Patents Examined by Bradley W Thies
  • Patent number: 11446946
    Abstract: Systems and techniques for improving ink jet ink durability and adhesion to a substrate. The techniques may include applying a varnish to the surface of the substrate, curing, in an initial curing step, the varnish with an ultraviolet (UV) lamp, and applying a pigmented ink to at least a portion of the substrate. The initial curing step may comprise pinning the varnish with the UV lamp in a low-power state. The techniques may additionally or alternatively include applying a layer of pigmented ink and varnish at substantially the same time, allowing the pigmented ink and varnish to at least partially mix, then pinning or curing the ink/varnish combination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: ASSA ABLOY AB
    Inventors: Brent D. Lien, Dale James Ziebarth, Evan Pastor, Tanya Jegeris Snyder
  • Patent number: 11446937
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes a medium accommodation portion that accommodates a medium, a medium discharge port for discharging the medium to an outside of the printing apparatus, a medium transport section that transports the medium along a transport path from the medium accommodation portion toward the medium discharge port, an ejection head that ejects a liquid to the medium to form an image on the medium, a heat generation section that dries the liquid ejected to the medium by heat, and an image detection section that detects the image formed on the medium. The ejection head, the heat generation section, and the image detection section are provided along the transport path. The ejection head is located between the heat generation section and the image detection section in a direction along the transport path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Kohei Tatsuta, Tadashi Ishikawa
  • Patent number: 11433690
    Abstract: A method of preparing a film negative including the steps of dispersing a UV ink in a desired pattern on a UV printing substrate; and curing the UV ink with a source of actinic radiation to crosslink and cure the UV ink and create the UV printed polymer layer in the desired pattern. The UV ink is at least substantially solvent-free and printing substrate does not contain an adhesive layer or an ink-receptive layer and is not been modified to be ink-receptive. The film negative may be used in a process of making a flexographic printing element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2022
    Assignee: MacDermid Graphics Solutions, LLC
    Inventor: John Maneira
  • Patent number: 11427018
    Abstract: A printing apparatus and a printing method, including a first irradiation unit provided at one side in a main scanning direction with respect to a reference region in which the nozzle row is provided, and a second irradiation unit provided at another side, wherein at least one of the first irradiation unit and the second irradiation unit irradiates and changes an irradiation position different from a directly-below irradiation position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Eishin Yoshikawa
  • Patent number: 11420449
    Abstract: A dryer comprises at least one dryer that is configured to supply thermal energy to a substrate in order to dry said substrate via evaporation of fluid. Information with regard to the degree of drying of the substrate may be precisely determined via comparison of a measurement value of the temperature of the substrate with the equilibrium temperature that results given an equilibrium of latent heat and supplied thermal energy. Alternatively or additionally, the degree of drying of the substrate may be precisely set.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2022
    Assignee: Canon Production Printing Holding B.V.
    Inventor: Tobias Breintner
  • Patent number: 11425793
    Abstract: There is provide a printing apparatus including: a transport section that transports a medium in a first direction; a discharge section that discharges a liquid to the medium transported by the transport section; a signal generation section that outputs a first pulse signal; and a heating section that is provided downstream of the discharge section in the first direction, includes a first heater that generates heat in accordance with a first pulse included in the first pulse signal, and heats the medium, in which the signal generation section adjusts the first pulse in accordance with a heating amount for heating the medium by the heating section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2022
    Inventors: Masaaki Fujimori, Hironori Endo, Toshiyuki Suzuki, Toru Matsuyama, Ryo Hirabayashi, Nobuaki Ito
  • Patent number: 11413881
    Abstract: It is hereby disclosed a direct-to-garment printer comprising: a print zone; a loading zone; and a conveyor to receive the garment and to move the garment bi-directionally along a transport direction between the print zone and the loading zone; wherein the printer further comprises a printbar located in the print zone, the printbar extending longitudinally along a width of the print zone and having a plurality of nozzles that span the width of the print zone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Maria Elizabeth Zapata, Jose Luis Valero Navazo, Rafael Ulacia Portoles
  • Patent number: 11407237
    Abstract: A light-irradiating device according to the disclosure includes: a light-emitting element; a housing in which the light-emitting element is disposed, the housing including a light-irradiating surface provided with an irradiating opening which is capable of allowing light from the light-emitting element to pass therethrough; a flow path configured to supply gas, the flow path including an end located near the irradiating opening of the light-irradiating surface of the housing; and a discharging port configured to discharge the gas, the discharging port being disposed at the end of the flow path, the discharging port including a plurality of first openings arranged in a width direction of the irradiating opening in correspondence with the irradiating opening, and a second opening positioned in correspondence with each end in the width direction of the irradiating opening. This makes it possible to reduce uneven distribution of discharged gas improve the reliability of a curing reaction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: KYOCERA Corporation
    Inventor: Masami Takubo
  • Patent number: 11407236
    Abstract: A method is disclosed. The method may comprise applying a coating of electrically charged fluid print agent to a developer surface, the fluid print agent comprising particles of thermoplastic resin in a carrier fluid. The method may further comprise controlling migration of fluid print agent from the developer surface to form an image from fluid print agent on a first surface. The method may further comprise irradiating the print agent on the first surface with ultraviolet radiation to heat the print agent to a temperature of at least 70° C. to melt the thermoplastic resin. A print system and a heating unit are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Ehud Eyal, Nadav Shalem
  • Patent number: 11400716
    Abstract: A stress caused in an actuator member with respect to input or output of heat is reduced. There is provided a liquid jet head including an actuator member having a pressure chamber, a low rigidity support part which is disposed at one side with respect to the actuator member, and is coupled to the actuator member, and a high rigidity support part which is disposed at the other side opposite to the one side with respect to the actuator member, and is coupled to the actuator member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: SII PRINTEK INC.
    Inventor: Kenji Suzuki
  • Patent number: 11400725
    Abstract: A liquid ejection apparatus that prevents a user's hand from becoming dirty when attaching and detaching a liquid holding container, the liquid ejection apparatus includes a space portion that is open on a side surface of a housing, a liquid holding container that is detachably mounted to the space portion and includes an introduction port for introducing liquid to an inside thereof, on an upper surface, and a discharge portion that is provided at a position facing the introduction port inside the space portion in a state in which the liquid holding container mounted and includes a discharge port for discharging the liquid to the inside of the liquid holding container, in which the discharge portion is configured such that at least the discharge port is movable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Keiji Watanabe, Kenji Tamamori, Takashi Sugawara
  • Patent number: 11396191
    Abstract: A system is disclosed that provides a compact printing system for applying images on the exterior of a clear or semi-transparent 3-dimensional object, such as for example a clear container like a wine bottle. The printing system includes a shuttle system for transporting a grouped parallel series of blank 3D media simultaneously into a printer portion of the system for parallel printing of media. The printer includes a series of printing tunnels that control a novel arrangement of print heads, pinning lamps, and a final cure lamp that minimizes or eliminates the chances for stray UV light to potentially impinge upon and foul inkjet printing heads used to express ink onto the surface of the 3D media. The arrangement allows for a higher degree of throughput of 3D media while avoiding the prior problems of the fouling of printheads during the printing of images on transparent or translucent media.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2022
    Assignee: LSINC Corporation
    Inventors: James Richard Bullington, Cody Landon Curtsinger, Cory Michael Maxwell-Swarthout, Joshua Boyd Jordan, Michael Edward Freeman
  • Patent number: 11383531
    Abstract: An inkjet printer includes: an inkjet head configured to eject an ink of an ultraviolet-curable type to a medium; an ultraviolet irradiator arranged to adjoin the inkjet head in a main scanning direction where the inkjet head relatively moves with respect to the medium, the ultraviolet irradiator configured to irradiate the ink with an ultraviolet ray; and a controller configured to control the ultraviolet irradiator. In the inkjet printer, the ultraviolet irradiator includes an inner illumination region arranged near the inkjet head in the main scanning direction, and an outer illumination region arranged opposite the inkjet head across the inner illumination region in the main scanning direction, and the controller includes a first irradiation mode where the inner illumination region is unlit and the outer illumination region is lit, and a second irradiation mode where the inner illumination region is lit and the outer illumination region is lit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2022
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Daiki Miyazawa
  • Patent number: 11376878
    Abstract: A rendering apparatus, in an example, comprises a rendering zone disposed between a rendering material deposition head and a substrate, a processing module to process the rendering material, a heat exchanger to transfer heat from the processing module to air to be re-distributed to the rendering zone, a distribution system for re-distributing heated air to the rendering zone, a valve located between the heat exchanger and the rendering zone, a temperature sensor located in the rendering zone to detect a temperature of the heated air that is re-distributed to the rendering zone, and a control module to adjust a temperature of the rendering zone by controlling an aperture of the valve using a feedback signal received from the temperature sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Borja Navas, Albert Franco Morera, Volker Seidel
  • Patent number: 11374157
    Abstract: (Problem) To provide a small light illuminating apparatus configured to uniformly cool a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) (Problem-solving approach) A light illuminating apparatus that irradiates light of a line shape includes a light source unit having a plurality of light sources arranged along a first direction on a surface of a substrate, a heat dissipation unit having a plurality of heat sink fins formed along the first direction, and thermally coupled to an opposing surface side of the substrate, a housing which receives the heat dissipation unit and forms a wind tunnel with a cooling wind flowing inside, wherein the cooling wind cools the heat sink fins, and a first cooling fan which generates the cooling wind flowing in the first direction within the wind tunnel, wherein at least one of opposite sides of a second direction of the housing has an air hole through which the cooling wind is discharged to outside via the plurality of heat sink fins, or the cooling wind is absorbed via the pluralit
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: HOYA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hiroaki Watanabe
  • Patent number: 11370230
    Abstract: A device includes a temperature control member and a linearly-contact member. The temperature control member has an outer peripheral surface to contact a conveyed substrate to which liquid is applied, and heats or cools the substrate. The linearly-contact member contacts the substrate and the temperature control member on an upstream side from a contact position between the substrate and the temperature control member in a conveyance direction of the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Naohiro Toda, Toshiya Satoh, Teiichiro Ishikawa, Masaya Hamaguchi, HuiZee Then, Hidehisa Shibasaki, Yoshikane Matsumoto
  • Patent number: 11369038
    Abstract: The light irradiation device includes a housing an air inlet through which cooling wind is introduced into the housing, an air outlet through which the cooling wind is discharged, a wind flow path through which the cooling wind taken in through the air inlet into the housing flows toward the air outlet, a light source part configured to be able to emit light toward the outside of the housing, and a heat sink provided at a position opposite to the first surface based on the light source part, in the wind flow path, wherein the wind flow path includes a first wind flow region and a second wind flow region located closer to the air outlet than the first wind flow region and having a smaller flow path cross sectional area than the first wind flow region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2022
    Assignee: Ushio Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shuhei Miwata, Yusuke Miyauchi
  • Patent number: 11358400
    Abstract: A transport device includes a transporting belt, which includes a support face that adhesively supports a medium, and which transports the adhered medium, a heating unit that heats the transporting belt before the medium is supported at the support face, a pressing unit that is provided downstream of the heating unit in a movement direction of the transporting belt and that presses the medium against the support face, a temperature detection unit that detects a temperature of at least a part of the support face, from the heating unit to the pressing unit in the movement direction, and a control unit that controls the heating unit based on a detection result of the temperature detection unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Katsuya Asamoto
  • Patent number: 11351797
    Abstract: There is provided an ultraviolet ray irradiating apparatus configured to cure an ultraviolet-curable ink, the ultraviolet ray irradiating apparatus including a plurality of light emitting chips configured to emit an ultraviolet ray and arranged with a first pitch in main scanning direction and with a second pitch greater than the first pitch in sub scanning direction. The printing object includes a low part in which a distance from an ultraviolet ray irradiation surface becomes to be a large gap and a high part in which the distance from the ultraviolet ray irradiation surface becomes to be a small gap. The ultraviolet ray irradiating apparatus is configured to irradiate the object such that an illuminance, of the ultraviolet ray is not less than a minimum illuminance required for curing, in an area, of the low part, onto which the ink is discharged by a nozzle outermost in the sub scanning direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masahiro Noda, Atsushi Ito
  • Patent number: 11338593
    Abstract: A method is disclosed for reducing the scatter of UV light during a final curing operation in the three-dimensional printing on the surface of transparent and semi-transparent media. The method precisely controls the movement of media during a final cure step in the printing of an expressed inkjet image on the surface of transparent media. The method also controls a number of factors during final curing operation such as the lateral movement of media under a final cure lamp, the number of rotations that media undergoes during final curing, the timely modulation of UV lamp power during final curing, and the selection of UV emitter segments positioned away from a inkjet print head to reduce the amount of potential UV radiation from impinging upon one or more of the adjacent printing heads.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: LSINC Corporation
    Inventors: James Richard Bullington, Cody Landon Curtsinger, Corey Michael Maxwell-Swarthout, Joshua Boyd Jordan, Michael Edward Freeman