Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
2002-03-08
2004-07-06
Vo, Anh T. N. (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Fluid or fluid source handling means
Reexamination Certificate
active
06758556
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink cartridge which is to be used with an ink-jet recording apparatus and is constructed so as to feed ink to a recording head. The present invention also relates to an ink-jet recording apparatus using the ink cartridge.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ink-jet recording apparatus produces comparatively low noise during printing operation and can form small dots at high density. Hence, the ink-jet recording apparatus has recently been used in a number of printing applications, including color printing.
Such an ink-jet recording apparatus is usually equipped with an ink-jet recording head which is mounted on a carriage and moved in the widthwise direction of recording paper, and paper feed means for moving the recording paper in the direction orthogonal to the traveling direction of the recording head. On the basis of print data, ink droplets are ejected from the recording head, thus recording the data on the recording paper.
The recording head is mounted on the carriage, and is capable of ejecting ink droplets of, for example, black, yellow, cyan, and magenta. Accordingly, the ink-jet recording apparatus enables full-color printing by changing the proportions of ink types, as well as effecting text printing with black ink.
Incidentally, in order to effect a comparatively-high volume of printing, a recording apparatus of this type supplied for, for example, an office or business purpose, requires use of high-volume ink cartridges. To this end, there has been provided a recording apparatus, in which ink cartridges are fitted to a cartridge holder provided, for example, to an apparatus main body.
In the recording apparatus, sub-tanks are disposed on the carriage having the recording head, and the respective sub-tanks are replenished with ink from corresponding ink cartridges by way of ink supply tubes. The sub-tanks, in turn, supply ink to the recording head.
Recently, growing demand exists for a large-size recording apparatus capable of effecting printing on larger-size paper, in which a carriage travels a longer scan distance. In order to improve throughput of such a recording apparatus, a larger number of nozzles are provided in a recording head.
Further, demand exists for a recording apparatus which sequentially supplies ink to the respective sub-tanks mounted on the carriage from corresponding ink cartridges while performing printing operation, in order to improve throughput, and which stably supplies ink from the respective sub-tanks to the recording head.
In such a recording apparatus, since the carriage travels over a longer scan distance, the lengths of respective ink supply tubes inevitably increase. Further, as mentioned above, a larger number of nozzles are provided in the recording head. Hence, such a recording apparatus encounters a technical problem of deficient ink supply to the sub-tanks because the recording head consumes a large quantity of ink, and an increase in the dynamic pressure (i.e., pressure loss) of ink is likely to occur within each of the ink supply tubes interconnecting the ink cartridges and the sub-tanks.
As one measure to prevent this technical problem, there may be employed, for example, a construction in which air pressure is applied to the ink cartridges to forcibly inducing ink flows from the ink cartridges to the sub-tanks under air pressure. This construction makes it possible to supply a sufficient amount of ink to the sub-tanks.
FIG. 36
is a cross-sectional view showing an example construction of a related-art ink cartridge utilized for such an ink-jet recording apparatus. In
FIG. 36
, reference numeral
81
designates a case defining the outer shell of an ink cartridge. The case
81
is integrally formed, into a shape of a bottle having a relatively large opening, from synthetic resin material by means of blow molding (hollow molding).
A columnar cap member
84
is fitted into an opening section
82
by way of an O-ring
83
. By means of the cap member
84
and the O-ring
83
, the inside of the case
81
is sealed, thus constituting a pressure chamber
85
within the case
81
.
An ink outlet section
86
employing a ball valve is formed in the center of the columnar cap member
84
. Ink can be led out from an ink pack
87
—which is housed in the case
81
and formed from ink-filled flexible material—to the outside via the ink outlet section
86
.
An air inlet port
89
is formed in a portion of the cap member
84
. A rubber plug
88
is fitted on the air inlet port
89
. A through hole
88
a
is formed in the center of the rubber plug
88
. When the ink cartridge is not attached to an ink-jet recording apparatus, the through hole
88
a
is closed.
When the ink cartridge is attached to the recording apparatus, an unillustrated hollow needle provided on the recording apparatus penetrates through the through hole
88
a
of the rubber plug
88
, and pressurized air can enter the pressure chamber
85
by way of the hollow needle.
Consequently, the pressurized air is introduced into the pressure chamber
85
by way of the hollow needle. Upon receipt of pressure, the ink contained in the ink pack
87
is led to the outside by way of the ink outlet section
86
.
The above ink cartridge of related-art construction involves several problems to be solved, as described below.
A first problem is as follows: In the ink cartridge of the related-art construction mentioned above, the case forming the outer shell is integrally formed by blow molding, and consequently, as can be seen from the exemplified construction shown in
FIG. 36
, the ink pack
87
is integrally attached to the columnar cap member
84
formed with the ink replenishing valve
86
and the air introducing valve
88
.
The cap member
84
is pressure-fitted to the opening section
82
using the O-ring
83
so that the ink pack
87
, which has not been filled with ink, is inserted into the case
81
. Subsequently, ink is injected into the ink pack
87
from the exterior via the ink replenishing valve
86
to thereby complete a product, i.e. the ink cartridge.
Since the case defining the outer shell of the ink cartridge of related-art construction is integrally formed by blow molding, difficulty is often encountered in assembling an ink pack, which has already filled with ink, into the case. That is, the ink pack must be filled with ink in a subsequent process.
Further, predetermined pressure is imposed on the inside of the case during the recording operation of the recording apparatus. There must be employed a countermeasure for preventing deformation of the case, which would otherwise be caused when the case receives the pressure. For this reason, in order to ensure the strength of the case, adoption of a simple construction, such as a cylindrical shape like a bottle having a relatively large opening section as shown in
FIG. 36
, is preferable.
However, such an outer shell yields a problem of an increase in the occupation volume of the case, resulting in difficulty in designing the layout of a recording apparatus of this type, which requires parallel arrangement of color ink cartridges.
Another conceivable measure for ensuring the strength of the case is to increase the thickness of the case. However, a large quantity of synthetic resin material is consumed for forming a case, thus posing difficulty in contributing to conservation of resources.
In contrast, another conceivable measure for reducing the quantity of synthetic resin material consumed is to integrally form reinforcement ribs on a part of the case. However, as mentioned above, when blow molding is employed for forming a case, forming reinforcement ribs in the interior of the case is usually difficult.
A second problem is that, in a case where ink cartridges of related-art construction attached to a recording apparatus are removed from the recording apparatus after having performed ink supply operation, the through hole
88
a
formed in the rubber plug
88
is closed immediately due to elasticity of rubber, thereby leaving pressu
Ishizawa Taku
Kamijyo Masanori
Kumagai Toshio
Seiko Epson Corporation
Vo Anh T. N.
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