Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090058924 | Printhead Capping Mechanism Having Multiple Gear Assemblies and Method of Assembling Same - A gear arrangement for a capper of an inkjet printer comprises a first gear assembly mounted to the printer so as to cooperate with a motor gear for driving rotation of the first gear assembly, the first gear assembly having a code feature; and a second gear assembly mounted to the printer so as to cooperate with the first gear assembly to be rotatable therewith, the second gear assembly, in use, cooperating with a capper for capping a printhead so that the rotation of the second gear assembly moves the capper out of and into its capping position. The code feature of the first gear assembly is arranged to cooperate with a holding feature of a mounting arrangement used to mount the second gear assembly to the printer, the code feature being configured so that the cooperation with the holding feature maintains the first gear assembly at a predetermined position during the mounting of the second gear assembly. A common shaft is mounted connecting the first gear and two second gears to the body so that each of the second gears mesh with the second gear assembly. A pin of two third gears is mounted to the body so that each of the third gears mesh with a respective one of the second gears of the first gear assembly. | 03-05-2009 |
20090179929 | PRINTHEAD CARTRIDGE PRIMING PROTOCOL - A method of priming a printhead cartridge upon installation in a printer, the printhead cartridge having a printhead with a nozzle face defining an array of nozzles for ejecting ink on to a media substrate fed past the printhead in a media feed direction, by providing a printer with at least three ink tanks for storing the inks of different colour, the printer also having a cradle for supporting the printhead cartridge adjacent a media feed path, a fluid interface in fluid communication with the ink tanks, and a latch for securing the printhead cartridge in the cradle, the latch being movable between an open position where access to the cradle is unobstructed, and a closed position where access to the cradle is obstructed, placing the printhead cartridge in the cradle while the latch is in the open position, the printhead cartridge having a fluid coupling positioned to align with the fluid interface when placed in the cradle, moving the latch to the closed position to secure the printhead cartridge in cradle, providing a mechanical linkage between the latch and the fluid interface such that the fluid interface sealingly engages the fluid coupling upon moving the latch to the closed position and, priming the printhead with ink from all of the ink tanks. | 07-16-2009 |
20090179967 | MULTIPLE CONDUIT FLUID COUPLING WITH LEAKAGE FLOW CONTROL - A fluid coupling for an inkjet printhead, that has an interface plate supporting a plurality of spouts positioned for sealed engagement with corresponding apertures in a complementary socket in order to establish fluid communication between an inkjet printhead and an ink supply. The interface plate has surface formations individually associated with each of the spouts respectively. The surface formations define a preferred flow path along the interface plate for any residual ink draining away from the spouts under gravity. The preferred flow paths are configured to avoid any of the other spouts. | 07-16-2009 |
20090179968 | LOW INSERTION FORCE FLUID COUPLING - A fluid coupling for establishing a sealed connection between a first conduit and a second conduit that has a seal seat and a compression member. The compression member is movable relative to the seal seat in which an annular seal is positioned. An engagement mechanism moves the second conduit from a disengaged position where there is no sealed fluid connection between the first and second conduits, to an engaged position where the compression member moves toward the seal seat to compress the annular seal to form a sealed fluid connection. | 07-16-2009 |
20090179969 | PRINTER WITH ZERO INSERTION FORCE PRINTHEAD CARTRIDGE - An inkjet printer that has a printhead cartridge with a pagewidth printhead defining an array of nozzles for ejecting ink onto a media substrate. The printhead cartridge has a fluid coupling in fluid communication with the array of nozzles. The printer also has a cradle for supporting the printhead cartridge such that the array of nozzles is adjacent a media feed path extending through the printer, the cradle having a latch mechanism for retaining the printhead cartridge, an ink reservoir for containing supply of ink and a complementary coupling for fluid communication with the ink reservoir. The fluid coupling and the complementary coupling are configured to establish a sealed fluid connection using mechanical advantage provided by user actuation of the latch mechanism to retain the printhead cartridge in the cradle. | 07-16-2009 |
20090179971 | PRINTHEAD MAINTENANCE FACILITY WITH INK STORAGE AND DRIVEN VACUUM DRAINAGE COUPLING - A inkjet printhead maintenance facility that has an ink storage reservoir for holding ink ejected from the inkjet printhead during a maintenance operation and, an outlet coupling in fluid communication with the ink storage reservoir and configured for connection to a vacuum source to draw ink out of the ink storage reservoir. | 07-16-2009 |
20100071190 | Method Of Assembling Print Media Transport Arrangement - A method of assembling a media transport arrangement of a printer is provided. The method includes positioning a roller so as to be supported at a first end by a support frame, positioning a ring bearing of a fixing plate about a second end of the roller, the fixing plate being separate from the support frame, and slidably engaging the fixing plate with the support frame so as to fix the fixing plate and the roller to the support frame. During the sliding engagement, the roller pivots about the first end due to the configuration of the ring bearing. | 03-25-2010 |
20100134573 | PRINTHEAD ASSEMBLY WITH INK SUPPLY SHUT OFF - A printhead assembly with a printhead and a shut off ( | 06-03-2010 |
20100164168 | PRINTER HAVING GEARED MEDIA PICK-UP ROLLER - A printer is provided having a sheet media transport mechanism, a pick-up roller arranged to be rotated so as to contact and pick-up sheet media from a sheet media supply, and a gear assembly for communicating a driving force of a motor to the pick-up roller to rotate the pick-up roller. A first gear of the gear assembly is directly coupled with a second gear of the gear assembly which is concentric with the pick-up roller. The first gear is configured to disengage from the second gear substantially at the point of delivery of a leading edge of the picked sheet media to the sheet media transport mechanism so as to cease communication of the driving force of the motor to the pick-up roller. | 07-01-2010 |
20100225049 | SHEET FEED MECHANISM - A sheet feed mechanism includes a chassis for supporting a stack of sheets; a top sheet engaging member for engaging a top most sheet of the stack; a stack engaging structure, a first end of the stack engaging structure engaging the stack of sheets to bias a top most sheet of the stack of sheets against the top sheet engaging member, the stack engaging structure being supported from the chassis by a resilient member; a friction surface extending perpendicularly from a second end of the stack engaging structure opposite to the first end; a lock mechanism having a lock arm hingedly connected to the chassis, the lock mechanism including a biased contact foot for engaging the friction surface to retard a rectilinear movement of the stack engaging structure; and an actuator for engaging and disengaging the contact foot from the friction surface. | 09-09-2010 |
20100229393 | METHOD OF ASSEMBLING PRINTHEAD CAPPING MECHANISM - A method of assembling a gear arrangement for a capper of an inkjet printer includes the steps of: mounting a first gear assembly to the printer to cooperate with a motor gear for driving rotation of the first gear assembly, the first gear assembly including a driving gear from which a code feature protrudes, the driving gear meshed with the motor gear; engaging the printer with a jig; and mounting a second gear assembly to the printer using the jig, the second gear assembly mounted to cooperate with the first gear assembly to be rotatable therewith and to further cooperate with a capper for capping a printhead so that the rotation of the second gear assembly moves the capper out of and into capping position. The step of mounting the second gear assembly further includes a step of sliding a slider block of the holding feature about the code feature of the driving gear, whereby the code feature cooperate with the holding feature to maintain the first gear assembly at a predetermined position during the mounting of the second gear assembly. | 09-16-2010 |
20100277545 | PRINTER HAVING DISENGAGEABLE MEDIA PICK UP - A printer is provided having a support frame, a media cartridge removably engaged with the support frame, the media cartridge having a supply of sheet media, a driven roller arranged to be rotated so as to contact and pick-up sheet media from the media cartridge and deliver the picked sheet media to a sheet media transport mechanism of the printer, and a gear assembly for engaging driving power from a motor to the driven roller. The gear assembly has a first gear on a shaft of the driven roller and a second gear directly coupled with the first gear. The gear assembly is configured to decouple the second gear from the first gear to thereby disengage said driving power upon delivery of the picked sheet media to the sheet media transport mechanism. | 11-04-2010 |
20110080455 | FLUID COUPLING - A fluid coupling for establishing a sealed connection between a first conduit and a second conduit. The second conduit has a seal seat and a compression member. The compression member is movable relative to the seal seat. A seal is positioned in the seal seat. An engagement mechanism moves the compression member toward the seal seat to compress the seal to form a sealed fluid connection. The engagement mechanism has an input arm hinged to the compression member at a hinge connection. The input arm has a compression lever fixed at an angle to the longitudinal extent of the input arm. The input arm is arranged to push against the compression member as the input arm rotates about the hinge connection to the compression member. The compression member in turn pushes against the second conduit to move the second conduit relative to the first conduit, until the input arm reaches a predetermined angle about the hinge where the compression lever engages the second conduit such that further rotation of the input arm moves the compression member relative to the second conduit to compress the seal. | 04-07-2011 |
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 |
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 |
20110277303 | METHOD OF ASSEMBLING PRINTHEAD FLUID DISTRIBUTION COUPLING - A method of assembling a coupling for distributing fluid to a printhead, the method having, mounting a seal member on a housing, inserting a shaft through a hole in the housing and the seal member, positioning a compression spring on the shaft and mounting a port plate on the shaft using a washer about the shaft so that the spring is compressed between the port plate and the housing and a plurality of ports in the port plate align with respective ones of a plurality of seals of the seal member for receiving respective fluid spouts of the printhead. | 11-17-2011 |
20110279498 | SYSTEM FOR SENSING CAPACITY STATE OF LIQUID CONTAINER - A system for sensing a predetermined pressure change at a port of a liquid container for supplying liquid to a printer, the system having a liquid delivery apparatus connected to a liquid container via a fluid line and a sensing arrangement connected to the fluid line, wherein the liquid container has an internal fluid pressure changing member configured so that contact with liquid being delivered by the liquid delivery apparatus causes the predetermined pressure change in the fluid line, and the sensing arrangement is configured to sense the predetermined pressure change in the fluid line. | 11-17-2011 |
20110279542 | PRINTHEAD COUPLING HAVING CAM DRIVEN MECHANISM - A coupling assembly for distributing fluid to a printhead, the coupling assembly having a housing, a port plate movably mounted to a shaft which passes through the port plate and housing, a compression spring mounted on the shaft by a washer so as to be compressed between the washer and the port plate and an arm pivotally connected to the shaft at one of its longitudinal ends and pivotally connected to a coupling drive mechanism at its other longitudinal end | 11-17-2011 |
20110279555 | FLUID DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM HAVING FLUID FLOW RESTRICTION - A fluid distribution system having a first fluid container having a fluid outlet, a second fluid container having a fluid inlet, a fluid line interconnecting the outlet of the first container and the inlet of the second container, an inverted umbrella valve between the fluid line and the inlet, the valve arranged to allow fluid flow from the first container to the second container via the fluid line and a restrictor for restricting the allowed fluid flow through the fluid line. | 11-17-2011 |
20110279556 | PRINTHEAD COUPLING FOR FLUID DISTRIBUTION - A coupling for distributing fluid to a printhead, the coupling having a housing, a port plate movably mounted on the housing by a shaft, the port plate having a plurality of ports for receiving respective fluid spouts of the printhead, a seal member mounted on the housing between the housing and the port plate, the seal member having a plurality of seals which align with respective ones of the ports of the port plate and a compression spring mounted on the shaft by a washer so as to be compressed between the washer and the port plate. | 11-17-2011 |
20110279557 | Fluid Distribution System for Pressure Control at Printhead - A fluid distribution system for a printhead. The system having a first fluid container a fluid connector for connection to a fluid input of the printhead; and a second fluid container connected between the first container and the connector for delivering fluid from the first container to the connector, wherein the second container is located relative to the first container and the connector so that a fluid pressure difference between fluid contained within the second container and fluid at the connector is independent of the amount of fluid contained within the first container. | 11-17-2011 |
20110279558 | METHOD OF CONTROLLING FLUID PRESSURE AT PRINTHEAD - A method of controlling fluid pressure at a printhead with a fluid distribution arrangement, the method having providing the fluid distribution arrangement with a first fluid container, a fluid connector for connection to a fluid input of the printhead, and a second fluid container connected between the first container and the connector for delivering fluid from the first container to the connector and locating the second container relative to the first container and the connector so that a fluid pressure difference between fluid contained within the second container and fluid at the connector is independent of the amount of fluid contained within the first container. | 11-17-2011 |
20110279559 | PRINTING SYSTEM HAVING PRESSURE CONTROL AT PRINTHEAD - A printing system having a first fluid container, a printhead and a second fluid container connected between the first container and the printhead for delivering fluid from the first container to the printhead, wherein the second container is located relative to the first container and the printhead so that a fluid pressure difference between fluid contained within the second container and fluid at the printhead is independent of the amount of fluid contained within the first container. | 11-17-2011 |
20110279560 | METHOD OF DISTRIBUTING FLUID PRESSURE IN PRINTING SYSTEM - A method of distributing fluid pressure in a printing system, the method having providing the printing system with a first fluid container, a printhead having fluid ejection nozzles, and a second fluid container connected between the first container and the printhead for delivering fluid from the first container to the printhead and locating the first container above the printhead and the second container and locating the second container below the printhead such that negative fluid pressure is provided at the nozzles of the printhead and positive fluid pressure is provided at the second container. | 11-17-2011 |
20110279562 | SYSTEM FOR DISTRIBUTING FLUID AND GAS WITHIN PRINTER - A system for distributing fluid and gas within a printer is provided having a fluid container having three fluid ports, a first fluid path connecting the first fluid port to a printhead of the printer, a second fluid path connecting the second fluid port to the printhead, and a third fluid path connecting the third fluid port to a gas vent. The first and second fluid ports are configured so that fluid from the fluid container flows between the first and second fluid paths via the printhead and the third fluid port is configured so that gas flows between the fluid container and gas vent. | 11-17-2011 |
20110279564 | SYSTEM FOR VENTING GAS AT INK CONTAINERS - A system for venting gas at ink containers which supply inks to a multi-channel inkjet printhead is provided having a plurality of ink containers for supplying fluids to a printhead having a plurality of ink channels, and a gas vent assembly having a plurality of gas vents. Each ink container has an ink port connected to a corresponding one of the ink channels of the printhead and a gas port. Each gas vent is connected to a corresponding one of the gas ports of the ink containers. The gas vents of the gas vent assembly are in fluid communication with the external atmosphere. | 11-17-2011 |
20110279583 | LIQUID CONTAINER WITH PASSIVE CAPACITY STATE SENSING - A liquid container for supplying liquid to a printer, the liquid container having a body having an interior space for containing liquid to a predetermined capacity, a port through the body for delivery of liquid into the body to the predetermined capacity, an aperture through the body at which the interior space of the body is in communication with atmosphere external to the fluid container and a hydrophobic film between the aperture and the interior space of the body, the film being configured so that contact with the liquid being delivered via the port causes a change in the fluid pressure at the port. | 11-17-2011 |
20110279584 | SIMPLE PRINTHEAD COUPLING FOR FLUID DISTRIBUTION - A coupling assembly for distributing fluid to a printhead, the coupling assembly having a housing, a seal member received in a recess of the housing, a port plate movably mounted on the housing by a washer which is press-on mounted to a shaft through the port plate and housing, and a tube retainer mounted within a groove of the housing for retaining fluid distribution tubes, the retainer having a plurality of holes aligned with respective ones of a plurality of ports in the port plate and a plurality of seals of the seal member for fluidically connecting the retained fluid distribution tubes with respective fluid spouts of the printhead, wherein mounting of each of the seal member, port plate and retainer to the housing is achieved in a non-fastened manner. | 11-17-2011 |
20110279585 | METHOD OF ASSEMBLING SIMPLE PRINTHEAD FLUID DISTRIBUTION COUPLING - A method of assembling a coupling for distributing fluid to a printhead, the method having, mounting a seal member in a recess of a housing, inserting a shaft through a hole in the housing and the seal member, mounting a port plate on the shaft using a washer which is press-on mounted to the shaft and mounting a tube retainer for retaining fluid distribution tubes within a groove of the housing, the retainer having a plurality of holes aligned with respective ones of a plurality of ports in the port plate and a plurality of seals of the seal member for fluidically connecting the retained fluid distribution tubes with respective fluid spouts of the printhead, wherein the mounting of each of the seal member, port plate and retainer to the housing is achieved in a non-fastened manner. | 11-17-2011 |
20110279586 | SYSTEM FOR COUPLING FLUID SUPPLY TO PRINTHEAD - A system for coupling a media width printhead to a fluid supply is provided having a printhead having a fluid inlet coupling at one longitudinal end of the media width and a fluid outlet coupling at the other longitudinal end of the media width, an inlet supply coupling having fluid ports defined in a port plate for engagement with fluid ports of the inlet coupling, an outlet supply coupling having fluid ports defined in a port plate for engagement with fluid ports of the outlet coupling, and a coupling drive mechanism connected to the port plates of the supply couplings via pre-compressed compression springs. The coupling drive mechanism is operational to move the port plates relative to the printhead so as to drive the ports of the supply couplings into engagement with the respective ports of the printhead couplings. | 11-17-2011 |
20110279592 | LIQUID CONTAINER WITH CAPACITY STATE SENSING - A liquid container for supplying liquid to a printer, the liquid container having: a body having an interior space for containing liquid to a predetermined capacity, a port through the body for delivery of liquid into the body to the predetermined capacity, an aperture through the body at which the interior space of the body is in communication with atmosphere external to the fluid container and a fluid pressure changing member between the aperture and the interior space of the body, the member being configured so that contact with the liquid being delivered via the port causes a change in the fluid pressure at the port. | 11-17-2011 |
20120293592 | INK DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM HAVING GAS VENTING - An ink distribution system for a printhead, the system having a first ink container having an ink outlet, a second ink container having an ink inlet, an ink line interconnecting the outlet of the first container and the inlet of the second container and a gas vent on the ink line. | 11-22-2012 |