Platen Definition

plătn
noun
In a typewriter, the roller against which the keys strike the ribbon and paper.
Webster's New World
The roller in a printer against which the print head strikes.
American Heritage
A flat metal plate, as that in a printing press which presses the paper against the inked type.
Webster's New World
The glass surface of a flatbed scanner.
American Heritage

The movable table of a planer or other machine tool, on which the work is fastened, and presented to the action of the tool.

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Platen

Noun

Singular:
platen
Plural:
platens

Origin of Platen

  • Middle English plateine paten from Old French platine metal plate from plat flat plate

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • French platine, from plat flat. See plate, and compare platin.

    From Wiktionary

Platen Sentence Examples

  • Blaeu's improvement consisted of putting the spindle of the screw through a square block which was guided in the wooden frame, and from this block the platen was suspended by wires or cords.

  • This block gave a more rigid platen, and at the same time ensured a more equal motion to the screw when actuated by the bar-handle.

  • The staple was united at the top and bottom, but the neck and body were left open, the former for the mechanism and the latter for the platen and the bed when run in preparatory to taking the impression.

  • The platen was screwed on to the under surface of the spindle; the table or bed had slides underneath which moved in, and not on, ribs as in the older form of press, and was run in and out by means of strips of webbing fastened to each end and passed round a drum or wheel.

  • As the platen was very heavy the operator was assisted in raising it from the type-forme by a balance weight suspended upon a hooked lever at the back of the press.

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