Printhead assembly arranged within a media tray assembly
View Patent ↗An inkjet printer includes a housing that defines a receiving formation for a media tray assembly. A chassis is positioned in the housing. A media tray assembly is displaceably engageable with the chassis to permit the tray assembly to be received in, and withdrawn from, the receiving formation. The media tray assembly and the housing define a print medium feed path. The media tray assembly includes a media tray in which a stack of print medium sheets can be stored. A feed mechanism is positioned on the media tray to feed the sheets from the tray. A printhead assembly is positioned downstream of the media tray to carry out a printing operation on the sheets as the sheets are fed from the tray.
1. A printhead assembly arranged within a media tray assembly, the media tray assembly configured for releasable engagement with a housing of a printer, the printhead assembly comprising:
at least one ink reservoir mounted on a downstream end of the media tray, the ink reservoir spanning the feed path;
at least one printhead chip connected to the ink reservoir to receive ink therefrom;
at least one transfer roller operatively positioned with respect to the printhead chip so that the printhead chip can carry out a printing operation on the transfer roller,
a retaining mechanism positioned on the media tray so that the feed path extends between the retaining mechanism and the transfer roller, the retaining mechanism being configured to urge each sheet of print medium against the transfer roller during printing, so that ink printed out on the transfer roller is transferred to the sheet of print medium.
2. A printhead assembly as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the printhead assembly comprises:
a pair of printhead chips configured for printing on both sides of the printing medium; and
a pair of transfer rollers, each transfer roller being operatively positioned with respect to an associated printhead chip so that the printhead chips can carry out a printing operation on the respective transfer rollers, the transfer rollers being positioned with respect to each other so that the feed path is defined between the transfer rollers such that ink printed on the transfer rollers is transferred to each side of the sheet.
3. A printhead assembly, as claimed in claim 2 , the assembly including a pair of ink reservoirs, one on each side of the path, wherein each of the printing chips is mounted to a corresponding ink supply arrangement.