Ink jet printer having staggered nozzle array for color printing

Abstract

A color ink jet printer including a print carriage movable along a carriage scan axis and a plurality of color producing ink jet printheads supported by the print carriage and offset relative to each other so that their nozzle arrays are non-overlapping along the media scan axis, such that the nozzle arrays of the ink jet printheads traverse non-overlapping regions as the carriage is scanned along the carriage scan axis.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A color ink jet printer comprising: 
 a print carriage movable along a carriage scan axis;    means for moving said print carriage along the carriage scan axis;    means for moving print along a media scan axis that is substantially orthogonal to said carriage scan axis; and    a plurality of non-black color producing ink jet printheads supported by said print carriage and having respective nozzle arrays for providing respectively different non-black color outputs, said non-black ink jet printheads being offset relative to each other by at least 2 units of the print resolution along the media scan axis so that their nozzle arrays are non-overlapping along the media scan axis;    whereby the nozzle arrays of said non-black ink jet printheads traverse non-overlapping regions as said carriage is scanned along the carriage scan axis.    
     
     
         2 . The color ink jet printer of  claim 1  wherein said non-black ink jet printheads comprise a cyan ink jet printhead, a magenta ink jet printhead, and a yellow ink jet printhead.  
     
     
         3 . The color ink jet printer of  claim 2  wherein said cyan, magenta, and yellow ink jet printheads are arranged such that the leading edge of a print medium encounters these print heads in the sequence of yellow, magenta and cyan.  
     
     
         4 . The ink jet printer of  claim 1  wherein said ink jet printheads comprise substantially identical ink jet cartridges, and wherein said carriage includes respective support means for removably supporting each of said ink jet cartridges, said respective support means being substantially identical to each other and arranged side by side along the carriage scan axis and offset relative to each other in accordance with the arrangement of the respective nozzle arrays.  
     
     
         5 . The ink jet printer of  claim 4  wherein each of said support means includes three walls and mounting flanges oriented orthogonally to the associated nozzle array, and wherein flanges of adjacent support means overlap so as to reduce the width of the carriage along the carriage scan axis.  
     
     
         6 . The color ink jet printer of  claim 1  further including a black color producing ink jet printhead supported by said print carriage and providing a black color output, said black ink jet printhead having a nozzle array aligned along the carriage scan axis with one of the nozzle arrays of said non-black ink jet printheads.  
     
     
         7 . The color ink jet printer of  claim 6  wherein said non-black ink jet printheads comprise a cyan ink jet printhead, a magenta ink jet printhead, and a yellow ink jet printhead, and wherein said black ink jet printhead is aligned with the magenta printhead such that their nozzle arrays are aligned along the carriage scan axis.  
     
     
         8 . The color ink jet printer of  claim 7  wherein said non-black ink jet printheads comprise a cyan ink jet printhead, a magenta ink jet printhead, and a yellow ink jet printhead, and wherein said black ink jet printhead is aligned with the cyan printhead such that their nozzle arrays are aligned along the carriage scan axis.  
     
     
         9 . The ink jet printer of  claim 6  wherein said ink jet printheads comprise substantially identical ink jet cartridges, and wherein said carriage includes respective support means for removably supporting each of said ink jet cartridges, said respective support means being substantially identical to each other and arranged side by side along the carriage scan axis and offset relative to each other in accordance with the arrangement of the respective nozzle arrays.  
     
     
         10 . The ink jet printer of  claim 9  wherein each of said support means includes three walls and mounting flanges oriented orthogonally to the associated nozzle array, and wherein flanges of adjacent support means overlap so as to reduce the width of the carriage along the carriage scan axis.