Appeal No. 96-2416
Application 08/206,447
includes a periodically replenished “accumulator” for supplying
pressurized ink to the printhead. The system is said to allow
for easy replacement of an emptied ink bottle with a fresh bottle
without interrupting the operation of the printhead. Claim 1, a
copy of which is appended to this opinion, is illustrative of the
appealed subject matter.
The references of record relied upon by the examiner as
evidence of obviousness are:
Debare 3,738,776 Jun. 12, 1973
Cruz-Uribe et al. 4,340,896 Jul. 20, 1982
(Cruz-Uribe)
Osaki et al. (Osaki) 4,388,630 Jun. 14, 1983
Claims 1-15 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being
unpatentable over Cruz-Uribe in view of Osaki and Debare.
With reference to appellants’ drawing Figure 1, claim 1
requires, inter alia, (a) an accumulator 5 comprising a member 41
movable in the chamber 19 for defining an expansible chamber
means 9 for holding a supply of ink under pressure for delivery
to a printhead 1, (b) a port 103 for delivering ink to the
accumulator from an ink supply 15 and for delivery of ink under
pressure from the accumulator to the printhead, (c) means 85 for
exerting a biasing force on the movable member for pressurizing
the ink, (d) a pump 13 for pumping ink from the ink supply to the
2
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