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. 30, 1990
Filed:
Jul. 26, 1989
James L Ruder, Escondido, CA (US);
Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
An ink jet printer (30) includes a print head reservoir container (14) having a colorant refill needle (26) extending from the exterior to the interior thereof and a vacuum port (24) therein, and a service station (50) having a valve (52) that controllably connects the refill needle (26) to a colorant supply (56) and controllably connects the vacuum port (24) to a vacuum manifold (60). Colorant is added to the reservoir container (14) by first drawing a vacuum on the interior of the reservoir container (14) with the vacuum manifold (60) connected to the vacuum port (24) and with the refill needle (26) sealed, and then sealing the vacuum port (24), placing the refill needle (26) in communication with the exterior colorant supply (56), and permitting the partial vacuum in the interior of the reservoir container (14) to draw colorant from the colorant supply (56) into the interior of the reservoir container (14).