Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-30
2004-09-28
Nghiem, Michael (Department: 2863)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
active
06796645
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fiber body for use in a container for containing liquid to be supplied to liquid ejecting heads for ejecting liquid for recording, and to a liquid container containing the above fiber body.
The present invention also relates to a material surface reforming method to modify wetting characteristics of the surface of fiber itself or fiber having been subjected to some treatment thereon, which is used as a negative pressure producing (generating) member in a liquid containing container, through modifying its properties and characteristics, and to a negative pressure producing member having been subjected to the above surface reforming.
In particular, the present invention relates to a surface reforming method by which surface reforming of fiber consisting of an olefin resin, which is environment friendly but hard to subject to surface treatment, can be achieved without failure, to fiber having a reformed surface, and to a method of producing the same.
2. Related Background Art
In the ink jet recording field, an ink tank (ink container) through which a negative pressure is applied to recording heads have been used so as to prevent the leakage of ink. This type of ink tank contains a porous body or fiber body and, due to the capillary attraction of the porous body or fiber body, it holds ink and produces a negative pressure. Of the type, the ink tank containing a fiber body is particularly preferable in that, if the fiber body is arranged in such a manner as to keep its direction almost horizontal, the interface between ink and gas is kept horizontal even with fluctuations caused by the environmental changes, and hence, subjected to less variations in the direction of gravity.
As a fiber body contained in an ink tank, those obtained by spinning olefin resins are used in view of its easiness to recycle, because the casing of the ink tank consists of olefin resins such as PE (polyethylene) and PP (polypropylene). Since the wettability of olefin resins by ink, in particular, ink having a high surface tension such as black ink is poor, when injecting ink into an ink tank containing a fiber body consisting of an olefin resin, the vacuum injecting method is employed to forcibly inject ink into a tank in which a vacuum has been drawn.
On the other hand, in the field of ink jet recording today, in order to obtain images of higher quality and ensure high fastness properties of the ink deposited on a recording medium, the improvement of ink itself is making steady progress. To be concrete, pigment ink has come into use so as to improve to water (water-resistance) and a solvent is added to ink so as to heighten the fixing properties to a recording medium.
In the ink tanks currently in use which contain a fiber body consisting of an olefin resin, however, since ink is injected into an ink tank by the vacuum injecting method, as described above, it is necessary to draw a vacuum in the tank, accordingly, the processes and equipment are becoming more complicated. On the other hand, with respect to improvement of ink itself, the use of pigment ink and addition of a solvent to ink causes the viscosity of ink to be increased. As a result, the ability to supply ink to a recording head diminishes, and the higher recording speed becomes, the more supplying ink becomes unlikely to catch up with the recording speed.
The properties and characteristics of an element itself are dependent on the properties of its constituents, and the element has been given desired properties by modifying the properties of the constituents on its surface. The elements given desired properties include, for example, those having on their surface reactive groups having reactivity such as water repellency and hydrophilic nature or reactive groups reactive with an adduct.
In the surface reforming technology currently in use, generally, the surface of an element is made to have a radical with ozone or UV or ozone in combination with UV and the element having a desired property is formed simply by chemically linking the radical with the primary ingredient of a surface treatment agent.
There is another technology in which the surface of an element is not made to have a radical, but a surface treatment agent having a desired property itself is attached to the element, so as to obtain the desired property momentarily; however, the desired property thus obtained does not last.
In particular, in the surface reforming of giving an environment-friendly olefin resin hydrophilic nature, only the technology has been known to obtain a temporary and partial hydrophilic state by intermingle a surfactant with the olefin resin in the presence of water.
In order to form an additional layer on an element, an adhesive and a primer have been used. When using a primer, such as a silane coupling agent, which only reacts and links with the surface of the element, the element itself needs to be treated so that it can react with the agent.
The technologies using a primer include, for example, the one using a primer consisting of the same material system as that of the element so as to utilize its affinity for the element. As a primer of this type, acid-modified chlorinated polypropylene has been known which is used when providing a facing material of polyurethane resin on the element of polypropylene. When using the same material system as that of the surface of the element, however, the volume of the element is inevitably increased, in addition, the technology is needed for applying a uniform and thin coating on the element. Moreover, when the element is fine or porous, it is impossible to apply a uniform coating on such an element to its interior. In particular, acid-modified chlorinated polypropylene is not soluble in water, accordingly, it cannot be used in the form of a water solution, and its applications are limited.
Accordingly, it can be said that there has been no surface treatment agents, including those using the different material system from the surface of the element, which can exist in the form of a water solution and be used in uniform and thin surface reforming irrespective of shape of the element.
On the other hand, with respect to PE and PP, each constituting a fiber body, their wettability by ink is poor (the contact angle to water is 80° or more), though it varies depending on the type of ink. Accordingly, in cases where PE or PP is used in a fiber body of an ink tank, a process of drawing a vacuum in the tank has been inevitably employed in injection of ink into the fiber body. This has required preparation of an injecting apparatus, causing the manufacturing process of the ink tank to be more complicated.
In addition, in the use of ink jet printers in recent years, with steady progress toward higher image quality and a wider variety of ink, there have been growing tendencies to add a solvent to ink, so as to increase the ink's ability to fix on paper, and to use pigment in ink. This, however, causes the viscosity of ink to be increased, and hence, the resistance to ink flow in a fiber body to be increased. As a result, there arises a problem that supplying ink is unlikely to catch up with the printing speed, while the printing speed tends to increase more and more in the latest printers.
There have been used ink tanks having a pressure contact body, which consists of a bundle of fiber arranged in the direction of liquid supplying, placed in its liquid supply opening for supplying liquid to a recording head. In these tanks, too, there arises a problem that, when the resistance to ink flow in the pressure contact body is increased, even if ink supplying in a high flow rate is demanded, supplying ink is unlikely to catch up with the demand, from the viewpoint same as above.
The present invention is an epoch-making invention, which has been made based on the new knowledge and findings obtained during the investigation of the current technology standard.
With the surface reforming technology currently in use, in which the surface reforming is c
Hattori Shozo
Hayashi Hiroki
Kitabatake Kenji
Koshikawa Hiroshi
Sanada Mikio
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
Nghiem Michael
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