Olympia Werke Ag

Rainer Marx

Herbert Behrens

Jurgen Schmitt

Helmut Heidemann

Gerhard Schipper

A printer has an optical printing head for a line-by-line image forming of design and text information. The printing head has spaced light emitting elements arranged in a row and each having a light emitting surface. The printing head further has an optical device for reproducing the light, emitted by the light emitting elements, in one line on a light sensitive surface. The light emitting surface of each light emitting element has, parallel to the feed direction of the light sensitive surface, a dimension several times the length of image dots to be reproduced on the light sensitive surface. The optical device has an image reproducing first optical lens and a second optical lens situated between the first optical lens and the light sensitive surface for reducing the image of the light emitting surface of each light emitting element to a required light dot size on the light sensitive surface.

Optical printer for line-by-line image forming

An optical printing device for generating a linear light pattern which is applied to a moving photosensitive recording medium, which device is composed of a plurality of subassemblies each located for providing a respective segment of the linear light pattern, each subassembly including: a unit composed of a row of generally parallel optical fibers arranged to conduct light from a light source to their output ends, and a photocoupler composed of a thin transparent plate extending transversely of the direction of light propagation by the optical fibers and having a light entrance surface coupled to the output ends of the optical fibers to receive light therefrom, a light exit surface to which light is conducted from the light entrance surface, and lateral surfaces spaced apart in the direction of the linear pattern and extending between the light entrance and light exit surfaces. Each unit is constructed for causing substantially all of the light arriving at the light entrance surface from the optical fibers to be conducted to the light exit surface over a region thereof which, in the direction of the linear pattern, is shorter than the light entrance surface, with both ends of that region being spaced inwardly, in the direction of the linear pattern, from the corresponding ends of the light entrance surface, to enable the entire linear pattern on the recording medium to have an intensity which is uniform except for the variations resulting from modulation by the light switching cells.

Optical printing device

An optical printing head for a printer for the line-by-line recording of graphics and text in successive parallel lines on a photosensitive record carrier disposed at a printing location, the head including: a plurality of actuatable optical components disposed adjacent one another in the direction of the recording lines and each constituting a source of dot-like light elements; objective lenses disposed between, and having optical axes extending between, the optical components and the printing location for projecting the light elements provided by each optical component onto the printing location along a portion of each printing line; and members operatively associated with the lenses for adjustably positioning the lenses relative to the optical components in at least one direction in a plane transverse to the optical axes.

Optical printing head for line-by-line recording of picture and text

An optical printing head for recording graphic and text information line by line, including a plurality of juxtaposed, actuatable optical components, including picture dot elements, from which light is transmitted in dots by means of objective lenses along the length of a line to be recorded on a photosensitive record carrier, and cross-section converters for conducting light from a light source to the light switching components. To simplify and reduce the cost of the installation of the light switching components and associated light coupling elements (which in known printing heads were mounted and adjusted separately), the light switching components or elements are disposed on a common carrier which is provided with an abutment surface for aligning the light switching elements in the direction of the line, and with a contact surface for the cross section converters used such that, after installation, the cross-section converters will always be perpendicular to the light array of the light switching component. The arrangement permits simple installation of the light switching elements on a carrier in a manner such that each light switching element is automatically disposed exactly opposite the illuminated light conductive fiber forming the associated cross sectional converter.

Growing community of inventors

Wilhelmshaven, Germany

Rainer Marx