Resistive ribbon thermal transfer printing

Resistive Ribbon Thermal Transfer Printing (1-3) is the basic technology used in the IBMQuietwriter" Printer family. This technology is a non-impact technology that has several characteristics that make it very appropriate for use in several low-end (low speed), high quality office printing and publishing systems. At the present time the available Resistive Ribbon printers have been designed to have characteristics and resolution suitable for use in typewriter, word processing and related desk top publishing applications. Inherently the technology is capable of achieving higher resolution as well as demonstrating several other characteristics that can be of use in the evolving office and computer assisted publishing application areas. This paper will briefly review the Resistive Ribbon Thermal Transfer Printing technology and its associated physical and materials (chemical) requirements. Although emphasis will be placed upon the present technology, several other properties of the Resistive Ribbon technology which are potentially suited to a wider range of office and publishing applications will be discussed. © 1987 SPIE.