Patents Examined by Juanita Stephen
  • Patent number: 6595627
    Abstract: An inkjet printhead and a manufacturing method thereof. The inkjet printhead includes a substrate, a substantially cylindrical ink chamber storing ink and formed in an upper portion of the substrate, and a manifold supplying ink to the ink chamber in a bottom portion of the substrate, a channel-forming layer disposed between the ink chamber and the manifold and having an ink channel communicating between the ink chamber and the manifold, a nozzle plate stacked on the substrate and having a nozzle at a location corresponding to the central part of the ink chamber, a heater formed to surround the nozzle of the nozzle plate, and electrodes electrically connected to the heater to supply current to the heater. Therefore, the quantity of ink stored in an ink chamber can be increased. Also, when bubbles grow, the cylindrical ink chamber confines an ink flow area to ink ejectors, thereby reducing a back flow of the ink.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2003
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Jae-sik Min, Myung-song Jung, Sung-joon Park, Seo-hyun Cho
  • Patent number: 6595622
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a plurality of liquid ejecting devices arranged in one direction on a silicon substrate and a plurality of liquid ejecting nozzles arranged in correspondence with the liquid ejecting devices. At least part of the silicon substrate has a thickness of not less than 700 &mgr;m. An ink jet printer using the liquid ejecting apparatus is also provided. The liquid ejecting apparatus has little warpage, can perform high quality image recording with high production yield and has a long service life. The ink jet printer enables system construction at low cost and high quality image recording.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2003
    Assignee: Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Ryoichi Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 6595624
    Abstract: An actuator element forming a portion of a micro electro-mechanical device and which comprises a movable arm that is connected at one end to a substrate and which is formed at least in part from a titanum-aluminium nitride composition. The actuator element forms a component of a thermal actuator which, in a particular embodiment of the invention, is actuated to drive a paddle within a printhead ejector and so displace ink from the ejector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2000
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2003
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventors: Kia Silverbrook, Gregory John McAvoy
  • Patent number: 6592209
    Abstract: The invention provides a printer, a printer head, and a method of producing the printer head. In particular, the invention is applied to a printer which makes use of a process in which ink drops are caused to flow out by heating using a heater, so that an orifice plate can be bonded by sufficiently bringing it into close contact with what it is to be bonded to. In the invention, by disposing first, second, and third wiring patterns below partitions of corresponding ink chambers, thickness-direction stepped portions are prevented from being formed at least at the partitions of the corresponding ink chambers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2001
    Date of Patent: July 15, 2003
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Takaaki Miyamoto, Minoru Kohno, Toru Tanikawa
  • Patent number: 6588887
    Abstract: A liquid discharge head comprises discharge energy generating devices each generating energy to be utilized for discharging liquid as drops, and discharge ports arranged to face the discharge energy generating devices, respectively. For this head, the area of each discharge port is smaller than the area of each discharge energy generating device, and each of the discharge ports is arranged in the liquid. With the structure thus arranged, this liquid discharge head is made capable of discharging finer liquid droplets even at longer intervals of discharges, and also, capable of increasing the discharge speed of liquid droplets, thus making the repetition of discharge frequency extremely high, while meeting the demand that increases more for the arrangements of multiple nozzle, higher speed, and finer liquid droplet for the liquid discharge head.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2001
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2003
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Masahiko Ogawa
  • Patent number: 6585355
    Abstract: An ink-jet printhead having a hemispherical ink chamber and a method for manufacturing the same, wherein the ink-jet printhead includes a substrate, in which a manifold for supplying ink, an ink chamber having a substantially hemispherical shape, and an ink channel for supplying ink from the manifold to the ink chamber are integrally formed; a nozzle plate having a multi-layered structure, in which a first insulating layer, a thermally conductive layer formed of a thermally conductive material, and a second insulating layer are sequentially stacked, and having a nozzle, formed at a location corresponding to the center of the ink chamber; a nozzle guide having a multi-layered structure and extending from the edge of the nozzle to the inside of the ink chamber; a heater formed on the nozzle plate to surround the nozzle, and an electrode formed on the nozzle plate to be electrically connected to the heater.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2003
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Sang-wook Lee, Hyeon-cheol Kim, Yong-soo Oh
  • Patent number: 6582065
    Abstract: A liquid ejection method including the steps of preparing a head comprising an ejection outlet, a bubble generation region, a movable member faced to the bubble generation region and displaceable from a first position to a second position further from the bubble generation region than the first position; displacing the movable member from the first position to the second position by pressure produced by the generation of the bubble to permit greater expansion of the bubble downstream as compared to upstream; and supplying a driving pulse to generate each bubble, wherein the pulse is divided into a first pulse for pre-heating the liquid and a second pulse for ejecting the liquid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2003
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Takeshi Okazaki, Toshio Kashino, Hiroshi Tajika, Kouichi Omata, Aya Yoshihira, Kiyomitsu Kudo, Masao Kato, Yoshie Asakawa, Hitoshi Tsuboi
  • Patent number: 6582064
    Abstract: A fluid ejection device includes a substrate, a stack of thin film layers and a further substrate. The substrate has a first surface and a second surface, and defines a fluid supply conduit. The stack of thin film layers has a first surface and a second surface, with the first surface of the stack of thin film layers being affixed to the second surface of the substrate. In one embodiment, the stack of thin film layers includes at least one ink energizing element, and defines a plurality of fluid filter openings that are in fluid communication with the fluid supply conduit of the substrate. The fluid filter openings function as a fluid. The further substrate has a first surface coupled to the second surface of the stack of thin film layers, and an exterior second surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2003
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Antonio S. Cruz-Uribe, Naoto A. Kawamura
  • Patent number: 6575563
    Abstract: An ink jet printer forms printed images by ejecting droplets of ink onto a print medium at a stable velocity. The printer includes an ink jet print head having nozzles through which the droplets of ink are ejected. The print head includes a heater chip having heating elements, each of which is associated with a corresponding one of the nozzles. Each heating element transfers heat into adjacent ink at a predetermined rate sufficient to maintain the stable velocity of the droplets of ink, where the predetermined rate of heat transfer is accomplished when a predetermined minimum power level is applied to the heating element. Each heating element includes a heater resistor and a protective layer having a protective layer thickness. Each heater resistor has a heater resistor area and a heater resistor thickness, and is operable to provide a predetermined minimum power density per unit area when the predetermined minimum power level is applied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 10, 2003
    Assignee: Lexmark International, Inc.
    Inventor: Robert Wilson Cornell
  • Patent number: 6565195
    Abstract: Volume of fluid feed channels is adjusted for drop generators that are staggered with respect to a feed edge. In one embodiment, barrier islands are positioned, sized, and/or shaped to adjust the volume. In another embodiment, protrusions or walls thereof are positioned to adjust the volume.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2003
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventor: Dustin W. Blair
  • Patent number: 6561630
    Abstract: An ink jet printhead including a thin film substructure including an elongated gold trace having openings formed therein. An ink barrier layer is disposed on the thin film substructure in contact with the gold trace and the regions exposed by the openings in the elongated gold trace. The openings are configured to provide for reliable adhesion between the ink barrier layer and the regions exposed by the openings in the elongated gold trace.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2003
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventor: Clayton L. Holstun
  • Patent number: 6561625
    Abstract: A bubble-jet type ink-jet printhead and manufacturing method thereof including a substrate integrally having an ink supply manifold, an ink chamber, and an ink channel; a nozzle plate having a nozzle on the substrate; a heater centered around the nozzle and an electrode for applying current to the heater on the nozzle plate; and an adiabatic layer on the heater for preventing heat generated by the heater from being conducted upward from the heater. Alternatively, a bubble-jet type ink-jet printhead may be formed on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer having a first substrate, an oxide layer, and a second substrate stacked thereon and include an adiabatic barrier on the second substrate. In the bubble-jet type ink-jet printhead and manufacturing method thereof, the adiabatic layer or the adiabatic barrier is provided to transmit most of the heat generated by the heater to ink under the heater, thereby increasing energy efficiency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2003
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Doo-jin Maeng, Keon Kuk, Yong-soo Oh, Hyeon-cheol Kim, Sang-wook Lee
  • Patent number: 6561626
    Abstract: An ink-jet print head preventing thermal accumulation on a nozzle plate includes a substrate, a channel formed in the substrate to supply ink, a nozzle plate connected to the substrate and including a nozzle corresponding to the channel, a heat element formed in the nozzle plate to surround the nozzle, a thermal conduction layer formed on an upper side of the heat element formed between the thermal conduction layer and the heat element, and a thermal shunt spaced-apart from the heat element by a predetermined distance not to overlap the heat element in a direction parallel to the nozzle plate and connecting the thermal conduction layer to the substrate. Redundant heat generated from the heat element is not accumulated on a membrane of the nozzle plate but is rapidly absorbed into an inorganic thermal conduction layer formed in the membrane and is transferred to the bulk silicon substrate through a metallic thermal bridge, such as the thermal shunt.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2003
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Jae-sik Min, Seo-hyun Cho, Sang-wook Lee, Jun-hyub Park, Yong-shik Park, Kyong-il Kim
  • Patent number: 6561639
    Abstract: A high quality printing of images such as photographs, designs, and the like, is effected without using special paper. The following is provided: a supply mechanism for supplying a recording medium; means for applying a surface modified for coating the surface modifier on the surface modification area, which is the area to be modified of the recording medium supplied with the aforementioned means for supplying; and means for drying for drying the surface modification area coated on the aforementioned surface modification area. An area can be printed on the surface modification area with high quality. As such, high quality printing is made possible with regular paper, without using special paper, as before.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2000
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2003
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Tatsuya Shimoda, Hiroshi Kiguchi, Satoru Miyashita
  • Patent number: 6561631
    Abstract: An ink jet printer head includes a substrate having a heat resisting body, an ink chamber barrier installed on the substrate so as to form a side wall of an ink chamber filled with ink introduced through an ink channel, and a nozzle plate having a nozzle hole communicating with the ink chamber and installed on the ink chamber barrier, and an ink separating wall protruding from a periphery of the nozzle hole towards the substrate located on the ink channel to interrupt a flow of the ink is provided in the nozzle plate. The backflow of the ink into the interior of the ink channel and an ink tail generated in the nozzle and a satellite droplet are reduced by using the ink separating wall, thereby improving printing efficiency and printing quality.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2003
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kyu-ho Shin, Su-ho Shin, Seong-taek Lim
  • Patent number: 6561632
    Abstract: An inkjet printhead is provided with a high nozzle packing density. The printhead has ink feed holes for each firing chamber that are individually tuned such that the pressure drop from the reservoir to the firing chamber is held constant for all firing chambers on said printhead.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 13, 2003
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: James A. Feinn, Colin C. Davis, Lawrence H. White
  • Patent number: 6557982
    Abstract: By using an ink jet recording head including an ink supply port for supplying an ink, a plurality of ink paths communicating with the ink supply port, a plurality of electro thermal converting elements arranged in an almost straight line along the longitudinal direction of the ink supply port which are disposed respectively in the plurality of ink paths and generate thermal energies utilized for discharging the ink, and a plurality of discharge ports for discharging the ink which communicate with the plurality of ink paths, respectively and are disposed by respectively facing the plurality of electro thermal converting elements, a recording is performed by disperse-driving the plurality of electro thermal converting elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2003
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shuichi Murakami, Hiroshi Tajika, Michinari Mizutani, Norihiro Kawatoko
  • Patent number: 6554383
    Abstract: The present invention realizes a liquid ejecting head with increased ejection force and ejection efficiency and also realizes a liquid ejecting head having compatibility with the conventional products, and a head cartridge and a recording system incorporating the liquid ejecting head. A liquid ejecting head or a head cartridge having an ejection outlet for ejecting a liquid, a liquid flow path in fluid communication with the ejection outlet, and an ejection energy generating element, provided corresponding to the liquid flow path, for receiving an electric signal to generate ejection energy, which comprises an energy adjusting device for adjusting an amount of energy supplied from the outside to the liquid ejecting head and utilized as the electric signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2003
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Akira Nagatomo, Mikio Shiga, Hiroyuki Ishinaga, Shinya Matsui, Toshio Kashino, Hiroshi Tajika, Tetsushi Kohno, Yoshie Asakawa
  • Patent number: 6554403
    Abstract: A substrate for a fluid ejection device includes a first side, a second side opposite the first side, spaced etch stops extending into the substrate from the first side, and a fluidic channel communicating with the first side and the second side, wherein a first portion of the fluidic channel extends from the first side toward the second side between the spaced etch stops and a second portion of the fluidic channel extends from the second side toward the first side to the spaced etch stops.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2003
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Chien-Hua Chen, Kenneth Michael Kramer
  • Patent number: RE38092
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a paper feed station from which sheets can be fed from a plurality of roll sheets only by placing the roll sheets in the station, a recording station for recording desired images on the sheets, and a processing station for delivering the sheets on which the images are recorded. The recording station includes a platen roller and a driving pinch roller for pushing and conveying a fed sheet while the sheet is drawn by suction by a suction chamber, a carriage unit for recording an image on the sheet on the suction chamber while moving along the sheet, and a pair of paper delivery rollers for delivering the sheet on which the image is recorded. The processing station includes a table on which the delivered sheets can be sequentially stacked in a predetermined position, and a biasing spring for biasing the pivotal distal end portion of the table.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2003
    Assignee: Olympus Optical Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takahisa Yamada, Yukitaka Kumagai