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:
Sep. 17, 2002
Filed:
Jan. 04, 2001
Utako Kitoba, Kyoto, JP;
Kosuke Sasai, Kobe, JP;
Minolta Co., Ltd., Osaka, JP;
Abstract
An ink supply device that has a roller a part of which is submerged in ink and supplies ink from an ink container based on the rotation of the roller, wherein an object thereof is to prevent the solvent, the main ingredient of the ink, from evaporating and escaping from the container, and to supply ink in a stable fashion. To that end, the relationship (A/B) between the opening area A (the area of the opening of the container) and the ink surface area B (the sum of the area of the ink surface other than the part thereof in which the roller is submerged and the area of the ink surface carried on the roller above the ink surface) is set to be smaller than 1 (<1) when an ink supply mode is present. When an ink non-supply mode is present, the relationship (A/B) between the opening area A (the area of the opening of the container from which the area of the part thereof taken up by the roller is subtracted) and the ink surface area B (the area of the ink surface other than the part thereof in which the roller is submerged) is set to be smaller than 1 (<1).