Patent ID: 7547081

Claim:
In combination with a printing apparatus for printing indicia on a plurality of three-dimensional articles, the apparatus comprising a supporting frame; printing means connected to said supporting frame for printing indicia on three-dimensional articles, said printing means including a carriage carried by and movable longitudinally of said supporting frame; carriage moving means for moving said carriage longitudinally of said supporting frame and at least one print head connected to said carriage, the improvement comprising a holding fixture for holding within the printer a three-dimensional article having a first portion, a second portion, a longitudinal axis and a plurality of surfaces upon which the indicia is to be imprinted, said holding fixture comprising: (a) an article holding frame having first and second sides; (b) a first article gripping assembly connected to said first side of said article holding frame for gripping the first portion of the three-dimensional article, said first article gripping assembly comprising a first holding cup for removably receiving the first portion of said three-dimensional article, said first holding cup being movable between first and second positions; (c) first cup rotating means connected to said first side of said article holding frame for rotating said first holding cup; and (d) a second article gripping assembly connected to said second side of said article holding frame for gripping the second portion of the three-dimensional article, said second article gripping assembly comprising a second holding cup for removably receiving the second portion of said three-dimensional article.