The present invention relates generally to printers, and more specifically, to paper feeding mechanisms and methods for mobile printers.
Various sizes of paper have become standardized throughout the world for various print jobs. In the United States, business is routinely conducted with “letter” size paper, e.g., 8.5″×11″. In the past, the legal profession used “legal” sized paper, e.g., 8.5″×14″. In Europe, so-called “A4” is used which is a bit narrower and a little longer than “letter” sized paper. Photographs have standardized on 8″×10″, Hagaki, and 4″×6″ print sizes. So a commercial necessity has emerged for printers that can handle all the common sizes of paper now in use.
Large, desktop printers have the luxury of having interchangeable paper trays that can be specialized for each paper size. Some paper trays have adjustable fences that allow different widths of paper to be loaded in a cassette. But small, mobile printers have no slide-in cassette trays at all, and rely on a manual or gravity feed of paper from the top.
Conventional printers can lay a lot of ink on a photo paper printout, and such ink can require a few extras seconds to dry and resist smudging. When more than one photo paper sheet is being printed, the later sheets output can smudge the top ones in the output stack. So it helps if the later sheets are gently dropped flat on the stack.
Briefly, a printer embodiment of the present invention is a mobile, color printer capable of printing on letter-size plain paper and standard-size photo paper. A fold-up paper feeder acts as a cover during travel, and as a storage tray for several sheets of paper to allow automatic feeding from a vertical stack. A slotted door hinged to the back of the printer, and under the hinges for the fold-up paper feeder/cover, can be flipped up or down. In the down position, a slot on the right side guides the user to feed in photo paper in the correct location. In the up position, letter-size plain paper has full-width access to the printing mechanism, and a sliding adjustable guide on the left allows letter, A4, and other size papers to be lightly corralled on both sides.
An advantage of the present invention is that a printer is provided that is easily portable.
Another advantage of the present invention is that a printer is provided that can accommodate various sizes of paper and photo card stock.
A further advantage of the present invention is that a printer is provided that is inexpensive to produce.
A paper support 106 can be extended to support the free end of paper loaded in the paper-feeder/cover 104. A hinged door 108 has a slot 110 that allows Hagaki or other photo papers to be fed in at an optimum offset from the right edge. This offset allows printing to commence much closer to the right edge of the photo paper, and it helps the stiffer photo paper to avoid a curling device inside before a paper output slot. Such curling device curls up the left and right edges of plain bond letter size paper so the paper will cantilever out while being output, and helps prevent smearing of a previously discharged page. A color ink cartridge and inkjet printhead 114 and a black ink cartridge and inkjet printhead 116 move left and right across the paper feeding-through during each print job. A right-edge guide 118 is visible and is in a fixed position. However, the right edge of slot 110 is offset to the left from this, and the slot controls how far to the right a photo paper can be loaded in.
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In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the pair of curling lifts inside output slot 112 are articulated such that they retract when door 108 is folded down to receive the Hagaki or 4″×6″ piece of photo paper 122. Such photo paper is usually stiffer than bond paper 126, so the curling lifts are unnecessary. They can also significantly increase the force needed to output sheet 124 if not retracted.
The print media referred to herein includes plain paper, envelopes, coated paper, photo or glossy paper, transparency, card stock, index card, photo card, post card, hagaki card, labels, iron-on transfers, and any other suitable print media. Print media sizes useable with embodiments of the present invention include:
Although the present invention has been described in terms of the presently preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not to be interpreted as limiting. Various alterations and modifications will no doubt become apparent to those skilled in the art after having read the above disclosure. Accordingly, it is intended that the appended claims be interpreted as covering all alterations and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.