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:
Nov. 23, 1999
Filed:
Mar. 18, 1998
Applicant:
Inventors:
Ronald W Hall, Corvallis, OR (US);
David R Otis, Jr, Corvallis, OR (US);
Assignee:
Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
B41J / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
347 92 ;
Abstract
An apparatus and method for removing air or other gases from a free-ink ink-jet pen is provided in a manner that does not waste ink or require disposal of purged ink. A gas separation and purge mechanism is incorporated into a pen body construct having an ink containment chamber such that gases will rise toward the mechanism. A vacuum is cyclically applied to the gas separation and purge mechanism to remove the gas and to allow the ink containment chamber to refill from a remote reservoir as needed.