Patent application number | Description | Published |
20120189364 | REDUCING DRAG ON ROTATABLE WEB DRIVE MEMBER - A method of reducing drag on a rotatable web drive member for driving a web in an electrophotographic printer includes spacing a plurality of rotatable, driven tensioning members, divided into two groups, along the web. Each tensioning member exerts a respective drag force on the web drive member through the web while maintaining tension on the web between adjacent members, and has a surface speed at a point of contact with the web. Each tensioning member in the first group is rotated with a greater surface speed than each member in the second group. Members of the first group thus exert a negative drag (overdrive) and members of the second group exert a positive drag (underdrive), and the total drag on the web drive member is less than the sum of the magnitudes of the respective drags exerted by the tensioning members. | 07-26-2012 |
20120251176 | ROTATING PRINTER PHOTORECEPTORS HAVING FIXED-POSITION FEATURES - An electrophotographic printer includes two photoreceptors driven using respective self-centering free ends of respective selectively-engageable output shafts. The output shafts are driven by respective output gears meshed to a common input gear. Respective centering structures on the photoreceptors receive the free ends of the output shafts; those centering structures are at fixed positions. | 10-04-2012 |
20130022379 | ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTER TRANSFER STATION WITH SKI - A transfer station is described for an EP printer that transfers a toner image to a receiver sheet carried on a rotatable transport web. The web is wrapped around a rotatable image-bearing member to define a transfer region. A nip-forming ski adjacent to the transport web on the opposite side thereof from the image-bearing member extends upstream of the transfer region. A ski mount causes the ski to press the transport web towards the image-bearing member. Therefore, as the receiver sheet moves with the transport web, the receiver sheet engages the image-bearing member upstream of the transfer region, causing the transport web to push against the ski to provide a selected nip-spacing between the image-bearing member and the transport web in the transfer region. | 01-24-2013 |
20130028645 | MULTI-COMPONENT DUPLEX PRINTER - A multi-component duplex print is produced on a receiver. Master print engines and slave print engines synchronized to the masters are arranged along the transport path of the receiver with inverters between them. Each inverter has an inverted travel path and a non-inverted travel path, and a difference of a travel time of the receiver in the inverted travel path of each inverter as compared to a travel time of a receiver in the non-inverted travel path of that inverter is adjusted to be an integral multiple of a period between successive receivers. A received job specification designating a first assigned one of the print engines to print on a first assigned side of the receiver. A controller sets the positions of the inverters so the first assigned side of the moving receiver is the corresponding print side of the first assigned print engine. | 01-31-2013 |
20130051873 | ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTER WITH COMPRESSIBLE-BACKUP TRANSFER STATION - An electrophotographic (EP) printer for transferring a toner image to a receiver sheet has a tensioned rotatable transport web with a Young's modulus of at least 1 GPa. The transport web is wrapped around a compliant image-bearing member. A compressible, rotatable nip-forming member that is relatively less stiff than the image-bearing member is adjacent to the transport web on the opposite side thereof from the image-bearing member. A mount holds the nip-forming member against the image-bearing member, and permits the axis of rotation of the nip-forming member to move closer to or farther from the transport web. When the leading edge of the receiver on the web engages with the image-bearing member, the nip-forming member compresses. The axis of rotation of the nip-forming member translates by an amount less than the thickness of the receiver sheet minus the compression of the compliant coating of the image-bearing member. | 02-28-2013 |
20130051874 | PRINTER WITH COMPRESSIBLE AND INCOMPRESSIBLE TRANSFER BACKUPS - An electrophotographic (EP) printer prints on a receiver sheet moving on a tensioned rotatable transport web with a Young's modulus of at least 1 GPa. The transport web is wrapped around a compliant image-bearing member. Two transfer stations are arranged along the belt, each with a rotatable image-bearing member. The first station has a first rotatable nip-forming member disposed adjacent to the transport web on the opposite side thereof from the first image-bearing member. The first rotatable nip-forming member is relatively stiffer than the first image-bearing member. The second station has a nip-forming member on a compliant mount. The second rotatable nip-forming member is relatively less stiff than the second image-bearing member. | 02-28-2013 |
20130293618 | INKJET PRINTER WITH IN-FLIGHT DROPLET DRYING SYSTEM - Inkjet droplets having a vaporizable carrier fluid are jetted from a printhead according to image data. A heated condensation shield between the printhead and a target area at which the printhead directs drops protects against condensation of vaporized carrier fluid and creates heat. A heat shield between the printhead and a support structure for the printhead protects the printhead and support structure from heat and condensation. A heated zone exists between the heat shield and the condensation shield. The condensation shield is heated to a temperature above a condensation temperature of vaporized carrier fluid in the second region so that ink droplets that pass through the heated zone are heated in a manner that causes ink droplets having a first concentration to spread when printed onto a paper in the target area as if the ink droplets had a higher concentration of at least one percent. | 11-07-2013 |
20130293619 | IN-FLIGHT INK DROPLET DRYING METHOD - Inkjet droplets having a vaporizable carrier fluid are jetted from a printhead according to image data. A heated condensation shield is used between a printhead and a target area at which the printhead directs drops protects against condensation of vaporized carrier fluid and creates heat. A heat shield is used between the printhead and a support structure for the printhead protects the printhead and support structure from heat and condensation. A heated zone exists between the heat shield and the condensation shield. The condensation shield is heated to a temperature above a condensation temperature of vaporized carrier fluid in the second region so that ink droplets that pass through the heated zone are heated in a manner that causes ink droplets having a first concentration to spread when printed onto a paper in the target area as if the ink droplets had a higher concentration of at least one percent. | 11-07-2013 |