Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-26
2001-03-20
Le, N. (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
active
06203149
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION AND RELATED ART
The present invention relates to an ink jet cartridge, an ink jet apparatus and an ink container, more particularly to an ink jet head detachably mountable on an ink jet apparatus and detachably mountable relative to an ink container, a small size ink jet cartridge using the same, and an ink jet apparatus usable with the ink jet cartridge.
Recently, various types of recording systems have been developed. Among them, an ink jet recording system in which ink is ejected through an ejection outlet in accordance with a recording signal, is widely used because the size reduction and the noise reduction are easily accomplished.
The ink jet recording apparatus are classified into a serial type recording system in which a recording head provided with a plurality of nozzles is mounted on a carriage, and the ink is ejected through the nozzles while the carriage is moved in a direction substantially perpendicular to the recording sheet feeding direction, and a line type recording system in which a recording head having a plurality of nozzles arranged in a direction substantially perpendicular to the recording sheet feeding direction, and the ink is ejected through the nozzles while the recording sheet is being fed. Because of the recent demand for the small size apparatus, the serial type apparatus is widely used. As for the driving method in these recording systems, it is avoided that the ink is ejected simultaneously through a plurality of nozzles because of the necessity for supplying the consumed amount df the ink to the recording head and in order to avoid the supply of large electric current to the recording head as a result of the simultaneous driving of the nozzles. More particularly, the ejection timing is deviated for each nozzles, or the nozzles are grouped into a plurality of blocks, and the driving timing is deviated for the respective blocks. However, in the above-described serial type recording system, the carriage carrying the ink jet head is moved, or the recording sheet is fed, while the ink is ejected through the nozzles, and therefore, when the block driving system is used, the deviation of the ejection timing appears as the deviation of the record positions.
In the prior art, when the driving signals are applied to the nozzles #1−#m at the timing shown in
FIG. 26B
, the respective nozzles are arranged such that the nozzle array is inclined by d=V×tm, where tm is the amount of deviation in the ejection timing, and V=R/t cycle is a feeding speed of the carriage. By doing so, the deviation (d in
FIG. 26A
) in the above-described recording operation, is corrected to accomplish the recording shown in FIG.
27
.
FIGS. 28A and 28B
are schematic views of an example of an ink jet cartridge as seen from the nozzle, on the carriage when the nozzle array is inclined by a predetermined angle from a direction perpendicular to the scanning direction (X
1
, X
2
).
In
FIG. 28A
, an ink jet cartridge in the form of a recording head
200
having an array of ejection outlets
5
, and an ink container
201
combined therewith, is carried on a carriage
203
. In this Figure, the scanning direction of the carriage
203
(X
1
, X
2
) is a longitudinal direction of the carriage
201
. However, the ink jet cartridge on the carriage
203
is inclined relative to the scanning direction of the carriage
203
, as shown in the Figure, by which the array of the ejection outlets (nozzle array) is inclined by a predetermined degree.
On the other hand, in
FIG. 28B
, the position of the ink jet cartridge on the carriage
203
is the same as the longitudinal direction of the carriage, but the longitudinal direction of the carriage
203
is different from the carriage scanning direction, by which the ejection outlet array is inclined by a predetermined amount. In
FIGS. 28A and 28B
, Xa designates a direction in which the recording head and the ink container are separated or combined.
FIG. 28C
, shows this inclination of the nozzle array of the recording head shown in
FIGS. 28A and 28B
as seen from behind the recording head. The direction of the nozzle array is inclined by &thgr; from a perpendicular direction relative to the carriage moving direction X
1
, X
2
, and the mounting and demounting direction Xa between the recording head and the ink container, is inclined by &thgr;.
If the mounting and demounting direction between the recording head and the ink container, is inclined by &thgr; relative to the carriage movement direction, the lateral expansion of the recording head and the ink container in the direction of the carriage movement, is increased by Lsin&thgr;, where L is the total length of the recording head and the ink container.
For example, when L=60 mm, and &thgr;=1 degree, the increase is approx. 1 mm. Accordingly, the above-described arranged gives rise to the difficulty in reducing the size of the carriage and/or the size of the recording apparatus. In a recent small size ink jet apparatus, an ink jet cartridge is provided in which the ink jet head and the ink container are separable from each other to permit replacement of the ink container in consideration of the larger length of the service life of the ink jet head. In such a system in which the ink jet head and the ink container are separable, an additional space is required to permit the junction or separation between the ink jet head and the ink container, in the apparatus. Therefore, the shown system involves the difficulty in reducing the size of the apparatus.
On the other hand, as a method of connecting a replaceable ink container to an ink jet recording head, there is a method in which an ink container plugged with elastic member such as rubber member, is pierced with a needle integral with a pipe to establish an ink passage to the ink jet recording head. In this case, the ink is contained in a bladder made of polymer or the like in the ink container. However, this method involves a drawback that a required volume is large because of the length of the needle and the existence of the plug of the ink container, and therefore, it is not suitable in view of the recent demand for the size reduction.
With the tendency of the small size apparatus, the apparatus is more frequently carried around, and in view of the fact, the stabilized retention of the ink in the container in the apparatus is highly desired. So, a high polymer porous absorbing material is preferably used as an ink accommodating material, in the container. However, in this case, it becomes difficult to supply the ink to the recording head using the above-described needle.
The reason is as follows. A gap in communication with the external ambience is formed around the needle with the result that the air is sucked through the gap despite the amount of the ink remaining in the absorbing material is sufficient. This may lead to failure of the ink jet apparatus. In order to avoid this problem, as shown in
FIG. 29
, a method will be considered in which the porous material containing the ink is press-contacted to the needle. However, in this case, it becomes difficult to supply the ink to the recording head using the needle. This is because a gap communicating with external ambience is formed around the needle so that the air is sucked through the gap despite a sufficient amount of the ink remains in the absorbing material. If this occurs, the printing operation becomes not possible, as the case may be.
It would be considered in order to avoid this problem that an ink inlet portion
208
of the recording head is press-contacted to the porous absorbing material containing the ink. In this case, the hermetical sealing to the prevent introduction of the air into the ink passage through the connecting portion between the recording head and the ink container, is required. In order to provide a solution to this problem, it would be required that an O-ring
206
is provided on the circumferential periphery of the connecting pipe to provide the hermetical sealing between the recording head
Kubota Hidemi
Watanabe Kenjiro
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
Le N.
Nghiem Michael
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