Patent ID: 7669965

Claim:
A modular printhead comprising: a chassis; a plurality of printhead modules mounted in the chassis, each printhead module having an ink feed structure and a micro-electromechanical printhead integrated circuit mounted on the ink feed structure to receive ink from the ink feed structure; and a plurality of alignment mechanisms corresponding with respective printhead modules and interposed between the chassis and said respective printhead modules, each alignment mechanism including a lever coupled to an adjustment mechanism at a first side of a fulcrum point of the lever and a printhead module engagement plate coupled to the lever at a second side of the fulcrum point of the lever and engaged with a corresponding printhead module, wherein the lever and the printhead module engagement plate are formed as a unitary piece, and each alignment mechanism further includes a number of hinged arms disposed between the printhead module engagement plate and the chassis, the hinged arms facilitating linear and parallel movement of the engagement plate in a direction towards and away from adjacent printhead modules in response to operation of the lever.