The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 06, 2001
Filed:
Jan. 28, 2000
Brian Keith Bartley, Lexington, KY (US);
James Douglas Gilmore, Lexington, KY (US);
Cyrus Bradford Clarke, Lexington, KY (US);
Douglas Campbell Hamilton, Lexington, KY (US);
Kevin D. Schoedinger, Nicholasville, KY (US);
Lexmark International, Inc., Lexington, KY (US);
Abstract
An electrophotographic printing apparatus which eliminates overheating of the fuser belt when narrow gauge print media is utilized is disclosed. In this apparatus, a detection means determines whether a sheet of narrow gauge recording medium is being fed into the printer. When it is, the fuser heater is deactivated turned to a present lower temperature or is turned off when the narrow gauge recording medium exits the fusing nip. A preferred apparatus additionally contains means which measures the temperature of the heater once it is deactivated at predetermined intervals and, for each measurement, determines the amount of time required to bring the heater back up to the optimum fusing temperature. The preferred embodiment also includes a means for determining the amount of time it will take for the next piece of print media to travel from its current position to the fuser nip. This preferred embodiment then reactivates the heater when the time required to bring it back up to the fusing temperature is greater than or equal to the amount of time it will take the next piece of print medium to enter the fusing nip. This apparatus prevents overheating of the fuser belt which can accompany the use of narrow gauge print media. The application also discloses a method for fixing images using this apparatus.