Patent ID: 8690462

Claim:
A printing apparatus comprising: a support plate; a track positioned in the support plate, the track having a first wall and a second wall; a gear positioned on the support plate proximate to one side of the track; and a gear strap positioned in the track between the first wall and the second wall, the gear strap further comprising: a continuous strip having a plurality of rigid sections interspersed with a plurality of flexible sections, each of the rigid sections and each of the flexible sections consisting essentially of one material, the rigid sections being thicker in cross-section than the flexible sections to enable the flexible sections to bend; a plurality of teeth formed on each rigid section and a plurality of teeth formed on each flexible section of the continuous strip, the pluralities of teeth being configured to engage the gear to enable rotation of the gear to move the continuous strip in the track; and at least one engagement member extending from one of the plurality of rigid sections of the strip, the engagement member being configured to receive a coupling member to enable the one rigid section to move the coupling member in response to movement of the continuous strip.