Solid and semi-flexible body inkjet printing system

• US 6,312,124 B1
• Filed: 10/27/1999
• Issued: 11/06/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Desormeaux, David A.
• Primary Examiner(s): TRAN, HUAN HUU
• Application Number:
  US09/428,681
• Time in Patent Office: 741 Days
• Field of Search: 347/2, 347/108, 347/109, 400/88, 358/473
• US Class Current: 347/109
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/16505 Caps, spittoons or covers for cleaning or preventing drying out
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1652 by driving a fluid through the nozzles to the outside thereof, e.g. by applying pressure to the inside or vacuum at the outside of the print head
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/16535 using wiping constructions B41J2/16552 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 3/36 for portability , i.e. hand-held printers or laptop printers B41J3/4075 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 3/407 for marking on special material

Abstract

A handheld inkjet printing mechanism is provided for printing a selected image on a print surface of a solid hard body or a semi-flexible body, such as on human skin for face-painting at carnivals, for temporary tattoos, body decorations and the like, on walls and furniture for printing designs, on packages and building materials for labeling purposes, etc. The printing mechanism has a chassis which supports a controller that stores the selected image. An inkjet printhead supported by the chassis selectively ejects inkjet ink onto the print surface in response to the controller as an operator moves the printing mechanism over the print surface to record the selected image thereon. A printhead-to-print surface spacing device controls the spacing between the printhead and the print surface while printing. A printing method using such a handheld printing mechanism is also provided

Claims

1. A handheld inkjet printing mechanism for printing a selected image on a print surface of a solid body or a semi-flexible body, comprising:

a chassis;

a controller supported by the chassis, with the controller storing the selected image therein;

an inkjet printhead supported by the chassis to selectively eject inkjet ink onto the print surface in response to the controller; and

a printhead-to-print surface spacing device to control the spacing between the printhead and the print surface, with the spacing device being supported by the chassis to traverses over the print surface when moved there along by an operator while the printhead selectively ejects ink onto the print surface to record the selected image thereon;

wherein the chassis comprises a main portion and a printhead portion, which supports the printhead, with the main portion being flexibly coupled to the printhead portion.

2. A handheld inkjet printing mechanism according to claim 1, further including a positional monitoring device supported by the chassis to generate a positional signal for the controller to indicate the position of the printhead relative to the print surface when moved therealong by the operator.

3. A handheld inkjet printing mechanism according to claim 2 wherein the positional monitoring device comprises:

a rotary encoder wheel supported by the chassis to roll along the print surface during said movement by the operator, with the rotary encoder wheel having positional indicia; and

a sensor for reading the positional indicia and in response thereto, generating the positional signal.

4. A handheld inkjet printing mechanism according to claim 3 wherein:

the spacing device comprises plural wheels which roll along the print surface during said movement by the operator; and

the rotary encoder wheel is mounted to a side surface of one of the plural wheels.

5. A handheld inkjet printing mechanism according to claim 2 wherein the positional monitoring device comprises an optical sensor.

6. A handheld inkjet printing mechanism according to claim 1 wherein the spacing device comprises plural wheels rotationally supported by the chassis to roll along the print surface during said movement by the operator.

7. A handheld inkjet printing mechanism according to claim 1 wherein the spacing device comprises protrusions projecting from the chassis to slide along the print surface during said movement by the operator.

8. A handheld inkjet printing mechanism according to claim 1 wherein the controller is configured to be coupled to a replaceable image cartridge from which the controller receives the selected image.

9. A handheld inkjet printing mechanism according to claim 8 wherein the chassis defines an image cartridge receptacle slot into which the replaceable image cartridge may be inserted to deliver the selected image to the controller.

10. A handheld inkjet printing mechanism according to claim 1 further including a coupling device to couple the controller to a computer to receive the selected image.

11. A handheld inkjet printing mechanism according to claim 1 further including a coupling device to couple the controller to a scanner to receive the selected image.

12. A handheld inkjet printing mechanism according to claim 1 further including an input device coupled the controller to modify the selected image.

13. A handheld inkjet printing mechanism according to claim 12 wherein the input device comprises a keyboard supported by the chassis.

14. A handheld inkjet printing mechanism according to claim 1 further including a display device supported by the chassis and coupled to the controller.

15. A handheld inkjet printing mechanism according to claim 14 wherein the display device is coupled to the controller to show a representation of the selected image.

16. A handheld inkjet printing mechanism according to claim 14 wherein the display device is coupled to the controller to display usage instructions.

17. A handheld inkjet printing mechanism according to claim 14 wherein the display device comprises a display screen.

18. A handheld inkjet printing mechanism according to claim 1 wherein the chassis main portion is flexibly coupled to the printhead portion at a gimbal-mounted neck portion of the chassis.

19. A handheld inkjet printing mechanism according to claim 1:

wherein the chassis main portion houses an ink reservoir; and

further including a conduit which fluidically couples the ink reservoir to the printhead.

20. A handheld inkjet printing mechanism according to claim 19 wherein:

the chassis main portion is flexibly coupled to the printhead portion at a gimbal-mounted neck portion of the chassis; and

the conduit comprises a flexible conduit which passes through the neck portion of the chassis.

21. A handheld inkjet printing mechanism according to claim 1 for use with a printhead servicing unit having a printhead receptacle, wherein a portion of the chassis which supports the printhead is sized to be received by the servicing unit printhead receptacle.

22. A handheld inkjet printing mechanism for printing a selected image on a print surface of a solid body or a semi-flexible body and for receiving a replaceable image cartridge having a display surface for showing a representation of the selected image, comprising:

a chassis;

a controller supported by the chassis, with the controller storing the selected image therein;

an inkjet printhead supported by the chassis to selectively eject inkjet ink onto the print surface in response to the controller; and

a printhead-to-print surface spacing device to control the spacing between the printhead and the print surface, with the spacing device being supported by the chassis to traverses over the print surface when moved therealong by an operator while the printhead selectively ejects ink onto the print surface to record the selected image thereon;

wherein the controller is configured to be coupled to the replaceable image cartridge from which the controller receives the selected image;

wherein the chassis defines an image cartridge receptacle slot into which the replaceable image cartridge may be inserted to deliver the selected image to the controller; and

wherein the chassis defines a window therethrough located to view the representation of the selected image on the image cartridge when inserted into the receptacle slot.

23. A method of printing a selected image on a print surface of a solid body or a semi-flexible body, comprising the steps of:

traversing a chassis supporting an inkjet printhead over the print surface;

during the traversing step, maintaining a selected spacing between the inkjet printhead and the print surface; and

selectively ejecting ink from the printhead to record the selected image on the print surface during the traversing step;

wherein the chassis comprises a main portion and a printhead portion, with the printhead portion supporting the printhead, and with the main portion being flexibly coupled to the printhead portion; and

wherein the traversing step includes the step of flexing the main portion of the chassis with respect to the printhead portion.

24. A method according to claim 23 further including the step of monitoring the position of the printhead along the print surface during the traversing step.

25. A method according to claim 24 further including the steps of:

generating a positional signal to indicate the position of the printhead in response to the monitoring step; and

controlling the ejecting step in response to the generating step.

26. A method according to claim 23 wherein the monitoring step comprises the step of optically sensing the position of the printhead along the print surface during the traversing step.

27. A method according to claim 23 wherein the traversing step comprises the step of rolling the chassis across the print surface using plural rollers rotationally supported by the chassis.

28. A method according to claim 23 wherein the traversing step comprises the step of sliding the chassis across the print surface on protrusions projecting from the chassis.

29. A method according to claim 23 further including the step of receiving the selected image from a computer.

30. A method according to claim 23 further including the step of down-loading the selected image from a website.

31. A method according to claim 23 further including the step of receiving the selected image from a scanner.

32. A method according to claim 23 further including the step of customizing the selected image using an input device supported by the chassis.

33. A method according to claim 32 wherein the customizing step comprising entering information using an input device comprising a keyboard supported by the chassis.

34. A method according to claim 23 further including the step of displaying the selected image using a display device supported by the chassis.

35. A method according to claim 23 further including the step of displaying the usage instructions on a display, screen supported by the chassis.

36. A method according to claim 23 wherein:

the main portion is flexibly coupled to the printhead portion at a flexible neck portion; and

the method further includes the steps of storing ink in a reservoir housed in the main portion, and delivering ink from the reservoir to the printhead through the neck portion.

37. A method according to claim 23 further including the step of, following the ejecting step to record the selected image on the print surface, servicing the printhead by placing at least a portion of the chassis in a printhead servicing unit.