Hewlett-packard Company

Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.P.

Hewlett-packard Corporation

John H Dion

Bruce Cowger

Niels J Nielsen

James A Harvey

Alan Shibata

Donald L Michael

Alan R Arthur

James P Kearns

Catherine A Rotering

Eric Joseph Johnson

Charles Edward Schinner

J P Harmon

Brian L Helterline

Jaime H Bohorquez

Donald R McClelland

Mark L McCarty

Thomas J Purwins

Thomas H Winslow

Robert N Low

Carrie Roberts

Thomas W Linder

Roberta Stinson

William E Peters

Michael D Whitmarsh

Arthur R Hart

Dana D Miller

Ruben Oscar Ortiz

An integral fuel cartridge and filter apparatus includes a fuel cartridge, a filter housing coupled to the fuel cartridge, and a filter coupled to the filter housing.

Integral fuel cartridge and filter

A printing mechanism comprises a printhead that defines a printzone, and a tray adapted to support at least one sheet of print media. The tray is adapted to move through the printzone during printing by the printhead on the sheet.

Printing mechanism

An ink jet print head wiping apparatus having a wiper blade comprising a flexible elastomeric matrix containing particles of a harder material than the matrix, such that the particles resist wear to prolong the useful life of the wiper, the particle material may be a non abrasive but hard polymer such as polyethylene, which may be bonded to the matrix with a coupling agent such as silane.

Particle-reinforced wiper for ink jet print head

A wet-wiping printhead cleaning system wherein a treatment fluid is applied to at least one of the printhead and wiper elements in an inkjet printer, then subsequently the wiper wipingly contacts the printhead and wipes a portion of the printhead orifice plate where the nozzle orifices are located removing dried ink and other accumulated debris, the treatment fluid lubricating the wiper so as to lengthen wiper service life and enhance wiping performance, as well as acting to render such accumulations more removable by wiping, wherein the treatment fluid is stored in a non-flowable state so as to prevent leaking during periods when the printer is not in use, the treatment fluid being changed to a flowable liquid state for wiping.

Print head servicing system and method employing a solid liquefiable

A wet-wiping printhead cleaning system including a source of treatment fluid further including a treatment fluid reservoir and a treatment fluid transfer element adapted to transfer treatment fluid from the reservoir to at least one of the two elements involved in wiping the printhead, the two such elements consisting of the printhead and the wiper, the transfer element thereby acts as an applicator placing treatment fluid onto said at least one element, the source of treatment fluid not contacting said one element directly, and the treatment fluid then is available to assist in cleaning the printhead as it is wiped by the wiper, removing accumulated dried ink solids and other debris, the treatment fluid lubricating the wiper so as to lengthen wiper service life and enhance wiping performance, as well as acting to render such accumulations more removable by wiping.

Printhead servicing system and method using a moveable wiper between a

An ink pen is provided with a protective capping apparatus to protect against damage caused by the ingress of dirt and debris, the accumulation or solidification of ink, the discharge of static electricity or the like. The protective capping apparatus has a protective cap movable between an open position and a closed position. In the closed position the protective cap shields a portion of an ink pen such as the ink-jets or the electrical contacts.

Protective capping apparatus for an ink-jet pen

A refill system for ink cartridges. A refill unit is provided which includes a housing having a foam portion impregnated with ink. The foam portion includes a lower section extending outwardly from a lower panel. Positioned within the panel is an annular channel surrounding the lower section. The refill unit is positioned within an empty ink cartridge modified to include an annular seal member therein. The refill unit is inserted so that the channel receives the seal member. Upon insertion of the refill unit, the lower section of the foam member is engaged against an ink filter within the cartridge. Alternatively, the refill unit may include an enlarged lower section associated with the foam portion, with the annular channel being absent. This unit is used in cartridges which do not have the seal member. The enlarged lower section firmly engages the entire ink filter within the cartridge.

Refill method and apparatus for ink cartridge units

In order to optimize print quality, it is desirable to minimize the distance between a inkjet printhead and the media that is being printed on. This reduces print quality degradation by stray drops of ink with different trajectories than the main drop and errors in the nominal trajectory of the main drop. Color inkjet printers commonly employ a plurality of print cartridges, usually either two or four, mounted in the printer carriage to produce a full spectrum of colors. In a multiple printhead printer, it is advantageous if the black print cartridge is closer to the print media when printing text than is the color cartridge when printing color graphics. The apparatus and method of this disclosure enables the black printhead in an inkjet printer with both black and color cartridges to be as close to the media as possible so that black text print quality will be optimized while also allowing the printing of color graphics. Since black text print quality is more sensitive to printhead-to-media distance than is color graphics quality, the overall print quality of both black text and color graphics is optimized.

Adjustable pen-to-paper spacing in printers using black and color pens

Method and apparatus for regulating print density in a printer of the type of an ink-jet printer having a print cartridge including nozzles which each fire ink therefrom responsive to a voltage pulse applied to a resistor in the nozzle. An optical sensor senses line width printed by the nozzles. Circuitry determines the difference between a predetermined optimum line width and the printed line width. Look-up tables relate the line width to the energy of a pulse applied to each resistor and use this signal to control ink drop volume, and therefore printed dot size. In another embodiment, a nozzle includes 2400 addressable nozzles per inch. Sensed line width is used to vary the dpi by selecting different ones of the nozzles for firing thereby maintaining appropriate relative positioning of the dots when their size varies from the predetermined line width. In the direction of paper movement, the speed of a paper carrier is varied to match the printing frequency of the X-axis to produce square images.

Method and apparatus for regulating print density in an ink-jet printer

Ink contained in a pen reservoir (12) is subject to the capillarity provided by an array of spaced apart capillary members (10). The capillarity provided by the capillary members (10) is sufficient for establishing a back pressure at the print head (18) of the pen (14) to thereby avoid leakage of ink from the reservoir (12) whenever the print head (18) is inactive.

Controlled capillary ink containment for ink-jet pens

An ink jet pen (10) having a primary ink reservoir (12) connected to a printhead (16) and to a chamber (18) containing a capillary volume element (20). The pressure within the capillary element (20) is greater normal sub-atmospheric pressure within the ink reservoir (12) but is less than atmospheric pressure. In operation within a normal ambient pressure and temperature range, ink from the reservoir (12) does not enter the capillary volume element (20). Outside of the normal range, the increased pressure within the reservoir (12) causes ink to be drawn into the capillary volume element (20). This enables the pressure of the reservoir (12) to remain substantially constant so that ink is not ejected from the orifice plate of the printhead (16). As the pressure or temperature falls again into the normal range, the ink is drawn back into the primary ink reservoir (12) from the capillary volume element (20).

Ink jet pen with improved volumetric efficiency

An ink jet print cartridge includes an ink reservoir, a print head for ejecting ink from the reservoir and first and second pressure control mechanisms for limiting the reservoir underpressure. The first pressure control mechanism limits reservoir underpressure by controllably introducing replacement fluid (i.e. air or ink) thereto. The second pressure control mechanism limits reservoir underpressure by changing the volume thereof. The two pressure control mechanisms cooperate to regulate the underpressure in the reservoir at a desired value over a broad range of environmental excursions and permit use of a volumetrically efficient package.

Method and apparatus for extending the environmental operating range of

Ink-jet print cartridge

Improved TAB circuit and method for producing the same. Specifically, new methods and materials are used to electro-plate and test TAB circuits. A typical TAB circuit includes a substrate having a plurality of conductive traces thereon, each trace terminating in a lead. All of the leads extend inwardly into a window through the substrate. To short the leads for electro-plating, a metal conductive portion is provided within the window which is attached to the leads. The conductive portion may consist of a separate unit secured to the leads, or may be integrally formed with the leads as a single unit. Testing of the traces for opens is accomplished by running a current from the conductive portion to the opposite end of each trace. For short testing, the conductive portion is easily severed from all of the leads using a punch assembly or the like.

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Corvallis, OR, United States of America

John H Dion