Hewlett-packard Company

Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.p.

Antonio Hinojosa

Joaquim Brugue

David Claramunt

Richard H Lewis

Alejandro Campillo

Lluis Valles

Ezequiel Jordi Rufes

Angel Cercos

Joaquim Veciana

Daniel Gonzalez

Javier Lopez

Marc Serra

Lluis Hierro

Marc Jansa

Ventura Caamano

Richard Meyer

Carles Vi&ntilde;as

Cheryl Kisicki

Jennifer P Palmatier

Servando Rodriguez

Xavier Regue

Sergi Casas

Agusti Garcia

Francesc Xavier Magrans

In printing apparatus, when printing near the end of a print media with a printhead having nozzles, a controller causes a print drive to produce a large print media advance movement together with the use of a different group of nozzles from that used for the rest of the print media. This avoids printing art effects as the print media leaves a pinch in a media feed. In one embodiment the number of nozzles used for printing in the end region is reduced, and the centre of the group of nozzles is simultaneously shifted in the direction of print media advance. The size of the print media advance is also changed in the end region. The printing mask used is also changed.

Print media edge printing

In a printing apparatus, in which normal printing occurs in a print zone through which a print media is moved by an input feed roller arrangement and an output overdrive roller arrangement, the desired speed of the print media is maintained during bleed printing in the margin of the print media by altering the drive parameters of at least one of the roller arrangements.

Print media drive

A media holddown device a plastics vacuum guide attached to a sheet metal vacuum beam, the guide includes vacuum chambers in communication with the beam through openings to control the negative pressures applied to media of varying widths by a fan. Dividing walls are provided between the chambers to maintain the value of the negative pressure larger than a predetermined value, especially for media with conventional widths. An intermediate wall divides the guide into front and rear chambers to increase the control of media leading edges. The number, size and pattern of arrangement of openings are selected to produce desired air flow characteristics.

Holddown device for hardcopy apparatus

A printer vacuum guide member of plastics material, attached to a printer chassis of metal so as to allow thermal movements, has flexible limbs which extend from walls near the ends of the member to attachment points for receiving fixing screws. The member is fixedly attached to the chassis at points at a central location. To further reduce the effects of thermal expansion, the guide member may be sub-divided into separate component parts along its length.

Component attachments

Inkjet printing apparatus

A cutter assembly which traverses across a media path to make a linear cut on the media includes a pair of cooperative rotary cutting blades. An upper rotary blade is mounted for passive rotation while a lower rotary blade is directly coupled to a lower drive wheel which engages the undersurface of a media guide member. The blades are slightly overlapping at their peripheral edges, with the lower blade in a fixed position, and the upper blade spring biased in an axial direction against the lower blade. An additional media-contacting wheel is mounted on the cutter assembly to be substantially vertically aligned with the lower drive wheel, and is spring biased downwardly toward the uppersurface of the media guide member in order to assure constant rotational engagement of the lower drive wheel with the media guide member during cutting. The lower drive wheel and lower rotary blade are coaxially mounted at a slight angular declination facing upstream as compared to the direction of traverse of the cutter assembly. The media-contacting wheel is also mounted on the cutter assembly at a similar slight angular declination. Such angles of declination create a pull on the media as it moves toward the two rotary cutting blades, thereby preventing undesirable media slack.

Media control technique for cutting operation on a printer

A removable rollfeed apparatus, adapted to be rigidly attached to a printer, holds a roll of media and is mountable on the underside of the printer. The attachment to the underside of the printer allows a desk-mountable printer to rest on the rollfeed apparatus and thus to be raised away from the desk. In an embodiment the rollfeed apparatus itself has feet which are utilized in place of any feet mounted directly on the printer and extends to the front of the printer so that the media shaft is held in front of and below the printer. Furthermore there is provided a printer having mounting positions on the underside of the printer for mounting i) feet on which the printer may rest on a desktop, ii) legs on which the printer may rest on a floor, and iii) rollfeed apparatus. This enables both desktop and freestanding printers to quickly and easily be configured with or without a rollfeed apparatus.

Removable rollfeed apparatus for a desk-mountable printer

A simplified technique and conversion kit allows a user to change a single cartridge monochrome printer into a multiple cartridge color printer without having to use the same slots in the carriage for different print cartridges. As part of the conversion, modifications are made to the carriage by manually removing a carriage cover, manually removing a service station cover for certain user-activated functions such as primer selectors, and adding a new ROM SIMM to the printer.

Technique for converting single cartridge monochrome printer to

A plurality of spaced-apart deflector guides are positioned over the input platen of a printer. They are suspended from an elongated media shield which extends laterally across an input media path such that a leading edge of media can easily fit under both the media shield and deflector guides. Each deflector guide has a plurality of downward facing surfaces such as ribs for directing the media toward an input slot defined by a top surface of the input platen, a terminal edge of the deflector guides, and a terminal edge of the media shield. The spaces between the deflector guides are wide enough to allow both hands to be placed directly on the media adjacent to or between two deflector guides for easy manual manipulation of a leading edge of the media into general alignment with the input slot where it can be gripped between the main pick roller and opposing pinch wheels for feeding into a print zone on the printer. The invention is applicable to both sheet feed and rollfeed printer devices.

Spaced-apart deflector structure for allowing manual insertion control

A method and apparatus for making a linear cut across stationary media in a printer, particularly applicable to rollfeed media.. A self-contained cutter assembly is activated by a printer carriage to move across a media path through a cutting zone and includes a first wheel-driven rotary cutter which acts cooperatively with a second passive rotary cutter to cut through the media. The first rotary cutter is driven by a concentrically mounted drive tire having a diameter less than the diameter of the first rotary cutter, and is generally positioned under the media path. The second rotary cutter rotates freely, and is generally positioned above the media path. A media guide member on the printer has an output flange with a lower surface for engagement with the drive tire and an upper surface to provide underlying support for the media adjacent the cutting zone. A downwardly biased second tire on the cutter assembly is vertically adjustable to hold media of various thicknesses against the media guide member during a cutting operation. The self-contained cutter assembly is located at a lower end of a rigid arm bracket which slides back and forth along a carnage slider rod.

Wheel-driven rotary cutter for printer

A method and device for directly positioning and holding media against an output platen while a cutter traverses across a media path. A cutter assembly is mounted on an arm which periodically passes over the media, and includes a cutter blade and at least one media restraint wheel which presses the media against the output platen. The media restraint wheel is located in close proximity to the cutter blade, such that the media restraint wheel is upstream from the cutter blade and also is laterally displaced from the cutter blade to achieve direct engagement of the media by the media restraint wheel prior to cutting the media. The media restraint wheel includes a soft rubber-like tire which rolls along a top surface of the media while rotating freely on an vertically adjustable axle, in order to accomodate both thick and thin media, without the need for a separate media hold-down device. A biasing spring presses downwardly against the axle to assure secure holding of the media against the output platen. In a preferred embodiment, at least one opposing wheel upstream from the cutter blade is provided on the cutter assembly for rolling engagement with the output platen to assure proper positioning of the cutter assembly.

Self-adjusting wheel for directly positioning and holding media during a

A removable roll-feed apparatus that is removably attachable to a printer/plotter. Inexpensive printer/plotters will have the option of the attachment of a simple, but yet reliable, roll-feed apparatus which is easily attached to the printer/plotter without requiring any special training or dexterity on the part of an operator. Datum points and surfaces are provided to locate the printer/plotter in the X, Y and Z-directions, and when the roll-feed apparatus is attached to the printer/plotter, an operator will have the option of feeding the printer/plotter with roll media or single sheet media. Having the roll-feed apparatus attached to the printer/plotter does not restrict single sheet feeding. The roll-feed apparatus also provides a media self-alignment feature and a simple, but effective, hand-operated cutting apparatus to separate completed plots from the printer/plotter.

Removable roll-feed apparatus and method

A roll-feed apparatus which is removably attached to a printer/plotter that has a self-alignment feature. Media, such as paper, vellum or film is pulled through the printer/plotter. However, a back-tension is created in the roll-feed apparatus by creating a pre-determined force on the shaft to which a roll of media is mounted. By increasing the force on the shaft, frictional drag is induced impeding the shaft's rotation. It has been found that the rotational impedance, in conjunction with the pull of the printer/plotter, corrects any misalignment of the media in approximately six meters of media run.

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Barcelona, Spain

Antonio Hinojosa