Xerox Corporation

Nu-kote International, Inc.

Dennis M Lengyel

Hiep H Nguyen

Eric Alan Merz

Edward M Carrese

David P Breemes, Sr

Steven J Dietl

Richard E Butts

Douglas J Baxendell

Bruce A LaPlant

Stephen A Andersen

Vincent J Ouellette

Bryan James Roof

Thomas W Martin

Stephen A Anderson

Michael J McElligott

Donald E Snyder, Jr

Donald M Stevens

Richard P Schell

Louis F LaVallee

Vladimir M Kupchik

Norman S Edgett

Richard C Keefe

Christopher S Mullin

Philip Theodore

Holly M Williamson

Richard B Butts

Roger W Ellender

Sara Reynolds

An ink cartridge has a body having a stepped configuration including a first top wall and a second top wall, wherein the second top wall is lower than the first top wall. A lid has a first position selectively secured to the first top wall and a second portion is secured to the second top wall which forms a ledge for removing the cartridge from a printer. Alternately, a tab extends from a surface of the lid for removing the cartridge from a printhead. Another alternative is indentations formed in the lid and side walls of the cartridge for manually gripping the cartridge for removal from a printhead.

Ink-jet cartridge removal device

An ink container shell for an ink jet cartridge has spaced apart side walls, a front wall, a rear wall, and a bottom wall, a partition in said shell dividing the interior thereof into first and second chambers for respectively receiving an ink and an ink absorbing material, an opening through the partition for communicating ink in said first chamber with ink absorbing material in the second chamber, and which has a height greater than its width. The shell further includes an outlet port in the bottom wall of the second chamber provided with a wick retaining arrangement, and a block of ink absorbing material in the second chamber having an angled surface facing the opening through the partition and having an area greater than the area of the opening. A lever and tongue component for releasably interengaging the container with a holder therethrough has smooth surfaces and edges to facilitate handling of the container.

Ink container for an ink jet cartridge

The invention relates to a multiple pass printing process for generating MICR-readable indicia using a MICR ink-jet ink composition with a magnetic pigment loading less than that needed to generate the nominal signal level according to the ANSI standard with single pass printing, and to a printed substrate, prepared by the process, which bears MICR-readable indicia having at least two layers of the MICR ink-jet ink composition and which demonstrates a MICR signal level of greater than or equal to the nominal signal value according to the ANSI standard.

Multiple pass aqueous MICR inkjet ink printing

A flow resistance measuring or black-pressure tester is provided for ink cartridges. A syringe pump extracts fluid at a desired flow rate from an outlet port of an ink cartridge. An ink removal device allows a user to selectively purge air from the system to improve the accuracy of the meassurements. A variety of flow rates are measured to collect as benchmark data and allow new designs to be similarly sized, specified, and materials and pathways selected to control fluid delivery in replacement ink cartridges.

Back-pressure and impedance tester for ink jet cartridges

An ink container shell for an ink jet cartridge has an ink chamber provided with an optical ink detection device in the form of a single or multi-segment prism having interface surfaces for reflecting light in a scan plane from a first to a second exterior area relative to the container shell when an ink level in the chamber recedes to a given level. The multi-segment prism provides for scanning a cartridge in different scanning planes. Either a single prism or the multi-segment prism can be separate from the cartridge and interengaged therewith by a snap-fit.

Optical ink level detecting arrangements for ink cartridges

An ink container shell for an ink jet cartridge has spaced apart side walls, a front wall, a rear wall, and a bottom wall, and is provided with a partition structure which divides the interior thereof into three ink chambers, at least one of which has a non-rectangular profile in cross-section transverse to said side, front and rear walls. The partition structures enable varying the volumes of the ink chambers with respect to a given shell exterior profile and enable isolating two the chambers from one another by interposing the third chamber therebetween.

Partition structures for the interior of an ink container

A fluid cartridge for dispensing fluid, such as liquid ink for a drop on demand ink jet printer, includes a housing that encloses a capillary chamber, and has an outlet port through the one wall of the housing into the capillary chamber. Capillary material in the capillary chamber is arranged so that it has a higher density adjacent the outlet port than away from the outlet port, to enhance the flow of the fluid toward the outlet port. The interior of the capillary chamber is structured to provide greater compression to the capillary material around the outlet port, and provide stability to retain the variable compression of the capillary material.

Ink cartridge providing improved ink supply

An ink tank which has an ink delivery port chamber and one or more free ink chambers is provided with free ink chamber ceiling heights which are lower than the ceiling height of the ink delivery port chamber to reduce the amount of air trapped in the ink tank when the ink tank is filled with ink, and to locate air trapped in the ink tank in the ink delivery port chamber.

Anti-bubble shelf in an ink tank

A low ink sensing system is combined with an ink cartridge detection system to enable a more efficient ink jet printer. An ink container which supplies ink to an associated printhead is modified by the incorporation of two light directing elements, in the preferred embodiment, a curvilinear prism-like structure and a curvilinear roof mirror, into a transparent wall of the container housing. The cartridge, comprising the ink container and associated printhead, is mounted on a scan carriage. Periodically, the carriage is conveyed to a sensing station comprising a pair of light sources and a commonly used photosensor. A first light source is energized and a beam of light is directed to a location where the curvilinear roof mirror would be positioned if the cartridge is present. If the cartridge is absent, lack of a reflected return signal is sensed, indicating a cartridge has not been inserted. Print operation is halted until a cartridge is inserted. If a cartridge is properly inserted, the curvilinear roof mirror returns most of the incident light to the photosensor which generates a signal indicating the presence of the cartridge. A second light source is then energized and directed towards the curvilinear prism-like structure, which is either immersed in ink or exposed to air within the interior of the container. If the latter, light is internally reflected by the curved surfaces back to the photosensor. If a print operation has been in progress, and the ink level has fallen, the common photosensor detects either a strong or weak redirected light component and initiates a status check and generates appropriate displays of low ink level or out of ink warnings.

Sensing system for detecting presence of an ink container

A printhead cartridge identification system is disclosed which ensures that an ink jet printer operates only with ink jet cartridges compatible with the specific printer function. An ink container which supplies ink to an associated printhead has a light reflector incorporated into a transparent wall of the ink container housing. The cartridge, comprising the ink container and associated printhead, is mounted on a scan carriage. Periodically, the carriage is conveyed to an optical station comprising a light source and a photosensor. The light source is energized and a beam of light is directed towards the reflector.

Ink jet printer with sensing system for identifying various types of printhead cartridges

A fluid cartridge, such as a cartridge for filling with ink for use in ink jet printhead includes a wick chamber that has outer walls, and forms a wick chamber and a fluid chamber. The outer walls of the fluid chamber are formed to provide no fluid communication with the fluid chamber except through the wick chamber. The ink fluid cartridge is filled by evacuating gas from the ink chamber and from the wick chamber, and then supplying ink into the wick chamber until the ink substantially saturates the wick material, and flows into the ink chamber.

Liquid ink cartridge and improved filling method

Portion of an ink tank

Positioning guide for an ink tank

Ink tank

A fluid cartridge, such as a cartridge for filling with ink for use in ink jet printhead includes a wick chamber that has outer walls, including a top wall, and an ink chamber formed of a plurality of outer walls. A fluid conduit connects the ink chamber and the wick chamber. The outer walls of the ink chamber are formed to provide no fluid communication between the ink chamber and the ambient environment, except through the fluid conduit and the wick chamber. A vent opening through the top wall of the wick chamber provides communication between the wick chamber and the ambient environment, and an outlet opening through an outer wall other than the top wall of the wick chamber provides fluid communication for the ink to flow from the wick chamber. A vent tube extends from the vent opening into the interior of the wick chamber, and projections extend from the top wall of the wick chamber into the interior of the wick chamber, farther than does the vent tube.

Growing community of inventors

Hemlock, NY, United States of America

Dennis M Lengyel