Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-24
2001-08-07
Le, N. (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
active
06270210
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to an ink cartridge that supplies ink to a recording head, and, in particular, to an improvement in the protection of the ink bag of an ink cartridge wherein the ink bag is accommodated in a case main body along with an ink depletion detecting plate affixed to the ink bag.
Generally an ink jet recording apparatus is designed to print data by causing the recording head thereof to reciprocally move along the width of a recording sheet. Ink is supplied from an ink supply source to the recording head. As a result of such a construction, an ink jet recording apparatus that must produce a large number of copies must carry a large-sized ink cartridge, which cannot be mounted on a carriage. Hence, the ink cartridge is mounted on the housing of the recording apparatus and the ink is supplied to the recording head through a tube.
Reference is made to
FIG. 16
in which an example of such a prior art ink jet recording apparatus is shown. A case main body
63
contains an ink bag
62
which includes an ink supply port
64
. Ink cartridge
61
is connected via a tube
65
to a sub tank
66
located on a carriage
67
. In this manner, ink can be supplied from the sub tank
66
to a recording head affixed to a lower surface of the carriage
67
. The apparatus housing
60
also contains a waste ink tank
70
.
Supplying the ink in this manner significantly increases the number of copies that can be printed by using only one cartridge as compared with the case where the ink cartridge is mounted on the carriage. However, the large size of the ink cartridge results in a large recording apparatus, which is a problem.
Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei. 5-16378 discloses the design of such an ink cartridge. An ink depletion detecting plate
69
(
FIG. 17
) is secured to the upper surface of the flexible ink bag
62
to cover part of the upper surface of the ink bag. The ink depletion detecting plate has a detecting piece which projects out from a side thereof and aligns with a window located in the case main body. A displacement of this detecting piece is sensed by an ink end detector disposed on the main body of the recording apparatus.
In an effort to overcome this problem, the ink bag
62
has been accommodated in a housing
60
in such a manner that a side surface along the length of the ink bag
62
extends vertically with respect to the corresponding side surface of the housing
60
, thereby decreasing the area needed to mount the ink cartridge
61
which results in the desired downsizing of the recording apparatus. Additionally, the size of the ink bag is increased to use any dead space within the housing which results in an increase in the ink capacity of the recording apparatus.
The prior art ink bag has been satisfactory. However, an increase in the size of the ink bag results in an increase in the area that is not covered by the ink depletion detecting plate. Subsequently, when the ink bag is subjected to vibrations during transportation or if the ink cartridge is dropped, the area of the ink bag
62
not covered by the ink depletion detecting plate
69
is shaken at a large amplitude. This results in the collision of the uncovered area of the ink bag with the side walls of the case main body. The uncovered area of the ink bag can also be subjected to bending, twisting or rubbing of the ink bag boundary with the ink depletion detecting plate. Consequent damage to the ink bag can result in the breaking of the bag or impairment of its air shielding characteristics.
Further, to prevent deformation of the ink bag and thereby ensure stable, consistent discharge of ink to the recording head, the shape of the ink bag is maintained by securing a flat area of the ink bag to the bottom on the case main body
63
. Additionally, this attachment prevents damage to the ink bag
62
during transportation.
However, in some cases, shaking of the ink at the time when the bottom, flat surface of the ink bag is affixed to the case main body with an adhesive
68
, results in the creation of wrinkles on the thus attached surface of the ink bag. These wrinkles extend parallel with the short side of the rectangular ink bag. Moreover, ink bags prepared by using a thick film to increase air shielding characteristics have wrinkles that do not collapse. These wrinkles cause problems with the flow of the ink resulting in the blockage of the ink to the ink supply port
64
which in turn causes the ink to stagnate in the ink bag. Additionally, the wrinkles cause the ink depletion detecting plate to float by a certain height G from the bottom of the ink cartridge. This condition persists even when there is no more ink left in the ink bag thus preventing the accurate detection of an ink end.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Generally speaking in accordance with the invention, an ink cartridge includes a case main body. A flat flexible ink bag is formed so as to be substantially rectangular and has an ink supply port formed on a short side thereof. An ink depletion detecting plate is fixed to one of the flat regions of the ink bag and has an outwardly projecting detecting piece. Another flat region of the ink bag is fixed to a bottom of the case. A cover covers an opening of the case main body. In an exemplary embodiment, the ink depletion detecting plate has projecting pieces on at least one long side thereof, the projecting pieces being such as to extend outward beyond an outer edge of the ink bag and such as to allow front ends thereof to come in contact with a side wall of the case main body.
A projecting piece extending outward beyond an outer edge of the ink bag is formed at least on a single side of the ink depletion detecting plate. The projecting piece is a short distance from said case to come in contact with the side wall of the case main body at a short stroke of the ink depletion detecting plate. Short stroke length is defined as a distance short enough in length to prevent vibration in the ink bag when the cartridge is shaken, dropped or the like. As a result, the amount of deformation of the ink bag during transportation or the like can be suppressed as much as possible.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved ink cartridge capable of preventing damage to the ink bag due to shaking, accidental dropping and other such actions during the distribution process.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved ink cartridge capable of reliably discharging ink by preventing the wrinkling of the ink bag where it is attached to the case main body.
Still another object of the invention is to provide an improved ink cartridge capable of correctly detecting ink depletion by preventing the wrinkling of the ink bag where it is attached to the case main body.
A further object of the invention is to provide an improved ink cartridge capable of keeping the amount of deformation of the ink bag to a minimum thereby protecting the ink bag from damage during transportation.
Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part be apparent from the specification.
The invention accordingly comprises the several steps and the relation of one or more of such steps with respect to each of the others, and the apparatus embodying features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangement of parts which are adapted to effect such steps, all as exemplified in the following detailed disclosure, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5307091 (1994-04-01), DeCoste
patent: 5400066 (1995-03-01), Matsumoto et al.
patent: 5852458 (1998-12-01), Scheffelin et al.
patent: 5874976 (1999-02-01), Katon et al.
patent: 5886718 (1999-03-01), Johnson et al.
Miyazawa Yoshio
Yamaguchi Shuichi
Le N.
Nghiem Michael
Seiko Epson Corporation
Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP
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