Patents Examined by Juanita D. Stephens
  • Patent number: 7976137
    Abstract: A print cartridge is provided having an elongate body defining a number of printing fluid reservoirs along the elongate length with end reservoirs being larger than reservoirs interposed between the end reservoirs, a lid covering the body to seal the reservoirs, and a printhead on the body in fluid communication with the reservoirs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2011
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventors: Kia Silverbrook, Akira Nakazawa, Christopher Hibbard, Paul Ian Mackey, Norman Micheal Berry, Garry Raymond Jackson
  • Patent number: 7976125
    Abstract: An inkjet printhead that has a nozzle layer defining an array of nozzle apertures, each nozzle aperture having an associated heater element positioned for heating the ejectable liquid above its boiling point to form a vapor bubble to eject a drop of the ejectable liquid through the nozzle aperture. The nozzle aperture is less than 5 microns thick in the drop ejection direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2011
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventor: Kia Silverbrook
  • Patent number: 7976127
    Abstract: An electrostatic actuator includes a fixed electrode formed on a substrate, a movable electrode provided so as to oppose the fixed electrode with a predetermined gap therebetween, a driving unit generating electrostatic force between the fixed electrode and the movable electrode and moving the movable electrode, insulating films provided on opposing faces of the fixed electrode and the movable electrode, at least one of the insulating films having a layered structure of silicon oxide and a dielectric material whose relative permittivity is higher than the relative permittivity of the silicon oxide, and a surface protection film provided one or both of the insulating films and made of a ceramics-based hard film or a carbon-based hard film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2011
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshifumi Hano, Masahiro Fujii
  • Patent number: 7976123
    Abstract: According to the present disclosure, a printer apparatus may include a chuck configured to support a substrate thereon, a rail spaced apart from the chuck, a printhead carriage frame coupled to the rail, and a printhead carriage pivotally coupled to the printhead carriage frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2011
    Assignee: Ulvac, Inc.
    Inventors: Paul A. Parks, Robert F. Taff, Roy M. Patterson, David Albertalli, Cheuk Lee, Ben J. Sy
  • Patent number: 7976117
    Abstract: A printhead integrated circuit assembly includes a substrate having a plurality of micro-electromechanical nozzle arrangements formed thereon, each micro-electromechanical nozzle arrangement including a nozzle chamber defined by a crown portion, a skirt portion, and a wall portion; a lever arm included with the micro-electromechanical nozzle arrangement, the lever arm connected at one end to the crown and skirt portions, and at another end to an actuator, the lever arm adapted to move the crown and skirt portions with respect to the wall portion; drive circuitry for supplying a current to the actuator, the current for heating a portion of the actuator to bend the actuator through thermal expansion; containment walls extending from the substrate to surround each micro-electromechanical nozzle arrangement; and a nozzle guard mounted on the containment walls to individually enclose therein, together with the containment walls, each micro-electromechanical nozzle arrangement, the nozzle guard defining therethroug
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2011
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventor: Kia Silverbrook
  • Patent number: 7971966
    Abstract: An ink jet recording head includes a recording element substrate having an energy generating member for generating energy in accordance with an electric signal, and an electrode portion for receiving the electric signal to be supplied to the energy generating member; an electric line member including an opening in which the recording element substrate is contained, an electric line extending toward an inside of the opening and connected to the electrode portion, an inclined electric wiring extending in a direction crossing with the electric line and contacted to the recording element substrate. The electric line member is disposed above a surface, having the electrode, of the recording element substrate, wherein the inclined member extends in a direction of an arrangement of a plurality of such electric lines, and constitutes an inclined surface descending from the electric wiring toward the surface of the recording element substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2011
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Satoshi Shimazu, Yuki Kozuka
  • Patent number: 7971968
    Abstract: A printhead has a plurality of nozzle arrangements. Each arrangement includes a substrate defining an ink inlet aperture with a wall portion bounding the ink inlet aperture and a crown portion defining a nozzle opening; a skirt portion depending from the crown portion to form part of a peripheral wall of the nozzle assembly, the crown and skirt portions being displaceable with respect to the wall portion towards the substrate to alter a volume of a nozzle chamber defined by the wall, crown and skirt portions; and a thermal actuator interconnecting the crown and skirt portions with the substrate, the actuator for displacing the crown and skirt portions. The wall portion and skirt portions are configured to define a fluidic seal to inhibit the egress of ink during such displacement. The substrate further includes a layer of micro-electromechanical drive circuitry for actuating the actuator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2011
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventor: Kia Silverbrook
  • Patent number: 7967425
    Abstract: A printhead assembly with a printhead and a shut off (138) valve that has a valve body (200) defining an ink inlet (202) for connection to an ink supply, an ink outlet (67) connected to the printhead IC. A diaphragm (212) is biased into sealing engagement with the valve seat (216) to provide a fluid seal between the ink inlet and the ink outlet. An actuator (204) unseals the diaphragm from the valve seat when energized. The valve protects the ink in the ink supply from contaminants that can migrate up the ink line during shut down periods. The diaphragm is biased to a closed position and so seals the ink supply from the printhead as a default condition even in the event of a power failure. The bias is strong enough to provide the fluid seal so that the seal is not compromised when the pressure difference between the inlet and the outlet is small.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2011
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventors: Geoffrey Philip Dyer, Gregory Michael Tow, David William Jensen, Nicholas Kenneth Abraham, Kia Silverbrook
  • Patent number: 7967417
    Abstract: An ink jet printhead that has a nozzle aperture that defines a planar opening having two planes of symmetry, both of which extend perpendicular to the plane of the opening. The printhead also having a heater corresponding to the nozzle aperture for generating a gas bubble in printing fluid to eject a drop of the printing fluid through the nozzle aperture. The heater element is a suspended beam that has two planes of symmetry and at least one of the heater element planes of symmetry is common to one of the nozzle aperture plane of symmetry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2011
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventor: Kia Silverbrook
  • Patent number: 7967420
    Abstract: An inkjet printhead nozzle arrangement includes side walls provided on a wafer substrate and a roof layer deposited on said side walls to define an ink chamber, the roof layer defining a nozzle aperture; an inlet defined in the substrate to supply the ink chamber with printing fluid; and at least one heater element having two opposite sides parallel to a plane of the ejection aperture, the heater element adapted to generate a gas bubble at both of said opposite sides. The heater elements and associated electrodes are arranged in the chamber to be non-coincident and have an annular shape facilitating a point of collapse of the bubble near a center thereof. The heater element has a mass of less than 10 nanograms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2011
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventors: Gregory John McAvoy, Kia Silverbrook, Angus John North
  • Patent number: 7967418
    Abstract: An inkjet printhead has a wafer substrate with a droplet ejection side and a liquid supply side opposite the droplet ejection side. Drive circuitry layers are formed on the droplet ejection side of the wafer substrate. An array of nozzles is formed on the droplet ejection side of the wafer substrate, each nozzle having a drop ejection actuator and an associated drop ejection aperture for ejecting drops of liquid. Ducting extends from the liquid supply side into the wafer substrate and terminating before reaching the droplet ejection side. Liquid inlets establish fluid communication between the ducting and the array of nozzles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2011
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventor: Kia Silverbrook
  • Patent number: 7967419
    Abstract: An inkjet printhead comprises a plurality of nozzles; a supply of printing fluid in fluid communication with the plurality of nozzles; and a plurality of heater elements corresponding respectively to each of the nozzles, the heater elements for heating the printing fluid to form a gas bubble for ejecting a drop of printing fluid of a predetermined volume from the nozzle. Each of the heater elements has an area proportional to the predetermined volume. The area being such that an amount of energy generated by each heater element to form the gas bubble is substantially equal to or less than an amount of energy absorbable by a drop of printing fluid having the predetermined volume.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2011
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventors: Kia Silverbrook, Angus John North, Samuel George Mallinson, Mehdi Azimi, Gregory John McAvoy
  • Patent number: 7967416
    Abstract: A nozzle arrangement for a printhead integrated circuit is provided having a fluid chamber having a fluid ejection port, a fluid ejecting member displaceable within the chamber to eject fluid from the ejection port, an actuator for causing displacement of the ejecting member from outside the chamber, and a resiliently deformable seal on the chamber for fluidically sealing the chamber about the ejecting member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2011
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventor: Kia Silverbrook
  • Patent number: 7967405
    Abstract: An apparatus for imprinting high quality images on non-planar surfaces, including the surfaces of various types of three-dimensional articles, such as baseball bats, formed from a number of different types of materials. In the preferred method of the invention, the non-planar surfaces of the three-dimensional articles are printed using a uniquely modified ink jet image transfer technique. The apparatus of the invention includes an ink jet printer coupled with a novel article positioning apparatus which functions to support a plurality of articles, to move a selected one of the articles into proximity with the ink jet printer and to controllably rotate the selected one of the articles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2011
    Inventor: Raul Martinez, Jr.
  • Patent number: 7963649
    Abstract: A computer monitor is provided which has a flat panel display for displaying images and an inkjet printhead disposed adjacent a lower portion of the computer monitor. The monitor is configured such that print media to be printed is fed manually into a feed path that directs the print media from a region adjacent the upper edge of the flat panel display, past the printhead for printing, then out of the monitor adjacent a lower edge of the flat panel display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2011
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventor: Kia Silverbrook
  • Patent number: 7959261
    Abstract: Micro-fluid ejection devices, methods for making micro-fluid ejection, heads, and micro-fluid ejection heads having N actuators on a first substrate and logic capable of driving the N actuators on a second substrate. The ejection heads also have less than N electrical connections between the first and second substrates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2011
    Assignee: Lexmark International, Inc.
    Inventors: Frank Edward Anderson, Michael John Dixon, Jeanne Marie Saldanha Singh, Timothy Lowell Strunk, George Nelson Woolcott
  • Patent number: 7954927
    Abstract: An improved photoimaged nozzle plate for a micro-fluid ejection head, a micro-fluid ejection head containing the nozzle plate, and methods for making a micro-fluid ejection head. The improved nozzle plate is provided by a photoresist nozzle plate layer applied to a thick film layer on a semiconductor substrate containing fluid ejector actuators. The photoresist nozzle plate layer has a plurality of nozzle holes therein. Each of the nozzle holes are formed in the nozzle plate layer from an exit surface of the nozzle plate layer to an entrance surface of the nozzle plate layer. Each of the nozzle holes has a reentrant hole profile with a wall angle greater than about 4° up to about 30° measured from an axis orthogonal to a plane defined by the exit surface of the nozzle plate layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2011
    Assignee: Lexmark International, Inc.
    Inventors: Brian C. Hart, Gary A. Holt, Jr., Melissa M. Waldeck, Sean T. Weaver, Gary R. Williams
  • Patent number: 7950774
    Abstract: An inkjet printhead includes a supporting wafer substrate; an array of drop ejection apparatuses formed in a first side of the supporting wafer substrate, the array of drop ejection apparatuses configured as pairs of rows of drop ejection apparatuses, each drop ejection apparatus including a chamber with a nozzle, and an actuator extending into the nozzle; and a common ink channel extending between each pair of rows of drop ejection apparatuses. Each chamber has a sidewall adjacent to the common ink channel, the side wall provided with a grill portion for facilitating an in-flow of ink from the common ink channel into the chamber, the grill portion adapted to further filter the ink flowing therethrough.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2011
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventor: Kia Silverbrook
  • Patent number: 7950776
    Abstract: An inkjet printhead is disclosed. The printhead includes a substrate, nozzle chambers formed on the substrate, and at least one heater element suspended in each nozzle chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2011
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventor: Kia Silverbrook
  • Patent number: 7950780
    Abstract: A liquid jet head includes a plurality of individual flow paths where nozzles configured to jet liquid are in communication; wherein a layer of an adhesive is formed on a side wall surface of the individual flow path; and the layer of the adhesive contains a material capable of having a photocalytic reaction obtaining hydrophilicity by light irradiation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2011
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Mitsugu Irinoda