JPH0958006A - Ink cartridge loading device for printer - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: [Problem] To provide an ink cartridge mounting device for a printer in which an ink cartridge can be easily mounted on and removed from a mounting case. SOLUTION: At least one ink cartridge is removably mounted and fixed in a storage chamber of a cartridge mounting case having an open top, and the outer dimensions are different in the cartridge mounting case. Alternatively, multiple ink cartridges that are similar to each other can be mounted, and the side wall of the storage chamber and the side wall of the ink cartridge are formed with saw teeth that are slidably engaged with each other, and the ink cartridge is mounted in the depth direction of the mounting case. It is detachable, and a movable operating lever is connected to the ink cartridge, and the engaging element of the operating lever is detachable from the engaging hole of the cartridge mounting case. Inside the ink cartridge through multiple ink circulation paths. The ink of the above is configured to be supplied to the recording head.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the technical field of printers such as ink jet printers, in which ink cartridges capable of accurately supplying various amounts of various inks to a printer body are replaceably mounted. The present invention relates to a device for mounting an ink cartridge.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in printers, various cartridge mounting devices for supplying ink to a recording head portion have been proposed, for example, the one disclosed in JP-A-3-87266 (publicly known example).

In the above-mentioned known example, an ink cartridge containing a sponge-like material containing ink in a supporting structure mounted on a movable carriage can be freely mounted. With regard to (4), four arms that are open upward are installed side by side, an ink cartridge is carried in the arms, ink is led out from the nozzle portion, and is supplied to the head portion,
A plurality of the support structures are provided side by side so that a plurality of ink cartridges can be attached.

[0004]

Even in the above-mentioned known example, the required ink cartridge can be mounted on the head portion of the printer to supply the ink. There are points to be mentioned.

That is, since the ink cartridge is mounted at a position where the space is limited by the support structure, various kinds of ink cartridges having different ink storage amounts cannot be freely mounted without limitation. However, it has been pointed out that it is difficult to expect a smooth and sufficient ink supply when a large amount of ink is used in a short time.

The present invention is to provide a solution to the above-mentioned unsolved problems. A first object of the invention is to provide various ink cartridges having different colors or containing ink amounts. An object of the present invention is to provide an ink cartridge mounting device which can be freely mounted and dismounted freely.

A second object of the present invention is to provide an ink cartridge mounting device which facilitates the mounting / dismounting operation of the ink cartridge.

A third object of the present invention is to provide an ink cartridge mounting device in which ink from an ink cartridge is supplied to a recording head via a plurality of ink flow passages and a large amount of ink can be stably supplied. It is to be.

[0009]

The structural features of the present invention for achieving the above object are as follows.

(1) An ink cartridge mounting device for a printer in which at least one ink cartridge is removably mounted and fixed in a storage chamber of a cartridge mounting case having an open top.

(2) The ink cartridge mounting device in the printer according to (1), wherein a plurality of ink cartridges having different outer dimensions can be mounted in the cartridge mounting case.

(3) The ink cartridge mounting device for a printer according to (1), wherein a plurality of ink cartridges having similar outer dimensions can be mounted in the cartridge mounting case.

(4) Saw teeth that are slidably engaged with each other are formed on the side wall of the storage chamber and the side wall of the ink cartridge so that the ink cartridge can be mounted and dismounted in the depth direction of the mounting case. The ink cartridge mounting device in the printer according to (1) to (3) above.

(5) The above-mentioned (1) or (1) in which a movable operation lever is connected to the ink cartridge, and the engaging member of the operation lever is detachable from the engagement hole of the cartridge mounting case.
(4) An ink cartridge mounting device for the printer described above.

(6) The ink cartridge mounting device in the printer according to any one of (1) to (5) above, wherein the ink in the ink cartridge is supplied to the recording head via a plurality of ink circulation paths.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(Embodiment 1) Structure As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the present invention relates to a mounting device 1 in which various ink cartridges having different ink colors or different loading capacities can be easily mounted and dismounted. In the cartridge mounting case 2 having an open top, the ink cartridge 10 is provided with the bottom wall 21, the side wall 22 and the partition wall 23.
Storage chambers 24, 25, 26 that can be loaded with 0, 200 are formed, sawtooth engagement portions 22A, 23A extending in the depth direction are formed in the walls 22, 23, and on the bottom wall 21. The porous plate member 21A having a relatively strong capillary force is laid, and the ink passage 21B located on the lower surface of the porous plate member 21A is connected to the ink discharge portion 21C to guide the ink that has permeated the porous body 21A. The conductive path 21B and its discharge portion 21C are provided so that ink can be supplied to the recording head 21D.

On the other hand, in each of the ink cartridges 100 and 200 mounted on the cartridge mounting case 2,
In either of the ink occlusion bodies 101 and 201 that occlusion of ink
And the porous lead-out rods 102 and 202 provided with pressing portions (a) and (b) to be pressed against the ink storage bodies 101 and 201 so as to be able to abut on the porous body 21A. The ink is stored by changing the color of the ink or its storage amount, and the side walls thereof are provided with saw teeth 21A, 22A, 23A formed on the side wall 22 and the partition wall 23 of the cartridge mounting case 2. Engaging saw teeth 103
A and 203A are formed.

Therefore, an ink cartridge 100 or 200 having a required color and containing an amount of ink suitable for the amount of use is used as shown in FIG. 1 or FIG.
By using 2A, 23A, 103A, and 203A to mount the cartridge in the cartridge mounting case 2, it is possible to supply the ink of the required color to the recording head 21D without excess or deficiency, and the operability thereof is greatly improved. It is possible.

Looking at the supply flow path of the ink cartridge 100 or 200, the ink held in the ink occlusion bodies 101, 201 of FIG. 1 has the porous discharge rods 102, 202 attached to the ink cartridges 100, 200. At times, the porous lead-out rods 102 and 202 are brought into contact with the porous plate member 21A and pushed up, and as a result, the ink occlusion bodies 101 and 201 are partially crushed by the pressing portions (a) and (b), and the other portions are crushed. Since the capillary force is increased more than the above, the capillary force is smoothly guided in the direction of the porous lead-out rods 102 and 202, and further, through the porous lead-out rods 102 and 202, the porous state in which the capillary force is relatively strong as described above. Plate material 21
It is transferred to A, and is further led to the discharge path 21B and the ink discharge section 21.
It is smoothly supplied to the recording head 21D via C.

(Embodiment 2) There are many points in common with Embodiment 1, but the difference is that the ink cartridge 300 may have the same amount of ink internally as shown in FIG. This is also the same as the first embodiment except that the ink supply amount is quantitative in terms of its purpose and effect.

(Embodiment 3) Embodiment 3 of this embodiment
In the above embodiment, however, the color of the ink accommodated in the ink cartridge 400 can be selected as desired, and a required amount of ink can be accommodated in the cartridge cartridge mounting case 500 so that the cartridge can be mounted / removed. Although it is common with 1 or 2, it has the following characteristic points.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the operating levers 401 are elastically movably connected to both sides of the ink cartridge 400, and the engaging members 402 of the operating levers 401 are engaged with the engaging holes of the cartridge mounting case 500. It is detachable from 501.

Therefore, when the ink cartridge 400 is attached / detached, the engaging element 402 is locked in the engaging hole 501 simply by pushing the ink cartridge 400 in the attaching case 500 in the direction of the arrow (X) in FIG. The ink cartridge 400 can be fixed in a stable manner,
Further, since the operation lever 401 is pushed and bent in the arrow (Y) direction to disengage the engagement element 402 from the engagement hole 501, the ink cartridge 400 can be extracted in the arrow (X ′) direction. It is possible to facilitate the attachment / detachment operation of the 400.

In the printing process that requires a large amount of ink within a short time, the flow path resistance becomes larger than the capillary force acting on the nozzle of the head, the meniscus of the nozzle portion is destroyed, and ink ejection failure occurs. However, as shown in the third embodiment, the ink cartridge 400
And a plurality of porous lead rods 410 between the recording head 510 and the recording head 510.
Since two systems of ink connection channels are prepared between the porous plate member 520 and the porous plate member 520, the channel resistance can be reduced and a large amount of ink can be smoothly supplied.

In the first or second embodiment, a plurality of ink cartridges are also provided, and the third embodiment is used.
When a plurality of ink distribution channels are prepared in the same manner as above, the same effect can be obtained.

[0027]

According to the present invention described above, the following remarkable effects can be expected.

Since a plurality of various ink cartridges having different ink colors or accommodating amounts can be selectively mounted, the required print processing can be executed without waste by selecting the ink volume according to need. Even when the ink in a certain ink cartridge is exhausted, multiple ink cartridges can be attached to prevent printing mistakes due to true ink exhaustion.

The ink cartridge can be easily attached to and detached from the cartridge attachment case.

Since the ink in the cartridge can be supplied to the recording head through a plurality of ink circulation paths, a large amount of ink can be supplied in a timely and smooth manner.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 (Z) in FIG. 2 of Embodiment 1 of the present invention.
-(Z) sectional view.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view of Embodiment 3 of the present invention.

[Explanation of reference numerals] 1 mounting device 2,500 cartridge mounting case 21 bottom wall 21A, 520 porous plate material 21B conduction path 21C ink discharge part 21D, 510 recording head 22 side wall 23 partition wall 22A, 23A serrated engagement part 100 , 200, 300, 400 Ink cartridge 101, 201 Ink occlusion body 102, 202 Porous extraction rod 103A, 203A Sawtooth 401 Operation lever 402 Engager 501 Engagement hole

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Eiko Yanagi 3-3-5 Yamato, Suwa City, Nagano Seiko Epson Corporation (72) Inventor Kazuo Koshino 3-chome, Yamato, Suwa City, Nagano Prefecture No. 5 within Seiko Epson Corporation

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An ink cartridge mounting device for a printer in which at least one ink cartridge is removably mounted and fixed in a storage chamber of a cartridge mounting case having an open top. 2. The ink cartridge mounting device for a printer according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of ink cartridges having different outer dimensions can be mounted in the cartridge mounting case. 3. The ink cartridge mounting device for a printer according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of ink cartridges having similar outer dimensions can be mounted in the cartridge mounting case. 4. A saw tooth that is slidably engaged with each other is formed on a side wall of the storage chamber and a side wall of the ink cartridge so that the ink cartridge can be attached and detached in a depth direction of the attachment case. The ink cartridge mounting device in the printer according to any one of claims 1 to 3. 5. The printer according to claim 1 or 4, wherein a movable operating lever is provided in series with the ink cartridge, and an engaging member of the operating lever is detachable from an engaging hole of a cartridge mounting case. Ink cartridge loading device. 6. The ink cartridge mounting device in a printer according to claim 1, wherein the ink in the ink cartridge is supplied to the recording head via a plurality of ink circulation paths.