Patents by Inventor NEAL D. MCFARLAND

NEAL D. MCFARLAND has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8567932
    Abstract: A consumable supply item for an imaging device holds an initial or refillable volume of ink. Users orient a housing to deplete the ink in a direction of gravity toward a bottom of the interior. The imaging device has a rotating latch. The latch mates with a top of the supply item to keep in place the supply item. Fluid exit and air venting ports reside on a side of the housing that gets inserted first into a container slot of the imaging device. A space separates the ports so a biasing member can push against the housing to assist in ejecting the supply item upon users activating the latch. The ports are separated a maximum distance to facilitate the ejection, while the exit port remains near a bottom to minimize stranding ink. Further embodiments note arrangements, distances and consumer features, to name a few.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2013
    Assignee: Funai Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Edmund H. James, III, Neal D. McFarland, Steven R. Komplin, Randal S. Williamson
  • Patent number: 8491107
    Abstract: A consumable supply item for an imaging device holds an initial or refillable volume of pigmented ink. Its housing defines an interior and exterior. The interior retains the ink and an exit port supplies it to an imaging device. Users orient the housing to deplete the ink in a direction of gravity toward a bottom surface of the interior en route to the exit port. The ink passes through a mixing chamber having inlet ports arranged to restrict to multiple different heights the entrance of the volume of ink from the interior. As ink draws from various heights into the chamber, sediments in the pigment mix together. The design overcomes settling. It also avoids mechanical stirring and other complex mixing techniques. Further embodiments include chamber shapes, configuration of inlet ports, and construction of the supply item, to name a few.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2013
    Assignee: Funai Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Neal D. McFarland, Gina M. Johns, Shirish Mulay, Robert Cornell, Nicholas Post, Kent Ubellacker, Edmund James, III
  • Publication number: 20120105555
    Abstract: A consumable supply item for an imaging device holds an initial or refillable volume of pigmented ink. Its housing defines an interior and exterior. The interior retains the ink and an exit port supplies it to an imaging device. Users orient the housing to deplete the ink in a direction of gravity toward a bottom surface of the interior en route to the exit port. The ink passes through a mixing chamber having inlet ports arranged to restrict to multiple different heights the entrance of the volume of ink from the interior. As ink draws from various heights into the chamber, sediments in the pigment mix together. The design overcomes settling. It also avoids mechanical stirring and other complex mixing techniques. Further embodiments include chamber shapes, configuration of inlet ports, and construction of the supply item, to name a few.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 17, 2010
    Publication date: May 3, 2012
    Inventors: NEAL D. MCFARLAND, Gina M. Johns, Shirish Mulay, Robert Cornell, Nicholas Post, Kent Ubellacker, Edmund James, III