Abstract: A pallet system for transporting an item, such as a copier or printer, is described. The system comprises a base with feet and upstanding corner pieces which engage around the feet of an identical base to enable the stacking of pallet systems that are not in use. The item or copier to be secured to the base is retained between a fixed rear support member and an adjustable front support member. Location points are provided on each of the support members for engaging a locating member attached to the copier. The position of the front support member is adjustable by means of a scissor jack which is secured by a jack base to a point near the front of the base of the pallet system. The scissor jack is operated by rotating its operating knob, which includes a torque limiter to limit the torque applied to the copier, thereby enabling the copier to be firmly secured on the pallet without damaging it.

Abstract: A method of fabricating ink jet printheads from channel plates with a low stress integral ink inlet filters and heater plates. The channel plates are obtained from p-type (100) silicon wafers, one surface of which has a lightly doped n-type patterned layer in the form of a screen. In the preferred embodiment, a first etch resistant material is deposited on both surfaces of the wafer and patterned on the surface of wafer opposite the one containing the n-type layer. The patterned first etch resistant material provides a first etch mask with channel and reservoir vias. A second etch resistant material is deposited over the first etch resistant material and patterned on the same wafer surface as the first etch resistant material in order to provide a second etch mask having reservoir vias smaller than the reservoir vias in the first etch mask, but aligned therewithin.

Abstract: A maintenance station for an ink jet printer having a printhead with nozzles in a nozzle face and an ink supply cartridge is mounted on a translatable carriage for concurrent movement therewith. When the printer is in a non-printing mode, the carriage is translated to the maintenance station located outside and to one side of a printing zone, where various maintenance functions are provided depending upon the location of the carriage mounted printhead within the maintenance station. The printhead nozzle face is cleaned by at least one wiper blade as the printhead enters and leaves the maintenance station. Adjacent the wiper blade is a location for collecting nozzle-clearing ink droplets, followed by a capping location where a carriage actuatable cap moves into sealing engagement with the printhead nozzle face and surrounds the nozzle to provide a controllable environment therefor. A vacuum pump is interconnected to the cap by flexible hose with an ink separator therebetween.

Abstract: A translatable information transfer device, such as ink jet printhead, is stepwise advanced by a mechanism consisting of a lead screw axially spring biased at one end, cam surface provided at the other end of the lead screw, fixed cam follower which engages the cam surface, and a carrier for the information transfer device mounted on the lead screw with cooperating internal threads. Rotation of the lead screw does not advance the carrier having the information transfer device until after one complete revolution of the lead screw, whereupon the cam surface and cam follower permit the information transfer device to axially advance a predetermined distance, such as, for example, one printing swath.

Abstract: A wiper blade cleaning system has two polyurethane wiping blades of unequal lengths, but which are otherwise identical. The blades are releasably mounted in slots on a planar surface of a fixed structural member. The mounted blades are parallel and spaced apart a predetermined distance. The positioning of the blades is dependent on the order in which they must act on the nozzle face of the printhead as it leaves the priming station, so that the shorter blade cleans first. The shorter blade is stiffer because of its shorter length and serves to remove ink efficiently off of the printhead nozzle face. However, when cleaning a non-coplanar nozzle face, small amounts of ink collected on the shorter blade cleaning edge may be deposited in crevices or other discontinuities on the non-coplanar nozzle face. The longer blade is more compliant because of its added length and follows in the wake of the shorter blade to remove the last vestige of ink left by the stiffer, shorter blade.

Abstract: Three dimensional silicon structures having variable depths such as ink flow channels and reservoirs are fabricated from silicon wafers by a two-step anisotropic etching process from a single side of the wafer. Two different etching masks are formed one on top of the other prior to the initiation of etching with the coarsest mask formed last and used first. Once the coarse anisotropic etching is completed, the coarse etch mask is removed and the finer anisotropic etching is accomplished through the remaining mask. The shape of the mask for the finer anisotropic etching in combination with a predetermined etch time produces a channel having varying depths and widths by controlled undercutting of the mask by the finer anisotropic etching. The preferred embodiment is described using an ink flow directing part of a thermal ink jet printhead where the coarse etching step provides the reservoir and the timed fine etching step provides the ink channels having varying cross-sectional flow areas.

Abstract: A thermal ink jet printer for printing MICR images by liquid ink droplets. The ink contains a magnetic pigment, magnetic particles, or a combination of both. An external magnetic field in the printing zone orients the magnetic pigment in a preferred direction while the printed ink droplet is still wet, so that the magnetic pigment is mobile in a liquid medium. The printed droplet is allowed to dry under the influence of the magnetic field, thereby permanently preserving the specific orientation. As a result, the remanence of the magnetic material in the images are increased and less magnetic pigment is needed for the necessary signal for MICR. This reduction in magnetic material enables the printing by a thermal ink jet printer, because nozzle clogging is avoidable.

Abstract: A plurality of ink jet printheads are produced from two aligned and bonded substrates by an improved fabrication method. The confronting surface of one of the substrates contains a plurality of linear arrays of heating elements and driver circuitry, and the confronting surface of the other substrate contains a plurality of sets of shallow channel recesses, reservoir recesses, and alignment openings. Prior to mating of the substrates, the substrate surface having the channel recesses is coated with a layer of thermosetting adhesive, and a thick film layer is deposited on the substrate surface having the heating elements and driver circuitry and patterned to provide a plurality of vias therein at predetermined locations. The vias expose the heating elements, provide ink bypass trenches, and provide a number of groupings of small pits.

Abstract: A pagewidth ink jet printer has a fixed, pagewidth printhead with a linear array of nozzles extending along its length and a movable cleaning and priming station adapted for movement parallel to and along the array of printhead nozzles. The cleaning and priming station has a vacuum conduit connected to a vacuum source and has an open end which confronts at least one nozzle at the nozzle array. The array of nozzles reside in a planar printhead nozzle face which has a ledge spaced from and parallel to the linear array of nozzles. The ledge extends from one edge of the nozzle face, and has a planar surface parallel to the nozzle face and a predetermined distance therefrom. The cleaning and priming station is slidingly moved in contact with the ledge surface, so that the vacuum conduit open end is maintained fixed distance from the nozzle face. The station may be moved to selected nozzles and the vacuum from the vacuum source may be varied for cleaning or priming.

Abstract: Disclosed is an apparatus for degassing a liquid, comprising: a liquid supply and an outlet communicating with the liquid supply via a flow path; a degassing tank, disposed in the flow path between the liquid supply and the outlet, the degassing tank incorporating a gas-permeable vent; a means for moving the liquid along the flow path; and a heater, disposed in the flow path between the degassing tank and the outlet, for heating the liquid and thereby removing gas therefrom. The apparatus is particularly suited to the ink supply system of a thermal ink jet printer where the removal of gases dissolved in the ink improves print quality.

Abstract: A cap carriage for use in a maintenance station of an ink jet printer. The printer includes a bidirectionally translatable carriage supporting a print cartridge having a printhead with ink droplet ejecting nozzles in a nozzle face. The printhead prints on a recording medium when the printhead is in the printing zone and the printhead nozzles are covered by a cap at a maintenance station positioned on one side of the printing zone when the printhead is not printing. The cap is carried by the cap carriage, which is engaged by the translatable carriage and moved in unison therewith. During the movement of the cap carriage, the cap is brought into sealing engagement with the printhead nozzle face in response to movement by the cap carriage.

Abstract: An apparatus for uniformly coating a planar substrate with an adhesive layer has a rotatably mounted sleeve with closed ends to form an internal cavity therein. The sleeve has a plurality of holes therein and its outer surface is covered by a porous layer such as a foam layer. A vacuum is applied to the sleeve cavity, while the sleeve is rotated. One surface of a polymeric film is positioned on the porous layer and held in place by the vacuum acting through the sleeve holes and porous layer. The other surface of the polymeric film contains a uniform adhesive coating. The surface of a planar substrate is tangentially transported past the polymeric film surface with the adhesive layer and in timed registration therewith, so that a nip is formed between the planar substrate and the polymeric film which transfers a uniformly thick portion of adhesive to the planar substrate surface.

Abstract: A waste ink separator is used in an ink jet printer maintenance station for management of the waste ink generated during printhead priming operations. The separator primarily consists of three main components, viz., a rigid chamber body with side walls and a top wall with an inlet and outlet therein, a chamber floor constructed of a material having a high moisture vapor transfer rate to pass moisture therethrough, and a foam material housed in the interior of the chamber body and floor for absorbing and storing waste liquid ink. The internal surface of the chamber top wall has interleaved parallel ribs which provide a serpentine floor path between the chamber inlet and outlet about the foam material for separating the liquid ink from the air.

Abstract: A method of fabricating thermal ink jet printheads comprises aligning and bonding a pair of silicon wafers together, which have, on opposing confronting surface thereof, a plurality of sets of linear arrays of heating elements and associated driver circuitry on one wafer surface and a plurality of sets of parallel grooves and a communicating reservoir for each set of grooves. The grooves and reservoirs are filled with a filler material which is solid or gels at room temperature and liquid at higher temperatures. The bonded pair of wafers are severed into a plurality of individual printhead sby dicing processes conducted at room temperature. One of the dicing processes cuts the grooves in a direction perpendicular thereto in order to form concurrently the nozzle face and nozzles. The solid filler material supports fragile edges of the wafers and prevents entry of dicing debris and other contaminants. The printheads are subjected to heat, spinning, and high pressure water spray to remove the filler material.

Abstract: Three dimensional silicon structures are fabricated from (100) silicon wafers by a single side, two-step anisotropic etching process using different etchants. The two etch masks are formed one on top of the other on a single side of the wafer prior to the initiation of the two-step etching process, with the mask for the largest and deepest etched recesses formed last and used first. The last formed mask is removed to expose the first formed mask. The anisotropic etchant for the smaller, closer toleranced recesses is chosen to minimize mask etching and improve dimensional control of etched recesses requiring close tolerances and uniform sizes.

Abstract: A thermal ink jet printhead has a flow directing one-way valve for reducing back-flow directed forces generated by the droplet ejecting ink vapor bubbles, so that most of the bubble generated forces are used to eject ink droplets from the printhead nozzles. The one-way valve is provided by patterning the etch resistant mask to form a flap located at a predetermined position along the ink channels between the heating elements and reservoirs, which is activated by bubble generated forces directed in the opposite direction from the printhead nozzles.

Abstract: A thermal ink jet nozzle array comprises a support bar having two major opposing faces parallel to each other and spaced apart by a known thickness and a linear series of modular multi-nozzle printhead units on each support bar face. The series of modular printhead units are spaced apart from each other by equal and known distances, and the series on each support bar face are in a staggered relationship to each other, so that each end nozzle of each intermediate printhead unit is spaced laterally from the respective end nozzle of the nearest printhead unit in the other series by a distance equal to the inter-nozzle spacing of each printhead unit. The row of nozzles of each printhead unit is accurately and releasably positioned on the support bar by mechanical contact of the printhead unit itself against either external jigging or patterned features permanently fabricated on the support bar faces.

Abstract: A cap actuation mechanism for placing a cap, movably mounted on a cap carriage of an ink jet printer maintenance station, into sealing engagement with the nozzle face of the printhead of the printer. The cap mechanism functioning in response to movement by the cap carriage which in turn is moved by printer's print cartridge carriage when it leaves a printing zone for servicing by the maintenance station.

Abstract: A fixture for fabricating a full width scanning or imaging array from a plurality of relatively short subunits which provides immunity from vertical misalignment of the subunits caused by particle contamination. This is accomplished by providing a clearance slot in the fixture horizontal reference edge to minimize the reference edge and subunit contact area and to provide a space for the contaminating particles to accumulate so that they will not interfere with the precision placement and vertical alignment of the subunits on the fixture.

Abstract: A pagewidth reading or writing bar such as a full width array ink jet printhead assembled from fully functional subunits is accurately assembled on an alignment fixture and a structural bar is aligned and bonded thereto with a thermosetting epoxy. To prevent positional disturbance of the subunits prior to curing of the epoxy, the outer subunits are anchored with a quickly curable adhesive, such as, an ultra-violet curable adhesive which, once cured, act as clamps to prevent movement of the intermediate subunits until the epoxy is subsequently cured. Since the printbars may be released from the alignment fixture with the epoxy in an uncured state, several printbars may be simultaneously cured in an oven for a more efficient fabrication process.