Primera Technology, Inc.

Todd A Britz

Robert P Cummins

Michael R Tolrud

Erick Hagstrom

Darren W Haas

A food product platform, system and method for supporting a food product thereon during printing. The platform has a first surface for supporting the food product thereon, the first surface having a surface topography configured to securely support the food product thereon; and a second surface supporting an attachment mechanism for removably coupling to a reciprocal attachment mechanism on a receiving arm of a printer, wherein the attachment mechanism prevents movement of the platform with respect to the receiving arm when coupled to the receiving arm. The food product platform is removably connectable to the receiving arm manually and without the use of tools.

Food product platform for food product printer

A printer and corresponding method of printing an image on a surface of a plurality of food products by providing a system having a printer with an extendable and retractable receiving arm and a movable food product delivery tray for continuously and automatically providing delivery of unprinted food products which are retracted into the printer, printed on, and returned by the receiving arm to the rotatable delivery tray and the tray further moves to deliver subsequent food products for printing. A motorized base spaced apart from the printer supports the delivery tray during and printing processes.

Delivery tray mounting system for food product printer

A printer and corresponding method of printing an image on a surface of a plurality of food products by providing a system having a printer with an extendable and retractable receiving arm and a rotating food product delivery tray for continuously and automatically providing delivery of unprinted food products which are retracted into the printer, printed on, and returned by the receiving arm to the rotatable delivery tray and the tray further moves to deliver subsequent food products for printing.

Food product printer

A printer and corresponding method of printing a selected plurality of horticultural identification tags comprising providing a printing system having a housing comprising a first printer, a second printer, a tag creasing mechanism and a tag separating mechanism where a supply of unprinted tags on a continuous roll and connected along a first side to a subsequent tag are directed to an automatic feed mechanism configured to feed at least a first tag through an inlet in the housing to the first printer and printing a selected image on a first side of the tag. Flipping the tag to expose a reserve, unprinted side and feeding the first tag to a second printer for printing a selected image on a reverse side of the tag and flipping the tag to expose the first printed side and automatically feeding the printed tag to a mechanism configured to crease a selected portion of the tag. Providing the tag to a cutter configured to cut a first side of the tag to separate the tag from a subsequent tag and collecting the printed and cut tags in a stack.

Horticulture tag printer

A unitary molded polymer histological specimen cassette includes a base defining a compartment, a lid, and a hinge connecting the lid to the base and enabling the lid to move between an open position and a closed position with respect to the base. The lid and base are configured to form a fulcrum and apply sufficient tension to the hinge to fracture the hinge when the lid is moved from the open position to the closed position. Another embodiment of the cassette includes a panel extending from the base and having a print-receptive front surface, a rear surface and a first thickness. A plurality of spaced apart support walls extend between and are integrally molded with the base and the rear surface of the panel to support the panel with respect to the base. The cassette includes a sufficient number of support walls at spaced-apart positions to provide the panel with sufficient rigidity to enable printing on the print-receptive surface. All of the support walls have a substantially equal second thickness that is less than the first thickness of the panel, and the second thickness is a thickness with respect to the first thickness that causes the panel to be sufficiently flat and smooth to enable printing on the print-receptive surface.

Histological specimen cassette

A label finishing station receives a web carrying printed images for labels arranged so there are a plurality of images formed in rows or ranks across the width of the web. The images are also arranged in longitudinal columns along the length of the web. A cutting station carries a plurality of cutter heads to cut out the plurality of labels forming each row or rank simultaneously. The web, with the label peripheries cut out, may be slit longitudinally and formed into finished rolls of labels.

System for finishing printed labels using multiple X-Y cutters

A label printer assembly has a support for a supply roll of labels on a flexible web which is fed into an ink jet printer for printing onto a label without contacting the label. After printing, the web carrying the printed label is fed beyond a tear strip to permit removing the printed label by tearing off the web at a space between the labels carried on the web. A feed roller is used to provide a slack loop on the output side of the supply roll that is controlled as to its size during printing, so the drag of the web on the printer feed rollers is reduced. The printer will selectively print bar codes onto the labels.

Label printer with label supply feed control

A processor, such as a laminator for laminating a film onto a disc, such as a CD, DVD or the like has a tray for holding a disc for movement from a loading position to a processing position. The tray has a recess for receiving the disc, when the disc is properly positioned for processing. A sensor is provided to sense when a disc is not properly located in the recess, or when more than one disc, a warped disc or some other anomaly is present that may damage the processor. As shown, the processor is a laminator for laminating a film onto an upper surface of a disc.

Disc tray error system

The laminator for laminating protective, appearance changing film layer onto surfaces of CD's, DVD's, and other discs has a heated laminating roller that will press a web carrying the film onto the disc in regions on which pressure can be applied. In order to maintain the roller at a uniform surface temperature, the roller is continuously rotated whenever the roll heater is energized and the roll temperature is above a selected level so that the roller will maintain uniform temperature between laminating operations. The laminator has a supply roll for the web carrying the film, and a circuit board carrying a memory device is mounted on the interior of a hollow core of the supply roll in a manner that permits making contact with stationary members on the laminator to read information for enabling operating. A hub ring on the laminator is movable to a position to be spaced from a disc so no lamination takes place above the hub ring.

Laminator for applying a protective layer to a disc

A CD transporter includes a CD gripper for gripping a top CD off a vertical stack of CD's is provided. The CD gripper includes an actuatable gripping member and at least one stationary gripping member, each of which includes a hub engaging surface. The actuatable gripping member also includes a CD separating protrusion for separating the top CD from the CD immediately therebelow.

Compact disc transporter

A rotating handler arm is mounted on an upright column, and has electrical components thereon, which require powering. The power is carried to the rotating arm by a multi conductor flat cable that is supported on a platform adjacent to the rotating arm in a coil. The cable clamped to the platform as well as to the rotating member. The coil is made of a sufficient number of individual coil sections so that the coil will tighten as the rotating arm rotates in a first direction, and loosen as the rotating arm rotates in a second direction to avoid the need for slip rings or other complex electrical transmission elements.

Flat wire cable coil for coupling to a rotating element

A single sheet feed system for feeding sheets, such as sheets of paper into a printer or other device which use individual sheets, such as a telefax machine or copier, is mounted on a tray that has a spring loaded bottom wall to urge a stack of sheets upwardly toward feed rollers. Scissor catches are provided at the leading edge corners and include stop and lift guides which will induce buckling of the corners of a sheet as the sheet is fed. The sheet is also guided by feed blocks adjacent the scissor catches, so that as the sheet is moved toward the printer the corners of a top sheet are caused to buckle and separate from the rest of the stack of sheets without allowing a second sheet to release from the tray as the top sheet is feeding into the printer. The stop and lift guides of the scissor catches cause top sheet to first slide upwardly and then the corners are retained and held from upward movement, so that buckling occurs adjacent corner portions of the top sheet along a leading edge to move the top sheet upwardly away from the stack. The buckled corners of the top sheet then slide along a guide edge. The scissor catches will release the buckled corners as the top sheet is fed further, to insure that only a single sheet is fed each time.

Paper tray with single sheet feeder

A label printer and cutter combination will print a number of labels on a large sheet that is fed from a sheet tray coupled to the printer. The labels are oriented orthogonally along X-Y axes on the sheet, and once all the labels on the sheet have been printed, a transfer section coupled to the printer changes position and the sheet is fed, with the printed labels on the sheet, into a cutter. The cutter is operated to individually cut the labels and deposit the sheet of properly cut labels onto a storage tray. The printer and the cutter are operated under digital control and can be programmed to accommodate different size labels as well as different size sheets as well as provide signals for controlling related functions of the printer and cutter.

Growing community of inventors

Maple Grove, MN, United States of America

Todd A Britz