Print media vacuum holddown

(54) PRINT MEDIA VACUUM HOLDDOWN

(75) Inventors: Steve O. Rasmussen; John D. Rhodes,

both of Vancouver, WA (US)

(73) Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA (US)

( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days.

(21) Appl. No.: 09/292,767

(22) Filed: Apr. 14, 1999

(51) Int. C I. B65H 29/68

(52) U.S. CI 271/276; 271/183; 355/76

(58) Field of Search 271/183, 276;

355/76, 91

(56) References Cited

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS

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* cited by examiner

Primary Examiner—H. Grant Skaggs

(57) ABSTRACT

A vacuum holddown for sheet materials has a surface having a field of vacuum ports in which each individual port is gated. When a vacuum is applied to the underside of the holddown, the gates close. When a sheet of material is introduced onto a region of the field, the gates only within vacuum manifold passageway covered by the material are configured to spring open, applying a suction force to the sheet via the now opened ports. The holddown thus automatically adjusts to material size. An implementation for use in an ink-jet printer with cut-sheet print media is demonstrated.

8 Claims, 10 Drawing Sheets