Method For Manufacturing Solid Ink Sticks With An Injection Molding Process
AssigneeXerox Corporation
InventorsTerry Alan Smith, Edward Francis Burress
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method manufactures solid ink sticks by forming a solid ink paste and injecting the paste into a mold having internal cavities. The solid ink paste can be formed by mixing liquid ink and solid ink in a barrel of an injection molding machine. The liquid ink is formed by melting solid ink particulates in the barrel with a heated conveyor and the solid ink particulates are maintained in a solid phase by cooling a portion of the barrel. Movement produced by the heated conveyor mixes the liquid ink and the solid ink in an area between the cooled portion of the barrel and the heated conveyor.
Claims20
A method for manufacturing solid ink sticks comprising:
- generating a solid ink paste by mixing solid ink particulates with melted solid ink particulates within a barrel;
- injecting a portion of the solid ink paste under pressure into a mold having at least two separable shells that form ink stick cavities, the mold being maintained within a temperature range that enables the solid ink paste injected into the mold to form a skin upon contact with a wall of one of the ink stick cavities in the mold;
- and
- separating the shells of the mold to release solid ink sticks from the ink stick cavities in the mold.
A method for manufacturing solid ink sticks comprising:
- generating a paste of ink material;
- and
- injecting a portion of the paste of ink material into a cooled mold having internal cavities to form solid ink sticks.
The method of 19 further comprising:
- cooling the barrel to a temperature within a temperature range of about 45 degrees C. to about 65 degrees C.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.