Pitney Bowes Inc.

Betty A Terry

Charles F Murphy, Iii

Danilo P Buan

Jerome E Jackson

An ink pad device for a high speed mailing machine is disclosed. The ink pad device includes an ink pad and an ink chamber in which the ink pad is at least partially disposed to sorb ink therefrom. The ink pad device may also comprise an ink reservoir and/or a pump for pumping ink from the reservoir to the ink chamber. The ink pad device is attachable to a drive for moving the ink pad horizontally and vertically from a horizontal home position to a horizontal inking position in which the ink pad is tamped against a printing device which imprints postage indicia. The ink pump comprises a deformable chamber which is compressed to pump ink from the reservoir to the ink chamber. In one embodiment, the ink pad and the ink chamber are provided as a disposable, non-replenishable, non-refillable unit containing a limited amount of ink for limited use. In another embodiment, the ink chamber, the ink pad, the reservoir and the pump form a unit in which ink is replenished from the reservoir to the ink chamber. In that embodiment, the entire unit may be made disposable and may be moved by the drive to the inking position. In still another embodiment, the ink pad and the ink chamber form a disposable, replenishable unit, and the reservoir is replaceable. In that embodiment, only the ink pad and the ink chamber are movable by the drive to the inking position.

Ink tray

This invention relates to a replaceable ink pad that is capable of supplying ink in excess of 5,000 printing cycles. The ink pad is made of a first layer of polyethylene foam that is attached to a bottom layer of felted melamine foam by a porous polyamide adhesive. The first layer has a pore size of 10-20 microns and the bottom layer has a pore size of 140-180 microns. A tray can be provided to securely hold the pad.

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Weston, CT, United States of America

Betty A Terry