JP3229090B2 - ink cartridge - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink container for storing ink which is a liquid used in a recording apparatus such as an ink jet recording apparatus, a copying machine or a facsimile, and more particularly to a refilling of ink. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an ink jet recording apparatus, ink is always kept at an appropriate negative pressure in an ejection port to stably eject ink from a recording head and to prevent ink from leaking from the ejection port during standby. It is preferred that it is sagged. As one means for realizing this negative pressure state in the conventional ink jet recording apparatus, a method has been adopted in which the water level of the ink container is always lower than the recording head. In such an ink jet recording apparatus, it is necessary to keep a certain posture at the time of use since the apparatus utilizes gravity.

However, in recent years, there has been a demand for miniaturization and portability of the ink jet recording apparatus. Therefore, instead of disposing the ink container separately from the carriage for conveying the recording head as in the related art, the ink container is mounted on the carriage of the recording apparatus. Is required. The following ink containers are known as ink containers that generate an appropriate negative pressure for a print head and do not leak ink from ejection ports during non-printing.

FIG. 9 is a schematic perspective view showing a part of a conventional ink container in a cutaway manner, and FIG. 10 is a schematic sectional view of a conventional example. In these figures, a recording head 1 that performs recording by flying ink onto a recording medium, such as paper, is illustrated.
05 is connected.

As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, a conventional container body 101 has a plate-shaped porous body 103 made of a sponge or the like disposed on a bottom plate 101a. Except for the five partition plates 102a to 102e
Are divided into six rooms. A recording head 105 is mounted on an outer surface of a front wall 101b of the container body 101, and an atmosphere communication hole 104 is opened in a rear wall 101c. Since the air communication hole 104 is formed in a tubular shape and protrudes and opens at a substantially central portion of the chamber in which the air communication hole 104 is opened, when the ink is accumulated in the chamber in which the air communication hole 104 is provided. Regardless of the attitude of the ink container, the ink does not leak if the ink amount is less than half the volume of the chamber in which the air communication hole 104 is opened.

Next, the operation of the ink container of the present embodiment during recording will be described with reference to FIG. At the time of recording, the posture must be such that at least a part of the porous body 103 is arranged at the lowest part of the ink container as shown in FIG. In the initial state, the ink container is filled with ink in all the rooms except the first chamber in which the air communication hole 104 is opened. As printing is performed, the ink is discharged from the ejection port 105a as shown in FIG.
It is consumed in order from the room farthest from. The reason is as follows. As the ink is ejected through the ejection port 105a, the ink in the sixth chamber closest to the ejection port 105a is sucked by an amount corresponding to the ejection amount. Since the sixth chamber is only connected to the fifth chamber via the porous body 3 in addition to the discharge port 105a, the sixth chamber is connected to the discharge port 105a.
The amount of ink that has been sucked into the porous body 1
03 is supplied through the gap. Similarly, by sequentially supplying ink from the chamber near the air communication hole 104, ink is continuously supplied to the discharge port 105a. When there is no ink that can be supplied to a chamber adjacent to the atmosphere communication hole 104, the air supplied from the atmosphere communication hole 104 is supplied through the porous body 103. In this way, ink is consumed in order from the chamber near the air communication hole 104. At this time, the chamber closest to the discharge port 105a where there is no ink at all, and the discharge port 105
A large number of minute meniscuses are formed in the porous body 103 at the communicating portion with the adjacent chamber on the side a, whereby the ink in the container maintains a predetermined negative pressure.

Next, the operation of maintaining the state of ink during non-printing will be described. As the ink is a liquid, its volume hardly changes with changes in the surrounding environment, particularly changes in the temperature and the atmospheric pressure, but the air expands and contracts greatly. For example, in the case of FIG. 10A, when the temperature rises, the air from the first chamber to the fifth chamber has almost no ink in the porous body 103 in that part and is exposed to the outside air through the atmosphere communication hole 104. Even if it expands, it can easily escape to the outside and does not exert any pressure on the head side. However, since the air in the fourth chamber is cut off from the outside air by the ink, the ink in the fourth chamber is pushed out to the third chamber as the air in the fourth chamber expands. However, since the ink extruded into the third chamber spreads in the porous body 103 in the direction of the first chamber, the air in the third chamber and the second chamber is cut off from the outside air in the process, and as a result, as shown in FIG. As shown in (B), the extruded air hardly enters the third and second chambers and moves only in the first chamber in which the air communication hole 104 is open.

As described above, the amount of ink overflowing into the first chamber is:
Since the air is isolated from the outside air only in one room before the temperature rise, the volume of the first room is assumed to be the fluctuation of the assumed temperature and pressure with respect to the volume of each room after the second room. What is necessary is just to secure at a predetermined ratio in view of the range.

On the other hand, when the temperature drops from the state shown in FIG. 10 (B), the air in the second, third, and fourth chambers is shut off from the outside air, so that the air moves to the first chamber due to the contraction of the air. Conversely, the ink is sucked back toward the second, third, and fourth chambers.
And finally, it returns to the initial state as shown in FIG.

The above-described ink state maintaining function at the time of non-printing functions similarly in any other posture. However, the porous body 103 is upside down from the state shown in FIG. 8 and is slightly different only when the ink in the fourth chamber does not touch the porous body 103 at all. Since the air communicates with the outside air,
Even no overflow into the room.

As described above, according to the conventional example, it is possible to return to the original state even when exposed to a temperature change or a pressure change in any posture.

[0012]

However, the conventional example has the following problems. Referring to FIGS. 11, 12 and 13, when the conventional cartridge is refilled with ink, as shown in FIG.
6 and the ink container 107 are separated from each other,
If the recording head and the ink container cannot be separated from each other, a separate injection port is provided in an ink chamber closest to the recording head (not shown).

FIG. 12 shows a state where the ink container 107 is turned upside down and the ink is injected from the joint portion 108. In this case, although the ink chamber 109e is filled, the ink chambers 109a to 109b are not filled, and the ink flows to the buffer chamber 110 for directly preventing ink leakage. This is because the ink remaining in the porous body 111 is connected from the ink chamber 109e to the buffer chamber 110, so the porous body 111 serves as a pipe due to the surface tension of the ink, and does not spill in each ink chamber. This is because ink is spilled from the porous body 111 for the first time in the buffer chamber 110 where the porous body 111 is broken. When the porous body 111 is unused or when the remaining ink has dried, the pressure to be injected is
Since the surface tension of the ink is small, the ink does not serve as a pipe, and the ink accumulates sequentially in the ink chamber.

FIG. 13 shows a configuration in which a porous chamber is provided only in a partition portion of each ink chamber. Even when ink remains in the porous chamber at the time of refilling, the ink is interrupted in the middle of the ink chamber. It accumulates in the ink chamber sequentially. However, the porous body must be arranged only in the partition part, and the assemblability is very poor.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in consideration of the problems and problems of the conventional technique, and has as its object to provide an ink cartridge which can be easily refilled while maintaining good assembling properties. Things.

[0016]

According to the present invention, which achieves the above object, the porous material of the partition portion of each ink chamber is separated into the ink portions of the ink chamber for each ink chamber while the assemblability is good. Specifically, the porous body is provided with cuts at the pitch of the ink chambers, and the ink container is also provided with projections for each ink chamber, so that the porous body that has been integrated before the assembly is replaced with the ink chamber during the assembly. Each projection was cut off. As another method, the porous body is made thin except for the partition part of the ink chamber, and the ink passage is cut off for each ink chamber by crushing the thinned part of the porous body with a projection provided on the ink container. I did it.

That is, the present invention has a plurality of ink chambers partitioned by a plurality of partition members, and adjacent ink chambers are communicated via an ink communication section provided with a porous body, thereby reducing ink consumption. remaining ink drop of the ink chamber in a sequential occurs ink container for each ink chamber with the in
The container has the plurality of partition members at predetermined intervals.
A housing, and the partition member joined to the housing,
And a lid constituting an ink communication section,
The inner surface of the lid when it is used as the ink container.
The partition forming ink chambers other than the ink chambers at both ends.
The protrusions are arranged at positions between the
The porous body provided in the ink communication part is
Cut or narrow at intervals approximately equal to
The cut or the thinned part is
At the time of assembling the container, the projections of the lid may cause
An ink cartridge characterized by being divided so as not to tie the chambers and to extend over the three chambers, and has a plurality of ink chambers partitioned by a plurality of partition members,
In an ink container in which adjacent ink chambers are communicated via an ink communication portion provided with a porous body, and a decrease in the remaining amount of ink in the ink chambers due to consumption of ink occurs sequentially for each ink chamber, the ink container includes the ink container, Multiple partition members
Having at intervals, the partition member and the partition member
Between the two sides of the ink chamber.
A housing having a pair of ribs longer than the cutting member;
The ink communication portion is formed between the partition member and the partition member.
And a lid that forms
The porous body disposed in the section is
It has openings at approximately equal intervals, and when assembling the container,
The porous body around the opening is formed by the rib in the container.
Crushing, the capillary force of the porous body in the middle of each ink chamber
An ink cartridge characterized by being divided .

[0018]

In the ink cartridge of the present invention, the porous body communicating with each ink chamber is divided or partially crushed for each ink chamber. Even if ink remains in the ink chamber, the ink is always interrupted in the middle of the ink chamber, so that the intermediate ink chamber is also filled with ink. In addition, since the porous body was automatically cut and crushed during assembly, good assemblability was maintained.

[0019]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows a porous body as an example of the present invention, for example, a sponge. The sponge 1 has the same outer shape as that of a conventional cartridge, but when incorporated in a tank container,
Cuts 1a to 1d are formed in portions corresponding to the center of each ink chamber except for the ink chambers at both ends.

FIG. 2 shows a cartridge in the process of being assembled. The sponge 1 is sandwiched between a tank container 2 and a bottom plate 3. The tank container 2 has five partitions 4a to 4e.
5a to 5e are ink chambers, and the ink chamber 5e is provided with a rubber stopper 6 which is a joint with a recording head (not shown). Reference numeral 7 denotes a buffer chamber for preventing ink leakage, which has an air communication hole 8. Triangular ribs 3a to 3d protrude from the lower plate 3 at portions corresponding to the centers of the ink chambers 5a to 5d, respectively.

FIGS. 3A and 3B show the cartridge after assembly, wherein FIGS. 3A and 3B are a horizontal section and a vertical section, respectively, of FIG. At the time of assembling, the sponge 1 is alternately sandwiched between the partition plates 4a to 4e and the ribs 3a to 3d, and is torn at the cuts 1a to 1d by being pulled in the longitudinal direction. The torn sponges are blocked by the ribs 3a to 3d and do not contact each other, and are completely separated.

The cartridge shown in FIG. 3 has a porous body only at the partition of each ink chamber, similarly to the structure of the conventional example shown in FIG. 12, and there is no connection between the ink chambers after use of the ink. Therefore, refilling from the rubber stopper 4 becomes possible.

FIG. 4 shows a porous body as a second embodiment of the present invention, for example, a sponge. The sponge 9 has the same outer shape as that of the conventional cartridge. Only the department is connected.

FIG. 5 shows a cartridge in the middle of assembly, in which the sponge 9 is sandwiched between the tank container 10 and the bottom plate 11. The tank container 10 is divided into six rooms separated by five partition plates 12a to 12e.
Reference numerals a to 13e denote ink chambers, and the ink chamber 13e is provided with a rubber stopper 14 which is a joint with a recording head (not shown). Reference numeral 15 denotes a buffer chamber having an atmosphere communication hole 16 for preventing ink leakage. A pair of right and left ribs 17a is provided in the center of the ink chambers 13a to 13d in parallel with the partition plates 12a to 12e.
To 17d. The ribs 17a to 17d extend slightly below the partition plates 12a to 12e, and the interval between the paired ribs is smaller than the width of the sponge holes 9a to 9b.

FIG. 6 shows the completed cartridge, wherein (a) and (c) are a horizontal section and a vertical section, respectively, of (a). At the time of assembling, both sides of the holes 9a to 9b of the sponge 9 are crushed by the ribs 17a to 17d. Since the crushed portion does not function as a porous body, the sponge 9 is eventually divided for each ink chamber.

FIG. 7 shows a sponge according to a third embodiment of the present invention. In the sponge 18, a wide portion and a narrow portion are repeated at the pitch of the ink chamber. You can do much. In use, the thinned portion may be torn off as in the example shown in FIG. 1, or the thinned portion may be crushed as in the example shown in FIG.

[0027]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, a sponge can be divided at the time of assembling, so that a refillable cartridge can be provided with good assembling properties.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a porous body of a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the cartridge in the course of assembly in the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of the cartridge of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a porous body of a second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating the cartridge during assembly according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a schematic sectional view of a cartridge according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a porous body of a third embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a conventional cartridge with a part cut away.

FIG. 9 is a schematic sectional view of a conventional cartridge.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an operation at the time of recording of a conventional cartridge.

FIG. 11 is a schematic sectional view of a conventional cartridge.

FIG. 12 is a schematic sectional view of a conventional cartridge.

FIG. 13 is a schematic sectional view of a conventional cartridge.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Sponge 1a-1c cut 2 Ink container 3 Bottom plate 3a-3d Rib 4a-4e Partition 5a-5e Ink chamber 6 Rubber stopper 7 Buffer room 8 Air communication hole 9 Sponge 9a-9d Sponge hole 10 Ink container 11 Bottom plate 12a-12e 12e-12e Plates 13a to 13e Ink chamber 14 Rubber stopper 15 Buffer chamber 16 Atmospheric communication hole 17a to 17d Rib 18 Sponge 101 Ink container 101a Bottom plate 101b Front wall 101c Rear wall 102a to 102e Partition 103 Porous body 104 Air communication hole 105 Recording head 105a Discharge Exit 106 Recording head 107 Ink container 108 Joint 109a-109e Ink chamber 110 Buffer chamber

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An ink chamber having a plurality of ink chambers partitioned by a plurality of partition members. Adjacent ink chambers are communicated via an ink communication portion provided with a porous body, and the ink chambers in the ink chambers accompanying the consumption of ink are provided. In an ink container in which a decrease in the remaining amount of ink occurs sequentially for each ink chamber, the ink container is configured such that the plurality of partition members are arranged at predetermined intervals.
And the partition member joined to the housing and
And a lid that constitutes the ink communication section between
The inner surface of the lid when the ink container is used.
Surface, and constitute ink chambers other than the ink chambers at both ends.
A projection is arranged at a position between the partition members.
In addition, the porous body provided in the ink communication section is
Have cuts at intervals approximately equal to
Is thin and the cut or thinned part
However, at the time of assembling the container, the projections of the cover
The two rooms are tied together so that they do not extend across three rooms
Ink cartridge, characterized in that that. 2. An ink chamber having a plurality of ink chambers partitioned by a plurality of partition members, wherein adjacent ink chambers are communicated via an ink communication portion provided with a porous body, and the inside of the ink chamber accompanying consumption of ink is provided. In an ink container in which a decrease in the remaining amount of ink occurs sequentially for each ink chamber, the ink container is configured such that the plurality of partition members are arranged at predetermined intervals.
And between the partition member and the partition member
And the partition is provided on two sides which are sides of the ink chamber.
A housing having a pair of ribs longer than the member, and joining with the housing
And constitutes the ink communicating portion with the partition member.
And a porous body provided in the ink communication section, and
Having openings at intervals substantially equal to the intervals between
During assembly, the ribs in the container allow the
Crush the surrounding porous body and reduce the capillary force of the porous body to
An ink cartridge characterized by being divided in the middle of an ink chamber .