Thin pen structure for thermal ink-jet printer
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Company
InventorsDavid W. Swanson, Timothy J. Carlin, George T. Kaplinsky, John P. Harmon
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A thin pen cartridge for a thermal ink-jet (TIJ) printer, to be carried in a pen carriage along a carriage scan axis above the print medium. The pen height and depth are at least twice the pen width measured along the scan axis in order to achieve a high volume pen. The reduction in pen width permits the carriage width along the scan axis to be reduced, in turn reducing the footprint size of the TIJ printer.
Claims17
A thin ink cartridge pen for a printer, said printer including a pen carriage in which said pen is secured and which is moved along a carriage axis, said pen comprising:
- an external pen frame structure defining a first external peripheral wall structure having opposed wall edges and first and second opposed side open regions within said opposed edges;
- first and second thin cover members for covering said open regions of said frame structure, said planar members extending generally orthogonal to said carriage axis;
- said peripheral wall structure and said cover members defining an open volume between said planar cover members and said opposed wall edges;
- an ink reservoir occupying virtually all of said open volume when filled with ink, said reservoir free of ink-absorbing material;
- a printhead snout structure extending from said frame structure;
- a printhead supported by said snout structure and in fluid communication with said ink reservoir through an ink flow path extending through said snout structure, wherein said snout structure supports said printhead away from said open volume to maximize an available ink reservoir capacity within said open volume;
- said external frame structure having a width dimension W measured along a direction aligned with said carriage axis when said pen is installed in said carriage, a height dimension H and a depth dimension D, said height and depth dimensions measured along orthogonal directions which are also orthogonal to said carriage axis, and wherein said height and depth dimensions are at least twice said width dimension, thereby providing a pen which is relatively thin in a direction of movement of said pen carriage in relation to said height and width dimensions;
- wherein said open volume is virtually equal to the product of H, W and D;
- and wherein said pen has high volumetric efficiency in that said frame structure defines an ink reservoir which when filled with ink occupies virtually the entire volume defined by the frame structure and cover members, said ink reservoir is free of ink-absorbing material, and said printhead snout structure does not intrude into available reservoir volume within said pen body.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.