Patents by Inventor Stephen T. Knapp

Stephen T. Knapp 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).

  • Methods of leveling ink on substrates using flash heating and apparatuses useful in printing
    Patent number: 8178169
    Abstract: Methods of leveling ink on substrates and apparatuses useful in printing are provided. An exemplary embodiment of the methods includes irradiating ink disposed on a first surface of a porous substrate with radiation emitted by at least one flash lamp. The radiation flash heats the ink to at least a viscosity threshold temperature of the ink to allow the ink to flow laterally on the first surface to produce leveling of the ink. The ink is heated sufficiently rapidly that heat transfer from the ink to the substrate is sufficiently small during the leveling that ink at the substrate interface is cooled to a temperature below the viscosity threshold temperature thereby preventing any significant ink permeation into the substrate from the first surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2012
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Gerald A. Domoto, Nicholas P. Kladias, Stephan Drappel, Gregory J. Kovacs, Bryan J. Roof, Stephen T. Knapp
  • METHODS OF LEVELING INK ON SUBSTRATES USING FLASH HEATING AND APPARATUSES USEFUL IN PRINTING
    Publication number: 20110262659
    Abstract: Methods of leveling ink on substrates and apparatuses useful in printing are provided. An exemplary embodiment of the methods includes irradiating ink disposed on a first surface of a porous substrate with radiation emitted by at least one flash lamp. The radiation flash heats the ink to at least a viscosity threshold temperature of the ink to allow the ink to flow laterally on the first surface to produce leveling of the ink. The ink is heated sufficiently rapidly that heat transfer from the ink to the substrate is sufficiently small during the leveling that ink at the substrate interface is cooled to a temperature below the viscosity threshold temperature thereby preventing any significant ink permeation into the substrate from the first surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 21, 2010
    Publication date: October 27, 2011
    Applicant: XEROX CORPORATION
    Inventors: Gerald A. DOMOTO, Nicholas P. Kladias, Stephan Drappel, Gregory J. Kovacs, Bryan J. Roof, Stephen T. Knapp