US 6,190,454 B1 · Printer cartridge

Abstract

A cartridge for use with a printing apparatus of the type typically employed for digital printing in which a painting material is deposited in metered amounts on a print medium comprises a housing containing a drive wheel, a first idler disposed in a paint reservoir, a wire disposed around the wheel and the idler, and an air nozzle having at least one nozzle orifice therein for directing a jet of air toward said wire. As the drive wheel is rotated, as with an external drive mechanism, paint contained within the paint reservoir coats the wire and is drawn by the wire in the path of the air jet. The air jet removes at least a portion of the paint from the wire and deposits the paint onto a print medium. By employing a plurality of such cartridges into a single print head, each containing a different color of paint, a color image can be painted onto a print medium.

Claims48

Dependent claims

A replaceable cartridge for use with a printer for depositing a metered amount of a painting material on a surface, comprising:

a housing;
a painting material reservoir associated with said housing for containing a quantity of a painting material;
a drive wheel rotatably mounted within said housing;
a first idler rotatably mounted relative to said housing for positioning within said painting material reservoir;
a wire tensioning device mounted within said housing;
and
a wire disposed around said drive wheel for being advanced by said drive wheel, around at least a portion of said first idler, and biased by said wire tensioning device.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Printer cartridge

Life of this patent

Printer cartridge

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims48