Feed channel keying for solid ink stick feed

• US 20030202064A1
• Filed: 04/29/2002
• Published: 10/30/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Mattern, Frederick T., Jones, Brent R., Crawford, Timothy L.
• Granted Patent: US 6,719,419 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 347/88
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/17593 Supplying ink in a solid state

Abstract

A solid ink feed system for a phase change printer includes a solid ink feed channel that has formed in it a feed channel key that either blocks a solid ink stick from complete insertion into the feed channel, or blocks passage of an ink stick along the length of the feed channel, unless the ink stick has a key element corresponding to the feed channel key. A solid ink stick is formed of a three dimensional ink stick body with a key element that extends along a surface of the ink stick body through the rear of the ink stick body.

Claims

1. An ink stick for use in a solid ink feed system of a phase change ink jet printer, the ink stick comprising:

an ink stick body, wherein the ink stick body comprises;

a front;

a rear; and

one or more longitudinal surfaces connecting the front and the rear; and

at least one key element formed in one of the longitudinal surfaces;

wherein the key element extends along the longitudinal surface through the rear of the ink stick body.

2. The ink stick of claim 1, wherein:

the rear of the ink stick body comprises a rear surface;

the ink stick body has a length between the front and the rear surface; and

the key element extends along only a portion of the length of the longitudinal surface so that it does not intersect the front of the ink stick body.

3. The ink stick of claim 1, wherein:

the front of the ink stick body comprises a front extremity;

the rear of the ink stick body comprises a rear extremity; and

the ink stick body has a length between the front and rear extremities; and

the key element extends along the length of the longitudinal surface to intersect both the front extremity and the rear extremity at the general depth of the key element.

4. The ink stick of claim 3, wherein the key element is a recess.

5. The ink stick of claim 4, wherein the key element is a protrusion.

6. The ink stick of claim 3, wherein:

the one or more longitudinal surfaces comprise a generally top surface, a generally bottom surface, and one or more side surfaces between the top surface and the bottom surface; and

the key element is part of the top surface.

7. The ink stick of claim 3, wherein:

the one or more longitudinal surfaces comprise a generally top surface, a generally bottom surface, and one or more side surfaces between the top surface and the bottom surface; and

the key element is part of the bottom surface.

8. The ink stick of claim 3, wherein:

the one or more longitudinal surfaces comprise a top surface, a bottom surface, and one or more side surfaces between the top surface and the bottom surface; and

the key element is on at least one of the side surfaces.

9. An ink stick for use in a feed channel of a solid ink feed system of a phase change ink jet printer, the ink stick comprising:

an ink stick body;

keying means formed in the ink stick body for permitting the ink stick to pass through a keyed feed channel of the solid ink feed system.

10. The ink stick of claim 9, wherein the feed channel of the solid ink feed system is longitudinal, and wherein:

the ink stick is adapted to pass along the length of the longitudinal feed channel; and

the keying means permits the ink stick to pass a feed channel key as the ink stick passes along the length of the feed channel.

11. The ink stick of claim 10, wherein:

the keying means comprises a key element having a predetermined shape corresponding to the feed channel key formed in the feed channel.

12. The ink stick of claim 11, wherein:

the ink stick body has a length;

the ink stick body comprises a three dimensional body having a plurality of longitudinal surfaces extending along the length of the ink stick body; and

the ink stick key element comprises a recess formed along the full length of at least one of the longitudinal surfaces.

13. The ink stick of claim 11, wherein:

the ink stick body has a length;

the ink stick body comprises a three dimensional body having a plurality of longitudinal surfaces extending along the length of the ink stick body; and

the ink stick key element comprises a recess formed along only a portion of the length of at least one of the longitudinal surfaces.

14. A method of feeding solid ink to a melt plate of a phase change ink printer, the method comprising:

placing an ink stick in a solid ink feed channel wherein;

one end of the feed channel is adjacent the melt plate;

moving the ink stick along the solid ink feed channel past a feed channel key in the solid ink feed channel if the ink stick has a key element corresponding to the feed channel key; and

blocking the ink stick at the feed channel key in the solid ink feed channel if the ink stick does not have a key element corresponding to the feed channel key.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein:

placing the ink stick in a solid ink feed channel comprises placing the ink stick partially in the solid ink feed channel; and

blocking the ink stick if the feed channel key comprises blocking the ink stick from full insertion into the feed channel.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein:

placing the ink stick in a solid ink feed channel comprises fully inserting the ink stick in the solid ink feed channel; and

the method additionally comprises moving the ink stick along a portion of a length of the feed channel prior to either the moving or blocking steps.

17. A solid ink feed system for a phase change ink jet printer, the feed system comprising:

at least one solid ink feed channel; and

keying means to block passage along the feed channel of an ink stick that does not have a corresponding ink stick keying means.

18. The solid ink feed system of claim 17, wherein the keying means comprises a feed channel key formed in the feed channel.

19. The solid ink feed system of claim 18, wherein the feed channel key comprises a protrusion into the feed channel.

20. The solid ink feed system of claim 17, additionally comprising:

an ink stick;

wherein the ink stick has an ink stick keying means.

21. The solid ink feed system of claim 20, wherein the ink stick keying means comprises a recessed key element that extends along at least a portion of the length of the ink stick.

22. The solid in feed system of claim 21, wherein the ink stick recess is shaped to permit the ink stick to pass the feed key element protrusion in the feed channel.

23. A plurality of ink sticks for use in a phase change ink jet printer, the ink sticks comprising:

a first ink stick comprising a first ink stick body having a first ink stick length and a first key element extending along the first ink stick length;

a second ink stick comprising a second ink stick body having a second ink stick length and a second key element extending along the second ink stick length;

wherein the second key element is different from the first key element.

24. The plurality of ink sticks of claim 23, wherein the second key element has a different shape from the first key element.

25. The plurality of ink sticks of claim 23, wherein the second key element has a different position on the second ink stick body than does the first key element on the first ink stick body.

26. An ink stick for use in a feed channel of a solid ink feed system of a phase change ink jet printer, the ink stick comprising:

a three dimensional ink stick body;

a key element formed in the ink stick body for permitting the ink stick to pass a correspondingly shaped and positioned key in the feed channel.

27. The ink stick of claim 26, wherein the key element is an elongate recess in a surface of the three dimensional ink stick body.