Patent ID: 7111929

Claim:
In an ink pen adapted for use in a off-axis printer having a remote ink supply, where the ink pen includes a local ink supply and a print head adapted to selectively print using ink from the local ink supply, an improvement comprising: a valve that selectively supplies the local ink supply with ink from the remote ink supply; wherein said valve includes a fluid inlet adapted to receive ink from the remote ink supply, a fluid chamber having a valve seat and a valve head, and a fluid outlet adapted to feed ink into the local ink supply from the fluid chamber; wherein said fluid chamber is bounded by a compliant diaphragm, said valve having a housing that is prefabricated to receive an electric relay in a manner such that selective actuation of the relay displaces the compliant diaphragm, said compliant diaphragm coupled to one of the valve seat and the valve head to perform one of selective opening and selective closing of the valve in response to actuation of the relay, and wherein the electric relay contains an armature having two ends, and wherein the compliant diaphragm is configured to be operatively attached to both ends of the armature.