Claims
- 1. A printing ribbon for printing a red scannable bar code image readable by a bar code scanning system using a laser emitting light in the visible red wavelength region, said printing ribbon comprising:
- a backing element having a top surface;
- a binder adhered to said top surface of said backing element;
- said binder having an interspersed distribution of
- red coloring agents which appear red under broad spectrum light;
- red absorbing agents which appear dark under broad spectrum light; and
- fluorescent pigments which fluoresce and mask the appearance of red absorbing agents so that the ribbon has an overall red appearance in broad spectrum light and which are inactive in light having wavelengths in the visible red region so that said red scannable bar code image is scannable by said bar code scanning system.
- 2. The printing ribbon in accordance with claim 1, wherein at least a portion of said fluorescent pigments are red fluorescent pigments.
- 3. The printing ribbon in accordance with claim 1, wherein at least a portion of said fluorescent pigments are fluorescent brightener pigments.
- 4. The printing ribbon in accordance with claim 1, wherein said fluorescent pigments include both red fluorescent pigments and fluorescent brightener pigments.
- 5. The printing ribbon in accordance with claim 1, wherein said red coloring agents include visible red pigments.
- 6. The printing ribbon in accordance with claim 1, wherein said backing element is fabricated from a flexible polymeric material.
- 7. A printing ribbon for printing a red scannable bar code image readable by a bar code scanning system using a laser emitting light in the visible red wavelength region, said printing ribbon comprising:
- a backing element having a top surface; and
- a coating on said top surface of said backing element, said coating including in a wax emulsion an interspersed distribution of
- visible red pigments which appear red under broad spectrum light;
- black pigments; and
- fluorescent pigments which fluoresce and mask the appearance of said black pigments so that the ribbon has an overall red appearance in broad spectrum light and which are inactive in light having wavelengths in the visible red region so that said red scannable bar code image is scannable by said bar code scanning system.
- 8. The printing ribbon in accordance with claim 7, wherein:
- said wax emulsion includes 20-30% modified hydrocarbon wax, 25-45% fully refined paraffin wax, 5-40% carnauba wax and 2-10% ethyl vinyl acetate copolymer resin; and
- said distribution of visible red pigments, black pigments and fluorescent pigments include 10-25% visible red pigments, 0.1-4.5% carbon black pigments and 3-15% fluorescent pigments.
- 9. The printing ribbon in accordance with claim 7, wherein:
- said wax emulsion includes approximately 23.5% modified hydrocarbon wax, approximately 39.2% fully refined paraffin wax, approximately 10.2% carnauba wax and approximately 5.6% ethyl vinyl acetate copolymer resin; and
- said distribution of visible red pigments, black pigments and fluorescent pigments includes approximately 15.0% visible red pigments, approximately 0.5% carbon black pigments and approximately 6.0% fluorescent pigments.
- 10. The printing ribbon in accordance with claim 9, wherein said backing element is fabricated from a flexible polymeric material.
- 11. A printing ribbon for printing a red scannable bar code image readable by a bar code scanning system using a laser emitting light in the visible red wavelength region, said printing ribbon comprising:
- a backing element having a top surface;
- a bottom coating layer adhered to said top surface of said backing element and a top coating layer adhered to said top surface of said bottom coating layer, said top coating layer having an interspersed distribution of red absorbing agents;
- said bottom coating layer having an interspersed distribution of
- red coloring agents which appear red under broad spectrum light and fluorescent pigments which fluoresce and mask the appearance of said red absorbing agents so that the ribbon has an overall red appearance in broad spectrum light and
- said red scannable bar code image is scannable by said bar code scanning system.
- 12. The printing ribbon in accordance with claim 11, wherein at least a portion of said fluorescent pigments are red fluorescent pigments.
- 13. The printing ribbon in accordance with claim 11, wherein at least a portion of said fluorescent pigments are fluorescent brightener pigments.
- 14. The printing ribbon in accordance with claim 11, wherein said fluorescent pigments include both red fluorescent pigments and fluorescent brightener pigments.
- 15. The printing ribbon in accordance with claim 11, wherein said red coloring agents include visible red pigments.
- 16. The printing ribbon in accordance with claim 11, wherein said red absorbing agents include carbon black pigments.
- 17. The printing ribbon in accordance with claim 11, wherein said backing element is fabricated from a flexible polymeric material.
Parent Case Info
This is a continuation of copending application Ser. No. 08/035,133 filed Mar. 19, 1993, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (8)
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
35133 |
Mar 1993 |
|