| 摘要 |
The disclosure concerns an apparatus that increases the utility of the ink jet printing engines by allowing the engine operator the freedom to select the spacing between the ink emitting nozzles of each inkjet print head and a printing substrate. The preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a reciprocating carriage assembly having twelve individual ink jet pen receptacles and a manual vertical adjustment feature for precise control of the spacing between the printing substrate and the print head(s). In one embodiment, the inventive carriage assembly height adjustment features dual, manually-actuated axial screws that cooperate to evenly raise and lower the carriage assembly. Preferably a third mounting point ensures parallelism when the carriage assembly is raised and lowered. In use, the entire carriage assembly, including circuit boards, ink jet print heads, and electronics all move in unison when the axial shafts are rotated. A simple spacer tool, ground to a preselected thickness is used to confirm that an optimum head height has been reached, although other, more elaborate mechanisms could also be used. The inventive carriage assembly preferably includes a plurality of receptacles for receiving disposable ink jet print heads. Preferred features include a solderless assembly process, a tongue-in-groove coupling, and a first leaf spring to bias the print heads to precision mounting locations. Several elements cooperate to promote electrical contact between a flex circuit having mass terminations of electrical traces on the flex circuit and corresponding electrical features of each print head.
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