Hewlett-packard Company

Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.P.

Junji Yamamoto

Daniel Steven Kline

Ram Santhanam

Marcus L Scholz

Kerry Neal McKay

Chee Meng Chen

Matthew Allen Shepherd

Kirkpatrick W Norton

Mark A Hay

James M Osmus

Christopher S Magirl

Caroline Zepeda

Victor T Escobedo

Andrew Shun Chiu

Marcus Scholz

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 print carriage assembly for an ink jet printer. The print carriage assembly includes a print carriage slidably supported on a printer slider rod, and a sub-carriage that is separate from the printer carriage and slidably supported on the printer slider rod for pushing the printer carriage.

Method of propelling an ink jet printer carriage

A carriage assembly for holding one or more inkjet print cartridges. A mechanical key on a carriage chute is formed in a predetermined pattern having a plurality of columns such that at least one of the columns acts as a barrier preventing a non-compatible print cartridge from staying in a secured mounting position.

Multiple bit matrix configuration for key-latched printheads

A mechanical key scheme is integrated into a composite pattern on both a print cartridge and its corresponding printer carriage chute. In a preferred embodiment the pattern incorporates a plurality of adjacent contiguous columns on both sides of a latch, with each column capable of defining multiple position bits in order to precisely differentiate between different types and/or different families of print cartridges.

Methods for encoding mechanical keys on printheads

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

Method of propelling an inkjet printer carriage

A spring for latching a print cartridge in a carriage in a facsimile printer mechanism. The spring is a cantilever that is doubled back on itself to obtain a long effective length is a short space.

Spring for latching a print cartridge in a carriage

An ink-jet print cartridge is especially configured for loading and unloading into and from an inkjet print cartridge by use of substantially only horizontal translational movements relative to a carriage of the printer. The apparatus includes a generally rectangular prismatic print cartridge having its major axis of elongation disposed horizontally. The print cartridge includes a pair of outwardly extending elongate horizontal supporting lips located one on each of the opposite side walls of the print cartridge, a carriage body, a chute mounted on the carriage for receiving the print cartridge, and a generally horizontal guide rail on each of the pair of side walls of the chute. The guide rails guide the print cartridge into the carriage by supportingly engaging the lips. The print cartridge provides user engageable features which are located remotely from an array of electrical contacts on the cartridge body, and which are separated from a user by the length dimension of the cartridge body so that the electrical contacts are not easily contaminated by fingerprints. Further, a user's pushing installation force passed along a line passing through this array of electrical contacts, insuring good electrical connection of the print cartridge with the carriage.

Ink-jet print cartridge, ink-jet printer, method and apparatus

The present invention provides a low profile stackable Internet appliance printer for use with a television receiver and monitor and responsive to commands from a remote device for printing user desired information. The printer has a box like rectangular shaped housing conforming in size to that of conventional electronic audio video components such as cable boxes, DVD players, amplifiers, video tapes and the like to facilitate the stacking of the printer with such other components. A base member supports in a front portion of the printer a printbar and associated printheads to provide the user with easy printhead head access. The base member has an open bottom for receiving a removable combination input/output tray cassette. Upon removal of the combination input/output tray cassette, front user access is made available for the purposes of removing a paper jam should one occur. A channel member mounted to the base member helps define a paper path from the cassette to a print zone disposed beneath the printbar. A U-shape cutout in the channel member further provides user access to the paper path for facilitating the removal of paper jams while the printer is in a stacked configuration with other electronic devices.

Media channel and method of clearing media jams

A displaceable print cartridge chute for an inkjet printer. The chute holding the print cartridges is displaceable from the carriage that sweeps the cartridges relative to the media during printing. The chute can be moved from a printing position engaged with the carriage to a service position adjacent a side of the printer so as to facilitate installation and removal of the cartridges through the side rather than the top of the printer. Because cartridges are serviced through the side, a printer incorporating the displaceable print cartridge chute can be stacked with other electronic equipment.

Displaceable print cartridge chute

The present invention provides a low profile stackable Internet appliance printer for use with a television receiver and monitor and responsive to commands from a remote device for printing user desired information. The printer has a box like rectangular shaped housing conforming in size to that of conventional electronic audio video components such as cable boxes, DVD players, amplifiers, video tapes and the like to facilitate the stacking of the printer with such other components. A base member having defines an interior cavity for receiving a removable combination input/output tray cassette and supports from below a low profile printbar including its feed motor, drive motor, associated electronic drivers for controlling the firing of low profile printheads, carriage movement and the moving of paper to print user desired images. The combination input/output tray cassette includes a release to allow the complete removal of the cassette for resupplying an input tray portion thereof with a new supply of paper and for providing a user with access to the interior of the printer to facilitate the removal of any paper jams. A user actuated paper size adjuster permits the input tray portion of the cassette unit to accommodate at least two different sizes of paper and couples a repositioning mechanism to an leading edge kick out feature to facilitate the ejection of sheets of paper in accordance with the paper size selection made by the user.

Stackable low profile printer with an input and output media telescoping tray cassette

An ink-jet print cartridge having a low profile. The print cartridge includes a print cartridge body, a lid securely affixed to the body, and a latch located on the lid. The print cartridge further includes two elongate supporting lips located along the side walls of the body for supporting the print cartridge during loading. Loading is effected with a plurality of gripping surfaces remotely located from the latch.

Growing community of inventors

San Diego, CA, United States of America

Junji Yamamoto