Ink-delivery apparatus
US5473354A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 26, 1994 |
| Grant date | Dec 5, 1995 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 26, 2014 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC B)Performing Operations; Transporting
- CPC primaryB41J2/175
- WIPO fieldTextile and paper machines
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
A thin sleeve covering multiple, flexible ink-delivery tubes connecting ink sources to a reciprocable carriage-mounted printhead in an ink-jet printer is sealed around each tube preventing any tube from physically interacting with any other tube. The sleeve provides structural support for the tubes and eliminates entangling of the tubes. In addition, the sleeve can minimize the unwanted diffusion or evaporation of volatile ink constituents through the tubes' sidewalls by maintaining an equilibrious condition on either side of the tubes' sidewalls between the ink inside tube and the diffused volatile ink constituents that are disposed outside the tube but contained inside the sleeve.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.