Zih Corporation

Eastman-kodak Company

Randal Wong

Petrica Dorinel Balcan

Kuan-Ying Lu

Chia-Wen Chang

Shu-Hsun Chiang

Hsin-Chih Chen

Juan Bautista Belon

Lawrence Edward Smolenski

Jung Ethan Hoon Lee

Richard Alan Kelley

Petricia Dorinel Balcan

An example disclosed printer includes a base; a lid hingedly attached to the base movable between a closed position in which the lid is secured to the base, and an open position in which the lid is at least partially separated from the base; a cavity defined between the lid and the base, wherein the cavity is inaccessible when the lid is in the closed position and the cavity is accessible when the lid is in the open position; a ribbon positioning assembly disposed within the cavity that is pivotably attached to at least one of the lid or the base wherein the ribbon positioning assembly is configured to move between a printing position when the lid is in the closed position, and an accessible position when the lid is in the open position, wherein the ribbon positioning assembly comprises a ribbon tensioning mechanism.

Media processing device with enhanced media and ribbon loading and unloading features

A printer may include a printhead assembly, a clutch assembly, and/or a printer ribbon transport assembly. An example clutch assembly includes a first spool engagement member defining a first friction torque; a first friction member configured to frictionally engage the first spool engagement member; a second spool engagement member defining a second friction torque that is larger than the first fiction torque; and a second friction member configured to frictionally engage the second spool engagement member.

Printer with printhead assembly, clutch assembly, and printer ribbon transport assembly

A device for processing media may include a system and method for loading and unloading consumable supplies of a printer, and more particularly, a system and method for providing a compact form factor printer which provides convenient access to the replaceable components of the printer. A printer may include a base and a lid hingedly attached to the base, moveable between a closed position in which the lid is secured to the base, and an open position. A cavity may be defined between the lid and the base, where the cavity is inaccessible when the lid is in the closed position and the cavity is accessible when the lid is in the open position. The printer may include a ribbon positioning assembly disposed within the cavity.

Enhanced ribbon loading and unloading features

A printer may include a printhead assembly a clutch assembly, and/or a printer ribbon transport assembly. The printhead assembly may include a printhead biasing assembly defining a biasing ramp which may be configured to apply a biasing force to a printhead support bracket so as to at least partially counteract a ribbon force. The clutch assembly may be configured to supply or take-up a printer ribbon with first and second spool engagement members of different diameters that frictionally engage first and second friction members. The printer ribbon transport assembly may include a rotation lock mechanism configured to prevent rotation of a ribbon take-up core when the take-up core is disengaged from a drive assembly so as to prevent a loss in ribbon tension.

A printer having a sheet tray, a drive for advancing sheets past a marking mechanism, and a picker to remove sheets from an aligned tray includes a load position and a pick position. The trays are selectively moved between the load and pick positions. A transmission is engagable to connect the drive to the tray moving mechanism, whereby the tray is moved between the pick position and the load position by the media sheet advancing drive. The transmission is disengagable to enable advancement of the media sheets without movement of the tray. Starting with both trays in their load positions, one of the trays is moved to its pick position whereat a sheet can be picked; moving the other of the trays to its pick position whereat a sheet of media from each of the trays can be picked; and moving the tray remaining at its pick position from its pick position to its media load position.

Growing community of inventors

Singapore, Singapore

Randal Wong