Compliant print head loading mechanism for thermal printers

摘要

A compliant head loading mechanism for a thermal printer which in a loaded condition compliantly loads a thermal head against a dye-carrier and a receiver to form a printing nip. The mechanism includes two brackets each of which is pivotably mounted on a fixed pivot shaft. A head loading spring connects the two brackets. The lower bracket has two arms which have holes that receive the pivot shaft. One hole permits only rotational motion of the lower bracket while the other hole is a slot that permits rotational and translation motion of the lower bracket. The slot is tilted to prevent the drag force exerted by the rotating roller against the media (dye-carrier and receiver) from the inducing a twisting moment into the lower bracket.