Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-10
2004-09-07
Nghiem, Michael (Department: 2863)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
active
06786581
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus for ejecting ink on a printing medium from a print head supplied with ink through a tapered ink supply needle, and more particularly to an ink cartridge and an ink supply system removably attached to the printing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, an ink cartridge having a supply port for providing ink is connected to a print head of a printing apparatus for ejecting ink on a printing medium from nozzle aperture of the print head. The printing apparatus has a hollow ink supply needle in the ink supply channel to supply ink to the print head. When the ink cartridge is mounted on the printing apparatus, the hollow ink supply needle is inserted into the ink supply port of the ink cartridge so that ink is introduced to the print head.
When the ink cartridge includes a porous member within its ink chamber for absorbing ink, the ink chamber receives a negative pressure by the porous member. Therefore, the ink cartridge needs to be sealed so as not to suck air or bubbles in the ink chamber, which would be undesirable.
FIG. 27
is a cross sectional view of an example of an ink artridge and an ink supply channel. The ink cartridge
112
has an ink supply port
114
and a packing member
120
contained in the ink supply port
114
and fitting with an ink supply needle
118
which is connected to a print head
116
. The ink supply port
114
is sealed with a sealing film, not shown in the drawings, prior to use. When the ink supply needle
118
is inserted in the ink supply port
114
and fitted in the packing member
120
, the ink supply needle
118
penetrates the sealing film. Ink is then provided to the print head
116
via the ink supply needle
118
. The ink cartridge
112
is sealed by fitting the ink supply needle
118
with the packing member
120
.
When the ink cartridge
112
is removed from the printing apparatus with ink left therein, the sealing of the ink supply needle
118
with the packing member
120
is released. The result is that ink leaks from the ink supply port
114
or that air or a bubble enters the ink supply port
114
. This means that a user of the ink cartridge cannot remove the ink cartridge until ink in the ink cartridge is completely used up. The user cannot repeatedly exchange a plurality of ink cartridges with his choice while ink still remains in the ink cartridge. There has been provided an ink cartridge as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,777,646, having an elastic slit wall formed at an opening of an ink supply port and a ball slidably received in the ink supply port which is always urged against the elastic slit wall by a spring.
An ink supply channel of the conventional ink cartridge described above is opened by urging the ball with a hollow ink supply needle of the printing apparatus when the ink cartridge is mounted on the apparatus. The ink supply channel of the ink cartridge is closed when the hollow ink supply needle is removed from elastic slit wall because of the elastic force of the spring which always urges the ball against the elastic slit wall of the ink supply port. Therefore, ink does not leak from the ink supply port and air or bubble does not enter the ink supply port.
The conventional ink cartridge, however, has a drawback that the structure of the ink supply port is complicated as shown in FIG.
27
. Therefore, the workability of the ink cartridge is deteriorated, and the manufacturing cost would rise up.
FIG. 28
shows another example of a conventional ink cartridge disclosed in Japanese patent application No. 5-229137 employing a packing member, or a rubber member disposed in the ink supply port and a ball which is urged against the packing member by a spring. Ink is supplied from an ink chamber to a print head via a cylindrical connecting means. The ball is urged by the cylindrical connecting means to move away from the packing member against the elastic force of the spring.
The ink cartridge illustrated in
FIG. 28
has a packing member
134
disposed in the ink supply port
132
and a ball
136
abutting against the packing member
134
by means of an elastic force of a spring
138
.
In the conventional ink cartridge shown and
FIG. 28
, the packing member
134
serves as a valve seat sealing the ink supply port
132
with the connecting means, and the ball
136
serves as a valve body closing the ink supply port
132
in cooperation with the packing member
134
. However, the relative position between the ball
136
and the spring
138
is unstable. This may cause an undesirable insufficient sealing by the ball
136
with the packing member
134
. Furthermore, the connecting means needs to have a large contact area to sufficiently urge the ball
136
against the elastic force of the spring. Therefore, the connecting means is not easily inserted in the packing member
134
. Furthermore, because the ball
136
is always urged toward the packing member
134
by the spring, the through hole of the packing member
134
may be expanded. This is disadvantageous because it may cause an insufficient connection between the ball
136
and the packing member
134
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention was made in view of the foregoing problems or drawbacks accompanying the conventional sealing structure of the conventional ink cartridge. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an ink cartridge and an ink supply system for an ink jet type printing apparatus capable of closing an ink supply channel assuredly, sufficiently when it is not mounted on the printing apparatus and capable of opening the ink supply channel to allow ink to smoothly flow to a print head when it is mounted on the printing apparatus.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an ink-jet type printing apparatus employing such ink cartridge.
The above and other objects can be achieved by combinations of the features recited in independent claims of the present application. Dependent claims define further advantages and exemplary combinations of the present invention.
In order to solve the above-stated problems and drawbacks accompanying the conventional ink cartridges, the present invention provides an ink cartridge for a printing apparatus providing ink to a print head through a tapered ink supply needle and removably attached to the print head, including: an ink chamber for containing ink; an ink supply port for supplying ink from the ink chamber to the print head of the printing apparatus, the ink supply port including an external opening; a packing member provided in the ink supply port, forming an ink channel for allowing a flow of ink, the packing member sealing the ink supply needle of the printing apparatus by fitting therewith; and a valve device contained in the ink supply port elastically abutting against the packing member, the valve device selectively opening and closing the ink channel in conjunction with the ink supply needle.
In order to solve the above-stated problems and drawbacks accompanying the conventional ink cartridges, the present invention further provides an ink cartridge for a printing apparatus providing ink to a print head through an ink supply needle and removably attached to the print head, including: an ink chamber for containing ink; an ink supply port for supplying ink from the ink chamber to the print head of the printing apparatus, the ink supply port including an external opening; a packing member provided in the ink supply port, forming an ink channel for allowing a flow of ink, the packing member sealing the ink supply needle of the printing apparatus by fitting therewith; and a valve device contained in the ink supply port elastically abutting against the packing member, the valve device selectively opening and closing the ink channel in conjunction with the ink supply needle, the valve device being urged by the ink supply needle of the printing apparatus to open the ink channel at a same time when the ink supply needle is sealed by the packing mem
Hayakawa Hitoshi
Kobayashi Atsushi
Miyazawa Hisashi
Naka Takahiro
Seino Takeo
Nghiem Michael
Seiko Epson Corporation
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