Patent ID: 7324264

Claim:
A method of making an electro-optical modulating display device, or a manufacturing component thereof, comprising: (a) providing a first elongated sheet, optionally a continuous web, comprising an array of microcell reservoirs, an outer width of which is in the same direction as outer width of the first elongated sheet, each microcell reservoir being no longer than 1000 μm along any dimension thereof, each microcell reservoir formed by side walls extending vertically from a lower substrate and containing an electro-optical imaging fluid that comprises charged particles dispersed in a carrier fluid, the first elongated sheet optionally comprising a boundary area between the outer width of the array of microcell reservoirs and the outer width of the first elongated sheet; (b) providing a second elongated sheet, optionally a continuous web, comprising a substrate layer and an adhesive layer, wherein at least one of the first elongated sheet and second elongated sheet comprises patterned electrodes for addressing the microcell reservoirs in the array, which electrodes may be transparent; (c) providing a nip formed between first and second rollers, wherein at least one of the first and second rollers is heated; and (d) laminating the first elongated sheet to the second elongated sheet by simultaneously transporting the first and second elongated sheets along their length in a lamination direction into the nip between the first and second rollers, wherein the second elongated sheet is positioned between the second roller and the first elongated sheet; whereby the adhesive layer of the second elongated sheet is contacted with at least the tops of the side walls of the microcell reservoirs in the array, and the first elongated sheet is compressed against the second elongated sheet in said nip while the adhesive layer is held at an elevated temperature, thereby commonly sealing the microcell reservoirs in the array to form a sealed array of microcells; wherein during lamination a bead of excess fluid, the electro-optical imaging fluid from the microcell reservoirs, is formed substantially in a line along the width of the array of microcells, between the first elongated sheet and the second elongated sheet, adjacent the nip and behind the nip relative to the lamination direction; and wherein the bead of excess fluid is allowed to flow widthwise beyond the boundary of the array of microcells in the first elongated sheet, thereby preventing the entrapment of air in the microcell reservoirs as they are sealed by the second elongated sheet during lamination.