Hewlett-packard Company

Sandra Y Okazaki

Steve Orrin Rasmussen

Henry Young Chin

Jan Hippen

Mark S Hickman

Daniel R Dwyer

John Paul Harmon

Thomas E McCue, Jr

Raymond C Sherman

Richard Alan Kelley

Larry A Jackson

Christopher M Lesniak

Donald R McClelland

Paul William Martin

Donald R Bloyer

David M Thorpe

John A Christianson

Richard E Berriman

Larry G Neubauer

Cathy A Rotering

Shannon D Casey

Stephen D Dorow

Stephen C Brown

A sheet media handling system is provided for use in a sheet processor (e.g., a printer). Such system incorporates an input tray for storing one or more sheet media prior to input through the printer's input port with the input tray vertically stacked with the printer's output support structure or tray. The system also has a single sheet medium guide mechanism adjacent the printer's output support structure, where the medium guide mechanism routes a single medium to the input port when the single medium is inserted therein. The single sheet medium guide mechanism includes a skew-abatement substructure and a deflection mechanism. The skew-abatement substructure is designed to facilitate alignment of and routing of a single medium towards the input port by contacting a first edge of the single medium and an opposite second edge of the single medium. Such a deflection mechanism is designed to deflect a single medium toward and into the input port by contacting the upper surface of the single medium while also contacting the lower surface of the single medium. The invented system facilitates easy manual insertion and alignment of a single medium (e.g., an envelope or postcard) into the input port of a printer without affecting the existing supply of sheet media in the input tray.

Sheet media handling system for aligned insertion of single sheet medium

Color inkjet printer

A sheet media handling system is provided which includes an input tray, an output tray, and an alignment mechanism capable of aligning sheet media which is to be input and supplementing support of sheet media once it has been expelled. The alignment mechanism thus employs an upstanding member which defines the length (or width) of the input tray, and which extends upwardly to supplement support of sheets within the output tray.

Sheet media handling system with interrelated input alignment and output

A print material variable support mechanism to reduce buckling of print material toward a printhead during printing. The preferred embodiment includes a moveable platen pivotally mounted adjacent a drive roller. The platen is positioned adjacent and below a printhead such that the printhead and the platen define a print zone therebetween. A measuring device is operatively associated with a print controller such that the print controller effects movement of the platen during relatively high ink density printing such that the sheet is allowed to buckle downwardly. In the preferred embodiment, the measuring device is an ink drop counter which determines how many ink drops are placed on the sheet to create the desired image.

Print material variable support mechanism

A printer mechanism to control pen-to-print medium spacing during printing is described. The preferred embodiment of the mechanism includes a printhead and an adjacent platen. The platen includes differentially yieldable structure adapted to resiliently support the print medium thereby to inhibit uncontrolled bending of the print medium during printing. The yieldable structure preferably extend along a line generally perpendicular to a direction of feed of the print medium. The platen may further include a transition region located adjacent the yieldable structure, the transition region adapted to facilitate smooth transition of the leading edge of the print medium onto the yieldable structure.

Print medium handling system including cockle springs to control

Growing community of inventors

Vancouver, WA, United States of America

Sandra Y Okazaki