Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha

Toshiba America Business Solutions, Inc.

Brad W Towe

William Michael Connors

Michael William Lawrence

Donn Duane Bryant

An indirect thermal transfer printer applies images to label stock with the use of heat activated transfer ribbon. Once an image is printed, a negative of the printed image remains on the exposed transfer ribbon. Heat is applied to the exposed transfer ribbon as it is spooled to obliterate the negative, fuse the ribbon to previously exposed and spooled ribbon, or both.

Thermal overwrite secure indirect thermal printing

A system and method for user friendly replacement of printer platen rolls includes a roll assembly having a support shaft with a bearing seated in a flange at one end. A crescent notch in a printer chassis receives the shaft into an interior of the notch. The assembly is moved axially so that a flange neck nests in the notch with a flange lip contacting a surface of the chassis. A lock contacts the lip to prevent axial motion of the assembly when installed. An opposed side of the shaft is placed in a bearing on an opposite side of the chassis.

Line printer having user replaceable platen rollers

A hold down finger for a finisher process tray contacts the top sheet of paper on a paper tray to prevent subsequently printed pages from disturbing pages disposed on the paper tray. The hold down finger includes gears that move a portion of the hold down finger that contacts the top sheet of paper from a retracted position to a forward hold down position along a substantially elliptical path. After each sheet is printed and placed on top of other pages in the paper tray, the paper tray lowers and the hold down finger continues along the substantially elliptical path back to the retracted position. A rack gear associated with the paper tray engages a cylindrical gear of the hold down finger to return the hold down finger to the retracted position if the paper tray is forced upwards while the hold down finger is in the forward position.

Paper tray hold down finger system and method

A system and method for advancing sticky media through printers includes one or more feed rollers comprised of a grit roller. The grit roller contacts an adhesive side of liner-less label stock removed from a roll or stack for printing. The grit roller works cooperatively with an opposing, counter-rotating roller to remove the label stock from the roll and feed it to a printer.

Grit roller feeder rollers for sticky media

A system and method for assembling booklets in document finishers such as saddle staplers includes first and second opposed rollers configured to receive an edge of a stapled crease of a stack of printed documents. The rollers apply both heat and pressure to the crease to form a tight fold. A second set of rollers provides further heat and pressure to the fold to increase tightness even further. Pressure and temperature of one or both roller sets is controllable to accommodate paper stacks having different numbers of pages or different paper characteristics.

System and method for heat assisted saddle finisher folding

A finisher assembly of a multifunction peripheral includes a vertically oriented stapler and a paper transport motor. When the paper transport motor rotates in the forward direction, printed pages from the print engine of the multifunction peripheral are received via a paper chute and a feed assist roller urges the printed pages into a vertical paper accumulation cache basin. Rotation of the paper transport motor also opens a biasing plate allowing the pages to freely enter the cache basin. Once all of the pages of the print job are in the cache basin, the paper transport motor rotates in the reverse direction causing the biasing plate to bias the printed pages, in the cache basin, against a registration surface of the vertically oriented stapler unit. The pages of the print job are stapled together the stapled print job is moved to the paper tray for collection by a user.

Paper feed and biasing system and method for stapler unit

A printer paper drawer door closing mechanism includes a fixed chassis defining a chassis plane, a lever arm joined to the chassis and pivotable about a lever arm pivot axis from a first lever arm limit state to a second lever arm limit state. A first bearing surface extends from the lever arm at a first lever arm distance and a second bearing surface extending from the lever arm at a second lever arm distance. The first bearing surface is at a bearing surface distance from the second bearing surface. An energy storage element is integrated with the lever arm. A cam plate is translatable toward and away from the lever arm and pivotable about a cam plate pivot axis from a first cam limit state to a second cam limit state. The cam plate includes a first cam surface extending from the cam plate and a second cam surface extending from the cam plate, the first cam surface being oriented at a positive angle relative to the copier chassis plane and co-planar with the first bearing surface, the second cam surface is oriented at a negative angle relative to the copier chassis plane and co-planar with the second bearing surface. The distance separating the first bearing surface and the second bearing surface is substantially equal to the distance separating a distal end of the first cam surface and a proximal end of the second cam surface.

Growing community of inventors

Versailles, KY, United States of America

Brad W Towe