Multicomponent Refillable Toner Delivery System

This invention is an improvement on the ink delivery system described and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,937, entitled Ink Delivery System, inventor George T. Kaplinsky, one of the inventors herein.

This invention relates to ink-jet printers, and, more particularly, to a printer head with associated means for delivering a multicolor or multicomponent toner supply; the delivering means are refillable.

In U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,937, various prior art ink delivery systems are described as well as some of the problems associated therewith. The patent describes a new system which is designed to overcome prior art problems. The new patented system comprises a toner bag, a print head, a bladder for delivering toner to the print head at a controlled pressure, a valve for controlling the flow of toner from the bag to bladder and separately from the bladder to the print head.

It is an advantage of the present invention that it provides a toner delivery system that is capable of delivering toners of different colors, toners of the same color but different optical densities, or two or more components which will react when over-printed on a printing medium to develop alphanumeric symbols or color.

It is a further advantage in that it provides a system that is capable of printing a wide range of colors.

It is still another advantage in that it also provides a system that is easy to manufacture and capable of delivering a steady supply of toner with a minimum of supervision.

The delivery system of the present invention can be used with a number of different liquids, as noted above. It will now be described and illustrated in the Figs. as a system for delivering three liquid components, in this case different colored inks. If a system for delivering two, four, five, or more liquids is desired, the corresponding number of ink bags, bladders, valves, inlet grooves, outlet grooves, etc. will be used. In addition, inks of the same color but different optical densities, or separate components that will react and develop on the print medium can be substituted.

Accordingly, a tricolor ink delivery system, having refillable bladders is described. The tricolor ink delivery system comprises:

(a) three ink bags or reservoirs for storing quantities of different colored inks;

(b) a printhead capable of delivering inks of at least three different colors to a printing medium;

(c) three bladders for providing a supply of ink of a selected color from each of the bladders to predetermined nozzles in a print head;

(d) a valve associated with each bladder for providing a closed mode, a refill mode for conveying ink from a reservoir to the bladder, and a print mode for conveying ink from the bladder to the printhead; and

(e) support means for maintaining the reservoir, the printhead, the bladders and the valves in cooperative association.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the ink delivery system of the present invention, excluding the printhead;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of a valve which may be used in this invention;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view showing the relation of the rotating means and the three valves;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation view taken along the line 4--4 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an exploded top perspective view of an upper manifold, gasket, and lower manifold; and

FIG. 6 is an exploded bottom perspective view of an upper manifold, gasket, and lower manifold.

Referring to the drawings wherein like numerals of reference designate like elements throughout, a system for delivering ink to an ink-jet print head is shown generally at 1. It comprises generally three ink reservoirs 3a, 3b and 3c, which can be detachably secured to housing 19. Within housing 19 are three bladders 5a, 5b, and 5c, which are mounted on a three layer platform comprising top manifold 17, gasket 15, and lower manifold 13. Near the top of housing 19 is dimpler system 7, which is supported by resilient supports 11. On the top of housing 19 is dimpler access hole 9. Bladders 5a, 5b and 5c are preferably molded from elastomeric material.

Bladders 5a, 5b and 5c are each provided with a valve such as valve 21, illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 4. Valve 21 has a molded gear 23 at the base, a vertical flow pipe 25, inlet port 27, and outlet port 29.

FIG. 3 illustrates how the three gears 23a, 23b and 23c, mesh with rotating means (sun gear) 31.

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the ink delivery system 1 taken on the line 4--4 in FIG. 1. Ink from reservoir 3b flows through inlet groove 37b located in the bottom of upper manifold 17 through inlet port 27b, then up through vertical flow pipe 25b, and into bladder 5b through outlet 29b. By rotating sun gear 31 90.degree., the flow of ink can be stopped because valve 21b is rotated as well. When sun gear 31 is rotated an additional 90.degree., thus again rotating valve 21b, outlet port 27b is aligned with outlet groove 45b in the bottom surface of upper manifold 17. After passing through outlet grooves 45a, 45b and 45c in gasket 15, the ink flows through outlet ports 47a, 47b and 47c to a printhead (not shown). In bottom manifold 13, gears 23a, 23b and 23c are positioned around sun gear 31, as illustrated in FIG. 4. Flow pipes 25a, 25b and 25c extend through holes 43a, 43b and 43c in manifolds 13 and 17 and gasket 15.

Gears 23a, b, and c as well as sun gear 31 fit in recess 49, which is located in the under surface of lower manifold 13 and shown in FIG. 6c.

Actuator 40 with key 38 fits into groove 33 in the base of sun gear 31. As shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,937, the valves can be rotated automatically to allow ink to flow into the bladders, or from the bladders to the printhead, or stop the flow entirely.

When the bladders are full of ink, dimpler impeller 39 is pushed against dimpler system 7 through hole 9. For this operation, valves 21 are in the reservoir-to-bladder mode, thus allowing excess ink return to the reservoirs. With the dimplers 35 still dimpling bladders 5, valves 21 are rotated to the bladder-to-printhead mode. The dimplers are then withdrawn, the printhead is primed and wiped as necessary, and the system is ready to print.

This system accommodates three colors; conventionally Cyan, Yellow and Magenta. As known in the prior art, a wide range of colors can be obtained by selective overprinting of these colors. The system also allows for a narrower and lighter pen, which will help in the fabrication of printers and plotters having a smaller footprint than otherwise attainable.

The tri-color ink delivery system of the invention is expected to find use in printers capable of providing full color printing.

Thus, there has been disclosed in some detail a tricolor ink delivery system, especially for printers. It will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that several changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For instance, the location of the valve, ink bag, bladder and printhead are not critical so long as they can cooperatively function as indicated herein. All such changes and modifications are deemed to fall within the scope of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.