Abstract: Accurate advance of a media sheet is achieved by carrying the media sheet on a belt loop support. An upstream pinch roller holds the media sheet to the belt upstream of the print zone. A downstream pinch roller holds the media sheet to the belt downstream of the print zone. A guide shim extends along the media path from a position upstream of the upstream pinch roller, passed the upstream pinch roller under a printhead adjacent to the print zone. The location of a lead edge of the guide shim relative to the print zone determines the minimum bottom margin for the inkjet printing device. The guide shim presses the media sheet to the belt support and keeps the media sheet flat under the inkjet printhead as the printhead moves over the media sheet.

Abstract: A difference in feed roller diameter from one printer to another causes a media to advance by a different amount for a given rotation of a drive shaft to which the feed roller is coupled. Such variation in advance distance is a linefeed error. Mean linefeed error is determined and corrected by printing a test plot having several areas. Each area is formed of the same image pattern, but is printed at a different linefeed error adjustment to compensate for mean linefeed error. The different adjustments are prescribed and span a typical compensation range for a given print engine model. The different adjustment factors cause banding to occur in some areas. The user picks one of the test pattern areas which has the highest print quality (i.e., least or no banding). The linefeed adjustment factor corresponding to such area is used for normal printing.

Abstract: A media feed apparatus for a printer, with a motorized media pick mechanism and a media support plate movable toward and away from the pick element, so that a stack of media on the plate may be brought into contact with the pick mechanism. A lifter assembly is continuously movable between a first position and a second position, and has a cam surface supportably contacting the media support plate. A first cam surface portion contacts the support plate when the lifter assembly is in the first position, and a second cam surface portion contacts the support plate when the lifter assembly is in the second position. The support plate may have a protrusion over which the cam surface slides, and the cam may pivoted to provide a selectable lever arm, depending on the point of contact.

Abstract: A shifted element printing/scanning routine coordinated with media advance through an interaction zone of hardcopy device is provided for inkjet printing mechanisms, scanners or multi-function hardcopy devices. A method is provided of coordinating operation of a reciprocating head with media advance. The head has plural interaction elements, which may be ink-ejecting nozzles in a printing mechanism, or image receptors in a scanning mechanism, with the interaction elements being arranged in a linear array to selectively interact with media. A hardcopy device has a rotating media advancing member, a reciprocating head carrying the interaction elements, an encoder having indicia to track media advance, and a sensor that interprets the encoder indicia and generated a media position signal.

Abstract: To maintain a uniform spacing between the print media, such as paper, and an inkjet printhead having a large print swath, for instance about 25 millimeters (one inch) wide, a new media support system is provided for inkjet printing mechanisms, such as printers or plotters. The support system employs an endless belt driven from the belt interior surface by a roller drive system that uniformly supports the print media under the reciprocating printhead. The belt may be lined with anti-cockle ribs to support the media when saturated. The belt may also be foraminous, with a vacuum applied thereunder to pull the media onto the belt. A method is also provided for supporting and transporting a large sheet of print media through a printzone of an inkjet printing mechanism, such as an inkjet plotter, that uses such a large swath inkjet printhead.

Abstract: A holder for a pair of cylindrical battery cells includes a carrier which retains the batteries in parallel side-by-side relationship and in series electrical connection. The cells are installed into a housing longitudinally and the housing is formed with guide channels for guiding and substantially surrounding the cells. At the ends of the guide channels, there are provided contact elements for electrically connecting the battery cells to circuitry. Electric shock hazard to a user is eliminated because the internal contact elements are inaccessible to the operator, even when the carrier is removed from the housing.

Abstract: Conventional master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) devices have experienced poor beam quality due to edge effects. The lateral current tailoring described herein was one attempt at improving the laser beam quality. Experimental results have indicated that this approach can make improvement in beam quality, using nonlinear leading edges in the gain stripe of MOPA amplifiers.

Abstract: A sheet media handling system is provided for use in a sheet processor (e.g., a printer). Such system incorporates an input tray for storing one or more sheet media prior to input through the printer's input port with the input tray vertically stacked with the printer's output support structure or tray. The system also has a single sheet medium guide mechanism adjacent the printer's output support structure, where the medium guide mechanism routes a single medium to the input port when the single medium is inserted therein. The single sheet medium guide mechanism includes a skew-abatement substructure and a deflection mechanism. The skew-abatement substructure is designed to facilitate alignment of and routing of a single medium towards the input port by contacting a first edge of the single medium and an opposite second edge of the single medium.

Abstract: Described herein is a printer having a printhead which traverses laterally across a sheetlike print medium and which thereby defines a laterally-extending print zone across the print medium. A paper transport mechanism in the printer has drive rollers and associated pinch wheels to drive the print medium through the printer's print zone. The paper transport mechanism further includes an upper print media guide and a lower print medium guide. The two print medium guides are shaped at their transverse ends to bow the transverse edges of the print medium downwardly to reduce its tendency to buckle upwardly into the printhead. In order to fit the upper print medium guide into the limited available space above the drive rollers, it is made of a lower molded portion for paper contact and an upper backing portion for rigidity. A pinch finger extends toward the printer's print zone beyond the pinch wheels to establish a pinch point against the drive roller in near proximity to the print zone.