Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-13
2001-03-13
Le, N. (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
active
06199977
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to ink jet printers and to components for the printers which improve the manufacturing and reliability of the assembled components.
BACKGROUND
Ink jet printers continue to evolve as versatile, reliable, low cost printers for a variety of individual and commercial applications. Instead of disposable printheads attached to disposable ink cartridges, permanent or semi-permanent printheads which have longer life than conventional printheads are becoming the printheads of choice. However, because the printheads are no longer disposable commodities which are replaced often, there is less manufacturing tolerance with respect to the printhead, associated components and assembly thereof. Furthermore, the printheads and components are required to maintain tolerances over their life which results in higher parts rejection during the assembly process. One method for maintaining the desired tolerances is to use exotic materials of construction which are more expensive than conventional materials and require more costly manufacturing techniques. As competition increases for low cost, high quality ink jet printers, a need has arisen for unique component configurations which provide reliable components which can be manufactured and assembled at substantially lower cost.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
With regard to the above and other objects and advantages the invention provides a cartridge body for an ink jet printer. The cartridge body includes substantially one-piece molded body structure defining one or more ink cartridge positions. The body structure is mountable on a printer carriage and has a front panel member opposite a back panel member, side panel members connected to the front and back panel members and a bottom panel member having a ink cartridge side and a printhead side connected to a lower edge of each of the front, back and side panel members so as to define an open ended cartridge cavity with the ink cartridge side of the bottom panel member facing the cartridge cavity. One or more printhead locations are provided on the printhead side of the bottom panel member, each printhead location corresponding to an ink cartridge position in the cartridge cavity. One or more ink cavities are disposed in the bottom panel member opposite each of the printhead locations. An ink needle panel member containing an ink needle for each ink cavity is provided, the ink needle panel member being attached to the bottom panel member adjacent the one or more ink cavities providing closed ink cavities. A filter element is disposed in each of the ink cavities for filtering ink to a printhead attached to each printhead location, the filter element being attached to the ink needle panel member.
In another aspect the invention provides a method for constructing a cartridge body for an ink jet printer. The method includes molding a cartridge body from a polymeric material, the molded cartridge body defining one or more ink cartridge positions and being removably mountable on a printer carriage, the molded cartridge body having a front panel member opposite a back panel member, side panel members connected to the front and back panel members and a bottom panel member having a ink cartridge side and a printhead side connected to lower edges of each of the front, back and side panel members so as to define an open ended cartridge cavity with the ink cartridge side of the bottom panel member facing the cartridge cavity. One or more printhead locations are provided on the printhead side of the bottom panel member, each printhead location corresponding to an ink cartridge position in the cartridge cavity. An ink cavity is disposed in the bottom panel member opposite each of the printhead locations. An ink needle panel member containing an ink needle for each printhead location is also provided in the cavity. A filter element for filtering ink to each printhead is disposed in each cavity and is attached to the ink needle panel member. The ink needle panel member is fixedly attached to a peripheral edge of the ink cavity to provide an enclosed ink filter chamber for feeding ink to a corresponding printhead.
In yet another aspect the invention provides a stiffener assembly for stiffening an electrical connection wall of a cartridge body for an ink jet printer, the stiffener assembly including a bottom wall and one or more upstanding dividing walls attached to the bottom wall. The stiffener assembly is adapted for frictional engagement with a cartridge cavity of the cartridge body.
The invention provides components of a cartridge body which can be easily assembled with high accuracy to provide a relatively low cost cartridge body without sacrificing the printer's ability to produce high quality, high speed images. Because of the unique design features incorporated in the components of the cartridge body design, the cartridge body can be molded on high speed molding equipment from relatively inexpensive polymeric materials. The components are amenable to assembly using relatively few assembly steps, yet the assembled components provide a robust design which provides a relatively rigid, inflexible structure for positive electrical contacting surfaces and for alignment purposes within a printer. The component design also provides guides for directing an ink cartridge outlet member in locking engagement with the cartridge body to provide a leak resistant ink flow from the ink cartridge to the printheads.
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Komplin Steven Robert
Long Gregory Alan
Le N.
Lexmark International Inc.
Luedeka Neely & Graham
Sanderson Michael T.
Vo Anh T. N.
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