摘要:
Described herein is a print medium support mechanism for supporting a print medium such as paper in a print zone adjacent a printer's printhead. The print medium support mechanism includes at least one drive roller positioned upstream from the print zone of the printer to feed paper into the print zone. An upper print media guide is positioned adjacent the drive roller between the drive roller and the print zone to contact and support the paper from above. A lower print media guide is mounted downstream from the upper print media guide to pivot between retracted and non-retracted positions relative to the print zone. When in its non-retracted position, the lower print media guide contacts and supports the paper from below. The support of the upper and lower print media guides against opposite sides of the paper is primarily responsible for establishing the shape and angle of the paper as it passes through the print zone. The print medium support mechanism includes a pivot stop which is adjustable to set the vertical position of the lower print media guide relative to the upper print media guide when the lower print media guide is pivoted to its non-retracted position. This effectively establishes a desired print medium shape and angle. A separate media-to-printhead spacing adjustment mechanism is provided for adjusting the vertical positioning of the printer's printhead relative to the paper. Because of this, the media-to-printhead spacing can be set without affecting the settings made to obtain the optimal print medium shape and angle.
摘要:
A printmode for an inkjet printer including a plurality of print nozzles and an edge guide projecting into a printzone into which at least one of the plurality of print nozzles may be transported for deposition of a fluid onto a print media, the printmode including a printmask defining a print disable zone corresponding to a pre-selected area of the printzone that includes an area of the edge guide that projects into the printzone.
摘要:
A printing mechanism comprises a print engine that prints an image on a first side of a photographic print media, a laminator that laminates the first side of said photographic print media having said image printed thereon, and a duplexer that returns said photographic print media to said print engine for printing on a second side of said photographic print media.
摘要:
A printhead cartridge and carriage assembly (10) is provided comprising: a carriage (12); a snap-spring (62) for securing a printing cartridge (14) in postion on the carriage; and an interconnect strip (16) for supplying electrical signals to the cartridge, including a force loading spring pad (24) for urging a portion of the interconnect strip against a portion of the cartridge. The cartridge has top (32), bottom (34), sides (36, 38), front (40) and rear (42) surfaces and includes a printhead (44) on the bottom surface, an electrical contact strip (46) on the back surface connected to the printhead, referencing pads (56) on the side surface, and a lip (64) on the back surface for accepting the snap-spring. Referencing surface (60) are provided for receiving the referencing pads on the cartridge. The spring pad urges the interconnect strip against the electrical contact of the cartridge. The printhead cartridge/carriage assembly of the invention requires only one hand of the operator to both insert and lock the cartridge in position. Further, the cartridge/carriage assembly provides simultaneous alignment of the printhead in the X, Y, and Z directions. Finally, contact between the printhead and the interconnect strip is reliably made each time the cartridge is inserted and locked in position, thereby ensuring proper nozzle firing each time.
摘要:
A shifted element printing/scanning routine coordinated with media advance through an interaction zone of hardcopy device is provided for inkjet printing mechanisms, scanners or multi-function hardcopy devices. A method is provided of coordinating operation of a reciprocating head with media advance. The head has plural interaction elements, which may be ink-ejecting nozzles in a printing mechanism, or image receptors in a scanning mechanism, with the interaction elements being arranged in a linear array to selectively interact with media. A hardcopy device has a rotating media advancing member, a reciprocating head carrying the interaction elements, an encoder having indicia to track media advance, and a sensor that interprets the encoder indicia and generated a media position signal. A controller adjusts the media advance and shifts operation of selected interaction elements to other interaction elements along the linear array to avoid an indeterminate region of the position signal where the media position cannot be ascertained.
摘要:
An improved paper feed arrangement wherein a low vertical profile is attained through utilizing trained driven belts for picking paper from a hopper, and wherein picking reliability is enhanced both by the broad-expanse area contact offered by such belts, and by a unique coefficient to friction differential area downstream from a hopper wherein inadvertently plural picked paper sheets are easily separated.
摘要:
A novel ink-jet printer (10) is provided. The print provides both paper supply tray (12) and paper collection tray (18) in the front (14) of the printer for ease of paper handling and reduced footprint. The paper collection tray is provided with a pair of opposed output rails (22) which support a sheet of paper (16c) during printing to permit ink on a sheet of paper (16b) previously printed to dry. A paper handling mechanism is provided which eliminates a sheet pickup motor and associated elements. The paper handling mechanism is configured to pick off a sheet of paper from a stack of input paper, bring it around paper drive rollers (24) onto a platen (26), where the printing operation, employing a printhead cartridge (32), occurs. The printer further includes a service station (230) for clearing clogged nozzles in the printhead (33) and removing bubbles therefrom, for covering the nozzles with a protective cap (266), and for wiping contaminants off the nozzles. Reference pads (200) are provided for aligning and securing the printing cartridge in a carriage (35). The carriage is associated with a carriage guide (27), to which the carriage and print medium are referenced. The resulting printer is easy to manufacture, has reduced complexity by eliminating components in the paper drive mechanism and is lower in cost.
摘要:
Methods, printers, and control panels for printers are disclosed. An example printer includes a control panel, a print substrate path exit to output a print substrate from the printer in response to a printing task, and a control panel actuator to move the control panel from a first position in which the control panel at least partially obstructs a print substrate from passing through the print substrate path exit to a second position in which the control panel does not obstruct the print substrate from passing through the print substrate path exit.
摘要:
Separator assembly for use with printers is described herein. One example separator assembly includes a separator pad movable between a first position and a second position such that the separator pad is to engage a leading edge of a print media in the second position. A cam is rotatable between a third position and a fourth position to move the separator pad from the first to the second position.