| 摘要 |
A system for priming liquid ink writing instruments such as ink jet writers and capillary ink pens is disclosed. A source of ink (12) is pressurized to force ink through the ink jet or other pen (10) so that a small droplet is formed at the jet or pen outlet. As the drop forms at the jet or pen (10), it is eventually drawn away into an adjacent orifice in a collector ring (30) by capillary action. An integrated priming pump (26) serves both to pressurize the ink source (12) to form the ink droplet, and to apply a vacuum to a collector bottle (32) which is coupled via a flow control element (38) to the orifice to remove the ink drawn away into collector ring (30) by capillary action. The priming pump (26) includes a pressure relief valve to ensure that the ink jet or pen is not overpressurized during priming. In ink jet writer applications, the drop removal orifice is formed as a portion of the droplet charging ring.
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