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:
Apr. 01, 1997
Filed:
Mar. 04, 1996
Kohzo Hara, Ebina, JP;
Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An inexpensive ink tank having an ink remaining amount detection section which can be used with ink of any color is disclosed. An optical ink detection section formed from a light transmitting material has an inclined interface and is formed integrally with the ink tank. Incident light from a light source is refracted, when ink is present in the ink tank, at the interface to make refraction light and does not emerge to a visual observation portion. When no ink is present, the incident light is totally reflected by the interface to make total reflection light, which can be visually observed at the visual observation portion. A roughened face is formed at the visual observation portion so that light emerging to the visual observation portion may be scattered to facilitate visual observation.