The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 05, 2021
Filed:
Apr. 19, 2018
Desktop Metal, Inc., Burlington, MA (US);
Paul Titchener, Cambridge, MA (US);
Desktop Metal, Inc., Burlington, MA (US);
Abstract
An apparatus, and corresponding method, feeds build material, in the form of rods, to a drive system in a three-dimensional (3D) printing system. The apparatus dispenses a rod to a media tray and into a first groove defined by a flipper arm. The flipper arm is in a substantially horizontal position supported by a bottom ridge of the media tray. The flipper arm is rotated away from the bottom ridge and toward a stopper coupled to the flipper arm and the media tray. The stopper defines a second groove. The apparatus deposits the rod into the drive system via a feed shaft formed by the first and second grooves of the flipper arm and stopper, respectively. The apparatus enables high-speed 3D printing using the rods by overcoming challenges in loading the rods due to brittleness of the rods.