Xerox Corporation

Other

Kirtas Technologies, Inc.

William R Burger

Barry Paul Mandel

Gary Alan Kneezel

Steven Robert Moore

Eric Alan Merz

Joseph F Stephany

Bruce J Parks

Edward C Hanzlik

Thomas E Sollitt

Carmen Allocco, Jr

Scott Miller

Steven Jay Harrington

Morton Silverberg

Ram S Narang

Thomas N Taylor

Michael Carlotta

Dale R Ims

Thomas F Szlucha

Michael A Malachowski

Roger G Teumer

William E Kramer

Richard A Van Dongen

Peter J John

John E Forward

William L Gary

Terrence D Charland

Vittal U Shenoy

W Keith Gilliland

Lotfi Belkhir

James E Hutton

Steve S Counoupas

Mark L Leveto

Eduard Kaminker

James E Hogle

John Fox

Michael Lo

Paul S DeHond

Richard L Burger

A thermal ink jet printhead for a printer has a temperature sensor attached thereto for monitoring the operating temperature thereof. A maximum printhead operating temperature is stored in a memory of the printer's control circuitry and, if the printhead temperature sensed by the temperature sensor during a printing operation exceeds the maximum operating temperature stored is the memory, a signal is generated indicating that the printhead has stopped ejecting ink droplets and must be checked for depriming or a depleted ink supply.

Ink jet printhead having out-of-ink detection using temperature monitoring system

As the individual pages of a book having a gutter and outside edge margins and being held at least partially open are being automatically sequentially turned over, in coordination therewith a flattening force is applied to the unimaged gutter margin areas of the book for flattening the pages after they have been at least substantially turned over, and unimaged outside edge margins of the book are clamped by automatic clamping members in coordination therewith, for appropriate page viewing and/or imaging. The flattening force may be applied with a V shaped reciprocally movable member, which may also be partially self-centering in the book gutter, and may also open to push outwardly on the then-open pages, as applied.

Automatic book page turner for imaging

The pages of a book being held at least partially open may be sequentially automatically turned over from one side of the book to the other by pivoting an elongated arm from one side of the book toward the other and turning over individual pages with a vacuum head pivoting relative to the elongated pivoted arm about a different pivot axis as the elongated arm moves to reduce undesirable forces on the individual book pages being turned over. The vacuum head may initially pivot to bend the edge of an individual page up away from the book, to aid in page separation, and then subsequently differently pivot to help peel the same page gently away from the vacuum head and flip it over onto the opposite side of the book. This may be assisted by moving frictional belts on the vacuum head.

A printing device having a frame, an input holding area, and an output holding area. The frame supports a printhead and a feed roller system for feeding print medium to the printhead. The input holding area is disposed on the frame. The output holding area is disposed on the frame. The input holding area holds print medium to be fed into the feed roller system. The output holding area has a support section to receive and support print medium output from the feed roller system. The support section of the output holding area has a bypass feed slot formed therein. The bypass feed slot is substantially straight. The bypass feed slot includes a first slot portion and a second slot portion adjoining the first portion. The second slot portion has a slot width different from the first slot portion.

Output tray for printing device

A media transport system for transporting a media sheet in a marking device includes an entrance drive assembly, an exit drive assembly and a vacuum generator that applies a vacuum force to the media sheet to form a wide, flat printing zone. The entrance drive assembly receives and transports the media sheet in a process direction by contacting top and bottom surfaces of the media sheet, thereby exerting an entrance drive force on the media sheet. The exit drive assembly receives and transports the media sheet by contacting the top and bottom surfaces of the media sheet, thereby exerting an exit drive force on the media sheet. The vacuum force is applied to the media sheet in an area of the media sheet between the entrance drive assembly and the exit drive assembly. The vacuum force on the media sheet acts in a vacuum force direction substantially normal to the process direction. The vacuum force is set such that the entrance drive force and the exit drive force in the process direction each exceed the vacuum force acting in the vacuum force direction.

Media transport assembly incorporating vacuum grooves to flatten sheet

An ink cartridge for an ink jet printer has an ink supply in a housing, a printhead fixedly attached thereto, and an interface seal between the housing and printhead. The ink is contained in an absorbent material in the housing which is partitioned from the printhead assembly by a housing wall having a vent and an ink outlet. The ink flow path from the housing outlet to the printhead inlet is produced by a recess in the outer surface of the housing wall covered by the interface seal. The seal is a porous member having a thermosetting adhesive layer on one side thereof. The porous member has a slot therethrough, and the adhesive is the type not attacked by the ink. The surface of the porous member with the adhesive is bonded to the housing wall. The thermosetting adhesive moves through the porous member and bonds to the printhead surface containing the ink inlet to the housing wall, when the adhesive is cured. The printhead ink inlet is of similar size and aligned with the porous member slot, so that the thermosetting adhesive assists in the attachment of the printhead assembly to the housing and concurrently provides the fluid seal between the housing and the printhead assembly.

Interface seal between printhead and ink supply cartridge

An ink jet printbar assembly is provided with a plurality of printhead die assemblies mounted on a single flat substrate. The printhead die assemblies are linearly aligned along the substrate length. Each die assembly includes a line of nozzles having the same active print length. The individual die assemblies are spaced from adjacent die assemblies such that the last functional nozzle on one end of a die assembly is spaced a distance which is less than the active print length from the first adjacent functional nozzle on the next adjacent die assembly.

Multiple die assembly printbar with die spacing less than an active

A printing machine of the type in which liquid ink is deposited on a recording medium for printing gray scale images. The printing machine includes a printhead having ink ejecting nozzles of different sizes. Nozzles of the same size are arranged in groups and groups of nozzles are offset from one another. Ink drops of one group are deposited at locations corresponding to the points of a grid and ink drops of another group are deposited at locations corresponding to points not on the grid. Gray scale printing is achieved by the variation in drop size produced by different groups of nozzles as well as offsetting nozzles of one or more groups of nozzles from a reference group of nozzles printing on the points of a grid.

Gray scale ink jet printer

The invention discloses a system and method for sensing changes in the weight of an ink reservoir which supplies ink to a printhead which ejects ink onto a recording medium during a printer operational mode. The ink reservoir, whether located separately from the printhead, as in a plotter or pagewidth printer embodiment, or mechanically attached to the printhead and moved in a scanning printhead architecture, has its weight supported by a structure. A strain gage or other weight sensor is affixed to the supporting structure and incorporated in a circuit which produces an output signal representative of resistive changes in the weight sensor. Since a resistive change in the weight sensor is caused by a decrease in the supply of ink in the reservoir during continued printer operation, the output signal is proportional to the ink level. The output signal is digitized and sent to a system controller where it is compared to a predetermined reference level and a low level output signal is generated for use as a warning to a operator or user. In one embodiment, the strain gage is a leg of a resistor in a bridge circuit and provides continuous ink level readout. In another embodiment, multiple warning levels are enabled by inserting the resistor in a circuit where comparators compare the resistance of the strain gage to reference resistance levels.

Ink level sensing system for an ink jet printer

An ink jet printer includes a printhead having a plurality of segments each having ink ejecting nozzles, each segment supplied with ink of a different characteristic. Means are provided for moving the printhead in a direction transverse to the advancing movement of a recording medium. Means are further provided for moving the printhead between two or more positions along the recording medium advance direction. Thus, the printhead can print a swath of ink of a first characteristic from one segment and then be moved to print a second swath from a second segment with ink of a second characteristic. In one embodiment, a printhead has two segments, one printing in black, and the other in color. A shift mechanism is enabled to move the printhead between a black print position and a color print position. The invention contemplates alternate color printing swaths at alternate printing positions along the same printing swath, or a combination thereof.

Thermal ink jet printhead with extended print capability

A finishing apparatus for receiving and attaching sets of sheet material in succession. A movable bin array including plurality of bins are provided for receiving the sheet in each individual bin. Rollers are provided for transporting a copy sheet to the finishing apparatus to one of each individual bin. Registration of the sheet is accomplished by the uphill nature of the each individual bin in the bin array sloping towards a registering portion of a gate assembly, and the action of a tamper mechanism registers the sheets. A stapling means having a cam that is radially urged moves in a plane substantially parallel to the orientation of the the bin array. The action of the cam drives the stapler means into a notched area of each individual bin positioned thereat so that registered sheet sets therein may be stapled in the notched area. The action of the stapler means also opens the gate on an adjacent bin so that a retaining gate on each individual bin are moved to an output of the way position enabling sheet sets therein to slide off each individual bin onto a guide support and into the output tray.

Sorter with stapler actived release gate mechanism

An electronic input/output apparatus for a computer system which includes a computer and a computer screen, includes a mechanical mouse and a printhead integral with the mouse, both being attached to the computer through an electrical interconnection means. The mouse is represented by a cursor on the computer screen based on movement of the mouse. The electrical interconnection means provides data signals between the computer and the electronic input/output apparatus for the mouse and additionally for the printhead which is capable of printing data displayed on the computer screen which has been passed over by the cursor. The printhead, upon activation by a print button or the like, prints onto a substrate as the I/O apparatus is moved across the substrate. Control of the printing operation is done by monitoring and controlling the data sent to the printhead based on positional and velocity values obtainable by a tracking mechanism within the mouse.

Mouse that prints

A camera support includes a pole formed of a first tubular member and two tubular end members telescopingly mounted in the first member and releasably extendable outward therefrom for supporting the pole between two opposed surfaces, such as a ceiling and a floor. An arm supports a camera at one end and is slidingly and rotatingly mounted to the first tubular member at another end for variable positioning of the camera with respect to the pole. The arm may alternately be configured with telescopingly engaged legs for adjusting the length of the arm with respect to the pole. A base with outwardly extending, pivotal legs may alternately be attached to the pole for supporting the pole in an upright position. A pair of carriers are attachable to the pole to mount the alternate base to the pole for transport with the camera support.

Pole-type camera support

An ink jet printer includes a platen having a planar surface sized to hold a sheet upon which an image is to be printed flat on the planar surface. The platen is movably mounted for linear reciprocal movement between a sheet receiving position and a sheet releasing position. In operation, a sheet is fed onto or otherwise acquired on the platen. The sheet can be held on the platen by a holddown force such as by vacuum or electrostatic attraction. The platen moves a sheet held thereon across a full width printhead located between the two positions to print an image on the sheet. Sheets are released from the platen at the sheet releasing position which may include an output tray. After the sheet is released from the platen, the platen is reciprocated back to the receiving position to accept another sheet. During periods when the platen is at either the sheet receiving position or at the sheet releasing position, a maintenance station located between the receiving position and the releasing position on a side of the platen opposite from the printhead may be used to perform maintenance on the printhead.

Moving platen architecture for an ink jet printer

An ink supply for an ink jet printer, preferably comprises a bellows filled with liquid ink. The bellows has first and second opposite end walls and a bellowed side wall attached to and extending between the first and second end walls to define a variable volume ink chamber. The bellows is movable between an extended position and a contracted position and is biased toward the contracted position. The first end wall includes an outlet which, when opened, permits the ink to be expelled from the bellows at a low pressure. A rigid frangible shell is provided to support the bellows and to retain the bellows in an extended position during storage and prior to use. The bellows may include a magnet which, when used in combination with a printer and a sensing device, can detect and signal a near empty or empty ink supply condition.

Growing community of inventors

Fairport, NY, United States of America

William R Burger