Patents by Inventor Gregory Alan Long

Gregory Alan Long has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20130342618
    Abstract: A consumable supply item for an imaging device holds an initial or refillable volume of fluid. A housing defines an interior having a backpressure device that moves to regulate pressure in the housing as fluid exits the interior during use. A frame of the housing surrounds the interior and has a ledge. A first film seals to the ledge to prevent fluid from leaking. It is flexible to collapse inward toward the interior as the backpressure device moves inward. A second film seals to the housing over the first film and is spaced by air from the first film. The second film is relatively rigid. It is formed with metal. A tortuous air path traverses under the second film. It has an air inlet vented directly to atmosphere and an air outlet vented directly to the air space between the first and second films.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 22, 2012
    Publication date: December 26, 2013
    Inventors: Tim Frasure, Gregory Alan Long
  • Patent number: 8393723
    Abstract: A method and system for purging bubbles from a fluid ejection head comprising a plurality of fluid flow channels including a first plurality of fluid flow channels flowing a first ink to a first actuator device and a second plurality of fluid flow channels for flowing a second ink to a second actuator device. During a bubble purging operation the first and second actuator devices are pulsed with different energies that depend on the viscosity of the first ink and the second ink. Heating the inks with different energies, results in the viscosity of the first ink to be same as the viscosity of the second ink. In one embodiment, a test pattern that includes a plurality of dots is printed to determine a clogged fluid ejection nozzle. Based on the determination, an actuator device corresponding to the clogged fluid ejection nozzle is pulsed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2013
    Assignee: Lexmark International, Inc.
    Inventor: Gregory Alan Long
  • Publication number: 20120200623
    Abstract: A method and system for purging bubbles from a fluid ejection head comprising a plurality of fluid flow channels including a first plurality of fluid flow channels flowing a first ink to a first actuator device and a second plurality of fluid flow channels for flowing a second ink to a second actuator device. During a bubble purging operation the first and second actuator devices are pulsed with different energies that depend on the viscosity of the first ink and the second ink. Heating the inks with different energies, results in the viscosity of the first ink to be same as the viscosity of the second ink. In one embodiment, a test pattern that includes a plurality of dots is printed to determine a clogged fluid ejection nozzle. Based on the determination, an actuator device corresponding to the clogged fluid ejection nozzle is pulsed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 19, 2012
    Publication date: August 9, 2012
    Inventor: Gregory Alan Long
  • Publication number: 20110115853
    Abstract: A method and system for purging bubbles from a fluid ejection head comprising a plurality of fluid flow channels including a first plurality of fluid flow channels flowing a first ink to a first actuator device and a second plurality of fluid flow channels for flowing a second ink to a second actuator device. During a bubble purging operation the first and second actuator devices are pulsed with different energies that depend on the viscosity of the first ink and the second ink. Heating the inks with different energies, results in the viscosity of the first ink to be same as the viscosity of the second ink. In one embodiment, a test pattern that includes a plurality of dots is printed to determine a clogged fluid ejection nozzle. Based on the determination, an actuator device corresponding to the clogged fluid ejection nozzle is pulsed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 13, 2009
    Publication date: May 19, 2011
    Inventor: Gregory Alan Long
  • Patent number: 7267431
    Abstract: A multi-fluid body and an ejection head substrate connected in fluid flow communication with the multi-fluid body for ejecting multiple fluids therefrom. The multi-fluid body includes at least two segregated fluid chambers. Independent fluid supply paths lead from each of the fluid chambers providing fluid to multiple fluid flow paths in the ejection head substrate. The ejection head substrate is attached adjacent an ejection head area of the body. The fluid flow paths in the ejection head substrate have a flow path density of greater than about one flow paths per millimeter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2007
    Assignee: Lexmark International, Inc.
    Inventors: Frank Edward Anderson, Jeffery James Buchanan, Curtis Ray Droege, David Emerson Greer, Kin Ming Kwan, Gregory Alan Long, Ganesh Vinayak Phatak, Paul Timothy Spivey, Carl Edmond Sullivan, Kent Lee Ubellacker, Melissa Marie Waldeck
  • Patent number: 6796646
    Abstract: The invention provides an ink jet pen including a cartridge body having a printhead and a replaceable ink cartridge removably positionable on the cartridge body. At least one cooperating elongate recess and at least one projection are located on the mutually facing surfaces of the ink cartridge and the cartridge body. The projection and recess are engageable with one another for guidably positioning the ink cartridge to a desired position relative to the cartridge body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2002
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2004
    Assignee: Lemark International, Inc.
    Inventors: Steven Robert Komplin, Michael David Lattuca, Gregory Alan Long, David Amos Ward
  • Publication number: 20030035035
    Abstract: The invention provides an ink jet pen including a cartridge body having a printhead and a replaceable ink cartridge removably positionable on the cartridge body. At least one cooperating elongate recess and at least one projection are located on the mutually facing surfaces of the ink cartridge and the cartridge body. The projection and recess are engageable with one another for guidably positioning the ink cartridge to a desired position relative to the cartridge body.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 6, 2002
    Publication date: February 20, 2003
    Inventors: Steven Robert Komplin, Michael David Lattuca, Gregory Alan Long, David Amos Ward
  • Patent number: 6270211
    Abstract: A printhead apparatus for filtering ink which includes an elongate open-ended trough having a bottom wall and opposing end walls and opposing side walls attached to the bottom wall, an ink exit port attached to the bottom wall between the opposing end walls and side wall, a filter member disposed in the open-ended trough between the end walls and the side walls and an elongate cover assembly attached to the end walls and the side walls covering the trough defining a filter chamber containing filter element, the cover assembly containing an ink inlet valve and a gas outlet valve. The device is disposed between an ink cartridge and an ink jet pen containing one or more printheads and is activated automatically when a new ink cartridge is installed on the pen thereby removing unwanted air and gas bubbles from the filter chamber and providing gas free ink to the pen and one or more printheads.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2001
    Assignee: Lexmark International, Inc.
    Inventors: Gregory Alan Long, James Harold Powers, Matthew Joe Russell, David Amos Ward
  • Patent number: 6250751
    Abstract: The invention provides an improved ink jet cartridge for an ink jet printer and a method for making the improved ink jet cartridge. The ink jet cartridge includes a substantially inflexible frame having at least one pressure port, the frame having at least one peripheral edge. At least one malleable web is provided having a first side and a second side the first side being attached to the peripheral edge of the frame defining a substantially closed cavity. The malleable web is conformed to the cavity by applying a subatmospheric pressure to the cavity before, after or while heating the malleable web in order to substantially conform the web to the cavity thereby creating a variable volume cavity having a substantially predictable pressure/volume relationship. A biasing element is disposed adjacent the first or second side of the malleable web for biasing the web relative to the cavity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 26, 2001
    Assignee: Lexmark International, Inc.
    Inventors: Jon Brock Whitney, Gregory Alan Long, Matthew Joe Russell
  • Patent number: 6199977
    Abstract: The invention relates to a molded cartridge body including a substantially one-piece molded polymeric structure defining two or more ink cartridge positions and being removably mountable on a printer carriage. The molded cartridge body has a front panel member opposite a back panel member, side panel members connected to the front and back panel members and a bottom panel member having an ink cartridge side and a printhead side which is connected to a lower edge of each of the front, back and side panel members, the front, back, side and bottom panel members defining an open-ended cavity. The open-ended cavity contains an ink chamber for each of the ink cartridges, each of the ink chambers being in flow communication with a printhead attached to a printhead location on the cartridge body. A needle panel member containing an ink needle for each of the ink chambers is provided, the panel member being attached to the ink chambers so as to define closed ink chambers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2001
    Assignee: Lexmark International, Inc.
    Inventors: Steven Robert Komplin, Gregory Alan Long
  • Patent number: 6161927
    Abstract: An ink printer cartridge having a press-on lid and the method of make the same is described. An ink reservoir body is having an open-ended cavity and a foam insert is disposed therein. A spacer having a plurality of holes is fixedly attached to the top of the ink reservoir body as by ultrasonic welding. The reservoir is then filled with ink through the plurality of holes in the spacer. A reservoir lid having a plurality of connecting posts is then attached to the spacer by engaging the connecting posts of the lid into the holes of the spacer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2000
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2000
    Assignee: Lexmark International, Inc.
    Inventors: Gregory Alan Long, James Harold Powers, Matthew Joe Russell, Julie Ann Gordon Whitney, Stephen Francis DeFosse, James Michael Rioux
  • Patent number: 6155678
    Abstract: The invention provides an ink jet pen including a cartridge body having a printhead and a replaceable ink cartridge removably positionable on the cartridge body. At least one cooperating elongate recess and at least one projection are located on the mutually facing surfaces of the ink cartridge and the cartridge body. The projection and recess are engageable with one another for guidably positioning the ink cartridge to a desired position relative to the cartridge body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 1999
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2000
    Assignee: Lexmark International, Inc.
    Inventors: Steven Robert Komplin, Michael David Lattuca, Gregory Alan Long, David Amos Ward