Ink container with improved ink flow

Details Ink container with improved ink flow Ink container with improved ink flow

2001-11-02

2003-03-04

Nghiem, Michael (Department: 2863)

Incremental printing of symbolic information

Ink jet

Fluid or fluid source handling means

Reexamination Certificate

active

06527382

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink container, and more particularly, to an ink container with improved ink flow.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Please refer to FIG.
1
.
FIG. 1
is a sectional view of an ink container
10
according to U.S. Pat. 6,042,225. The ink container
10
comprises a housing
12
, a print head
16
, and an ink chamber
23
that is formed inside the housing
12
and includes a center ink well
22
, and two side ink wells
24
. Each one of the three ink wells
22
,
24
is employed to store ink of one color in a porous member
26
such as a foam, which absorbs ink. The ink container
10
further comprises a center ink pipe
28
and two side ink pipes
32
. The center ink pipe
28
fluidly connects the center ink well
22
and the print head
16
. The side ink pipe
32
connects the side ink well
24
and the print head
16
. A center filter
30
is horizontally installed on a top end of the center ink pipe
28
for filtering ink transmitted from the center inkwell
22
, and each of two side filters
34
is vertically installed between the side ink well
24
and the corresponding side ink pipe
32
for filtering ink transmitted from the side ink well
24
.
Due to a capillary attractive force, ink is kept inside the small hole of the porous member
26
such that the porous member
26
is able to absorb and store ink. This is equivalent to providing negative pressure inside the ink wells
22
,
24
, and the negative pressure force overcomes gravity acting on the ink, so as to reduce the fluid pressure inside the ink pipes
28
,
32
. This prevents ink from leaking outside the print head, so that the printed document is not contaminated. However, on the other hand, if the capillary attraction is strong, the fluid pressure inside the ink pipes
28
,
32
becomes too low to provide enough pressure for ejecting ink from the print head
16
, so that print quality is affected. In a worst case, ink is locked in the ink wells
22
,
24
and is unable to flow into the ink pipes
28
,
32
.
In other words, the fluid pressure inside the ink pipe
28
,
32
must be kept in a proper range, such that ink is ejected from the print head
16
when the print head
16
is printing and ink does not leak outside the print head
16
when the print head
16
is not printing.
According to the prior art, the side ink well
24
has a narrower top end (W
3
<W
4
), so that the top end of the porous member
26
is compressed more than its bottom end. This gives ink inside the side ink well
24
a trend to be pulled up and such a trend resists ink flowing from the top end to the bottom end.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore a primary objective of the present invention to provide an ink container that improves ink flow from top to bottom.
In a preferred embodiment, the present invention provides an ink container comprising a housing having two side walls, each side wall having an inner surface, a print head installed at a bottom of the housing for ejecting ink onto a document, and an ink chamber formed inside the housing having two inclined walls for dividing the ink chamber into a center ink well and two side ink wells. The center ink well is formed between the two inclined walls and has a width decreasing from top to bottom, each of the two side ink wells is formed between an inclined wall and a corresponding side wall. The inner surface of at least one of the side walls has a greater inclination than that of the corresponding inclined wall, so that the side ink well formed between the side wall and the inclined wall has a width decreasing from top to bottom.
The present invention further provides an ink container that comprises a housing having two side walls, a print head installed at a bottom of the housing for ejecting ink onto a document, snd an ink chamber formed inside the housing having two inclined walls for dividing the ink chamber into a center ink well and two side ink wells. The center ink well is formed between the two inclined walls and has a width decreasing from top to bottom. Each of the two side fluid wells is formed between an inclined wall and a corresponding side wall. The ink container further comprises a porous member positioned inside one of the side fluid wells for absorbing ink, and the porous member has a width increasing from top to bottom.
It is an advantage of the present invention that the bottom end of the porous member is compressed more than the top end, so as to improve ink flow from top to bottom.
These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment which is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.


REFERENCES:
patent: 6042225 (2000-03-01), Altendorf et al.
patent: 6276785 (2001-08-01), Shinada et al.

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