Ribbon re-inking apparatus

Claim 1

In apparatus for reinking ribbons with a relatively volatile reinking liquid, including feeding and collecting means arranged to guide a ribbon to be reinked along a predetermined path, an inking roller supported along said path to contact the ribbon for applying a reinking liquid to the ribbon so that it can be reused, a feed roller mounted adjacent said inking roller for transferring reinking liquid from a supply means to said roller means; an improved system for supplying reinking liquid to said feed roller, comprising a closed reservoir for holding a supply of reinking liquid, a shallow feed container located separately from said reservoir and having walls in closely adjacent relation to said feed roller for holding a shallow pool of reinking liquid of predetermined depth in contact with said feed roller, said feed container being arranged to overflow liquid continually over the top thereof to maintain the pool at constant depth, an open top catch pan mounted immediately below said feed container to receive all overflow from said feed container, a return pipe extending from the bottom of said catch pan to said reservoir to conduct the overflow immediately out of said catch pan, a filter connected to said return pipe and located adjacent the top of said reservoir receive the entire flow through said return pipe and operative to remove contaminant carried into the overflow and to return only filtered liquid to said reservoir, and a pump connected and arranged to maintain a supply of reinking liquid from said reservoir into said feed container at a rate in excess of the demand of said feed roller.