JP3171682B2 - Head 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 tank for an ink jet printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a head cartridge having a built-in ink tank and detachable from an ink jet recording apparatus, the head cartridge may be placed in various directions in a state where the head cartridge is detached from the ink jet recording apparatus, that is, a head cartridge alone. . Assuming that the head cartridge is mounted in a normal orientation, the head cartridge alone may be placed in a horizontal orientation, an opposite orientation, or the like. For example, the head cartridge may be subjected to vibration during transportation.

There are two problems that arise when the head cartridge alone is not placed in a normal orientation. The first is air bubble intrusion into a supply port for supplying ink to the recording head, and the second is ink leakage from an air passage communicating between the inside of the ink tank and the atmosphere.

As a means for solving this problem, Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 6
In JP-A-1-1794, a porous body is placed in an ink tank, and the ink is impregnated with the liquid holding capacity of the porous body to prevent the ink from leaking from an air passage.
Further, a method has been devised in which a porous body is used as a filter to prevent air bubbles from being mixed into the ink supply port to the head.

In Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 62-58314, a solenoid lever incorporated in a printer is operated to supply ink from an ink tank to a recording head during non-printing time, and the inside of the ink tank is exposed to the atmosphere. Means are used in which the communicating air passages are closed at the same time and opened at the same time during printing.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the problem of air bubbles entering a supply port for supplying ink to a recording head, and the problem of leakage of ink from an air passage communicating between the inside of an ink tank and the atmosphere. Although various measures have been taken, such as those mentioned above, each has its own drawbacks.

When a porous material is used as in the system described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-11794, the volume ink taken into the porous material cannot be charged. The ink tank must be enlarged accordingly. In addition, the ink in the tank cannot be completely used due to the holding power of the ink of the porous body. Therefore, when using a fixed amount of ink, the ink tank must be further enlarged. Therefore, when providing a large-capacity ink tank, it is necessary to consider a structure in which the ink is stored as it is without filling the ink tank with a porous body or the like.

When a solenoid lever is provided on a printer body as in the system described in Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho 62-58314, vibration and noise during a printing operation due to an increase in weight due to an increase in the weight of a power supply because an actuator is mounted on a carriage are required. This leads to a reduction in printing speed and an increase in cost.

An object of the present invention is to provide a large-capacity and low-remaining-ink head cartridge without using an actuator, while at the same time supplying ink to a recording head, in view of the drawbacks of the various systems described above. An object of the present invention is to solve the problem of air bubbles entering the mouth and the problem of ink leaking from an air passage communicating the inside of an ink tank with the atmosphere.

[0010]

According to the present invention, there is provided an ink tank for storing ink, a supply path for supplying ink from the ink tank to a recording head through a supply port of the ink tank, and an ink tank. Has an air passage that communicates with the atmosphere through the air port of the ink tank, and simultaneously closes the supply passage and the air passage during non-printing,
In a head cartridge having means for simultaneously opening the supply path and the air path during printing, a valve for opening and closing the supply port and the air port of the ink tank is provided in the ink tank,
An operating means for opening and closing the valve is provided outside the ink tank.

[0011] In particular, the valve of the present invention comprises a cylinder and a cylinder rotatably engaged with the cylinder. The operating means for opening and closing the valve according to the present invention is a lever for rotating a cylinder of the valve. Furthermore, the valve of the present invention has an air port and a supply port on the side surface of the cylinder, and has an opening at both ends of the cylinder and a hole for the air port and a hole for the supply port on the side surface. The opening communicates with the hole for the air port, and the opening at the other end communicates with the hole for the supply port. The cylinder is rotated by a lever that rotates the cylinder, and the air port is provided in the cylinder during printing. At the same time, the supply port provided on the cylinder is matched with the supply port hole provided on the cylinder, and at the time of non-printing, the cylinder is further rotated to make each hole Make sure they do not match.

[0012]

By manually moving a lever attached to the head cartridge, a supply port for supplying ink to the head and an air passage communicating the atmosphere with the inside of the ink tank are simultaneously opened, and the head cartridge is removed from the carriage. When the lever is returned to the original position, the supply port and the air passage are simultaneously closed, thereby causing air bubbles to enter the supply port for supplying ink to the recording head, and the ink from the air passage for communicating the atmosphere in the ink tank with the atmosphere. Prevents leaks.

[0013]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the head cartridge of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line AA shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line BB shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. It is an exploded perspective view. Here, reference numeral 1 denotes an ink tank main body, in which a cylinder 2 is provided, and the lower end thereof is an ink tank main body 1.
Is fixed with its upper end pressed against the lid 5. The fixing method is heat welding or adhesion, and gas and liquid are sealed at the joint. Further, an air port 6 is provided on the side surface on the upper end side (the side joined to the lid 5) of the cylinder 2, and the lower end side (the side joined on the bottom surface of the ink tank body 1).
Is provided with an ink supply port 8 as a through hole.

The cylinder 3 is fitted into the cylinder 2 so that the cylinder 3 is rotatable relative to the cylinder 2 so that the ink does not penetrate into the cylinder 2. Cylinder 2 and cylinder 3
The material of the cylinder 3 may be made of hard rubber, plastic, or the like, and may be sealed so as to fit into the cylinder 2 without any gap, or a sealant may be attached to a part of the cylinder 3. Two holes are also provided on the side surface of the cylinder 3, one of which is the same as the air port 6 in the direction perpendicular to the axis passing through the axis of the cylinder 3 at the same height as the air port 6 of the cylinder 2 or A through hole (air port hole 7) having a slightly smaller diameter was formed, and the other was a cylinder 3 at the same height as the ink supply port 8 of the cylinder 2.
A through hole (supply port hole 9) having the same or slightly smaller diameter as the ink supply port 8 is formed in the direction perpendicular to the axis passing through the axis. Further, vertical holes are formed at both ends of the column 3 in the axial direction. The vertical hole at one end is an air communication vertical hole 10, which communicates with the air hole 7 from the upper end of the column 3. The other end is a liquid supply vertical hole 11 which communicates with the supply port hole 9 from the lower end of the column 3. The liquid supply vertical hole is provided at the lower end of the cylinder 3 at the bottom of the ink tank main body 1 and is joined to the liquid supply pipe 12 serving as a joint with the recording head 13.

The cylinder 3 has its upper end exposed through the ink tank lid 5 to the outside of the ink tank, and has a lever 4 attached thereto. The cylinder 3 is rotated in the cylinder 2 by manually turning the lever 4. . The vertical movement of the cylinder 3 is restricted by the lid 5.

The cylindrical air port 6 and the cylindrical air port hole 7 are
Only when the cylinder 3 is in the positional relationship shown in FIG. 2A with respect to the cylinder 2, the inside of the ink tank communicates with the atmosphere. Similarly, the ink supply port 8 of the cylinder 2 and the supply of the cylinder are connected. The mouth hole 9 also allows the inside of the ink tank to communicate with the liquid supply pipe 12 only in the state shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a carriage section of a recording apparatus equipped with the head cartridge according to the embodiment shown in FIG. When the head cartridge is mounted on the carriage 17 of the recording apparatus, the lever 4 is manually rotated after the head cartridge is mounted on the carriage 17. At this time, the lever knob 14 is rotated so as to match the open point 16 printed on the lid 5 of the ink tank. By doing so, when the head cartridge is mounted on the carriage, the positional relationship between the cylinder 2 and the column 3 is as shown in FIGS. 2 (a) and 3 (c). In other words, when the head cartridge is mounted on the carriage 17, the air port 6 of the cylinder 2 and the air port hole 7 of the cylinder 3 are connected as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3C, the ink supply port 8 and the supply port hole 9 are connected to each other to connect the inside of the ink tank and the liquid supply pipe 1.
2 communicates.

When the head cartridge is removed from the carriage 17 of the recording apparatus, the lever knob 14 is moved to the close point 1 printed on the lid 5 of the ink tank.
Then, the head cartridge is detached from the carriage 17 after being rotated so as to match the number 5. By doing so, when the head cartridge is removed from the carriage, the positional relationship between the cylinder 2 and the column 3 is as shown in FIGS. 2B and 3D.
That is, when the head cartridge is removed from the carriage, the air port 6 of the cylinder 2 and the air port hole 7 of the cylinder 3 are removed.
The air port of the ink tank is blocked by the displacement,
The ink is prevented from leaking therefrom, and at the same time, the ink supply port 8 and the supply port hole 9 are displaced, so that the ink supply port of the ink tank is closed, and air bubbles enter the liquid supply pipe 12 connected to the head. Prevent going.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the hole is closed by the head alone, air bubbles enter the supply port for supplying ink to the recording head, and the air from the air passage for communicating the inside of the ink tank with the atmosphere. Can be prevented from leaking. Further, since all the ink inside the ink tank can be stored as it is except for the space taken by the cylinder, a larger amount of ink can be stored in the cartridge in the same volume as the head cartridge using a porous body, and the porous body can be stored. Since there is no ink sucked into the ink cartridge, the amount of residual ink can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a head cartridge showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a main part of the head cartridge of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a main part of the head cartridge of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the head cartridge of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a carriage unit of the recording apparatus on which the head cartridge according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is mounted.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ink tank main body 2 Cylinder 3 Cylinder 4 Lever 5 Lid 6 Air port 7 Air port hole 8 Ink supply port 9 Supply port hole 10 Air communication vertical hole 11 Liquid supply vertical hole 12 Liquid supply pipe 13 Recording head 14 Knob 15 Close point 16 Open Point 17 Carriage

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-60-192638 (JP, A) JP-A-64-30757 (JP, A) JP-A-3-161344 (JP, A) JP-A 61-1986 20753 (JP, A) JP-A-3-219104 (JP, A) JP-A 63-31934 (JP, U) JP-A 49-143229 (JP, U) JP-A 48-43937 (JP, Y1) J. 45-21597 (JP, Y1) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 2/175

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] An ink tank for storing 1. A ink, said <br/> a supply path for supplying ink to the recording head through a supply port of the ink tank from the ink tank, the <br/> ink tank in the ink tank and a air passage for air and communicating through the air inlet, at the time of non-printing closed and the air passage and the supply passage at the same time, at the time of printing in a head cartridge having a means for opening and said air passage and said supply passage at the same time , a valve for opening and closing said supply port and said air inlet of said ink tank at the same time provided in the ink tank, the valve
A head cartridge, wherein operating means for simultaneously opening and closing are provided outside the ink tank. Wherein said valve is made cylindrical by the cylinder is fitted to rotatably said cylindrical with respect to the cylinder, before
Serial operation means is a lever for rotating the cylinder, before
Serial cylinder has an air inlet and the supply port on a side surface, the cylinder is
Both ends and a supply port hole and the air inlet hole in the side surface and having an opening, the opening of the one end opens into the hole for the air outlet
Through the opening of Rutotomoni other end to the supply port holes, and rotating the cylinder by the <br/> lever, the said air inlet air
At the same time as the air hole is overlapped with the supply port and the supply port
A printing state in which holes are overlapped, and the air port and the air port hole
At the same time as the supply port and the supply port hole
2. The head cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the head cartridge is switched to a non-printing state .