JPH0577441A - Ink tank - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To supply an ink tank that can reliably prevent ink from overflowing from the tank body when replenishing ink. A lid in which an ink inlet 7 and an opening 8 are formed on the upper surface of the case 1, and a projecting piece 9a that can be inserted into the opening 8 is provided on the lower surface while opening and closing the ink inlet 7. 9
Is provided. An auxiliary tank portion 5 that communicates with the main tank portion 4 and that accommodates a float 15 that floats on the molten ink 3 is provided in the case 1. Above the float 15, a protruding piece of the lid 9 is provided at the tip of the one end portion 16 a. A claw 16b that engages with the engaging hole 9b of the portion 9a is formed, and the lock lever 16 whose other end 16c abuts the float 15 is rotatably supported.
When the amount of the molten ink 3 in the tank body 1 is large, the other end 16c of the lock lever 16 is pushed up by the float 15, and the claw 16b is engaged with the engaging hole 9 of the projecting piece 9a of the lid 9.
Since it is engaged with b, the lid 9 cannot be opened.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink tank used in a so-called hot melt type ink jet printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art This type of ink tank has a tank body for heating and melting solid ink at room temperature to store it. Since the ink has a block shape at room temperature, it is easy to handle when replenishing the tank body. When the ink is supplied to the tank main body, the block-shaped ink is supplied from the ink input port provided on the upper portion of the tank main body.

[0003]

In the above conventional structure, the user tends to replenish ink into the tank body early. In this case, if the amount of melted ink remaining in the tank body before replenishment is large, the sum of the amount of replenished ink and the amount of remaining ink is However, there is a problem that the storage capacity of the tank is exceeded and the ink overflows from the tank body.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an ink tank which can reliably prevent the ink from overflowing from the tank main body when the ink is replenished.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An ink tank of the present invention is an ink tank comprising a tank body for heating and melting solid ink at room temperature and storing the ink. With a lid for opening and closing, an ink amount detecting means for detecting that the amount of the molten ink stored in the tank body decreases below a set amount, and the amount of the molten ink falls below the set amount. It is characterized in that it is provided with an opening preventing means for preventing the lid from being opened until the number of the lids decreases.

[0006]

According to the above means, the opening preventing means prevents the lid from being opened until the amount of the molten ink stored in the tank body decreases below the set amount. When there is a large amount of molten ink, that is,
If the ink overflows from the tank body when the solid ink is replenished, the lid cannot be opened. Therefore, when replenishing the ink, it is possible to reliably prevent the ink from overflowing from the tank body.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a hot melt ink jet printer capable of color printing will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, FIG. 1 and FIG.
In the case 1 having a substantially rectangular shape as a whole, for example, four tank bodies 2 are arranged in parallel. Ink of four colors of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black is stored in each tank body 2. Each ink 3 is solid at room temperature and has a columnar block shape as shown in FIG.

Each tank body 2 has the same structure and is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, it is composed of a main tank portion 4 and an auxiliary tank portion 5. The main tank portion 4 and the auxiliary tank portion 5 communicate with each other via a communication passage 6. The tank body 2 is made of, for example, aluminum, which is a material having good thermal conductivity.

On the upper surface of the case 1, four short cylindrical ink inlets 7 are provided so as to protrude downward. As shown in FIG. 1, each of these ink inlets 7 corresponds to an upper surface opening of the main tank portion 4 of each tank body 2. The block-shaped ink 3 is introduced into the main tank portion 4 through each of the ink introduction ports 7.
In addition, on the upper surface portion of the case 1, each of the ink inlets 7 shown in FIG.
Four rectangular openings 8 are formed at the respective left ends of the center. As shown in FIG. 1, each of these openings 8 corresponds to the top opening of the auxiliary tank portion 5 of each tank body 2.

Further, on the upper surface of the case 1, four substantially rectangular lids 9 corresponding to the respective ink inlets 7 are provided around a shaft 10 formed at the left end in FIG. 1 as a fulcrum. It is rotatably provided. Each lid 9 is configured to open and close each ink inlet 7. A projecting piece 9a is provided on the lower end side of the lower surface of each lid 9 in FIG. 1 so as to project downward. When the lid 9 closes the ink inlet 7, the projecting piece 9a forms the case 1. It is designed to be inserted into the opening 8 of the. The case 1 and the lid 9 are made of a material having a good heat insulating property, for example, plastic.

On the other hand, on the left end side of the case 1 in FIG.
1 is provided, and, for example, four display lamps 12, which are notification means, are provided on the step portion 11 so as to correspond to each tank body 2. The display lamp 12 is composed of, for example, a light emitting diode or a miniature bulb.

As shown in FIG. 1, a heater 13 is provided on the outer bottom of the tank body 2, and the heater 13 heats the tank body 2. As a result, the block-shaped ink 3 introduced into the tank body 2 is heated and melted and stored in the tank body 2.

The ink conduit 14 led out from the bottom of the main tank portion 4 is connected to an ink jet head (not shown). The molten ink 3 in the tank body 2 is sent out to the inkjet head through the ink conduit 14. The inkjet head prints while ejecting ink droplets onto a printing paper (not shown).

On the other hand, in the auxiliary tank portion 5, for example, a float 15 which is an ink amount detecting means is accommodated so as to be vertically movable. The float 15 is made of a material having a lower specific gravity than the melted ink 3, for example, foamed resin, and floats on the melted ink 3. Above the float 15, a lock lever 16, which is an opening preventing means, is provided so as to be rotatable around a shaft 17 as a fulcrum.

The lock lever 16 has a substantially "V" shape, and a pawl 16b is formed at the tip of one end 16a thereof. The claw 16b can be engaged with an engagement hole 9b formed in the projecting piece 9a of the lid 9. A spring 18 is provided between one end 16 a of the lock lever 16 and the case 1, and the spring 18 urges the lock lever 16 to rotate clockwise in FIG. 1. The other end 16c of the lock lever 16 is brought into contact with the upper surface of the float 15.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 1, when the amount of the molten ink 3 in the tank body 1 is large, the buoyancy of the buoy 15 causes the buoy 15 to abut against the other end 16c of the lock lever 16 and push it up. , The lock lever 16 is rotated counterclockwise, and the claw 16b is engaged with the engaging hole 9 of the projecting piece 9a of the lid 9.
engaged with b. This prevents the opening operation of the lid 9.

On the other hand, when the amount of the molten ink 3 in the tank body 1 is reduced and the liquid level thereof is lowered to the height A shown in FIG. 3, the position of the float 15 is lowered and the lock lever 16 is caused by the spring force of the spring 18. Is rotated clockwise, so that the engagement between the claw 16b and the engagement hole 9b of the lid 9 is released. This allows the opening operation of the lid 9. Here, the sum of the remaining amount of the ink 3 when the liquid level of the molten ink 3 is the height A shown in FIG. 3 and the replenishment amount of the ink 3 when the block-shaped ink 3 is thrown in is the tank main body. It is set not to exceed the storage capacity of 2.

Inside the portion of the side wall of the main tank portion 4 near the bottom portion, there is an ink amount detection sensor for detecting the amount of the molten ink 3 stored in the tank body 1, for example, a thermistor 19. It is provided. The thermistor 19 detects the temperature of the melted ink 3 when the amount of the melted ink 3 in the tank body 1 is large, and the amount of the melted ink 3 in the tank body 1 decreases so that the liquid level thereof becomes as shown in FIG. When the height A is lowered, the temperature of the air is detected, and the output level of the temperature detection signal is changed.

The temperature detection signal output from the thermistor 19 is applied to a control circuit (not shown). This control circuit receives the temperature detection signal from the thermistor 19 and detects that the liquid level of the molten ink 3 has decreased to the height A shown in FIG. 3 based on the change in the output level of the temperature detection signal. The display lamp 12 is configured to be turned on.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG. First, as shown in FIG. 1, when the amount of the molten ink 3 stored in the tank main body 1 is large, the floating 1
The lock lever 16 is rotated counterclockwise by the buoyant force of 5, and the claw 16b is engaged with the engagement hole 9b of the lid 9. In this case, even if the user tries to open the lid 9 to replenish the block-shaped ink 3, the pawl 16b is engaged with the engagement hole 9b, so that the opening operation of the lid 9 is blocked and the ink 3 is ejected.
Cannot be replenished.

When the amount of the melted ink 3 in the tank body 1 is large and the ink jet printer is powered off, the heating action of the heater 13 is stopped and the ink 3 is solidified. There is a float 1 at this time
5 stops as the other end 16c of the lock lever 16 is pushed up as the ink 3 solidifies, so that the claw 16b remains engaged with the engagement hole 9b of the projecting piece 9a of the lid 9.
Therefore, the opening / closing operation of the lid 9 is prevented even when the amount of the melted ink 3 in the tank body 1 is large and the ink jet printer is powered off.

Now, when the amount of the molten ink 3 in the tank body 1 is reduced and the liquid level thereof is lowered to the height A shown in FIG. 3, the position of the float 15 is lowered, so that the lock lever 16 is moved to the right by the spring 18. The claw 16b is disengaged from the engagement hole 9b by being rotated in the rotation direction. This allows the opening operation of the lid 9. In this case, the control circuit detects that the liquid level of the molten ink 3 has dropped to the height A shown in FIG. 3 based on the temperature detection signal from the thermistor 19, and the display lamp 12 is turned on.

By turning on the display lamp 12, the user can notice that the amount of the molten ink 3 in the tank body 1 has decreased to the extent that ink supply is required. After this,
Since the user can open the lid 9, as shown in FIG. 4, the block-shaped ink 3 can be supplied into the tank main body 2 through the ink input port 7 to be supplied.
When the block-shaped ink 3 is poured into the tank body 2, the block-shaped ink 3 immediately begins to be melted by the heat of the heater 13, and the liquid level of the molten ink 3 starts to rise.

According to this embodiment having such a configuration, the amount of the melted ink 3 stored in the tank body 2 is the set amount by the lock lever 16, for example, its liquid level is shown in FIG.
Since the opening of the lid 9 is prevented until the height A is reduced to the height A or less shown in Fig. 3, when the amount of the molten ink 3 remaining in the tank body 2 is large, that is, when the block-shaped ink 3 is replenished, the ink When 3 overflows from the tank body 2, the lid 9 cannot be opened. Therefore, when replenishing the ink 3, it is possible to reliably prevent the ink 3 from overflowing from the tank body 2.

In the above embodiment, the amount of the molten ink 3 in the tank body 1 is reduced so that the liquid surface has a height A shown in FIG.
When the temperature drops to 0, the opening operation of the lid 9 is allowed and the display lamp 12 is turned on based on the temperature detection signal from the thermistor 19. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the display lamp 12 is turned on. May be delayed from the time when the opening operation of the lid 9 is permitted.

Further, in the above embodiment, it is detected that the amount of the molten ink 3 stored in the tank body 2 by the float 15 has decreased to the set amount or less, and the lock lever 16 is rotated to open the lid 9. Although the operation is allowed, instead of this, it is detected based on the temperature detection signal from the thermistor 19 that the amount of the melted ink 3 stored in the tank body 2 has decreased to a set amount or less, and At the time of detection, the control circuit may drive a solenoid or the like to allow the opening operation of the lid 9.

Further, the shape of the block-shaped ink 3, each shape of the ink inlet 7 and the tank main body 2, the number of the tank main body 2 and the like are not limited to those in the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made. Of course.

[0028]

As is apparent from the above description, the present invention is provided with the lid for opening and closing the ink inlet provided on the upper portion of the tank body, and the amount of the molten ink stored in the tank body is the set amount. Since it has an ink amount detecting means for detecting decrease in the amount below, and an opening preventing means for preventing the opening of the lid until the amount of the melted ink decreases below a set amount, the ink is supplied at the time of ink supply. This has an excellent effect of reliably preventing the ink from overflowing from the tank body.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional side view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an overall perspective view

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional side view showing a state where the amount of molten ink stored in the tank body has decreased below a set amount.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional side view showing a state in which a lid is opened and block-shaped ink is put into the tank main body.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 is a case, 2 is a tank body, 3 is ink, 4 is a main tank part, 5 is an auxiliary tank part, 7 is an ink inlet, 9 is a lid,
12 is a display lamp, 13 is a heater, 15 is a float (ink amount detection means), 16 is a lock lever (opening prevention means),
Reference numeral 18 is a spring, and 19 is a thermistor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An ink tank comprising a tank body that heats and melts solid ink at room temperature to store the ink, and a lid that opens and closes an ink inlet provided at an upper portion of the tank body, and the inside of the tank body. An ink amount detection means for detecting that the amount of the stored molten ink decreases below a set amount, and an opening prevention means for preventing the opening of the lid until the amount of the melted ink decreases below a set amount. An ink tank characterized by having it.