Recording apparatus

Details Recording apparatus Recording apparatus

2003-03-14

2004-05-18

Tran, Huan (Department: 2861)

Incremental printing of symbolic information

Ink jet

Ejector mechanism

C347S050000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06736486

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus which records by spraying ink to a recording medium, more specifically, relates to a mounting structure of an ink cartridge or the like which is attachable to and detachable from a carriage unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a recording apparatus which prints out by ink, for example, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,392,063, there is a need to securely hold an ink cartridge on a carriage unit in a state where electrical contacts thereof are kept in press-contact.
FIGS. 1A
to
1
C and
FIG. 2
are mounting corresponding views for mounting an attachable and detachable ink cartridge
1
on a carriage unit
2
of an inkjet printer (a recording apparatus), more specifically, views showing a state where an electrical contact
3
disposed on the ink cartridge
1
is conduction-connected to an electrical contact
4
disposed on the carriage unit
2
. Furthermore specifically,
FIG. 1A
is a sectional view showing a state where the ink cartridge
1
is mounted on the carriage unit
2
of a prior art.
FIG. 1B
is a side view of the ink cartridge
1
.
FIG. 1C
is an enlarged sectional view showing a section I of FIG.
1
A.
FIG. 2
is a sectional view showing the carriage unit
2
of the prior art in a state where a cover
7
is opened.
The ink cartridge
1
is provided with an ink nozzle part
1
a
which discharges ink to a recording medium, a flexible print board
1
b
which outputs, to the ink nozzle part
1
a
, a control signal for executing discharge control of ink discharged to a recording medium, and the electrical contact
3
for receiving the control signal to the flexible print board
1
b
from the electrical contact
4
of the carriage unit
2
.
When this ink cartridge
1
is mounted on the carriage unit
2
, the electrical contact
4
of the carriage unit
2
and the electrical contact
3
of the ink cartridge
1
are conduction-connected in a press-contact state. As a result, an electrical signal is obtained from the carriage unit
2
via the electrical contacts
3
and
4
, and ink discharge control is executed. Therefore, a sufficient press-contact force is required to form a stable conduction state between the electrical contacts
3
and
4
.
In an example of a conventional method, a protruding portion
1
c
having a slope face S is disposed on a top face of the ink cartridge
1
, a pressing member
5
pressed by a coil spring
5
a
is disposed on the cover
7
(or a lever or the like) attached to the carriage unit
2
so as to be openable and closable, and when the cover
7
is closed after the ink cartridge
1
is mounted on the carriage unit
2
, a slope face S of the pressing member
5
touches the slope face S of the protruding portion
1
c
in an energizing state. By applying a pressure on the slope face S of the protruding portion
1
c
by the touch of the slope face S of the pressing member
5
in a direction of a vector V (a direction to the contacts), that is, in a direction of the normal line perpendicular to the slope face S of the protruding portion
1
c
, the electrical contact
3
of the ink cartridge
1
is pressed and energized against the electrical contact
4
of the carriage unit
2
. Here, a reference numeral
8
in
FIGS. 1A and 2
denotes a guide rail for guiding the carriage unit
2
in a main scanning direction, and the guide rail is inserted so as to be slidable in a guide hole at a lower part of a main body of the carriage unit
2
.
In this construction, in a case where, for example, a pressure of 50 g is required for a single contact and there are forty two contacts, a pressure of 2100 g is required in total as a contact pressure between the electrical contact
3
of the ink cartridge
1
and the electrical contact
4
of the carriage unit
2
.
In the case of examining by setting this as a prerequisite and decomposing a force which acts on the ink cartridge
1
to an X-direction component force, a Y-direction component force and moment, the following expressions (1) to (3) hold.
X
direction:
F
2·sin 43.5
°−F
1−
F
3=0  (1)
Y
direction:
F
4+
F
5−
F
2·cos 43.5°=0  (2)
Moment: 20.1
F
1+42.7
F
4−17.1
F
2=0  (3)
Here, a rotation center of the moment is denoted by MO in the drawings.
In the above expressions (1) to (3), in the case of calculating so that values of F1 to F5 become positive values, the minimum values of F1 to F5 are as follows: F1=2100 g, F2=3051 g, F3=0 g, F4=233 g, and F5=1980 g. However, in practice, it is desirable that F3 has a value of 0 or more, F2, F4 and F5 are required to have larger values than the above values.
Further, as shown in
FIG. 2
, a force of 2213 g of a component force in a direction perpendicular to the pressing member
5
(=F2·sin 46.5°) is necessary at the time of closing the cover
7
for holding the ink cartridge
1
, and a large force is required for a user in order to mount the ink cartridge
1
.
Although a comparatively low pressure is enough to hold the ink cartridge
1
on the carriage unit
2
fundamentally, as described above, in order to obtain sufficient electrical conduction between the electrical contacts
3
and
4
disposed on the carriage unit
2
and the ink cartridge
1
, there is a need to cause a considerably strong press-contact force to act on both the contacts
3
,
4
.
Therefore, consequently, the pressing member
5
is required to exert a pressing force equal to or more than a force for holding the ink cartridge
1
. Furthermore, since an acting direction of the pressing force from the pressing member
5
is slant against a joining direction of the electrical contacts
3
and
4
, a pressing force equal to or more than a pressure necessary for electrical conduction is needed.
Accordingly, there is a problem that at the time of closing the cover
7
after mounting the ink cartridge
1
on the carriage unit
2
, there is a large reaction force from the pressing member
5
, it is hard to close because of a considerably strong resistance, and the operability is bad.
At the same time, since the carriage unit
2
needs a rigidity enough to resist such a pressure, it is necessary to use a material having a high rigidity, and since it is necessary to set a sufficient wall thickness, the weight increases and the cost rises.
Furthermore, since the number of the electrical contacts
3
and
4
for one ink cartridge
1
trends toward increase because the number of holes of an ink spraying nozzle increases as a resolution and a speed of a recording apparatus get higher, there is a need to exert a higher pressure on the ink cartridge
1
, and the problem of decrease of the operability, increase of the weight of the carriage unit and rise of the cost gets more significant.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is made in consideration of these actual conditions, and an object thereof is to provide a recording apparatus which enables a simple attachment/detachment operation of an ink cartridge and a stable conduction state between an electrical contact thereof and an electrical contact of a carriage unit and prevents increase of the weight of the carriage unit and rise of the cost.
The invention provides a recording apparatus comprising a carriage unit having an electrical contact,
an ink cartridge having an electrical contact, the ink cartridge being mounted so as to be attachable and detachable to the carriage unit in a state where the electrical contacts are kept in press-contact with each other,
a cover for opening and closing an attachment/detachment direction of the ink cartridge in the carriage unit,
energizing means for generating an energizing force responsive to a deformation amount in the opposite direction to a deformation direction, the energizing means being arranged in the carriage unfit so as to be opposed to a wall face on the opposite side to a wall face provided with the electrical contact of the ink cartridge mounted on the

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Recording apparatus does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Recording apparatus, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Recording apparatus will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3213002