Hewlett-packard Company

Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.P.

Eastman-kodak Company

Chee Meng Chen

Daniel Steven Kline

Junji Yamamoto

Ram Santhanam

Mum Pew Ng

Ang Beng Keong

Tay Swee Hwai

An inkjet printer includes an inkjet printhead having a printhead die with an array of nozzles, and a media advance system for moving recording medium along a media path toward a print region. A carriage moves the inkjet printhead back and forth across the print region, and the carriage includes a holding receptacle for the inkjet printhead. The holding receptacle includes a bottom portion having an opening into which the printhead die extends. A viewing hole is disposed in the bottom portion of the holding receptacle for providing an optical pathway between an optical sensor and a portion of the media path. A wick is configured to contact the bottom portion of the holding receptacle proximate the viewing hole for removing accumulated ink.

Wicking accumulated ink away from optical sensor in inkjet printer

An apparatus for horizontally loading and unloading an ink-jet print cartridge from a carriage in a printer. The apparatus includes a generally rectangular print cartridge, an elongate supporting lip located on a side wall of the print cartridge, a carriage body, a chute mounted on the carriage for receiving the print cartridge, and a generally horizontal rail on a side wall of the chute for guiding the print cartridge into the carriage. In operation, the apparatus horizontally loads a print cartridge into a carriage by translating the print cartridge horizontally forward into a carriage, engaging a lip on the print cartridge with a guide rail on the carriage, sliding the print cartridge up and over a datum on the carriage with the guide rail and latching the print cartridge in the carriage. The apparatus unloads a print cartridge from a carriage by rotating the print cartridge about a datum on the carriage, unlatching the print cartridge from the carriage, and horizontally translating the print cartridge out of the carriage.

Method and apparatus for horizontally loading and unloading an ink-jet print cartridge from a carriage

A horizontally loadable carriage for an ink-jet print cartridge. The carriage scans in an ink-jet printer and includes a carriage body, a chute for receiving an ink-jet print cartridge, and a generally horizontal guide rail within the chute. The guide rail is arcuate and inclined slightly upward to facilitate loading print cartridges into the carriage. The carriage further includes a cantilever bias spring having a horizontal axis.

Horizontally loadable carriage for an ink-jet printer

Growing community of inventors

Singapore, Singapore

Chee Meng Chen