Abstract: A recording apparatus includes a transport unit that conveys a recording medium and a recording head unit that records an image on the recording medium conveyed by the transport unit. The transport unit includes a straight transport unit that straightly conveys the recording medium. The transport unit also includes a looped transport unit that branches and turns from the straight transport unit and returns the recording medium to the straight transport unit. A first recording region is disposed at the looped transport unit and a second recording region is disposed at the straight transport unit.

Abstract: A semiconductor device having a surface MEMS element, includes a semiconductor substrate, and an actuator which is arranged above the semiconductor substrate via a space and has a lower electrode, an upper electrode, and a piezoelectric layer sandwiched between the lower electrode and the upper electrode, at least an entire surface of the piezoelectric layer being substantially flat.

Abstract: An ink-jet recording apparatus including: a recording head which has a nozzle surface in which nozzles are open and which ejects ink toward a recording medium; and a wiper blade which wipes the nozzle surface to remove substances adhering thereto, by a relative movement of the wiper blade and the recording head, wherein the ink-jet recording apparatus is arranged such that the wiper blade wipes the nozzle surface while being in contact with the nozzle surface by a magnetic attraction force acting between the wiper blade and the nozzle surface.

Abstract: A cradle unit for an inkjet printer comprising: a body complementary to a removable inkjet cartridge of a type having a pagewidth printhead and a refillable ink supply; and a controller for controlling the operation of the printhead to facilitate printing; wherein, said body is configured to receive a refill unit for supplying refill ink to the cartridge and includes a refill actuator for dispensing ink from said refill unit into said refillable ink supply.

Abstract: A structure for connecting an inkjet recording head, including an actuator on which connecting terminals are disposed to apply therethrough drive voltage to respective channels formed in the head for ejecting an ink droplet onto a recording medium, to a circuit element through which control signals for controlling an operation of the head are supplied, is disclosed. The circuit element is disposed on a wiring board having bump electrodes formed thereon. The connecting terminals are superposed on and connected to the bump electrodes. Each connecting terminal comprises a surface electrode having a small thickness, and an external electrode having a large thickness and formed on the surface electrode. A part of the surface electrode has a width larger than that of the other part, and the external electrode is disposed such that a margin thereof is positioned on an inside of a periphery of the wide part.

Abstract: A liquid ejection head including at least one head chip including a plurality of heating elements on a surface of a substrate, a nozzle sheet having nozzles disposed on the respective heating elements, a barrier layer disposed between the head chip and the nozzle sheet, reservoirs disposed between the heating elements and the nozzle sheet, the reservoirs being defined by part of the barrier layer, a common flow path communicating with the reservoirs, and a liquid storage chamber disposed on at least one region of the surface of the substrate excluding a region on which the reservoirs are disposed, the liquid storage chamber being defined by part of the barrier layer and communicating with the common flow path and the reservoirs, the liquid storage chamber storing liquid such that part of the nozzle sheet is in contact with the liquid.

Abstract: An inkjet recording apparatus includes a recording head formed with nozzles for jetting light curable ink onto a recording medium, a light irradiator having a light source for emitting light to cure the ink, and an illuminance detecting device for intermittently detecting an illuminance of the light emitted from the light source, at a predetermined interval. The inkjet recording apparatus further includes a temperature adjusting device for adjusting a temperature of the light source, and a control section for determining that the ink cannot be cured, if the illuminance detected by the illuminance detecting device is not higher than a reference value in a condition where the temperature of the light source has been adjusted into a predetermined range by the temperature adjusting device.

Abstract: An ink jet head is manufactured by joining together a cavity unit and an actuator unit. The cavity unit has a plurality of nozzles and a plurality of pressure chambers. The actuator unit has a plurality of piezoelectric elements. The cavity unit is joined to the actuator unit such that each of the piezoelectric elements is located to face a corresponding pressure chamber. A method of manufacturing the ink jet head includes a step of defining a relation between an average nozzle diameter of a cavity unit and an average capacitance of an actuator unit. The method also includes a step of measuring the average nozzle diameter of each of cavity units and a step of measuring the average capacitance of each of actuator units. A matching cavity unit and actuator unit are selected to satisfy the relation defined in the defining step, and the selected cavity unit and the selected actuator unit are joined together.

Abstract: An inkjet printer is provided including a printing head which includes a nozzle unit with a length that corresponds to a width of paper to eject ink on the paper at a fixed position for printing an image. A capping unit ascends and descends between capping and uncapping positions. A guiding element is located below the printing head to support the paper and has an aperture through which the capping unit may access the nozzle unit. A moving guide moves between a first position to open the aperture such that the capping unit may be moved to the capping position and a second position to block the aperture.

Abstract: A liquid ejection apparatus, a liquid ejection system, and a liquid ejection method are achieved which allow starting and ending positions for ejecting liquid to be set appropriately. A controller is provided which executes position determination control for determining at least one of the starting position and the ending position for ejecting liquid from a moving ejection head onto a medium that is fed by a feed mechanism, wherein the position determination control by the controller differs for when ejecting the liquid from the ejection head to a region within a predetermined range from a front edge or a rear edge, in a feed direction, of the medium, and for when ejecting the liquid from the ejection head to a central region, in the feed direction, of the medium.

Abstract: In a print head having arrays of large nozzles and small nozzles with different ink ejection volumes that are connected to a common ink chamber, the preliminary ejection operation is performed 29,000 times first on only the large nozzles at an ejection frequency of 10 kHz to discharge viscous or mixed color ink from ink chambers. After the preliminary ejection operation of the large nozzles is finished, only the small nozzles are made to perform the preliminary ejection operation 2,000 times at an ejection frequency of 10 kHz. Reducing the number of preliminary ejections from the small nozzles in this manner can minimize the generation of stray mist. Further, by performing the preliminary ejection operation on the large nozzles first, it is possible to discharge enough viscous ink from the ink chamber.

Abstract: An ink jet recording apparatus includes a slide member slidably supported at a cartridge holder and a lock claw member rotatably supported at the cartridge holder. The slide member slides along an insertion direction of an ink cartridge with respect to the cartridge holder between a first slide position and a second slide position. When the slide member is located at the second slide position, the lock claw member is located at a first rotation position. At this time, the ink cartridge is incapable of being removed from the cartridge holder. When the slide member moves to the first slide position from the second slide position, the lock claw member is located at the second rotation position. At this time, the ink cartridge is removable from the cartridge holder.

Abstract: A cradle unit for an inkjet printer is provided. The cradle unit has a body complementary to a removable inkjet cartridge of a type having a pagewidth printhead and an ink supply, a controller for controlling the operation of the printhead to facilitate printing, and a plurality of terminals in electrical communication with the controller for transmitting control signals from the controller to corresponding terminals provided on the cartridge. The terminals are arranged to pivotally engage with the corresponding terminals provided on the cartridge when the cartridge is received by the body.

Abstract: A connection of two components is disclosed that abut on the faces thereof. With this connection, it is possible to create a stable connection, particularly of flat components, with a high level of precision of the position with regard to one another and with a preferred accessibility in the space around the plane extending from the adjacent adjoining faces of the components. Both components each have a half borehole with encircling collars; a fastening device that extends through the complete borehole and a nut having a conical recess which rests tightly against the collars so that the first component is fastened to the second component in a positive manner. It is further possible to provide a fastening of guiding elements to a middle base support that, in essence, overlaps the support at least occasionally and is effected by the connection.

Abstract: Single coatings onto non-absorbent substrates on which aqueous ink jet inks are jetted with subsequent application of heat, without the use of reactive species in the ink and in the media used as a substrate coating. The heating rapidly drives the water of the ink into the coating, with the rest of the water from the ink being lost by evaporation. The material is then subject to immediate application of a sealing lacquer, which is preferably water-based and which may be dried and possibly cross-linked by heat to give a very resistant surface.

Abstract: A driving method of a droplet ejection head having plural channels separated by sidewalls formed with piezoelectric material, the channels being divided into three groups; and an electric voltage pulse is applied to each of the groups sequentially in a time-sharing mode, and to generate a shear deformation of the sidewall, and liquid is ejected as a droplet from a nozzle, wherein applying process of the pulse includes: a first step for enlarging a volume of a channel; a second step for keeping the enlarged volume; a third step for reducing the volume; a fourth step for keeping the reduced volume; and a fifth step for enlarging the volume, wherein the third step starts when ?/??? is satisfied for the protruded pillar at an adjoining channel nozzle driven just before; where ? denotes a width of the pillar, and ? denotes a maximum width of the pillar.

Abstract: A printhead chip for an inkjet printhead includes a plurality of nozzle arrangements on a substrate. Each nozzle arrangement includes nozzle chamber walls and a roof that define a nozzle chamber with the roof defining an ink ejection port in fluid communication with the nozzle chamber. An ink-ejecting member or paddle is positioned in the nozzle chamber and displaceable towards and away from the ink ejection port so that a resultant fluctuation in ink pressure within the nozzle chamber results in an ejection of ink from the ink ejection port. At least one work transmitting structure of a lever mechanism is displaceable with respect to the substrate results in displacement of the ink-ejecting member. A thermal bend actuator is capable of displacing the structure upon receipt of an electrical drive signal. An air chamber defined by walls and a covering formation are positioned over the actuator to protect the component from ingress of microscopic detritus such as paper dust.

Abstract: A cover assembly for a cradle unit of an inkjet printer having a body complementary to a removable inkjet cartridge of a type having a pagewidth printhead and an ink supply and a controller for controlling the operation of the printhead to facilitate printing; the cover assembly comprising: at least one port formed therein through which a refill unit is received for refilling the ink supply of the cartridge.

Abstract: A printer including: at least one elongate roller arranged, in use, to rotate so as to transport print media within the printer; a support frame for supporting the roller at the longitudinal first and second ends of the roller so as to allow the rotation of the roller; and fixing means for fixing the roller to the support frame at the first end of the roller, the fixing means including: a bearing into which the first end of the roller is positioned for allowing the rotation of the roller; and engagement means arranged to slidably engage with the support frame so as to fix the roller thereto, the bearing being configured to allow pivotal movement of the elongate roller about the second end of the roller during the sliding engagement of the engagement means and support frame.

Abstract: The media processing apparatus has a first transportation path for guiding the check, a second transportation path and a third transportation path that diverge from the first transportation path, a front scanner that is rendered along the first transportation path for imaging the first side of the check, a back scanner that is rendered along the third transportation path for imaging the second side of the check, and a path switching guide that guides a check from the first transportation path into the second transportation path or third transportation path.