Feed guidance and identification for ink stick

Details Feed guidance and identification for ink stick Feed guidance and identification for ink stick

2002-04-29

2004-04-20

Meier, Stephen D. (Department: 2853)

Incremental printing of symbolic information

Ink jet

Fluid or fluid source handling means

C347S099000, C347S084000, C347S085000, CD18S056000, CD15S144000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06722764

ABSTRACT:

The present invention relates generally to ink printers, the ink used in such ink printers, and the apparatus and method for feeding the ink into the printer.
BACKGROUND
Solid ink or phase change ink printers conventionally receive ink in a solid form and convert the ink to a liquid form for jetting onto a receiving medium. The printer receives the solid ink either as pellets or as ink sticks in a feed channel. With solid ink sticks, the solid ink sticks are either gravity fed or spring loaded through the feed channel toward a heater plate. The heater plate melts the solid ink into its liquid form. In a printer that receives solid ink sticks, the sticks are either gravity fed or spring loaded into a feed channel and pressed against a heater plate to melt the solid ink into its liquid form. U.S. Pat. No. 5,734,402 for a Solid Ink Feed System, issued Mar. 31, 1998 to Rousseau et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,861,903 for an Ink Feed System, issued Jan. 19, 1999 to Crawford et al. describe exemplary systems for delivering solid ink sticks into a phase change ink printer.
SUMMARY
An ink stick for use in a solid ink feed system of a phase change ink jet printer includes a three dimensional ink stick body that has a lateral center of gravity, a substantially horizontal perimeter, and opposed end surfaces. An ink stick guide element is formed in the bottom of the ink stick body, and the ink stick is adapted to travel through the feed channel along a feed channel guide rail. A portion of the ink stick perimeter forms a visually recognizable symbol, and a portion of the ink stick perimeter that is transverse to the feed direction of the channel has an insertion key element. Nesting elements are formed in the leading and trailing end surfaces of the ink stick body to nest with one another when ink sticks abut in the feed channel and supplement insertion keying.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5442387 (1995-08-01), Loofbourow et al.
patent: 5455604 (1995-10-01), Adams et al.
patent: 5734402 (1998-03-01), Rousseau et al.
patent: 5805191 (1998-09-01), Jones et al.
patent: 5861903 (1999-01-01), Crawford et al.
patent: 6053608 (2000-04-01), Ishii et al.
Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary Tenth Edition; nest; p. 778.*
Jones et al., “Guide for Solid Ink Stick Feed,” U.S. patent application Ser. No. XX/XXX,XXX (Attorney Docket No. D/A1664), filed concurrently herewith.
Jones et al., “Guide for Solid Ink Stick Feed,” U.S. patent application Ser. No. XX/XXX,XXX (Attorney Docket No. D/A1664Q), filed concurrently herewith.
Jones et al., “Alignment Feature for Solid Ink Stick,” U.S. patent application Ser. No. XX/XXX,XXX (Attorney Docket No. D/A1673), filed concurrently herewith.
Jones et al., “Solid Ink Stick with Efficient Aspect Ratio,” U.S. patent application Ser. No. XX/XXX,XXX (Attorney Docket No. D/A1673Q), filed concurrently herewith.
Jones, “Guide for Solid Ink Stick Feed,” U.S. patent application Ser. No. XX/XXX,XXX (Attorney Docket No. D/A2010), filed concurrently herewith.
Jones, “Solid Ink Stick Set Identification,” U.S. patent application Ser. No. XX/XXX,XXX (Attorney Docket No. D/A2010Q1), filed concurrently herewith.
Jones et al., “Channel Keying for Solid Ink Stick Feed,” U.S. patent application Ser. No. XX/XXX,XXX (Attorney Docket No. D/A2031), filed concurrently herewith.
Jones et al., “Solid Ink Stick with Identifiable Shape,” U.S. patent application Ser. No. XX/XXX,XXX (Attorney Docket No. D/A2031Q), filed concurrently herewith.
Jones, “Multiple Portion Solid Ink Stick,” U.S. patent application Ser. No. XX/XXX,XXX (Attorney Docket No. D/A2031Q1), filed concurrently herewith.
Jones et al., “Visible Identification of Solid Ink Stick ,” U.S. patent application Ser. No. XX/XXX,XXX (Attorney Docket No. D/A2032), filed concurrently herewith.
Jones et al., “Multiple Segment Keying for Solid Ink Stick Feed,” U.S. patent application Ser. No. XX/XXX,XXX (Attorney Docket No. D/A2033Q), filed concurrently herewith.
Jones et al., “Channel Keying for Solid Ink Insertion,” U.S. patent application Ser. No. XX/XXX,XXX (Attorney Docket No. D/A2040), filed concurrently herewith.
Summary of Tektronix/Xerox Corporation Solid Ink Stick Products sold at least one year prior to Apr. 29, 2002.

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