JPH09156126A - Ink jet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simplify a structure of an ink waste liquid housing part by a method wherein an ink absorbing member in which the ink waste liquid discharged by suction from a printing head by suction mechanism is absorbed, is housed in a case of an ink jet printer so that it is not moved. SOLUTION: A box-like housing part 9 housing an ink absorbing member 8 is formed in a lower case 2 of an ink jet printer. A presser member 39 pressing the ink absorbing member 8 from upward is formed at lower ends of reinforcing ribs 40, 41 of an upper case 3. Ink waste liquid discharged by suction with a suction pump 35 is absorbed into the ink absorbing member 8 by sticking a suction cap 33 fast to a nozzle opening surface 25a of a printing head 25.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet printer, and more particularly, to an improved ink storage member containing technology for absorbing ink waste liquid.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Ink jet printers are constructed so that ink is ejected from a large number of ink jet nozzles to print in a dot pattern, and for example, each ink jet printer has 64 ink jet nozzles and prints in color. , Four ink cartridges for four color inks of magenta, yellow, cyan, and black are provided, and the print head is provided with, for example, 64 × 4 inkjet nozzles, and these ink cartridges and print head are provided on the carriage. It is mounted and configured to print while moving the carriage back and forth.

In an ink jet printer, in addition to a printing mechanism including a print head and a paper feeding mechanism for feeding paper, a cleaning mechanism including a blade for wiping off ink adhering to the nozzle opening surface of the print head, and an ink jet nozzle group for each color A suction cap that can be in close contact with the nozzle opening surface and a suction mechanism that sucks the inkjet nozzle group through the suction cap are also provided. Here, an ink absorbing member that absorbs the ink waste liquid generated when the print head is cleaned by the cleaning mechanism or sucked by the suction mechanism is also provided. This ink absorbing member is a large one with a considerable volume. The ink absorbing member is stored in a storage case made of synthetic resin, and the storage case is attached to the middle part of the printer or the inner surface of the bottom wall of the lower case. It was equipped (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-198907).

[0004]

In the conventional ink jet printer, since the ink absorbing member is housed in the storage case and is installed in the middle part of the printer or on the inner surface of the bottom wall of the lower case, the storage case. However, there is a problem that the internal space of the printer becomes narrower by that volume, the volume of the ink absorbing member becomes smaller, and the production cost of the storage case is increased because an independent storage case is provided.

Further, when the storage case is formed so as to open upward, the ink absorption member stored in the storage case is not configured to be pressed from above, so that the ink absorption member floats up during transportation of the printer. There is also the problem of moving around. An object of the present invention is to make it possible to restrain the ink absorbing member from moving, to simplify the structure of the containing portion, and the like.

[0006]

An ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein the ink jet printer comprises a printing mechanism including a print head having a plurality of ink jet nozzles and a paper feeding mechanism, the lower case covering a lower portion of the ink jet printer. And an upper case that covers the upper side of the ink jet printer, a box-shaped accommodating portion formed inside the lower case, and an ink absorbing member that absorbs ink discharged from the print head that is accommodated in the accommodating portion. A pressing member that is formed on the upper case and presses the ink absorbing member from above is provided.

Since the ink absorbing member is accommodated in the box-shaped accommodating portion, even if the ink absorbing member absorbs the ink, the ink absorbing member is not leaked to the outside, and the ink absorbing member is pressed by the pressing member from above. The ink absorbing member can be restrained from floating during transportation of the ink.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the ink jet printer according to the first aspect, wherein a plurality of vertically extending reinforcing ribs are integrally formed on the inner surface of the side wall of the upper case, and the plurality of reinforcing ribs are also used as a pressing member. It was done. As described above, since the plurality of vertically extending reinforcing ribs are also used as the pressing member, the pressing member does not take a special space, which is advantageous in terms of space, and the manufacturing cost of the pressing member is almost zero. In addition, the same operation as the first aspect is achieved.

An ink jet printer according to a third aspect of the present invention is the ink jet printer according to the first or second aspect of the present invention, wherein the accommodating portion is formed integrally with the lower case. Therefore, as compared with the case where the accommodating portion is configured as an independent component, it is space-saving because it does not take up space, the lower case does not become large, and the volume of the ink absorbing member can be increased, It is also advantageous in terms of manufacturing cost.

An ink jet printer according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the ink jet printer according to any one of the first to third aspects of the invention, further comprising a suction cap that can be in close contact with the nozzle opening surface of the print head.
A suction pump that sucks ink from a plurality of inkjet nozzles of the print head through the suction cap is provided.
The ink waste liquid sucked by the suction pump is discharged to the ink absorbing member.

In order to prevent the ink from coagulating in the ink jet nozzle, a suction cap is brought into close contact with the nozzle opening surface of the print head at regular intervals or when the printer is started, and suction is performed through the suction cap. The ink is sucked from a plurality of inkjet nozzles by sucking with a pump.
At this time, the ink waste liquid sucked by the suction pump is discharged to the ink absorbing member and absorbed by the ink absorbing member.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIGS.
The inkjet printer 1 includes a lower case 2 that covers the lower part and an upper case 3 that covers the upper side, a paper feed mechanism 4 for feeding a paper, a printing mechanism 5, a cleaning mechanism 6, a suction mechanism 7, and an ink waste liquid absorption. The ink absorbing member 8 and the containing portion 9 for containing the ink absorbing member 8 are provided.

The lower case 2 made of synthetic resin includes a bottom wall portion 2a that covers the bottom surface side of the ink jet printer 1 (hereinafter referred to as a printer), a side wall portion 2b rising from the outer peripheral portion of the bottom wall portion 2a, and an inner wall 2c. Is integrally molded, and a box-shaped accommodating portion 9 having a substantially rectangular shape in plan view is integrally formed on the right end portion of the lower case 2 as shown in FIG. The upper case 3 made of synthetic resin integrally includes a side wall portion 3a that covers the entire side surface of the printer 1 and an upper wall portion 3b that is continuous with the upper end portion of the side wall portion 3a and covers the upper surface of the printer 1.

The paper feeding mechanism 4 will be briefly described below.
A sheet 11 in a sheet cassette 10 that is detachably attached is fed by a sheet feeding roller 12, and the sheet 11 is fed by a conveying roller 13 and a driven roller 14, and a print head 25.
Printing is performed by the print head 25 while passing between the guide wall 15 and the guide wall 15, and then discharged to the discharge portion 18 by the discharge roller 16 and the spur roller 17.

The printing mechanism 5 will be described. The printing mechanism 5 includes a carriage 20, a guide shaft 21 and a guide flange 22 for guiding and supporting the carriage 20 so as to be movable in the left and right directions, a carriage support frame 23, and a carriage drive motor. 24, a belt and a pulley (not shown) for converting the rotational driving force of the carriage driving motor 24 into a driving force for moving the carriage 20, a print head 25 mounted on the carriage 20, and a detachable mount on the carriage 20. It has four ink cartridges 26 and the like.

The print head 25 is equipped with four ink cartridges 26 which store inks of four colors of magenta, yellow, cyan and black, and four sets of ink cartridges 26 are respectively supplied with ink. An inkjet nozzle group (not shown) is provided in the print head 25, and each inkjet nozzle group is composed of, for example, 64 inkjet nozzles arranged in a line, and is configured to eject ink from the inkjet nozzles and print in a dot pattern. is there. An electric component unit 30 including a power supply device and a circuit board and a unit cover 3 fixing the unit 30
1 is provided, and the unit cover 31 is fixed to the lower case 2 with screws.

Support walls (not shown) orthogonal to the guide shaft 21 are formed at both ends of the carriage support frame 23, and both ends of the guide shaft 21 are supported by a pair of left and right support walls to support the carriage. A guide flange 22 formed on the frame 23 slidably engages with the guided groove 20a of the carriage 20 to guide and support the carriage 20 while restricting its rotation. The portions near the left and right ends of the carriage support frame 23 are fixed to the mounting portion 2d protruding from the bottom wall 2a of the lower case 2 with screws.

The cleaning mechanism 6 uses the flexible blade 32 to move the print head 25 while moving the carriage 20.
The nozzle opening surface 25a is wiped for each group of inkjet nozzles, and the blade 32 is switched between an advanced position and a retracted position by a cam body 36 described later. The suction mechanism 7 will be described with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 7, the suction mechanism 7 is connected to the suction cap 33 that can be in close contact with the nozzle opening surface 25 a of each inkjet nozzle group of each set of the print head 25, and the suction side of the suction cap 33 via the tube 34. Suction pump 35,
A cam body 36 that operates the suction pump 35, and a pulse motor 3 that rotationally drives the cam body 36 via a gear train 37.
8 is provided.

Cam grooves 36a and 36b for driving the pump are formed on the right side surface of the cam body 36, and the suction cap 33 is provided on the left side surface of the cam body 36 at the advanced position and the retracted position in which the suction cap 33 is in close contact with the nozzle opening surface 25a. Cam rib 36c to move forward and backward
And a cam groove (not shown) for driving the blade 32 are formed. One of the two pistons of the suction pump 35 is driven by the cam groove 36a, and the other piston is driven by the cam groove 36b. By separating these pistons, ink is sucked from the suction cap 33 and these pistons are made to approach each other. The ink waste liquid sucked in is discharged to the discharge port 35a.

The discharge port 35a of the suction pump 35 is located above the ink absorbing member 8, and the ink waste liquid dropped from the discharge port 35a is absorbed by the ink absorbing member 8. The ink absorbing member 8 is made of a non-woven fabric of wool or cotton, or a porous material such as a synthetic resin foam having excellent water absorption, and has a lateral width of about 5 to 7 cm and a longitudinal width of about 16 to 20 c.
m, and a large volume of about 1.5 to 2 cm in thickness.
The ink absorbing member 8 is attached to a box-shaped accommodating portion 9 formed integrally with the lower case 2, and four pressing members 39 that press the ink absorbing member 8 from above so that the ink absorbing member 8 does not move are provided on the upper case 3. Has been formed.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, on the inner surface side of the right end side wall portion of the side wall portion 3a of the upper case 3, two vertically wide reinforcing ribs 40 are provided at predetermined intervals in front and rear. Two reinforcing ribs 41 having a wide width in the vertical direction are formed on the inner surface of the right end portion of the rear side wall portion of the side wall portion 3a of the upper case 3 so as to project to the upper side of the housing portion 9. Are formed so as to extend above the accommodation portion 9 with a predetermined space therebetween, and the lower end portions of these reinforcing ribs 40 and 41 are held by the pressing member 39.
It is also used as.

The operation of the printer 1 will be described.
A box-shaped container 9 having an open upper surface is integrally formed inside the lower case 2, and an ink absorbing member 8 that absorbs the ink waste liquid sucked from the nozzle opening surface 25a of the print head 25 is provided in the container 9. Since the pressing member 39 that presses the ink absorbing member 8 from above is formed in the case 3, even if the ink absorbing member 8 absorbs the waste ink, it does not leak to the outside, and the ink absorbing member 8 is pressed from above by the pressing member 39. Since it is pressed, it is possible to restrain the ink absorbing member 8 from rising during transportation of the printer 1.

Since four vertical reinforcing ribs 40 and 41 are integrally formed on the inner surface side of the side wall of the upper case 3 and the lower end portions of these reinforcing ribs 40 and 41 are also used as the pressing member 39, the pressing member 39 is Since no special space is required, it is advantageous in terms of space, and the manufacturing cost of the pressing member 39 is almost zero. Since the accommodating portion 9 is formed integrally with the lower case 2, space is saved as compared with the case where the accommodating portion 9 is configured as an independent component, which is advantageous in terms of space, and the lower case 2 may be enlarged. In addition, the volume of the ink absorbing member 8 can be increased, and it is advantageous in terms of manufacturing cost.

Since the nozzle opening surface 25a of the print head 25 can be sucked by the suction mechanism 7, it is possible to prevent the ink from being solidified in the ink jet nozzle, and the ink waste liquid sucked by the suction pump 35 of the suction mechanism 7 is used. Since the ink is discharged to the ink absorbing member 8, the ink waste liquid can be absorbed by the ink absorbing member 8. still,
A flushing operation of periodically ejecting ink from all the nozzles of the print head 25 may be performed at a position facing the ink absorbing member 8, and the waste ink liquid by the flushing operation may be discharged to the ink absorbing member 8. .

[0025]

In the ink jet printer of the first aspect, a lower case for covering the lower part of the ink jet printer, an upper case for covering the upper side of the ink jet printer, and a box-shaped accommodating portion formed inside the lower case, An ink absorbing member that absorbs the ink that is contained in the containing portion and is discharged from the print head, and a pressing member that is formed in the upper case and presses the ink absorbing member from above,
Since the ink absorbing member is accommodated in the box-shaped accommodating portion, even if the ink absorbing member absorbs the ink, it does not leak to the outside, and the ink absorbing member is pressed from above by the pressing member.
It is possible to restrain the ink absorbing member from floating during transportation of the printer.

In the ink jet printer according to the second aspect, the same effect as that of the first aspect can be obtained, but a plurality of vertical reinforcing ribs are integrally formed on the inner surface side of the side wall of the upper case, and the plurality of reinforcing ribs are formed. Since it is also used as the pressing member, the pressing member does not take a special space, which is advantageous in terms of space and the manufacturing cost of the pressing member is almost zero.

In the ink jet printer of the third aspect, the same effect as that of the first or second aspect can be obtained.
Since the accommodating part is formed integrally with the lower case, it is space-saving as compared with the case where the accommodating part is configured as an independent part, and is advantageous in terms of space. The volume of the member can be increased and it is advantageous in terms of manufacturing cost.

In the ink jet printer according to the fourth aspect, the same effect as that of any one of the first to third aspects is obtained, but the suction cap that can be in close contact with the nozzle opening surface of the print head and the suction cap. A suction pump for sucking ink from a plurality of ink jet nozzles of the print head is provided via the suction head, and the ink waste liquid sucked by the suction pump is discharged to the ink absorbing member. Therefore, the ink is solidified in the ink jet nozzle. In order to prevent this, the suction cap is brought into close contact with the nozzle opening surface of the print head at regular intervals or when the printer is started, and suction is performed with a suction pump through the suction cap to suck ink from multiple inkjet nozzles. At this time, the ink waste liquid sucked by the suction pump is discharged to the ink absorbing member and absorbed by the ink absorbing member. It is possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a right side view in vertical section of an inkjet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a right side view of the inkjet printer of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional plan view of main parts of the inkjet printer of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional front view of a main part of the inkjet printer of FIG.

[Explanation of Codes] 1 Inkjet printer 2 Lower case 3 Upper case 4 Paper feeding mechanism 5 Printing mechanism 8 Ink absorbing member 9 Storage section 25 Printing head 25a Nozzle opening surface 33 Suction cap 35 Suction pump 39 Holding members 40, 41 Reinforcing ribs

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An inkjet printer including a print mechanism including a print head having a plurality of inkjet nozzles and a paper feed mechanism, a lower case covering a lower portion of the inkjet printer and an upper case covering an upper side of the inkjet printer. A box-shaped accommodating portion formed inside the lower case, an ink absorbing member that absorbs ink discharged from the print head and accommodated in the accommodating portion, and an ink absorbing member formed in the upper case from above. An inkjet printer comprising: a pressing member for pressing. 2. The inkjet according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of longitudinal reinforcing ribs are integrally formed on the inner surface side of the side wall of the upper case, and the plurality of reinforcing ribs are also used as a pressing member. Printer. 3. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein the housing portion is formed integrally with the lower case. 4. A suction cap that can be in close contact with a nozzle opening surface of the print head, and a suction pump that sucks ink from a plurality of inkjet nozzles of the print head through the suction cap, and the ink sucked by the suction pump The inkjet printer according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the waste liquid is discharged to an ink absorbing member.