Claims
- 1. An ink dispensing roll, comprising:
- (a) a first hollow and substantially cylindrical member with a plurality of holes extending therethrough only in a defined region located near one end of said first member;
- (b) a second substantially cylindrical member defining with said first member an annularly shaped cavity volume extending along the entire width of said defined region and terminating substantially at the end of said region and directed away from said one end of said first member;
- (c) said first member also defining a reservoir volume for ink positioned in fluid communication with said cavity volume, said reservoir volume being substantially greater than said cavity volume; and
- (d) ink impregnable means secured to and around the outer surface of said first cylindrical member only over said defined region for absorbing ink flowing through said holes from said cavity volume into the interior of said ink impregnable means and for dispensing ink from an exterior surface of said ink impregnable means upon contact with an ink receiving surface.
- 2. The ink dispensing roll of claim 1, wherein said cavity is of annular shape and said reservoir communicates with said cavity at an end portion thereof.
- 3. The ink dispensing roll of claim 2, wherein said reservoir is generally cylindrical and is coaxial with said cavity.
- 4. The ink dispensing roll of claim 1, wherein said ink impregnable means comprises a tubular sheath of an ink impregnated, microporous material disposed in close conforming contact with said cylindrical wall.
- 5. The ink dispensing roll of claim 1 in which said reservoir volume is at least twice said cavity volume.
- 6. The ink dispensing roll of claim 5 in which a ratio of said reservoir volume to said cavity volume is between about 5 to 1 and 20 to 1.
- 7. The ink dispensing roll of claim 5 in which said cavity has a radial thickness of about 0.050" to 0.500".
- 8. The ink dispensing roll of claim 7 in which said annular cavity has a radial thickness of about 0.100" to 0.125".
- 9. An ink dispensing roll capable of uniformly metering and transferring ink to a surface comprising
- (a) a first hollow cylindrical member and an integral first top enclosing one end of said first member, said first member having a plurality of holes extending therethrough only in a defined region near the other end of said first member;
- (b) a second cylindrical member and an integral second top positioned within said first cylindrical member, said first and second members defining an annular cavity therebetween and extending the width of said defined region and terminating at the end of said region toward said first top, said members being sealed together along a lower region of each, said first and second tops and said first member defining a reservoir capable of receiving ink and in communication with said annular cavity, said reservoir having a volume at least twice the volume of said annular cavity; and
- (c) ink impregnable means mounted about said first cylindrical wall only along the defined region thereof for uniformly transferring ink moving from said reservoir into said cavity and through said plurality of holes to an exterior surface in contact with said ink impregnable means.
- 10. The ink dispensing roll of claim 9 in which said first and second cylindrical walls are aligned substantially coaxially.
- 11. The ink dispensing roll of claim 9 in which a ratio of said reservoir volume to said annular cavity volume is between about 5 to 1 and 50 to 1.
- 12. The ink dispensing roll of claim 11 in which said annular cavity has a radial thickness of between about 0.050" to 0.500".
- 13. The ink dispensing roll of claim 12 in which said annular cavity has a radial thickness of between about 0.100" to 0.250".
RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation-in-part of our application Ser. No. 102,866 filed on Sept. 30, 1987 and entitled Self-Metering Gravity Fed Ink Dispensing Roller and assigned to the same assignees as the present application.
US Referenced Citations (7)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
602027 |
Dec 1925 |
FRX |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
102866 |
Sep 1987 |
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