Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Circular sheet or circular blank – Recording medium or carrier
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-10
2003-11-25
Dixon, Merrick (Department: 1774)
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Circular sheet or circular blank
Recording medium or carrier
C428S218000, C428S219000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06652949
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for producing a fiber laminate for holding liquid, a fiber laminate produced by the method, a liquid reservoir containing the fiber laminate, and a liquid-jetting head cartridge having the reservoir.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an ink tank (combined with a recording head or formed of a single replaceable tank) serving as a liquid reservoir for use in the field of liquid-jet recording (hereinafter also referred to as “ink-jet recording”) has a structure for controlling the force for holding liquid (used for recording; including a type containing a colored component, and a type containing no colored component and for acting on liquid containing a colored component so as to improve recording quality; hereinafter also simply referred to as “ink”) stored therein in order to properly supply the ink to a recording head for jetting liquid. This holding force is called “negative pressure” because it serves to make the pressure at an ink discharge portion of the recording head negative relative to atmospheric pressure (a member for generating such negative pressure will be also referred to a “negative pressure generating member”).
The easiest method of generating such negative pressure is to use capillary force of an ink absorber, such as a urethane foam, provided inside the ink tank.
Japanese Patent Applications Laid-Open Nos. 7-125232 and 6-40043, to the same assignee, propose an ink tank including a liquid chamber using an ink absorber, in which the amount of ink to be contained per unit volume of the ink tank is increased, thereby obtaining a stable ink supply (this type of ink tank will be hereinafter referred to as a “combination ink tank” because it includes both a chamber containing an ink absorber and a chamber containing ink).
FIGS. 6A and 6B
are cross-sectional views showing the general configuration of a combination ink tank having the above-described structure, and showing how ink is consumed.
Referring to
FIGS. 6A and 6B
, the interior of an ink cartridge
10
is divided into two spaces by a partition
38
having a communication hole (communicating portion)
40
. One of the spaces serves as a liquid chamber
36
enclosed excluding the communication hole
40
of the partition
38
so as to directly hold ink, and the other space serves as a negative pressure generating member containing chamber
34
for containing a negative pressure generating member
32
. The negative pressure generating member containing chamber
34
is provided with an atmospheric air communicating portion (air communication port)
12
and a supply port
14
for supplying ink to a recording head (not shown). Ribs
42
are arranged between the negative pressure generating member
32
and the atmospheric air communicating portion
12
, thereby forming a buffer space
44
.
A supply tube on the recording head side is in pressure contact with the inside of the supply port
14
, and an ink lead-out member
46
is also provided therein which has a greater capillary force and a higher physical strength than those of the negative pressure generating member
32
and which serves to properly lead ink out of the negative pressure generating member
32
.
In such an ink tank configuration, when the ink in the negative pressure generating member
32
is consumed by the recording head, ink is supplied from the liquid chamber
36
to the negative pressure generating member
32
in the negative pressure generating member containing chamber
34
via the communication hole
40
of the partition
38
, as shown in
FIGS. 6A and 6B
. In this case, the pressure in the liquid chamber
36
is reduced, whereas air taken from the atmospheric air communicating portion
12
via the negative pressure generating member containing chamber
34
enters the liquid chamber
36
through the communication hole
40
of the partition
38
(a state shown in FIG.
6
B), thereby easing the pressure reduction in the liquid chamber
36
. Therefore, even when ink is consumed by the recording head, ink from the liquid chamber
36
is filled into the negative pressure generating member
32
in accordance with the amount of consumption, and the negative pressure generating member
32
holds a constant amount of ink and maintains a substantially constant negative pressure with respect to the recording head. This stabilizes the supply of ink to the recording head.
Hitherto, a urethane foam has been often used as the above-described negative pressure generating member. The assignee of this application has proposed an ink tank in which a thermoplastic fiber material made of olefin resin is used as an absorber.
The fiber absorber is superior in ink wettability and utilization efficiency. The capillary force of the fiber absorber can be easily and arbitrarily set by changing fiber distance, fiber diameter, and the like.
For example, such a fiber may be thermoformed for use in the ink tank. Thermoforming permits fibers to be easily handled and to be easily inserted into the ink tank.
By thermoforming fiber packed in a die made of aluminum or the like, a fiber absorber of a required size can be formed. However, when heat is applied to the die having fiber therein, fiber is sometimes crushed down in the direction of gravity, depending on the conditions such as fiber density and dimensions. This seems to be because fiber having impact resilience is contained in close contact with the inside of the die before heating, whereas the impact resilience is reduced by melting of the contact portion of the fiber and a decrease in elasticity (a decrease in spring constant) of a base portion of the fiber with a temperature increase when heat is applied to the fiber, and the fiber is crushed by its own weight due to gravity.
FIGS. 7A
,
7
B, and
7
C show a case in which a fibrous material laminate
1
, constructed by a web stacked block (fibrous material stacked block) formed by stacking a plurality of webs (fibrous materials) with fibers oriented in almost the same direction, is inserted into an aluminum die in order to obtain a fiber laminate.
The fibers are oriented in a predetermined fiber direction “a” and are stacked in a stacking direction “b” orthogonal to the fiber direction “a”, as shown in FIG.
7
A. The fibrous material laminate
1
is compressed in the stacking direction and packed in a die
2
, and a cover
3
is put on the die
2
, as shown in
FIGS. 7B and 7C
.
FIGS. 8A and 8B
show a state in which the fibrous material laminate
1
packed in the die
2
is worked by an example of a thermoforming method.
In this example, when heat begins to be applied from an initial state in which the fibrous material laminate
1
is packed in the entirety of the die
2
, the fibrous material laminate
1
is gradually crushed from its peripheral portion in the direction of gravity, as shown in FIG.
8
A. This is because heat is conducted from the periphery of the die
2
, and the influence of heat first acts on the peripheral portion of the fibrous material laminate
1
. When further heat is applied, heat is conducted to the interior of the fibrous material laminate
1
, as shown in
FIG. 8B
, and the entire bottom side of the fibrous material laminate
1
is crushed. In this case, since its own weight is laid on the fibrous material laminate
1
, the density of the fibrous material laminate
1
differs between the upper part and the lower part in the direction of gravity. That is, the lower part of the fibrous material laminate
1
, which is more strongly influenced by its own weight, has a high density, and the upper part has a low density, which produces a density gradient. While
FIG. 8B
shows two density areas of the fibrous material laminate
1
, a low-density area and a high-density area, for simple illustration, in reality, the density gradient is continuously formed from the low-density area to the high-density area.
A product obtained by such thermoforming is referred to as a “fiber laminate”. In the fiber laminate, a density distribution differs b
Iwanaga Shuzo
Kitabatake Kenji
Shimizu Eiichiro
Udagawa Kenta
Yamamoto Hajime
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Dixon Merrick
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
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