Scanning "strip charts" or "pages of extreme length"

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kevin Myers
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Kevin Myers

Recently I posted another mesage to this list regarding the need for a
portable, reasonably inexpensive scanner capabable of scanning *extremely*
long individual "pages", up to several hundred feet in length. I did not
get any postive responses for the existence of such a beast. Therefore,
along with some other folks I am considering developing our own driver for
this purpose.

However, I have lately started to see tantalizing tidbits indicating that
scanners with such capabilities *do* in fact already exist, in the form of
some of the recent multi-function sheet-fed units or units with ADFs that
typically have fax capabilities. But I have yet to actually learn of any
*specific* manufacturers or models with these capabilities, except for
*extremely* pricey models (over $5000) such as Kodak's new i280.

Does anyone out there know of any inexpensive scanner (under $500) that
doesn't place some arbitrary limit on the length of an individual
page/image? I need to make really certain that such an animal doesn't
already exist before we spend lots more time and money reinventing the
wheel.

Thanks!
Kevin M.
Odessa, Texas
 
Kevin said:
Recently I posted another mesage to this list regarding the need for a
portable, reasonably inexpensive scanner capabable of scanning *extremely*
long individual "pages", up to several hundred feet in length. I did not
get any postive responses for the existence of such a beast. Therefore,
along with some other folks I am considering developing our own driver for
this purpose.

However, I have lately started to see tantalizing tidbits indicating that
scanners with such capabilities *do* in fact already exist, in the form of
some of the recent multi-function sheet-fed units or units with ADFs that
typically have fax capabilities. But I have yet to actually learn of any
*specific* manufacturers or models with these capabilities, except for
*extremely* pricey models (over $5000) such as Kodak's new i280.

Does anyone out there know of any inexpensive scanner (under $500) that
doesn't place some arbitrary limit on the length of an individual
page/image? I need to make really certain that such an animal doesn't
already exist before we spend lots more time and money reinventing the
wheel.

Thanks!
Kevin M.
Odessa, Texas
Click to expand...

HP makes a vertical scanner (4670) that can scan 'chunks' of a large
document. You have to stitch 'em together later however. Not quite what you
want...

Bruenning (Bruning?) used to make an 'infinite' copier. You put the master
(a looong 8.5" wide strip that could be attached at ends - looped) in the top
feed bin and it produced a looonnnnng copy out the copy side. The final
document was as long as the paper supply or if you were quick at taping a new
length on - infinite. They were obviously scanning a long document to be
able to 'reproduce' it. Don't know if they came up with the thought of
digitizing it as a scan. This was back in mid to late 60's.

It took a team of coordinated acrobats to get a production run started that
would run to a proper end.

I've heard of those who got the equivalent of spam on the early FAX machines
and would stitch several copies of it into a loop and send it back to the
originator. Sometimes letting it run overnight. That was when the rolls of
light sensitive paper were quite expensive and always ran out when you were
finally getting something worthwhile.

Ahhh, the good ol' days.
 
I have a vague memory of interchangeable scan head for matrix printer, something like 10~15 years
ago. It would scan every line of the roll and OCR it.
 
I have a vague memory of interchangeable scan head for matrix printer,
something like 10~15 years
ago. It would scan every line of the roll and OCR it.
Click to expand...


Some Canon bubblejet printers did that, and they still have one model
BJC-85 that has interchangable print/scan heads (360 dpi). However it is
a sheet feeder now. Older models were continous feed, and page length
only depended on the software definitions.
 
Thanks for those suggestions, however I believe that a printhead based
scanner would probably be far too slow for our needs. We need something
that is capable of scanning on the order of 1 inch per second, and the
faster the better...
 
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