Sample labels

[Arturo H. Ariño]

There is a specific type of printer that generates a virtually invulnerable, 
"weather-proof", submersible kind of label. The medium is a white plastic 
ribbon whereon black characters are printed, possibly by thermal 
transfer, and then a transparent plastic layer is fused on before leaving 
the printer. I saw those labels at a conference on natural science 
museums back in 1992 and I believe I can dig out the poster and 
manufacturer's address. I still have one sample label around here. I 
remember that these printers were not cheap, though... Also I know that 
they are used in libraries (for printing book location labels).  

You can also try to reproduce an experiment that I started in 1982 and is 
still running. I tried several types of labels in vials with different 
preservative fluids. The best results came from either a sort of multi-strike 
carbon ribbon such as those used then on electronic typewritters, or 
from a silk ribbon from an impact needle printer which had been damped 
on plain grease-type seal ink. Laser printing (as of around 1986) was 
unsuitable since the characters did float away from the paper.  

Regards,

A.

--
Dr. Arturo H. Ariño  <artarip at unav.es>
Assoc. Prof., Theor. Ecology
Dept. Zoology & Ecology, University of Navarra, E-31080 Pamplona, Spain
voice +34-948-425600  fax +34-948-425649  http://www.unav.es


> Recently I have been having trouble with computer-generated sample
> labels.  [...]

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