Appeal No. 1998-1440 Page 2
Application No. 08/368,452
from which to eject ink. In the ink reservoir, a foam ink pad
prevents ink from leaking through the holes.
The foam ink pad typically contains unreacted foam
materials and foam by-products produced while manufacturing
the foam. Such materials are leached out of the foam by the
ink in the reservoir. Over time, the materials clog the holes
of the nozzle plate.
The invention involves immersing a foam ink pad in cold,
deionized water for at least six hours. Such immersion
removes residual materials from the pad, thereby reducing
clogging of the holes of an associated nozzle plate.
Claim 4, which is representative for our purposes,
follows:
4. A process for removing an oily material
from polyether polyurethane foam ink pads used in
reservoirs of inkjet print cartridges, comprising
the steps of a) contacting said polyether
polyurethane foam ink pads with cold deionized water
for a time period of at least about six (6) hours
and b) removing said polyether polyurethane foam
pads from contact with said cold deionized water.
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007