Replaceable ink delivery tube system for large format printer
First Claim
1. A replaceable ink delivery tube system for a large format printer comprising:
- a) a plurality of flexible ink delivery tubes;
b) a printhead connector affixed to an ink delivery end of each of said tubes, said printhead connector having resilient finger engageable tabs thereon for attaching said printhead connector to a printer carriage, said tabs being engageable with recesses in said printer carriage, said printhead connector also having frangible lockout tabs thereon to permit connection of said printhead connector only to a mating printhead, selected ones of said tabs being removed whereby the remaining tabs are receivable in mating recesses on selected printheads to prevent incorrect printheads from being inadvertently attached to said printhead connector; and
c) an ink reservoir connector affixed to an ink supply end of each of said tubes;
said ink reservoir connector having lockout means thereon to permit connection of said ink reservoir connector only to ink reservoirs having mating lockout means thereon.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A replaceable ink delivery tube system for a large format ink jet printer includes four flexible ink delivery tubes arranged in parallel and each permanently connected at one end to a printhead connector and at the other end to an off-axis ink reservoir receiving connector which, when mounted in the printer, is accessible from the front side of the printer to insert and remove four separate ink reservoirs from the ink reservoir connector. Lockouts are provided at both the printhead connector and ink reservoir connector ends of the replaceable delivery tube system to ensure that only ink reservoirs and printheads of the correct type can be attached to the replaceable system. The replaceable ink delivery tube system enables rapid modification of a printer to accept either pigment based or dye-based inks and the lockouts prevent pigment based ink reservoirs and printheads from being connected to a dye-based ink replaceable tube system or vice versa. Although access to the rear side of the printer is required for replacement of the ink delivery tube system, the off-axis ink reservoirs and onboard printheads are all replaceable from the front side of the printer.
41 Citations
37 Claims
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1. A replaceable ink delivery tube system for a large format printer comprising:
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a) a plurality of flexible ink delivery tubes;
b) a printhead connector affixed to an ink delivery end of each of said tubes, said printhead connector having resilient finger engageable tabs thereon for attaching said printhead connector to a printer carriage, said tabs being engageable with recesses in said printer carriage, said printhead connector also having frangible lockout tabs thereon to permit connection of said printhead connector only to a mating printhead, selected ones of said tabs being removed whereby the remaining tabs are receivable in mating recesses on selected printheads to prevent incorrect printheads from being inadvertently attached to said printhead connector; and
c) an ink reservoir connector affixed to an ink supply end of each of said tubes;
said ink reservoir connector having lockout means thereon to permit connection of said ink reservoir connector only to ink reservoirs having mating lockout means thereon.- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A large format printer comprising:
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a) a moveable printhead carriage having a plurality of printheads thereon;
b) a plurality of ink reservoirs on said printer; and
c) a replaceable ink delivery tube system for delivering ink from said reservoirs to said printheads, said replaceable system comprising;
1) a plurality of bundled flexible ink delivery tubes;
2) a printhead connector affixed to an ink delivery end of each of said tubes, said printhead connector having resilient finger engageable tabs thereon attaching said printhead connector to said printhead carriage, said tabs being engageable with recesses in said printhead carriage, said printhead connector also having frangible lockout tabs thereon to permit connection of said printhead connector only to mating printheads, selected ones of said tabs being removed whereby the remaining tabs are received in mating recesses on selected printheads to prevent incorrect printheads from being inadvertently attached to said printhead connector; and
3) an ink reservoir connector affixed to an ink supply end of each of said tubes;
said ink reservoir connector having lockout means thereon to permit connection of said ink reservoir connector only to ink reservoirs having mating lockout means thereon.- View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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Specification