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. 17, 2006
Filed:
Mar. 26, 2004
Brent R. Jones, Tualatin, OR (US);
Frederick T. Mattern, Portland, OR (US);
Barry D. Reeves, Lake Oswego, OR (US);
Timothy L. Crawford, Saint Paul, OR (US);
James D. Rise, Lake Oswego, OR (US);
Brent R. Jones, Tualatin, OR (US);
Frederick T. Mattern, Portland, OR (US);
Barry D. Reeves, Lake Oswego, OR (US);
Timothy L. Crawford, Saint Paul, OR (US);
James D. Rise, Lake Oswego, OR (US);
Xerox Corporation, Stamford, CT (US);
Abstract
An ink stick for a solid ink feed system of a phase change ink printer includes an ink stick body having an insertion perimeter, and a guide surface with a shaped guide element shaped to interact with an elongate shaped guide rail of the solid ink feed system. The ink stick insertion perimeter is in a plane substantially perpendicular to the insertion direction, and the insertion direction and the feed direction are different. The insertion perimeter has at least one perimeter section forming a nonlinear key element that matches in size and shape a nonlinear key element in the perimeter of the key plate insertion opening. In particular implementations, the insertion perimeter forms a visually recognizable symbol, such as an alphanumeric character. In particular implementations, a plurality of ink sticks form a set in which the visually recognizable symbols differ from one another, and may form a pattern of symbols, such as a sequence of alphanumeric characters.