Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-25
2001-01-09
Lee, N. (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
active
06172695
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an ink cartridge of a jet printer, and particularly to an ink-replenishing device for ink cartridge of a jet printer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the conventional jet printer, the ink is loaded in a cartridge, and the ink jetted on the printing paper is controlled with a sparager; when ink in the cartridge is used up, the cartridge has to be replaced for further printing operation; however, the ink cartridge supplied by the original manufacturer is considerably expensive, i.e., a user to print a lot of papers will spend a lot of money.
In the conventional ink cartridge of a jet printer, the ink chamber of the ink cartridge is usually loaded with an equalization air bladder or a piece of sponge for soaking and supplying ink. The ink cartridge supplied by the original manufacturer usually has an equal pressure in the ink chamber during the automatic manufacturing process, and there will be no leak during printing operation.
When refilling ink into a conventional hollow ink cartridge, and if such ink cartridge is furnished with an equalization air-bladder in the ink chamber thereof, a sticky tape should be used to close the air vent of the maze passage on the bottom of the ink cartridge so as to prevent ink from leaking; then, the intake hole of the air-bladder should also be closed with sticky tape so as to maintain equalization of pressure; then, using a sharp point to press the seal bead out of its position so as to provide a refilling hole. Take a suitable amount of ink with a syringe, and then inject the ink into the refilling hole in the ink cartridge slowly until the cartridge is full; use a rubber plug to seal the refilling hole, and then tear off the sticky tapes on the intake hole and on the bottom of the ink cartridge respectively; it is quite often that the opening end of the maze passage or the jet nozzle will have a leakage of ink after the sticky tape on the bottom of cartridge is removed because of the pressure in the ink chamber not being equalized. To overcome such leakage, the only method is to rub off the ink leaked slowly until the leak stops.
In the conventional ink cartridge loaded with a sponge, an empty ink cartridge can be replenished by sealing and closing the end opening of the output port by means of a glue paper; then, a center through hole on a lid of the top surface of the ink cartridge is sealed with a membrane; a syringe is sucked with a suitable amount of ink. A slender hollow needle is used to stab through the membrane on the through hole, and to the most lower portion of the storage chamber so as to inject ink in the storage chamber; however, the sponge in the storage chamber contains a great amount of bubbles, and the ink injected is unable to exhaust the air therein; as a result, the ink injected in is limited. Since there is a mesh furnished between the storage chamber and the second chamber, if air in the second chamber is unable to exhaust, the ink in the storage chamber will be unable to enter the second chamber via the mesh, and the ink will be unable to flow into the spraying chamber.
In order to prevent the glue paper on the output port from leaking ink, a C-shaped clamp is used to grip a resilient pad on the inner surface of the lower support plate. The upper support plate of the clamp is shorter one. The clamp and the ink cartridge are gripped together; by means of the resilient pad on the lower support plate, the output port would not leak; however, the C-shaped clamp is to be mounted in place by pushing and squeezing, and therefore it can not provide a firm gripping; then, the resilient pad is unable to attach to the outer surface of the output port flat, i.e., leakage can not be prevented completely.
To use a balance air bag or a sponge for balancing the pressure in the storage chamber, the ink cartridge is usually furnished in the prime chamber; a second chamber is furnished between the prime chamber and the printing head. Between the two chambers, there is a fine mesh used for balancing the pressure difference thereof so as to have the ink flow evenly into the storage chamber of the sprayer in the printing head, and also to prevent impurities in the ink of prime chamber from entering the second chamber.
When the ink cartridge on a printer fails to print continuously, the major cause is that the sprayer in the printing head is in short supply of ink, i.e., lack of sufficient ink flowing through the passage defined by the bearing member; in other words, if too much air enters the second chamber in the printing head, such air would enter the storage chamber of the sprayer to cause interruption of ink, i.e., having no ink to spray out; in the event of no ink to spray out of the sprayer for a considerable time, the sprayer might be burned out.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The prime object of the present invention is to provide an ink-replenishing device for an ink cartridge, in which the body part of the ink cartridge in a printer is furnished with at least one storage chamber; the storage chamber is loaded with a sponge for soaking ink and balancing the pressure in the storage chamber. After ink in the storage chamber of the ink cartridge is used up, the end opening of the output port should be sealed hermetically; let the short taper-shaped ink straw contact closely with the through hole, and then squeeze the ink bottle so as to have ink injected into the storage chamber; as soon as the ink bottle is released, it will suck air so as to exhaust air in the sponge of the storage chamber.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an ink-replenishing device for an ink cartridge, in which a mesh is furnished between the storage chamber with a sponge therein and a second chamber nearing the output port; let the short taper-shaped ink straw contact closely with the through hole of the ink cartridge. When the ink straw sucks air into the ink bottle, air in the second chamber under the mesh will be exhausted, while ink will flow into the second chamber.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an ink-replenishing device for ink cartridge, in which the ink straw on the front end of the ink bottle is designed to fit the diameter of the through hole on the top surface of every type of ink cartridge, and the ink straw is designed into a short taper-shaped member. The center of the short taper-shaped ink straw is furnished with an ink passage to facilitate convection between ink and air; the short taper-shaped ink straw and the ink hole of the ink cartridge are connected together closely, and then the ink bottle is squeezed so as to have ink injected into the storage chamber quickly. As soon as the ink bottle is released, the air sucked out will flow into the ink bottle quickly through the slender ink passage.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an ink-replenishing device for an ink cartridge, in which the end opening of the output port of the ink cartridge is attached with a glue paper; one side of the ink cartridge is mounted with a protection clamp by means of a clamp space thereof upon a pressing surface of the clamp being pressed downwards, and then the space between the supporting plate and the clamp plate will be increased to facilitate the ink cartridge to set in the clamp space; then, the resilient pad on the inner surface of the supporting plate will be in close contact with the end opening of the output port.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide an ink-replenishing device for an ink cartridge, in which the protection clamp mounted on the output port has a vertical plate, and both sides of the vertical plate are furnished with two supporting plates respectively. One side of the vertical plate has a clamp plate on an upper part thereof, while the other side thereof has a pressing plate. The upper part of the vertical plate has a neck portion connected with the upper plates; the neck portion enables the clamp plate to bend upwards upon pushing downwards the pressing plate so as to
Dougherty & Troxell
Lee N.
Vo Anh T. N.
LandOfFree
Ink replenishing device for link cartridge of a jet printer does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Ink replenishing device for link cartridge of a jet printer, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Ink replenishing device for link cartridge of a jet printer will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2545300