Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
1998-01-30
2001-01-09
Le, N. (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
active
06170940
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to ink jet type printers, and particularly to an ink jet type recording unit with an ink jet head (hereinafter referred to merely as “a head”, when applicable) and the structure of a carriage supporting the ink jet type recording unit, and more particularly to an ink jet type recording unit which has an ink jet type recording head and an ink cartridge as one unit and can be mounted on or demounted from the carriage when required, and to the connection of the ink jet type recording unit with the carriage.
2. Related Art
In general, an ink jet printer comprises: a carriage which is reciprocated while being guided by a guide shaft laid across the direction of conveyance of a printing sheet; and an ink jet head which is mounted on the carriage to jet ink onto the printing sheet.
Some of the conventional ink jet printers are designed so that the ink jet head and the ink cartridge are provided as one unit, which is detachably mounted on the carriage.
In the conventional ink jet printers thus designed, it is not permitted to connect the unit directly to the carriage by soldering, and therefore wiring must be suitably made to drive the head.
In this connection, Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 104643/1991 has disclosed the following printer: As shown in
FIG. 28
, one end portion
2
of a flexible printed cable (hereinafter referred to as “an FPC”, when applicable) is set on a carriage
1
, and a unit
3
has a base board
3
a
which is connected to the end portion
2
of the FPC under pressure. Hence, the unit
3
can be detachably mounted on the carriage
1
. The other end portion of the FPC is connected to the control board in the printer body.
In
FIG. 28
, reference numeral
4
designates a lever which is operated by the operator. The lever
4
is swingably supported by supporting portions
1
a
and
1
a
of the carriage
1
.
Further in
FIG. 28
, reference numeral
5
designates a hook member. The hook member
5
includes: a hook
5
b
which is engageable with an engaging portion
3
b
of the unit
3
; and a base portion
5
a
which is engaged with a plate cam
4
a
of the lever
4
.
The unit
3
is mounted on the carriage
1
as follows: The hook member
5
is moved in the direction of the arrow X
1
by turning the lever
4
. Thereafter, the unit
3
is placed on the carriage
1
in such a manner that a protrusion
3
c
extending from the lower end portion of the unit is abutted against a supporting portion
1
c
of the carrier, and an engaging portion
3
b
of the unit is engaged with the hook
5
b
of the hook member. The unit
3
thus placed is slightly inclined in the direction of the arrow a
1
. Under this condition, the hook member
5
is moved in the direction of the arrow X
2
by turning the lever
4
, as a result of which, with the hook
5
b
firmly engaged with the engaging portion
3
b
of the unit, the unit
3
is turned in the direction of the arrow a
2
, so that the base board
3
a
of the unit is pushed against the end portion
2
of the FPC. Thus, the unit
3
has been fixedly mounted on the carriage
1
as shown in FIG.
28
.
In the above-described printer, it is essential to positively connect the base board
3
a
to the end portion
2
of the FPC. For this purpose, in the printer, a rubber pad
6
is provided behind the end portion
2
of the FPC in such a manner that the rear portion of the pad
6
is supported by a plate
1
d
formed on the carriage, while the hook member
5
is urged in the direction of the arrow X
2
by a spring
8
, whereby the base board
3
a
is pushed against the end portion
2
of the FPC under pressure.
However, the above-described conventional printer suffers from the following problems: In mounting the unit
3
on the carriage; that is, in connecting the end portion
2
of the FPC to the base board
3
a
, the unit
3
inclined in the direction of the arrow a
1
is rotated in the direction of the arrow a
2
. As the unit
3
is rotated in this way, the base board
3
a
is gradually pushed against the end portion
2
of the FPC; in other words, the base board
3
a
and the end portion
2
of the FPC are gradually connected with each other beginning with their lower ends as indicated at b
1
(towards their upper ends as indicated at b
2
).
Hence, the base board
3
a
and the end portion
2
are liable to be non-uniformly connected to each other. If the connection of the base board
3
a
to the end portion
2
is not uniform, then the electrical connection of the head and the carriage may be not reliable.
The connection of the base board
3
a
and the end portion
2
of the FPC may be made uniform by increasing the pressing force of the rubber pad
6
supporting the end portion
2
. However, the increasing of the pressing force of the rubber pad
6
is limited, depending on the mechanical strengths of the carriage
1
and other components.
That is, in the above-described printer, it is difficult to uniformly connect the base board
3
a
and the end portion
2
of the FPC to each other.
The ink jet type printer performs a printing operation while forming dots on a recording medium with ink droplets jetted from its ink jet nozzles. Hence, with the printer, a monochromatic printing operation or a color printing operation can be readily achieved by using printing inks different in color.
In this connection, an ink jet type printer has been put in practical use in which a monochromatic printing recording head and a color printing recording head are mounted on the carriage. The printer of this type is advantageous in that one printer can provide not only monochromatic prints such as text prints but also color prints such as color graphic prints. However, the printer is not suitable for a user who uses it mainly for the monochromatic printing operation. That is, the maintenance of the color printing recording head is rather troublesome to him because he does not so frequently use it.
In order to overcome the above-described difficulty, an ink jet type recording apparatus has been proposed in the art in which an ink cartridge and an ink jet type recording head are provided as one recording unit, and a recording unit suitable for printing given recording data is detachably mounted on the carriage.
The ink jet type recording apparatus thus proposed is advantageous in that a desired printing operation can be achieved by replacing the recording unit with one suitable for the printing operation, and that the recording units which are not in use can be sealingly stored in the casings, so that they are free from maintenance.
However, the ink jet type recording apparatus is still disadvantageous in that, when the ink in the cartridge is used up, it is necessary to replace not only the ink jet type recording head but also the ink cartridge, which results in an increase in printing cost.
In order to overcome the above-described difficulties, an ink jet type recording unit has been proposed in the art in which an ink cartridge accommodating chamber is provided in a frame in which an ink jet type recording head is set, so that the ink cartridge can be readily replaced with another one.
However, the employment of this type of ink jet recording unit gives rise to another problem. That is, when the ink cartridge is replaced with another one, after which the ink jet recording unit is removed from the carriage, air is allowed to enter the recording head during loading or unloading of the ink cartridge. If the recording head including the air is used as it is, then the ink discharging operation becomes unsatisfactory, which makes it impossible to perform or continue the printing operation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing, a first object of the invention is to provide an ink jet printer in which a recording unit is detachably mounted on the carriage, and the recording unit is positively electrically connected to the carriage.
A second object of the invention is to provide an ink jet type recording unit in which, when removal of the bubbles therefrom is impossible
Fujioka Satoshi
Kobayashi Takao
Shinada Satoshi
Watanabe Kohji
Le N.
Nghiem Michael
Seiko Epson Corporation
Sughrue Mion Zinn Macpeak & Seas, PLLC
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