Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-17
2001-09-04
Le, N. (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
active
06283587
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a printer ink cartridge which is removably loaded in an ink jet printer and an ink cartridge device including the same.
2. Prior Art
FIGS. 11A and 11B
show a conventional ink cartridge. The ink cartridge
50
is comprised of a cartridge body
52
having three (YMC) ink reservoirs
51
for holding yellow ink, magenta ink and cyan ink, a delivery port-sealing film
54
for covering ink delivery ports
53
of the cartridge body
52
, and an air inlet port-sealing film
57
for covering ink-charging ports
55
and air inlet ports
56
of the cartridge body
52
. The three ink-charging ports
55
and three air inlet ports
56
are formed to open in a top surface of the cartridge body
52
, and further, meandering air inlet grooves
58
continuous with the respective air inlet ports
56
are formed in the top surface. The air inlet grooves
58
each have its open side (opening) covered with the air inlet port-sealing film
57
(attached to the top surface of the cartridge body
52
by hot-melt bonding) to thereby form air inlet passages
59
in the air inlet grooves
58
.
In the above state, the ink cartridge
50
is enclosed in an aluminum package, not shown, for shipment. Ink in the cartridge body
52
is made liable to degradation by exposure to air. To avoid this inconvenience, the ink cartridge
50
has the ink delivery ports
53
thereof sealed (by hot-melt bonding) by the delivery port-sealing film
54
, and then, after being charged with ink from the ink-charging ports
55
in a vacuum chamber, the ink-charging ports
55
and air inlet ports
56
are sealed (by hot-melt bonding) by the air inlet port-sealing film
57
. In this state, the ink cartridge
50
is vacuum-packed in an aluminum package for supply to the user.
When the ink cartridge
50
is used by the user, first, the aluminum package is unsealed to take out the ink cartridge
50
, and thereafter, part (peel-off portion
57
b
) of the air inlet port-sealing film
57
is peeled off, and the air inlet ports
56
(more accurately, upstream ends
59
a
of the air inlet passages
59
continuous with the air inlet ports
56
) are opened to the atmosphere, while the delivery port-sealing film
54
is peeled off to open the ink delivery ports
53
. In this state, the ink cartridge
50
is loaded in a printer.
The conventional ink cartridge having the above construction suffers from the problem that when the delivery port-sealing film is removed (peeled) off from the cartridge body, ink held in the vicinity of the ink delivery ports may be spilled and ink adhering to the delivery port-sealing film, particularly, a delivery port-sealing portion thereof may touch the user's hand, so that the user's hand, a desk, or the like can be stained with the ink. Further, there is a fear that the user forgets to peel off the delivery port-sealing film and loads the ink cartridge still covered therewith in the printer. Further, the conventional ink cartridge has the inconvenience that since the inside of the cartridge body is in vacuo, air can be mixed into ink to cause a faulty printing operation, unless the films are peeled off in order of the air inlet port-sealing film, first, and then the delivery port-sealing film according to an instruction manual of the ink cartridge supplied to the user.
The meandering portions of the three air inlet passages
59
are formed within an area of two thirds of the top surface of the cartridge body
52
, while the upstream ends
59
a
of the air inlet passages
59
extend within an area of the other one third of the same. The air inlet port-sealing film
57
has a non-peel-off portion
57
a
which covers substantially the whole area of the two thirds of the top surface of the cartridge body
52
to close the meandering portions and should not be torn off and a peel-off portion
57
b
which covers a major portion of the remaining area of the other one third to close the upstream ends
59
a
. The non-peel-off portion
57
a
and the peel-off portion
57
b
are connected by a narrow connecting portion crossing over starting portions of the upstream ends
59
a
of the air inlet passages
59
(as a result, the whole air inlet passages
59
including the upstream ends
59
a
is closed). From the peel-off portion
57
b
protrudes a peeling operation portion
57
c
for use in tearing off the peel-off portion. The user holds the peeling operation portion
57
c
between the finger and thumb, and then tears off the peel-off portion
57
b
, thereby opening the upstream ends
59
a
of the air inlet passages
59
to the atmosphere. The user further tears off the delivery port-sealing film
54
to open the ink delivery ports
53
, and then loads the ink cartridge
50
in this state in the printer.
The meandering air inlet passages
59
permit air to be supplied to each ink reservoir
51
by the amount corresponding to an amount of ink used or delivered from its ink delivery port
53
, while minimizing vaporization of water content of the ink. To use the ink cartridge, therefore, the peel-off portion
57
b
is torn off, thereby opening the upstream ends
59
a
to the atmosphere. When the ink cartridge is shipped or before it is used, however, the upstream ends
59
a
are required to be closed by the air inlet port-sealing film
57
. Therefore, to maintain the closed state of the upstream ends
59
a
, perforated lines or the like for guiding a peeling operation are not formed in the narrow connecting portion crossing over the starting portions of upstream ends
59
a
of the air inlet passages
59
.
In the case of such a conventional ink cartridge, when the peel-off portion
57
b
of the air inlet port-sealing film
57
is torn off, if the user applies a peeling force in a wrong direction, cutting lines are caused to be displaced particularly at the narrow connecting portion crossing the starting portions of the upstream ends of the air inlet passages, resulting in the peeling of part of the non-peel-off portion (shortened air inlet passages). Or inversely, depending on the arrangement of the three upstream ends, portions to be peeled off cannot be properly peeled off (to cause faulty opening of the air inlet passages). Needless to say, if the upstream ends
59
a
of the air inlet passages
59
are formed in a sufficiently wide area, it is possible to avoid the above inconveniences, unless an extremely erroneous peeling operation is carried out. In this case, however, an area for forming the meandering portions of the air inlet passages is necessarily made small, which makes it impossible to form the air inlet passages such that they have sufficient lengths.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is a first object of the invention to provide an ink cartridge device having an arrangement enabling automatic opening of at least one of an ink delivery port-sealing film and an air inlet film which seal an ink cartridge, when the ink cartridge is unpacked.
It is a second object of the invention to provide an ink cartridge device which is capable of reliably unsealing an ink delivery port-sealing film and at the same time prevents ink from being spilled out of the cartridge when the film is unsealed.
It is a third object of the invention to provide an ink cartridge which enables a peel-off portion of a covering film covering an upstream end of an air inlet groove to be accurately peeled off.
To attain the first object, according to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided an ink cartridge device for a printer, including an ink cartridge having a first surface formed with an ink delivery port, a second surface formed with an air inlet port, a delivery port-sealing film for sealing the ink delivery port, and an air inlet port-sealing film for sealing the air inlet port, and a cartridge casing having a casing body and a lid for closing the casing body, the cartridge casing accommodating the ink cartridge.
The ink cartridge device according to the first aspect of the invention is characterized in that at least one of the delivery port-seali
Hogan & Hartson L.L.P.
Le N.
Seiko Epson Corporation
Vo Anh T. N.
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