Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Housing
Reexamination Certificate
1997-07-29
2001-01-09
Le, N. (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Housing
Reexamination Certificate
active
06170945
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION AND RELATED ART
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus provided with a space where a cartridge can be easily mounted or removed.
In a recording apparatus such as a printer, copying machine, facsimile machine, or the like, or a recording apparatus used as an output device for a multi-functional electronic apparatus such as a work station which includes a computer or a word processor, an image is recorded on a recording material (recording medium) such as a sheet of paper or thin plastic plate, or the like, based on image data. These recording apparatuses can be classified as ink jet type, wire dot type, thermal type, laser beam type, or the like, depending on their recording system.
In a serial type recording apparatus incorporating a serial scanning system in which the primary scanning direction is perpendicular to the direction (secondary direction) in which the recording material is conveyed, the image is recorded on the recording material aligned at a predetermined recording position, by a recording means (generally, being mounted on a carriage) which moves across (primary scanning) the recording material. After a line of image is completed, the recording material is advanced by a predetermined distance (recording material conveyance), and then, after the recording material stops, the next line of image is recorded (primary scanning). This cycle is repeated until recording is made over the entire surface of the recording material. On the other hand, in a line type recording apparatus in which only the recording material is moved, printing occurs simultaneous across the entire line while the recording material aligned at a predetermined starting position is continuously advanced (advanced at a given pitch) in the secondary scanning direction until the recording is made over the entire surface of the recording material.
Among the recording apparatuses listed above, the recording apparatus incorporating an ink jet recording system (ink jet recording apparatus), which records images by ejecting ink onto the recording material from a recording means (recording head), has various advantages, such that the size of the recording means can be easily reduced; highly precise images can be recorded at a high speed; images can be recorded on an ordinary untreated sheet of paper; operational cost is low; operating noise is low because it is of the non-impact type; and in addition, color recording can be easily made through the use of various color inks. With use of the line type recording means in which a large number of ejection orifices are aligned across the lateral printing range of the recording material, the speed at which the ink jet recording apparatus records images can be further increased.
In particular, the recording means (recording head) of the ink jet type which uses thermal energy to eject ink can be manufactured by semiconductor manufacturing processes, such as etching, deposition, sputtering, or the like, in which electro-thermal transducers, electrodes, walls of liquid passages, top plates or the like can be formed on substrate, and therefore, it is simple to realize a recording head in which the liquid passages (arrangement of ejection orifices) are arranged in high density, enabling the recording head size to be further reduced.
On the other hand, there are many conditions to be required of the properties of recording material. In recent years, it has become necessary to use extremely thin paper, fabricated paper (paper with holes punched out for filing, paper with perforations, paper having non-standard sizes or shapes), or the like, in addition to the ordinary paper, or thin resin sheet (used with an OHP or the like).
As for the available choices of recording means used in the ink jet recording apparatus, there are a permanent type and a detachable type. In the apparatus incorporating the permanent type recording means, a recording head having an extremely long service life is employed so that it is unnecessary in an ordinary situation to remove the recording head from the main assembly of the apparatus. On the other hand, in the case of the disposable type, the recording means is generally an exchangeable head cartridge in which a recording head and an ink container are integrated. When the ink within the head cartridge is depleted, the head cartridge is removed from the main assembly of the apparatus to be discarded, and a fresh head cartridge is installed.
It is also possible to use such an ink jet recording apparatus for recording color images. In this case, the ink consumption varies depending on colors, and therefore, the ink container capacity is varied according to the amount of the ink consumption; generally speaking, the capacity for the color consumed by the largest amount is increased and the capacities for other colors are reduced, whereby the overall apparatus size is reduced. Further, according to one of the proposals made for reducing the size or cost of the apparatus, during an ordinary recording operation, only a head cartridge for black color is mounted on a carriage, on which the recording means is mounted, and when necessary, this cartridge is exchanged with cartridges containing other colors.
However, such prior arrangements had the following inconveniences, since an unwanted head cartridge had to be removed from the recording apparatus in order to record the image using a wanted head cartridge. First, the partially used head cartridge removed from the recording apparatus had to be sometimes left out for a long time, during which it was likely for the liquid components of the ink to evaporate from the recording head, causing the ejection orifices to be clogged with the solidified ink. Secondly, when the partially used cartridge was left out, it was likely for the ink to leak out of the head cartridge depending on how it was laid down. Thirdly, it was likely for the surface of the partially used head cartridge, where the ejection orifices are arranged (ejection surface), to be damaged, or sometimes destroyed. Fourthly, while the partially used head cartridge was left out, it was likely for foreign matter to adhere to the ejection surface, whereby the ink could not be properly ejected when the cartridge was reused. Such inconveniences could be mostly eliminated by the structure disclosed in a Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Application Ser. No. 93,265/1986, but there still is some room for improvement.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention was made to improve further the invention disclosed in the aforementioned Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Application No. 93,265/1986. The object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet recording apparatus capable of protecting surely the recording means while it is not used for recording, so that excellent images can be recorded when the protected recording means is reused.
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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Asano Junichi
Hirakue Toshimitsu
Ishii Yasuyuki
Kageyama Tetsuto
Matsui Shinya
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
Le N.
Nghiem Michael
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