Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
1997-06-13
2001-01-23
Le, N. (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
active
06176572
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an ink jet recorder for supplying ink to a recording head from an ink supply port provided in an ink cartridge and for discharging the ink from a nozzle hole provided in the recording head to record characters and the like on paper, and more particularly, to an ink jet recorder in which a sufficient amount of ink can be supplied to a recording head from an ink cartridge, and the ink in the ink cartridge hardly leaks.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional ink jet recorder has been so generally constructed that an ink holding member
11
composed of a porous member for holding ink
1
is contained inside an ink cartridge
10
, an ink supply port
12
for supplying the ink
1
to a recording head
20
and a vent hole
13
for introducing air into the ink cartridge
10
are provided in the ink cartridge
10
. The ink supply port
12
in the ink cartridge
10
and the recording head
20
communicate with each other by connecting means
30
, as shown in FIG.
1
.
The ink
1
held in the ink holding member
11
provided inside the ink cartridge
10
is supplied to the recording head
20
through the ink supply port
12
. The ink
1
is discharged from a plurality of nozzle holes
21
provided in the recording head
20
to record characters and the like on paper. Air is introduced into the ink cartridge
10
through the vent hole
13
, to keep pressure inside the ink cartridge
10
constant.
In such an ink jet recorder, in cases such as a case where the ink
1
is supplied to the recording head
20
from the ink cartridge
10
at high speed, the ink
1
cannot be sufficiently supplied to the recording head
20
, resulting in insufficient printing, for example.
In the prior art, in order to sufficiently supply the ink
1
from the ink cartridge
10
to the recording head
20
as described above, therefore, it has been examined that the ink supply port
12
communicating with the recording head
20
is made large, to supply a large amount of ink
1
to the recording head
20
through the ink supply port
12
. When the ink supply port
12
is thus made large, however, leakage of the ink
1
from the ink cartridge
10
is increased.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems in an ink jet recorder for supplying ink to a recording head from an ink supply port provided in an ink cartridge and for discharging ink from a nozzle hole provided in the recording head to record characters and the like on paper.
An object of the present invention is to make it possible to make stable recording by stably supplying a sufficient amount of ink to a recording head in cases such as a case where the ink is supplied to the recording head from an ink supply port provided in an ink cartridge at high speed as described above.
Another object of the present invention is to prevent, even in a case where a sufficient amount of ink is stably supplied to a recording head from an ink supply port provided in an ink cartridge, the ink in the ink cartridge from leaking from the ink supply port.
In order to attain the above-mentioned objects, an ink jet recorder according to the present invention comprises an ink cartridge having an ink supply port for supplying ink to a recording head and an ink holding member composed of a porous member for holding the ink, the ink holding member being so arranged inside the ink cartridge as to cover the ink supply port, and a recording head communicating with the ink supply port of the ink cartridge, the recording head having a plurality of nozzle holes, wherein the following conditions are satisfied, where S0 (mm
2
) is the cross-sectional area of an opening in the ink supply port, S1 (mm
2
) is the total sum of the cross-sectional areas of openings for the plurality of nozzle holes, and S2 (mm
2
) is the average of the cross-sectional areas of holes in the ink holding member:
(1/
S
2)×(1/35)>
S
0
≧S
1×5
In the ink jet recorder, when the relationship between the sum S1 (mm
2
) of the cross-sectional areas of the openings in all the nozzle holes in the recording head and the cross-sectional area S0 (mm
2
) of the opening in the ink supply port in the ink cartridge satisfies S0≧S1×5, a sufficient amount of ink can be stably supplied to the recording head through the ink supply port, so that the ink can be stably discharged from each of the nozzle holes in the recording head.
Furthermore, when the relationship between the cross-sectional area S0 (mm
2
) of the opening in the ink supply port and the average S2 (mm
2
) of the cross-sectional areas of the holes in the ink holding member provided in the ink cartridge satisfies (1/S2)×(1/35)>S0, the ink is sufficiently held in the ink holding member. Even when the ink supply port is made large, the ink in the ink cartridge is prevented from leaking.
As in the ink jet recorder according to the present invention, when the sum S1 (mm
2
) of the cross-sectional areas of the openings in all the nozzle holes in the recording head, the cross-sectional area S0 (mm
2
) of the opening in the ink supply port in the ink cartridge, and the average S2 (mm
2
) of the cross-sectional areas of the holes in the ink holding member composed of the porous member for holding the ink contained in the ink cartridge are so set as to satisfy the foregoing conditions, a sufficient amount of ink is stably supplied to the recording head from the ink cartridge, whereby the recording head is prevented from being clogged with air bubbles upon inflow of the air bubbles into the recording head. Therefore, the ink is stably discharged through each of the nozzle holes in the recording head, so that stable recording can be made, and the ink in the ink cartridge is inhibited from leaking.
An ink cartridge according to the present invention has an ink supply port having a plurality of openings provided therein for supplying ink exterior to the ink cartridge. The sum of the cross-sectional areas of the openings is not less than 0.25 mm
2
.
When a plurality of openings for supplying the ink to the exterior are provided as in the ink cartridge according to the present invention, the area of each of the openings is decreased, and the ink is inhibited from leaking by capillary action in the opening. Further, the sum of the cross-sectional areas of the openings is not less than 0.25 mm
2
. Even when a large amount of ink is consumed as in a case where printing is continuously done, therefore, the ink is stably supplied to the recording head through each of the openings in the ink supply port, whereby stable recording can be made.
These and other objects, advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate specific embodiment of the invention.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4675693 (1987-06-01), Yano et al.
patent: 4931811 (1990-06-01), Cowger et al.
patent: 5509140 (1996-04-01), Koitabashi et al.
patent: 5604523 (1997-02-01), Tsukuda et al.
patent: 5790158 (1998-08-01), Shinada et al.
patent: 8-132633 (1996-05-01), None
Kato Hitoshi
Yamamoto Tomoko
Yamashita Takeshi
Le N.
Minolta Co. , Ltd.
Nghiem Michael
Sidley & Austin
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