon cassette in a printer should be replaced. The ribbon cassette comprises a housing and an electrically conductive ink ribbon stored in the housing. The apparatus comprises a detection appa... | 04/28/1992 |
| 5092695 | Printer having ribbon wear indicator A dot matrix line printer is disclosed in which the amount of wear of an ink ribbon is measured by continuously compiling data representing impacting action of the printer as the printer prints. In one embodiment, this is accomplished by initially determining ... | 03/03/1992 |
| 5087142 | Sheet feeder for printers including means to control and detect the sheet A sheet feeder for a printer selectively feeds a continuous sheet and a cut sheet to a printing mechanism including a platen and a print head. The continuous sheet is fed by a pair of pin tractors and the platen while the cut sheet is fed only by the plat... | 02/11/1992 |
| 5017031 | Printing apparatus having an automatic paper insertion function A printing apparatus includes one detection switch which is operated according to the movements of a carriage and a paper bail unit. The detection signal outputted from the detection switch is used for a control to locate the carriage to an origin positio... | 05/21/1991 |
| 4984913 | Printer having ribbon wear indicator A dot matrix line printer is disclosed in which the amount of wear of an ink ribbon is measured by continuously compiling data representing impacting action of the printer as the printer prints. In a first embodiment, this is accomplished by initially determin... | 01/15/1991 |
| 4778296 | Paper check device for a printer A paper check device for a printer including paper feed means, a light emitter, a light receiver, reflectance determination means, and paper check means. The paper check means determines that a paper is not on the platen when the platen is detected to be ... | 10/18/1988 |
| 4644372 | Ink jet printer A printer which utilizes a charge controlled ink jet head is disclosed. A platen and its surrounding parts will be marred if the ink jet head is operated when there is no paper around the platen. Thus, the detection of a paper is of importance, and accord... | 02/17/1987 |
| 4582441 | Text editing with voice prompting An electronic typewriter or other keyboard entry display device may have a voice or audio prompt option incorporated therein. The option provides for the operator to record a series of commands to position the print point as desired and then to code a ser... | 04/15/1986 |
| 4411540 | Printing apparatus A printing apparatus for serial printing by displacement of a printing head, in which a discriminating circuit identifies the typefont of the printing head mounted on the carriage, and a coincidence circuit compares the result of typefont identification w... | 10/25/1983 |
| 4314769 | Acoustical tone generator In an impact typewriter/printer using a daisy wheel typefont a stepper motor for rotating said daisy wheel for character selection purposes and microprocessor facilities for controlling said stepper motor, means are provided for generating tones signallin... | 02/09/1982 |
| 4014427 | Variable bottom-edge margin indicator and method for typewriter paper and the like This disclosure deals with variable bottom-edge margin indication for typewriter paper and the like in which the sensor-monitoring of the bottom edge of a side margin of the paper is disposed at variably calibratingly adjustable regions, preferably near a... | 03/29/1977 |
| 3981383 | Right hand margin control system A settable margin control switch is actuated when a movable carriage printer approaches the right hand margin. In the keyboard operating mode, an audible alarm is sounded and a predetermined number of character positions later, the printing of keyboard or... | 09/21/1976 |
