Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Fluid or fluid source handling means
Patent
1996-01-17
1998-12-08
Riley, Shawn
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Fluid or fluid source handling means
347 33, B41J 218
Patent
active
058477365
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an ink jet recorder having an ink jet recording head mounted on a carriage and an ink cartridge placed in a box for supplying ink to the recording head via a tube from an ink tank, and a recording head cleaning method.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ink jet recorder has an ink jet recording head mounted on a carriage for spouting ink drops by pressure generation means for printing while receiving an ink supply from an ink tank. Usually, an ink cartridge is also mounted on the carriage provided with the recording head for simplifying the structure.
As performance of ink jet recording heads improves, the dot density increases significantly, thus enabling color printing in natural color. To further improve the print quality, an effort is under way to reduce blurs on recording media as much as possible.
As one means, a method is proposed, wherein an emulsion or saccharides are contained in an ink and recording media are filmed with ink drops.
With ink having such a filming property, there is a concern that a porous substance required for an on-carriage type cartridge may interfere with the ink flow into a recording head. Thus, a separate ink supply method is proposed, wherein while a subtank is mounted on a carriage, ink is drawn from an ink cartridge placed in a box and is supplied via the subtank to a recording head.
For example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No.Hei 4-43785, a recording head and a subtank are mounted on a carriage, with the subtank, with a main tank by a tube. After new ink is drawn into the subtank, ink is supplied from the subtank to the recording head.
According to the method, in addition to smooth supply of ink to the recording head because of the absence of a porous substance, the entire carriage can be lightened for high-speed printing, and the ink replenishment period can be prolonged. However, as the carriage reciprocates, bubbles occurring in the subtank enter the recording head, hindering ink spouting.
To solve such a problem, a method wherein a recording head, a subtank, and an ink cartridge are connected as an endless loop for circulating ink is also proposed. However, since this method requires two flow passages of going and returning, the flow passage structure is complicated. Also, ink needs to be fed by a pump, and comes in contact with movable members, causing the ink and the pump to degrade.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an ink jet recorder comprising an ink supply system which can exclude bubbles in a recording head and further prevent ink in the recording head from forming a film or increasing viscosity without complicating the structure.
It is another object of the invention to provide components appropriate for such an ink supply system.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a maintenance method by which the ink drop spout capability of the recording head can be recovered by actively using the components.
To these ends, according to the invention, there is provided an ink jet recorder wherein an ink jet recording head and a subtank are mounted on a carriage, ink is supplied by ink supply means from an ink cartridge placed outside the carriage to the subtank, and during printing, ink is supplied from the subtank to the recording head, characterized in that the ink jet recording head comprises two common ink chambers communicating with both sides of pressure generation chambers, and ink supply ports where ink flows into the common ink chambers from the outside, one ink supply port being connected to the subtank and the other being connected to the ink cartridge, wherein the subtank is replenished with ink through the ink jet recording head by the ink supply means.
Thus, the ink from the ink cartridge passes through the recording head before flowing into the subtank, so that bubbles remaining in the recording head and a high concentration of ink near nozzle openings are forcibly discharged and are mixed with n
REFERENCES:
patent: 4278984 (1981-07-01), Matsumoto et al.
patent: 4500894 (1985-02-01), Kirner
patent: 4558326 (1985-12-01), Kimura et al.
patent: 5097275 (1992-03-01), Takita
patent: 5382969 (1995-01-01), Mochizuki et al.
Patent Abstracts of Japan vol. 011, No. 330 (M--636), 28 Oct. 1987 & JP-A-62 111751 (Canon Inc), 22 May 1987, *Abstract* Only.
Fukushima Toru
Kanbayashi Kenichi
Kumagai Toshio
Niimura Hiroe
Riley Shawn
Seiko Epson Corporation
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