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:
Jan. 09, 2001
Filed:
Feb. 13, 1997
Curtis R. Droege, St. Clair County, IL (US);
Donald E. Sherman, St. Louis County, MO (US);
Kevin W. Kuester, St. Clair County, IL (US);
Marconi Data Systems Inc., Wood Dale, IL (US);
Abstract
This invention relates to a check valve (,) for use in an ink supply line (,) of an ink jet printing system (,) between an ink reservoir (,) and an inkjet printhead (,) so as to prevent de-priming of the printhead upon the latter being subjected to impact loads or the like. Specifically, the improvement of this invention comprises a one-piece check valve (,) of an elastomeric material having a flapper valve (,) movable between a closed position in which the flapper valve blocks the backflow of ink and an open position in which ink is free to flow past the check valve member to the printhead. The flapper valve (,) is defined by a slot (,) separating the flapper valve from the outer margin (,) of the check valve (,) and the flapper valve is integrally joined to the outer margin by a hinge portion (,) so as to enable movement of the flapper valve between its open and closed positions.