Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Medium and processing means
Reexamination Certificate
1997-09-02
2001-06-12
Barlow, John (Department: 2853)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Medium and processing means
C347S104000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06244699
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a removable rollfeed apparatus for a printer and to a method of attaching such apparatus, and in particular to rollfeed apparatus having a pair of independently mountable rollfeed supports.
BACKGROUND TO INVENTION
Printers such as inkjet printers which print on a variety of print media such as paper, vellum or film are well known. Some larger printers, sometimes known as large-format printers, as well as accepting print media in single sheet format, also accept print media fed from a roll of media held by a rollfeed apparatus. The rollfeed apparatus releasably holds both ends of a shaft on which a roll of media is mounted and may provide braking to the rotation of the shaft to improve the feeding of media into the printer. The more expensive of these printers often integrally include such rollfeed apparatus when the printer is sold. However for less expensive models of printer which are sold without an integral rollfeed apparatus, or in order to provide a greater choice of models to a customer, it is known to provide a removal rollfeed apparatus.
Commonly assigned application U.S. 08/658,346, filed Apr. 29, 1996, entitled REMOVABLE ROLLFEED APPARATUS AND METHOD by Lewis et al, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,815,186 discloses a unitary rollfeed apparatus that is pivotally mountable on the front of a free-standing printer. As can be seen in
FIG. 1
, this prior art rollfeed apparatus
1
comprises a substantial frame assembly having a number of strengthening and stiffening elements
2
and
3
in addition to means
4
and
5
for holding a roll of media. The whole of this large and unwieldy rollfeed apparatus must then be hung onto the front of the printer utilising mounting points
6
and
7
as described in the referenced application. Although the legs for the printer are not shown in
FIG. 1
, it should be noted that this prior art removable rollfeed apparatus can only be utilised with free-standing printers having legs and cannot be utilised with a desk-mountable printer.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a modular rollfeed apparatus which is more easily attached and removed from a printer than prior art removable rollfeed apparatus. What is disclosed is a removable rollfeed apparatus adapted to be attached to a printer comprising a pair of rollfeed supports, each having means for holding an end of a media shaft, wherein each said rollfeed support is independently mountable on a printer. By providing a pair of independently mountable supports the present invention considerably eases the task of attaching or removing the rollfeed apparatus from a printer since only one relatively small support need be handled and aligned with the printer at a time. No strengthening or stiffening members are required between the two rollfeed supports since the printer itself provides sufficient structural integrity between the supports once they are mounted on the printer.
In a preferred embodiment, each rollfeed support comprises a first elongate portion and a second housing portion, said first elongate portion having means for releasably attaching to a printer and said second housing portion comprises means for holding an end of a media shaft. Furthermore, the rollfeed supports are preferably slidably mountable on the printer. This arrangement makes the independent attachment of each rollfeed support to the printer extremely easy. A tongue on the elongate portion of the rollfeed support may be aligned with a corresponding groove in the printer and the support simply slid into place. The rollfeed support may be retained in position by a single fixing means, for example one screw.
Although the rollfeed supports may be mounted elsewhere on the printer, for example on the sides of the printer, preferably they are mountable on the underside of the printer. In this case, the means for releasably attaching each rollfeed support are preferably located on an upper part of the support means and are designed to be able to support the weight of the printer. The rollfeed supports can thus be utilised with a free-standing printer or a desk-mountable printer.
A further aspect of the invention provides a simple method of attaching a rollfeed apparatus to a desk-mounted printer. One end of the printer is raised above the desk and a first rollfeed support is engaged at this end of the printer. This end of the printer is lowered to rest on the first rollfeed support and the other end of the printer is raised. A second rollfeed support is engaged at the other end of the printer and the printer is lowered to rest on both the first and second rollfeed supports. This method thus allows a rollfeed apparatus to be attached to a desk-mountable printer without the printer having to be turned upside down or placed on its back.
To ease the method of attaching the rollfeed apparatus still further the rollfeed supports are preferably slidably engageable with the underside of the printer.
A more complete understanding of the present invention and other objects, aspects, aims and advantages thereof will be gained from a consideration of the following description of the preferred embodiment read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings provided herein.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
is a schematic perspective view of a prior art removable rollfeed apparatus and printer.
FIG. 2A
is a schematic perspective view a free-standing printer having legs and
FIG. 2B
is a side view of the same printer.
FIG. 3A
is a schematic perspective view a desk-mountable printer having feet and
FIG. 3B
is a side view of the same printer.
FIG. 4A
is perspective view of the left side of a left rollfeed support, and
FIG. 4B
is a perspective view of the right side of the same rollfeed support.
FIG. 5A
is perspective view of the right side of a right rollfeed support, and
FIG. 5B
is a perspective view of the left side of the same rollfeed support.
FIGS. 6A and 6B
are respectively rear and front views of a left rollfeed support.
FIGS. 7A and 7B
are respectively rear and front views of a right rollfeed support.
FIG. 8
is a plan view showing left and right rollfeed supports and a media shaft mounted between them.
FIG. 9
is a perspective view of left and right rollfeed supports and a media shaft mounted between them in which the housing portion covers are not shown so that the media shaft holding means are seen.
FIG. 10A
is a perspective view of the lower side of a mounting plate and
FIG. 10B
is a perspective view of the upper side of the mounting plate.
FIG. 11
is a plan view of the underside of a printer.
FIG. 12
is an exploded enlarged view of the end sections of the view of FIG.
11
.
FIG. 13
is a schematic view of a step in the process of attaching a rollfeed support to a desk-mountable printer.
FIG. 14
shows a further step in the process of attaching a rollfeed support to a desk-mountable printer.
FIG. 15
shows the fixing of a rollfeed support to a mounting plate.
FIG. 16
is a perspective view of a desk-mountable printer with rollfeed apparatus attached.
FIG. 17
is a side view of the printer of FIG.
16
.
FIG. 18
is a perspective view of a free-standing printer with rollfeed apparatus attached.
FIG. 19
is a side view of the printer of FIG.
17
.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4277034 (1981-07-01), Buzzell
patent: 4632585 (1986-12-01), Oyamatsu et al.
patent: 4703919 (1987-11-01), Drake et al.
patent: 5187532 (1993-02-01), McNew
patent: 5810494 (1998-09-01), Menard et al.
patent: 5815186 (1998-09-01), Lewis et al.
Brugue Joaquim
Claramunt David
Barlow John
Hewlett--Packard Company
Stephens Juanita
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