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. 13, 1998
Filed:
Sep. 30, 1997
Richard Sutera, Schaumburg, IL (US);
Ronald Stephen Modica, Franklin Park, IL (US);
Mairi Campbell MacLean, South Elgin, IL (US);
Jaroslaw Sterna, Barrington, IL (US);
Videojet Systems International, Inc., Wood Dale, IL (US);
Abstract
A continuous ink jet printing system for use with a hot-melt ink, comprising a supply chamber for retaining said ink in a liquid form, means for applying heat to the ink in said chamber to maintain said ink in a liquid form, means for conveying said ink in liquid form from said chamber to a printhead for projection toward a substrate to be marked, catcher means for collecting any of said ink that is not directed to said substrate, means for returning the collected ink as a liquid to the supply chamber, and means for maintaining the ink as a liquid while it is being returned to said supply chamber. Also disclosed is an ink jet nozzle for use in printing hot-melt inks at elevated temperatures comprising an ink jet nozzle body, a transducer, means for acoustically coupling said transducer to said body, and means for maintaining said transducer acoustically coupled to said body at elevated temperatures. Also disclosed is a flexible, heated umbilical tube comprising an inner tube having an inside wall and an outside wall, a heating element that is adjacent the outer wall of the tube, and an insulating layer that surrounds the heating element and thermally insulates it from the environment.