Geometric ink channels for ink cartridge
AssigneeSeiko Epson Corporation
InventorsBruce S. Jones, William A. Putman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An ink supply tank has a plurality of walls forming a cavity and a bottom wall formed with an ink outlet port. An ink absorbing member is disposed within the cavity positioned adjacent the ink outlet port. A plurality of grooves are recessed within the bottom wall and have a depth which gradually increases toward the ink outlet port. The grooves are approximately parallel to and are equally spaced apart from each other. The grooves extend along the longitudinal axis of the tank and are of the same width. A pair of grooves also extend along a transverse axis of the tank and are positioned on opposed sides of the ink outlet port and are parallel to each other. The transverse grooves have a width greater than the width of the longitudinal grooves.
Claims20
An ink supply cartridge for an ink-jet printer comprising:
- an ink supply tank having a plurality of walls forming a cavity and a bottom wall formed with an ink outlet port in said bottom wall;
- an ink absorbing member disposed within said cavity positioned adjacent said ink outlet port;
- and
- a groove recessed within said bottom wall for transferring ink to said ink outlet port, wherein said groove has a width which remains constant and a depth which gradually increases toward said ink outlet port.
An ink supply cartridge for an ink-jet printer comprising:
- an ink supply tank having a plurality of walls forming a cavity and a bottom wall formed with an ink outlet port in said bottom wall;
- an ink absorbing member disposed within said cavity positioned adjacent said ink outlet port;
- and,
- a groove recessed within said bottom wall for transferring ink to said ink outlet port, wherein said groove has a depth which gradually increases toward said ink outlet port, said groove comprises a plurality of grooves which are approximately parallel to and equally spaced from each other, said grooves extend along a longitudinal axis of said tank, a pair of grooves along a transverse axis of said tank wherein said transverse grooves are positioned on opposed sides of said ink outlet port and are generally parallel to each other.
An ink supply cartridge for an ink-jet printer comprising:
- an ink supply tank having a plurality of side walls and a bottom wall formed with an ink outlet port in said bottom wall;
- an ink absorbing member positioned adjacent said bottom wall in between said side walls;
- and,
- a groove in said bottom wall, said groove having sections along a longitudinal axis of said tank and sections along a transverse axis of said tank, said longitudinal sections and transverse sections are connected at their respective ends with the respective interconnected sections being approximately normal to each other to form a serpentine groove.
An ink supply cartridge for an ink-jet printer comprising:
- an ink supply tank having a plurality of side walls and a bottom wall formed with an ink outlet port in said bottom wall;
- an ink absorbing member positioned adjacent said bottom wall and between said side walls;
- a filter element positioned on said bottom wall between said ink absorbing member and said bottom wall;
- and
- at least one groove in said bottom wall, said at least one groove having longitudinal sections which are approximately normal to transverse sections, said at least one groove having sections that extend from one side of said ink outlet port to an opposite side of said ink outlet port.
An ink supply cartridge for an ink-jet printer comprising:
- an ink supply tank having a plurality of side walls and a bottom wall formed with an ink outlet port in said bottom wall;
- an ink absorbing member positioned adjacent said bottom wall and between said side walls;
- a filter element positioned on said bottom wall between said ink absorbing member and said bottom wall;
- and,
- at least one groove having sections which are approximately normal to each other and extend from one side of said ink outlet port to an opposite side of said ink outlet port wherein said groove is of a uniform depth and width.
An ink supply cartridge for an ink-jet printer comprising:
- an ink supply tank having a plurality of side walls and a bottom wall formed with an ink outlet port in said bottom wall;
- an ink absorbing member positioned adjacent said bottom wall and between said side walls;
- a filter element positioned on said bottom wall between said ink absorbing member and said bottom wall;
- and,
- at least one groove having sections which are approximately normal to each other and extend from one side of said ink outlet port to an opposite side of said ink outlet port wherein said groove forms a serpentine configuration.
The ink supply cartridge for an ink-jet printer comprising:
- an ink supply tank having a plurality of side walls and a bottom wall formed with an ink outlet port in said bottom wall;
- a recess portion within said bottom wall surrounding said ink outlet port;
- a filter element positioned on said bottom wall and fitted within said recess portion said filter element having a thickness approximately equal to the depth of said recess portion;
- and
- an ink absorbing member positioned above said bottom wall in between said side walls.
An ink supply cartridge for an ink-jet printer comprising:
- an ink supply tank having a plurality of walls forming a cavity and a bottom wall formed with an ink outlet port in said bottom wall;
- an ink absorbing member disposed within said cavity positioned adjacent said ink outlet port;
- a plurality of grooves recessed within said bottom wall for transferring ink to said ink outlet port, wherein each of said grooves has a depth which gradually increases towards said ink outlet port, wherein said grooves are generally parallel and are equally spaced apart, said grooves extend along a longitudinal axis of said cartridge;
- and,
- a pair of grooves along a transverse axis of said cartridge, said grooves being positioned on opposed sides of said ink outlet port and being generally parallel to each other.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.