Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
1997-10-27
2001-01-30
Le, N. (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
active
06179416
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION AND RELATED ART
The present invention relates to an ink cartridge, detachably mountable to an ink jet recording head, for containing ink to be ejected through a recording head.
An ink jet recording system is known to effect recording on a recording material such as paper, OHP sheet. The ink jet recording system is such that the ink is ejected to the recording material from a recording head, and therefore, the running cost is low and the noise produced is low.
Recently, a type of ink jet recording system in which a recording head and an ink container are carried on a carriage and are scanningly moved, is particularly noted from the standpoint of downsizing of the apparatus.
Furthermore, in consideration of the fact that the service life of the recording head is longer than the service life of the ink container, the ink container is made separable from the recording head.
Referring to
FIG. 1
, such an exchangeable ink container is illustrated.
An outer wall of an ink container
21
is provided with an ink supply port
23
for permitting supply of the ink to the recording head
22
. By connecting an ink supply pipe
24
of a recording head
22
to the ink supply port
23
, the supply of the ink is permitted from the ink container to the recording head
22
.
Designated by a reference numeral
27
is an air vent to function to introduce the air into the ink container upon ink supply. The ink container
21
, an ink retaining member
25
is provided. By the proper ink retaining force of the retaining member
25
, the ink is prevented from leaking through the recording head
22
, and proper ink supply to the recording head
22
is assured. As for the ink retaining member
15
, cotton like fibers or porous materials having continuous pores, are usable. Particularly, sponge material of polyurethane foam or the like is widely used because the ink retaining force can be easily adjusted.
In an ink jet cartridge having an integral recording head and ink container, an ink supply pipe of the recording head is fixedly mounted relative to the ink retaining member or a vacuum generating member in the ink container under a predetermined pressure of contact. By doing so, the vacuum producing member is maintained at a predetermined compressed state so that the air introduction at the contact portion is prevented. In addition, the vacuum producing material is compressed to increase the capillary force toward the supply pipe, and therefore, the adjacent ink can be concentrated to the supply pipe. The situation is different in an ink cartridge which is detachably mountable to the recording head. That is, the mounting can be easy for the operator, and after the mounting, the ink supply performance is to be reliable. In addition, even if the mounting actions by the user is repeated, the ink supply reliability is to be maintained.
On the other hand, the demand for the downsizing of the recording apparatus, the width W, the height H and the depth D of the ink container are desired to be as small as possible. However, this reduces the usable quantity of the ink contained therein with the result of frequent exchange of the ink container, and in addition, a high running cost.
In the case of color recording, ink containers of various colors such as yellow, magenta, cyan and black colors, are disposed in parallel. In this case, the most desirable is the reduction of the width W. Therefore, it would be considered to increase the ink capacity by increasing the height H or the depth D because the reduction of the ink capacity is not desired. However, if the width W is small and the height H is large, it is difficult to insert the vacuum producing material into the container during the manufacturing of the ink container. In addition, if the height H is large, the vacuum producing property is different between when the ink container is full-(high static head) and when a substantial quantity of the ink has been consumed. Thus, the ink ejection property of the recording head is influenced. In other words, the print qualities are not stable. When the depth D is increased to increase the ink capacity, the distance through which the ink moves through the vacuum producing material to the recording head is significantly different between when the ink container is full and when a substantial quantity of the ink has been consumed. This also is a cause of deterioration of the print quality.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide an ink cartridge with which the ink supply to the recording head is stably assured.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an ink cartridge with which a reliable connection with an ink supply tube of a recording head is assured.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink cartridge comprising: a negative pressure producing material; an accommodating portion for accommodating the negative pressure producing material, the accommodating portion is provided with an opening for receiving an ink supply tube of an ink jet recording head; wherein the material is sandwiched between surfaces in the accommodating portion, and a distance between the surfaces smaller than twice an outer diameter of the ink supply tube.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink cartridge comprising: a negative pressure producing material; an accommodating portion for accommodating the negative pressure producing member, the accommodating portion being provided with an opening for receiving an ink supply tube of a recording head; wherein a width W of a side having the opening, a height H and a depth D satisfy
W≦H≦4W, and
W≦D≦10W,
wherein the ink cartridge is generally rectangular parallelepiped.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a plurality of the ink cartridges are juxtaposed into a unified ink cartridge, and for each of ink cartridges,
W≦P≦H
where P is an interval between adjacent ink jet recording head in its moving direction.
According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink cartridge comprising: a negative pressure producing material; an accommodating portion for accommodating the negative pressure producing material, the accommodating portion being provided with an opening for receiving an ink supply tube of an ink jet recording head; where a width W of a side having the opening, H height, a depth D and a diameter of the ink supply tube satisfy:
W≦H≦4W,
W≦D≦10W,
W/2≦N,
wherein the ink cartridge is generally rectangular parallelepiped.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon a consideration of the following description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
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Abe Tsutomu
Higuma Masahiko
Ikeda Masami
Kashino Toshio
Okazaki Takeshi
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
Le N.
Nguyen Judy
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