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:
Mar. 19, 2002
Filed:
Sep. 21, 2000
Applicant:
Inventors:
Steve O. Rasmussen, Vancouver, WA (US);
John D. Rhodes, Vancouver, WA (US);
Assignee:
Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
B41J 2/01 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
B41J 2/01 ;
Abstract
A vacuum holddown for sheet materials has a surface having a field of vacuum ports in which each individual port is gated. When a vacuum is applied to the underside of the holddown, the gates close. When a sheet of material is introduced onto a region of the field, the gates only within vacuum manifold passageway covered by the material are configured to spring open, applying a suction force to the sheet via the now opened ports. The holddown thus automatically adjusts to material size. An implementation for use in an ink-jet printer with cut-sheet print media is demonstrated.