Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080246800 | PRINTHEAD MAINTENANCE ASSEMBLY INCORPORATING A DABBING DEVICE - A printhead maintenance assembly having an ink manifold with a printhead, the manifold operatively supplying the printhead with ink. The assembly also includes a capper arrangement having a capper operatively fitted to the manifold over the printhead, the capper defining a capper chamber with a constriction member splitting said chamber into an air inlet channel and a vacuum channel, the constriction member located proximate the printhead to define a blast channel therewith between the inlet channel and the vacuum channel. The assembly also includes a dabbing device to dab the printhead after disengagement of the capper with the printhead. | 10-09-2008 |
20080251987 | Printer incorporating rotatable pick-up assembly of air nozzles - A printer comprising: a support structure; a feed arrangement positioned on the support structure and configured to feed an endmost sheet of print media from the stack and including a movable pick-up assembly, the pick-up assembly having an array of spaced apart nozzles configured to direct air on to respective locations along said topmost sheet so that said topmost sheet can be picked-up from the stack by moving said pick-up assembly; | 10-16-2008 |
20080251988 | Printer incorporating interposed air expulsion and air suction nozzles - A printer comprising: a support structure; a feed arrangement positioned on the support structure and configured to feed an endmost sheet of print media from the stack and including a movable pick-up assembly, the pick-up assembly having an array of spaced apart nozzles configured to direct air on to respective locations along said topmost sheet so that said topmost sheet can be picked-up from the stack by moving said pick-up assembly; a pair of rollers configured to engage with said endmost sheet fed from said feed arrangement; a printing station configured to print ink upon said endmost sheet engaged by said rollers; and an air displacement mechanism connected to the nozzles to displace air out of some expulsion nozzles and into some other suction nozzles, wherein said expulsion nozzles are interposed with said suction nozzles. | 10-16-2008 |
20080251989 | Printer Incorporating Pick-up Assembly of Air Nozzles - A printer comprising: a support structure; a feed arrangement positioned on the support structure and configured to feed an endmost sheet of print media from the stack and including a movable pick-up assembly, the pick-up assembly having an array of spaced apart nozzles configured to direct air on to respective locations along said topmost sheet so that said topmost sheet can be picked-up from the stack by moving said pick-up assembly; a pair of rollers configured to engage with said endmost sheet fed from said feed arrangement; a printing station configured to print ink upon said endmost sheet engaged by said rollers; and an air displacement mechanism connected to the nozzles to displace air out of some expulsion nozzles and into some other suction nozzles, wherein said pick-up assembly includes an axle pivotally mounted with respect to the support structure, a pair of arms extending from either end of the axle, and a pick-up bar extending between the arms and along which said array is aligned. | 10-16-2008 |
20080251990 | Printer Incorporating Air Displacement Mechanism - A printer comprising: a support structure; a feed arrangement positioned on the support structure and configured to feed an endmost sheet of print media from the stack and including a movable pick-up assembly, the pick-up assembly having an array of spaced apart nozzles configured to direct air on to respective locations along said topmost sheet so that said topmost sheet can be picked-up from the stack by moving said pick-up assembly; a pair of rollers configured to engage with said endmost sheet fed from said feed arrangement; a printing station configured to print ink upon said endmost sheet engaged by said rollers; and an air displacement mechanism connected to the nozzles to displace air out of some expulsion nozzles and into some other suction nozzles, wherein each suction nozzle has a suction cup mounted to said pick-up bar. | 10-16-2008 |
20080258375 | Printer Incorporating Opposed Printhead Assemblies - A printer comprising: a support structure; a feed arrangement positioned on the support structure and configured to feed an endmost sheet of print media from the stack and including a movable pick-up assembly, the pick-up assembly having an array of spaced apart nozzles configured to direct air on to respective locations along said topmost sheet so that said topmost sheet can be picked-up from the stack by moving said pick-up assembly; a pair of rollers configured to engage with said endmost sheet fed from said feed arrangement; a printing station configured to print ink upon said endmost sheet engaged by said rollers; and an air displacement mechanism connected to the nozzles to displace air out of some expulsion nozzles and into some other suction nozzles, wherein said printing station has a pair of opposed printhead assemblies between which said endmost sheet can be fed so that concurrent duplex printing can be performed on the endmost sheet. | 10-23-2008 |
20080303203 | PAPER FEED MECHANISM FOR A PRINTING STATION - A paper feed mechanism for a printing station. The mechanism includes a primary set of rollers and a secondary set of rollers for feeding a sheet of paper past a printhead, and a pivot rod rotatably driven by a drive means. Also included is a pick-up bar pivotally connected to the pivot rod via swing arms, the pick-up bar having a foot portion to facilitate pick-up of a sheet of paper from a stack. The mechanism further includes a fluid hose attached to the foot portion, said fluid hose operatively delivering pressurised air to the foot portion to facilitate pick-up of a sheet from the stack, wherein the pick-up bar delivers the sheet to the rollers. | 12-11-2008 |
20090115121 | PRINTER HAVING SHEET DISPLACEMENT NOZZLES - A printer is provided having a movable pick-up device which has a one dimensional array of nozzles configured to direct air onto a topmost sheet of a print media stack so that said topmost sheet can be picked-up from the stack by moving said pick-up assembly, rollers configured to engage the picked-up topmost sheet, a printhead configured to print on the engaged sheet, and an air displacement mechanism connected to the nozzles to displace air out of some expulsion nozzles and into some other suction nozzles. | 05-07-2009 |
20090153614 | Printhead Assembly Comprising Ink Reservoir Containing Cleaning Liquid - An inkjet printer comprising: (a) an inkjet printhead; (b) a plurality of reservoirs in fluid communication with nozzles in the printhead, at least one of the reservoirs being an ink reservoir containing printing ink, and at least one of the reservoirs being a cleaning reservoir containing a cleaning liquid for cleaning an ink ejection face of the printhead; (c) a pressure device for positively pressurizing the cleaning reservoir; (d) a conduit providing fluid communication between the cleaning reservoir and the printhead; and (e) a valve in the conduit for controlling a supply of cleaning liquid to the printhead. | 06-18-2009 |
20090194933 | Printer With Reversible Air Flow Sheet Picker - A printer for sheets of porous media supplied from a stack of such sheets. The printer has a printhead, a sheet pick-up assembly having a conduit connected to a reversible air supply, the conduit having an outlet directed towards a top sheet of the stack for directing an airstream onto the top sheet such that air penetrates the top sheet and generates an air cushion lifting the top sheet from a second sheet, the reversible air supply configured to suck air into the outlet after the top sheet has lifted from the second sheet to hold the top sheet against the outlet and a sheet feed mechanism for displacing the conduit to draw the top sheet away from the stack. | 08-06-2009 |
20100134573 | PRINTHEAD ASSEMBLY WITH INK SUPPLY SHUT OFF - A printhead assembly with a printhead and a shut off ( | 06-03-2010 |
20100134577 | Inkjet Printhead With Pressure Pulse Priming - An inkjet printer that has a printhead with an array of ink ejection nozzles, an upstream ink line for connecting the printhead to an ink supply, a downstream ink line for connecting the printhead to a sump, a pump in the downstream ink line for drawing fluid out of the printhead, a gas inlet in communication with the printhead, the gas inlet being configured to open to atmosphere during a printhead de-priming operation, and close to atmosphere during a printhead priming operation and, an accumulator positioned in the upstream ink line for generating a positive pressure pulse for priming the printhead. | 06-03-2010 |
20100220144 | METHOD OF MAINTAINING INKJET PRINTHEAD USING NON-CONTACT ROLLER - A method of maintaining an ink ejection face of an inkjet printhead. The method comprises the steps of: (i) flooding the ink ejection face with ink from nozzles in the printhead; and (ii) rotating a roller adjacent the face, such that flooded ink is transferred from the face onto an outer surface of the roller. The outer surface of the roller does not contact the face during rotation of the roller. | 09-02-2010 |
20100225054 | SHEET FEED ASSEMBLY DEFINING CURVED AND STRAIGHT FEED PATH - A sheet feed assembly for feeding sheets of material having a known bending stiffness through a device with low friction. The sheet feeding assembly has feed path structures for defining a feed path, the feed path having a first point with a first radius of curvature, a second point with a second radius of curvature and a transition section extending between the first point and the second point. The transition section defines conforms to a shape adopted by one of the sheets of material extending from the first point where it has a curvature of the first radius, to the second point where it has a curvature of the second radius. | 09-09-2010 |
20110090280 | PRINTHEAD MAINTENANCE FACILITY HAVING FLUID DRAINAGE - A printhead maintenance facility is provided having a storage reservoir for storing fluid ejected by a printhead and a core movable relative to the printhead. The has an internal structure defining the storage reservoir and having a port in fluid communication with the storage reservoir, and an external structure movable relative to the internal structure and having a drain movable into registration with the port to establish fluid communication between the drain and storage reservoir. | 04-21-2011 |
20110228017 | SHUT OFF VALVE FOR DISCONNECTING A PRINTHEAD FROM AN INK SUPPLY - A shut off valve is disclosed for connecting and disconnecting an ink supply to a printhead of an inkjet printer. The shut off valve has an ink inlet for connection to the ink supply and an ink outlet for connection to the printhead. A valve seat and a diaphragm biased into sealing engagement with the valve seat to disconnecting the ink supply to the printhead are also provided. The ink outlet and the ink inlet are both in fluid communication with one side of the diaphragm. Unsealing the diaphragm draws the diaphragm away from the valve seat to lower the fluid pressure in the ink inlet and the ink outlet. | 09-22-2011 |
20110234691 | PAGEWIDTH PRINTHEAD MAINTENANCE FACILITY HAVING FLUID DRAINAGE - A printhead maintenance facility is provided having a storage reservoir for storing fluid ejected by a printhead, and a core movable relative to the printhead. The core has an internal structure defining the storage reservoir and having a port in fluid communication with the storage reservoir, and an external structure movable relative to the internal structure and having a drain movable into registration with the port to establish fluid communication between the drain and storage reservoir. The printhead is pagewidth and the internal and external structures are at least as long as the pagewidth. | 09-29-2011 |
20110279619 | MEDIA CLEARANCE MECHANISM FOR PRINTER - A media clearance mechanism for a printer, the media clearance mechanism having a door hingedly mounted to a body of the printer which can be opened to expose a media width of a media path to a media width printhead of the printer; a media diverter mounted to the door such that when the door is in a closed position the door and the diverter define guiding portions of the path, the diverter being pivotally mounted to the door so that the diverter pivots out of the way upon opening of the door; and a displacement mechanism configured to retract the diverter with the opening movement of the door and to reposition the diverter for media guiding with the closing movement of the door | 11-17-2011 |
20110279621 | PRINTER HAVING MEDIA CLEARANCE MECHANISM - A printer having a media width printhead; a media path from a media input area to the printhead; a door hingedly mounted to a body of the printer which can be opened to expose the media path a media diverter mounted to the door such that when the door is in a closed position the door and the diverter define guiding portions of the path, the diverter being pivotally mounted to the door so that the diverter pivots out of the way upon opening of the door; and a displacement mechanism configured to retract the diverter with the opening movement of the door and to reposition the diverter for media guiding with the closing movement of the door. | 11-17-2011 |
20120098886 | PRINT HEAD MAINTENANCE SYSTEM - A print head maintenance system for maintaining a stationary print head is disclosed. The maintenance includes both cleaning and priming In one embodiment the system includes a suction nozzle, a pump for supplying suction to the suction nozzle, and a positioning mechanism for moving the suction nozzle longitudinally past the print head. In an alternative embodiment the system further includes an ejection nozzle closely spaced to the suction nozzle, and a further pump for supplying fluid to the ejection nozzle. The positioning mechanism moves the ejection and suction nozzles longitudinally past the print head. | 04-26-2012 |
20130038662 | PRINTHEAD MAINTENANCE ASSEMBLY HAVING FIRST AND SECOND TRANSFER ROLLERS - A printhead maintenance assembly for maintaining an ink ejection face of an inkjet printhead. The printhead maintenance assembly includes: a first transfer roller having a transfer surface for receiving ink from the ink ejection face; a drive mechanism configured for rotating the first transfer roller; and a second transfer roller for engagement with the first transfer roller. During use, the second transfer roller receives ink from the first transfer roller. | 02-14-2013 |