Patent ID: 7938351

Claim:
A container for delivering a filament of a material to a digital manufacturing system, the container comprising: a container housing defining an interior chamber that is configured to rotatably mount a filament supply spool, the container housing including a channel extending between the interior chamber and an exterior surface of the container housing; an electrical connection having a first contact accessible from the exterior surface of the container housing and a second contact disposed in the channel of the container housing; and a filament guide mechanism mountable within the channel, the filament guide mechanism comprising: a filament pathway configured to guide the filament from the filament supply spool rotatably mounted in the interior chamber; a sensor configured to detect the presence of the filament through at least a portion of the filament pathway; an opening along the filament pathway located downstream alone the filament pathway from the sensor, the opening being configured to receive a drive wheel of the digital manufacturing system while the filament guide mechanism is mounted within the channel of the container housing; and an electrical contact in signal communication with the sensor, the electrical contact being configured to interface with the second contact while the filament guide mechanism is mounted within the channel of the container housing.