Free ink system
AssigneeSanford, L.P.
InventorsWolfgang Witz, Ralf Polley, Bernd Bastiansen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A free ink marking instrument for dispensing an ink, including a housing, a reservoir for storing ink within the housing, a feed tube to convey ink communicating with the reservoir, a tip disposed within the feed tube for conveying ink to a substrate at a marking end of the tip, a porous buffer disposed within the housing adjacent the feed tube and configured for storing ink during periods of a decreasing pressure differential between the reservoir and the atmosphere, and bubble separation area in the form of either a hole in the feed tube or a hole or passage formed between the feed tube and the tip, is disclosed.
Claims27
A free ink marking instrument for dispensing an ink, comprising:
- a housing;
- a reservoir for storing fluid ink within the housing;
- a feed tube to convey fluid ink, communicating with the reservoir;
- a porous tip disposed within the feed tube for conveying ink to a substrate at a marking end of the tip;
- a porous buffer disposed within the housing adjacent the feed tube and configured for storing ink during periods of a decreasing pressure differential between the reservoir and the atmosphere;
- a passage formed between the outside surface of the tip and the inside surface of the feed tube, wherein the passage has a mean thickness of about 0.010 in. to about 0.025 in.
A free ink marking instrument for dispensing an ink, comprising:
- a housing;
- a reservoir for storing fluid ink within the housing;
- a feed tube to convey fluid ink, communicating with the reservoir;
- a porous tip disposed within the feed tube for conveying ink to a substrate at a marking end of the tip;
- a porous buffer disposed within the housing adjacent the feed tube and configured for storing ink during periods of a decreasing pressure differential between the reservoir and the atmosphere;
- and
- a vent hole in the feed tube, the vent hole being disposed at a distance greater than the length of the tip, measured from the marking end of the tip.
A free ink marking instrument for dispensing an ink, comprising:
- a housing;
- a reservoir for storing fluid ink within the housing;
- a feed tube to convey fluid ink, communicating with the reservoir, wherein the feed tube has primary and secondary ends at one extremity;
- a porous tip disposed within the extremity of the feed tube having primary and secondary ends;
- a porous buffer disposed within the housing adjacent the feed tube and configured for storing ink during periods of a decreasing pressure differential between the reservoir and the atmosphere;
- and
- a vent hole formed between a secondary end of the feed tube and a butt end of the tip disposed within the feed tube.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.