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. 17, 2004
Filed:
May. 25, 2001
Michael D. Lattuca, Lexington, KY (US);
James P. Harden, Lexington, KY (US);
Larry S. Foster, Lexington, KY (US);
Frank M. Hughes, Paris, KY (US);
Darren W. Tosh, Lexington, KY (US);
Michael S. Leiter, Lexington, KY (US);
Benjamin A. Askren, Lexington, KY (US);
David A. Ward, Lexington, KY (US);
Brian D. Smith, Lexington, KY (US);
Robert A. Samples, Lexington, KY (US);
Donn D. Bryant, Lexington, KY (US);
Paul D. Horrall, Lexington, KY (US);
David M. Cseledy, Lexington, KY (US);
Lexmark International, Inc., Lexington, KY (US);
Abstract
The invention relates to an ink cartridge body which is removably mountable in a printer carriage area of an ink jet printer and an alignment and latching mechanism for the ink cartridge body. The printer carriage area includes at least first and second spaced-apart elongate guide rails and the ink cartridge body includes a printhead and at least two bearing points at predetermined locations on the ink cartridge body, each of the bearing points disposed on the cartridge body for separately engaging at least one of the elongate guide rails for aligning and maintaining the printhead in a predetermined orientation relative to the print media in the printer. The invention substantially reduces the number of parts and tolerances thereof required for aligning a printhead relative to a print media by directly aligning the cartridge body rather than the carrier in the carriage area of the printer.