The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 14, 2009
Filed:
Feb. 28, 2006
Masakazu Kuki, Ichinomiya, JP;
Yasuhiko Kawaguchi, Nagoya, JP;
Noriko Kawabe, Nagoya, JP;
Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, Nagoya, JP;
Abstract
A printer for printing a pattern, design, etc. on fabric comprises a vertical driving unit and a fabric thickness detecting mechanism. The vertical driving unit moves a printing unit including a print head in the vertical direction to let the print head move toward and away from the fabric held by a fabric holding frame. The fabric thickness detecting mechanism includes an idle roller which is attached to the printing unit to be on the preceding side of the printing unit in the printing direction of the print head to rotate freely while contacting the print surface of the fabric. The fabric thickness detecting mechanism detects the height of the print surface of the fabric based on the position of the idle roller. The vertical driving unit is controlled to drive the printing unit vertically according to the height of the print surface detected by the fabric thickness detecting mechanism.