Platen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In letterpress printing, a platen is the perfectly flat steel (or earlier, wooden) plate which is pressed onto the back of paper to cause an impression to be made from the type. Sometimes spelled platten. Also a roller used in typewriters and friction-feed printers to hold the paper in position for the typebars or print head.
In office copiers and scanners, the platen is a flat glass surface on which operators place papers or books for scanning. The platen is also called the flatbed. Platens are also used in some printers like the Dot-matrix printer
