摘要:
A novel ink-jet printer (10) is provided. The printer 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 resulting printer is easy to manufacture, has reduced complexity by eliminating components in the paper drive mechanism and is lower in cost.
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 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:
Several problems of alignment associated with ink-jet printers are alleviated by four aspects. In the first, a reverse bow (B) in the paper (12) is created for printing on single sheets of paper. The reverse bow, which in the transverse axis of the paper, forces the paper flat against the platen (14) by using the paper's own stiffness.In the second aspect, the paper and the carriage (30) are referenced to the same part (the carriage guide (10)). In this configuration, the paper is urged against the underside of the carriage guide off of drive rollers (18), through the reverse bow, and onto the platen, where it is printed. The carriage is referenced to the carriage guide through a slider bump by means of a carriage shaft and gravity.The carraige guide comprises stiff thin sheet metal, which is closely-toleranced and has well-controlled dimensions. Thus, this part is good to reference to, rather than molded-in parts, which are not stiff enough at the required thickness. Straightness is also difficult to achieve at the required thickness with plastic parts.In the third aspect, the platen is allowed to move substantially perpendicular to the plane of the paper to accommodate thicker print media.In the fourth aspect, the platen is maintained a minimum fixed distance from the carriage guide by bumps (38) to ensure that the paper is not pinched between the carriage guide and the platen.
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 wet-dye hard copy apparatus includes a scanning carriage selectively movable along a scan axis and a plurality of ink-jet writing instruments on the carriage for printing on adjacent print media transported along an orthogonal axis. The writing instruments are offset a predetermined distance in the direction of medial travel to increase throughput and to allow simultaneous multiple page printing.
摘要:
A wet-dye hard copy apparatus includes a scanning carriage selectively movable along a scan axis and a plurality of ink-jet writing instruments on the carriage for printing on adjacent print media transported along an orthogonal axis. The writing instruments are offset a predetermined distance in the direction of media travel to increase throughput and to allow simultaneous multiple page printing.