JP2000280486A - Ink jet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ink jet printer which has an ink cartridge of a large capacity although it is thin and smoothly supplies ink to a printing head. SOLUTION: When a cartridge holder 23 is turned up at a fulcrum of a hinge 42, a paper carry-in tray freed from pressing has a hinge part 36 urged upward by a spring not shown, whereby a first inclined face 28a and a second inclined face 28b are turned straight to form a plane between a pin 37 and a hinge 41. As a result, a paper carry-in path of a height corresponding to several tens of sheets is formed to a storage space where an ink cartridge part has been present before the cartridge holder is turned. Moreover, an ink cartridge 24 is raised obliquely with a coupled part to a male type coupling tube 26 directed down, whereby an ink 34 inside the cartridge gathers because of its weight to a lower part of a tank. Accordingly, a paper 43 can be easily supplied to the paper carry-in path and the ink 34 can be efficiently supplied to a sub tank 25, namely, a printing head 22 because of a height difference generated to upper and lower faces of the ink 34.

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 provided with an ink tank containing sufficient ink while being thin and suitable for carrying.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, ink jet printers (ink jet printers) have been widely used. The printing method of this ink-jet printer includes a piezo method in which ink is ejected from minute nozzles by generating pressure due to mechanical deformation in an ink chamber using an electromechanical conversion element such as a piezo element, or a printing method in a fine ink chamber. There is a thermal method in which an electric pulse is applied to the generated heating element to generate bubbles at the interface between the heating element and the ink at high speed, and ink droplets are ejected from minute nozzles by utilizing the growth power of the bubbles.

[0003] In these methods, a process in which ink as a color material is formed into ink droplets and directly ejected toward recording paper requires a lower printing energy as compared with an electrophotographic system using a toner as a powdery printing material. Low noise, no need for special fixing process, small print dots, high image quality, and the amount of ink used for printing is free of waste such as thermal transfer ink ribbon. Therefore, the printing method is considered to be excellent in cost performance, and is a printing method widely used especially as a personal printer.

This ink jet printer also has the advantage that it is easy to make a printed image full color by mixing ink. Normally, in full-color printing, black (K) used for black portions of characters and images is added to the three primary colors of subtractive color mixing, yellow (Y), magenta (M), and cyan (C), for a total of 4 colors. Requires color ink. Therefore, at least four types of ink are provided in the print head.

FIG. 5A is a perspective view schematically showing the configuration of such an ink jet printer, and FIG.
(A) is an enlarged view of the print head shown in FIG. (A) from the paper side (enlarged view in the direction of arrow A in FIG. (A)), and (c) is an ink cartridge shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view (an enlarged cross-sectional view of FIG.

[0006] The ink jet printer 1 shown in FIG.
Is a printer capable of printing on A4 or A3 size paper, and a carriage 2 is provided with a print head 3 for executing printing and a vertically long ink cartridge 4 containing ink. . The carriage 2 is slidably supported on one side by a guide rail 5 and is fixed to a toothed drive belt 6 on the other hand.

As a result, the print head 3 and the ink cartridge 4 are reciprocated in the width direction of the apparatus main body (inkjet printer 1) indicated by a double-headed arrow C in the drawing, that is, in the main scanning direction of the print image. A flexible communication cable 7 is connected between the print head 3 and a control device (not shown) of the apparatus main body, and print data and control signals are sent from the control device to the print head 3 via the flexible communication cable 7. .

In the ink jet printer 1, the print head 3 is integrally formed as a head unit together with the ink cartridge 4 from the beginning and is detachably fixed to the carriage 2, or the print head 3 is fixed to the carriage 2, An ink cartridge 4 is detachably engaged with the print head 3 and integrated therewith.

The ink cartridge 4 contains yellow (Y), magenta (M), and cyan (C) as shown in FIG. 1C (indicated by broken lines in FIG. 1A). ) And black (K) ink, respectively, in four ink chambers 4b (4b-1, 4b-2, 4b-3, 4b-).
4), and the above four inks (four colors) are supplied to the print head 3 from these four ink chambers 4b.

A platen 9 is disposed at the lower end of the frame 8 of the apparatus main body so as to face the print head 3 and extend in the reciprocating direction of the print head 3 indicated by a double-headed arrow C in the drawing. . In contact with the platen 9, the paper 10 is fed by a pair of paper feed rollers 11 (the lower roller is shaded by the paper 10 and cannot be seen in the drawing) and a pair of paper ejection rollers 12 (the lower roller is similarly shaded ), The sheet is intermittently conveyed in the printing sub-scanning direction (obliquely lower left direction in the figure) indicated by the arrow D in the figure.

As a result, the print head 3 moves intermittently in the sub-scanning direction relative to the paper 10. During the intermittent movement (intermittent transport of the paper 10), the print head 3
Is driven by the motor 13 via the toothed drive belt 6 and the carriage 2 to eject ink near the paper 10 and print on the paper. Printing can be performed on the entire surface of the paper 10 by repeating the intermittent conveyance of the paper 10 and the printing during the reciprocating movement by the print head 3.

As shown in FIG. 1B, the print head 3 has four types of ink ejection surfaces, yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C) and black (K). Four nozzle rows 14 (14y, 14m, 14
c, 14k) are formed.

One nozzle row 14 has 64 nozzles (or 1 nozzle).
28, 256, etc.), for example, 30
They are arranged in one vertical line at a density of 0 dpi (dots / inch). Inks of the color corresponding to each nozzle row 14 are supplied from each ink chamber 4b of the ink cartridge 4 corresponding to each nozzle row 14 on a one-to-one basis. The supply of ink from the ink cartridge 4 to the print head 3 is performed by its own weight.

[0014]

However, as described above, the ink jet printer supplies ink from the ink tank to the print head by its own weight.
As shown in FIG. 5A, the ink cartridge 4 must be provided so as to overlap above the print head 3. In addition, the ink tank must be formed in a vertically long shape in order to increase the number of printable sheets as much as possible, that is, to increase the storage capacity of ink.

As described above, the ink tank overlaps the print head and the ink storage capacity is increased as much as possible, so that the ink tank becomes tall and the reciprocating space in the main scanning direction is reduced. In order to secure the printer, the printer itself also becomes tall and the whole becomes larger. Such a tall shape does not cause any particular problem in a stationary ink-jet printer placed on a desk, but when used as a portable type, the tall shape is poor in portability and unsuitable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances,
It is an object of the present invention to provide an ink jet printer having a structure which accommodates a sufficient amount of ink in an ink tank and supplies ink to a print head smoothly despite its thin shape suitable for carrying.

[0017]

The construction of the ink jet printer of the present invention will be described below. An inkjet printer according to the present invention is an inkjet printer including a power switch, an inkjet head that ejects ink toward paper, and a transport unit that transports the paper toward the inkjet head. And an ink tank portion coupled to the ink jet head and disposed substantially on the side of the ink jet head so as to supply the ink tank portion, and the ink tank portion is rotatably supported upward around a coupling portion with the ink jet head as a fulcrum. And a support portion.

The power switch is turned on in conjunction with the upward rotation of the ink tank section. Further, the paper feed path is configured to be disposed substantially below the ink tank unit, for example.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1A is an external perspective view of an ink jet printer according to an embodiment, and FIG. 1B is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line EE 'of FIG. Same figure
The ink-jet printer 20 shown in (a) and (b) is a line-type ink-jet printer, and shows a state at the time of non-printing (at the time of non-printing), that is, at the time of carrying. As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the ink jet printer 20 has a print head (ink jet head) inside a main body case 21 having a rectangular flat surface and a flat shape as a whole.
22, cartridge holder 23, and four ink cartridges 24 (24-1, 24-2, 24-2, 24-
4) Four sub-tanks 25, male connecting tube section 2
6. A supply tube 27, a paper carry-in tray 28, a transport roller pair 29, a platen plate 31, and a paper discharge roller pair 32 are provided. An outlet 33 is formed.

The print head 22 extends in the main scanning direction (perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 3B) to the length of one line of paper to be printed, and is fixed to the main body case 21. A so-called line type print head is arranged. Although not particularly shown, four nozzle rows for discharging four kinds of inks 34 of yellow, magenta, cyan and black are arranged in parallel with the extending direction of the print head 22. It is provided.

The cartridge holder 23 has yellow,
Four ink cartridges 24 accommodating four types of inks of magenta, cyan, and black are mounted. The ink cartridge portion including the ink cartridges 24 and the cartridge holder 23 has a rectangular flat surface as a whole and a flat shape in the lateral direction. Is formed. The ends of the cartridge holder 23 in the ink cartridge insertion direction are engaged with the tips (right ends in the drawing) of the four male connection tubes 26, respectively.

The male connection tube 26 is made of a flexible member having elasticity, and its rear end is connected to the sub-tank 25, and is formed so as to protrude from the sub-tank 25 in the lateral direction. An engagement nozzle 35 is formed. Supply tubes 27 are provided in the four sub-tanks 25, respectively. The supply tubes 27 are formed on the back surface (upper surface in the figure) of the print head 22 corresponding to the four discharge nozzle rows. Is connected to the ink receiving port.

When the four ink cartridges 24 are inserted into the cartridge holder 23 and mounted, the four ink cartridges 24
By inserting the engagement nozzle 35 at the tip of the male connection tube 26, the male connection tube 26 is connected to each of the four male connection tubes 26. Accordingly, the ink 34 of the four ink cartridges 24 is supplied to the engagement nozzle 35, the male connection tube 26, the sub tank 25, and the supply tube 27.
Through the nozzle array of the print head 22 via the

As described above, the ink cartridge section composed of the ink cartridge 24 and the cartridge holder 23 is connected to the print head 22 via the male connection tube 26, the sub tank 25 and the supply tube 27 in order to supply ink to the print head 22. And are arranged flat in the horizontal direction.

Below these, a paper carry-in tray 28 (28a, 28b) serving as a paper feed path for guiding paper, a pair of transport rollers 29 for transporting paper, and a print head 22
Platen plate 3 that is kept horizontal so that it faces correctly
1, and a paper discharge roller pair 32 for discharging printed paper outside the apparatus.

The paper carrying tray 28 serving as the above-described paper feeding path
Is divided into a first slope 28a and a second slope 28b, and are integrally connected by a valley-shaped hinge 36. Downstream side of the first slope 28a in the paper loading direction (left side in the figure)
Pins 37 are disposed on both sides at the front end of the guide plate 38. The pins 37 are slidable back and forth (left and right in the drawing) in engagement grooves 39 at both ends of a guide plate 38 which is close to the upstream side of the conveying roller pair 29. Has been fitted. Also, the second inclined surface 28b of the paper carry-in tray 28
Is rotatably supported by a foldable hinge 41.

This paper carrying tray 28 is shown in FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b).
In the non-printing state (portable state) shown in FIG. 6, the cartridge holder 23 pushes down the cartridge holder 23, and the valley is bent at the hinge 36. One of the second inclined surfaces 28b is counterclockwise around the mountain-folded hinge 41 as a fulcrum. It rotates about 45 degrees in the circumferential direction and is located on the upstream side of the ink cartridge section.
The slope 28a is slightly pulled upstream by the rotation of the second slope 28b, and sinks downward while sliding the pin 37 to the right in the drawing in the engagement groove 39. In this state, the sheet carry-in tray 28 Are arranged immediately below the ink cartridge section.

The free end of the cartridge holder 23 is in contact with the hinge 36 in the paper feed port portion (the second inclined surface 28b) of the paper carry-in tray 28, whereby the paper feed port portion is closed. .

As described above, the ink jet printer 20 is a thin and portable ink jet printer provided with a horizontally long and flat ink cartridge portion in parallel with the paper passing direction.

In the above-described embodiment, the print head 22 is described as a fixed type head having a length of one main scanning line. However, the present invention can be applied to a carriage moving type print head. That is, in FIG. 2B, the print head 22 may be a head that moves in the front and back directions on the paper surface.

FIG. 2A is a perspective view showing a state of the ink jet printer 20 at the time of printing, and FIG.
(a) is supported. FIG. 2 (b) is an enlarged side sectional view showing a state at the time of printing, and corresponds to FIG. 1 (b) described above.

As shown in FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b), when the cartridge holder 23 is turned upward with the hinge 42 as a fulcrum as shown by the arrow F in the figure, a locking mechanism (not shown) The cartridge holder 23 is held at the rotated position. Alternatively, the hinge 42 may be held at the turning position by friction of the hinge 42 without providing the locking means. On the other hand, the sheet carry-in tray 28 released from the downward pressing by the cartridge holder 23
The first slope 28a and the second slope 2 are biased by a spring (not shown) applied to the portion in an obliquely upward direction indicated by an arrow G in the drawing.
8b is aligned, and a flat surface is formed between the pin 37 and the hinge 42 obliquely across the storage space where the ink cartridge unit was located before the rotation from the upstream upper side to the downstream lower side. Similarly, between the paper carry-in tray 28 and the cartridge holder 23 rotated to a position parallel to the paper carry-in tray 28, the ink cartridge portion also corresponds to a storage space in which the ink cartridge portion was located before the rotation and has a thickness of several tens of sheets. A paper carrying path having a height is formed as shown by an arrow H in the figure.

In addition, together with this, the cartridge holder 2
As shown in the figure, the ink cartridge 24 mounted on the cartridge 3 is lifted obliquely with the connection portion with the male connection tube 26 down, and the ink 34 inside is concentrated below the tank by its own weight.

This makes it easy to feed the paper 43 from the paper carry-in path in the direction of arrow H in the drawing, and the ink 34 is efficiently transferred to the sub-tank 25, that is, the print head 22 due to the large difference in height between the upper and lower surfaces of the ink 34. Supplied.

Here, the power switch 44 is turned on to energize the printer main body, and the transport roller pair 29 and the paper discharge roller pair 32 are driven to rotate by a drive system (not shown) so that the paper is printed on the printing section having the platen plate 31. Then, the print head 22 is driven to generate heat to eject the ink 34 to execute printing.

It should be noted that the power supply may not be turned on / off by the power switch 44, but may be performed in conjunction with the rotation of the ink cartridge units (23, 24). For example, at present, a small and high-performance microswitch is easily available. The microswitch is arranged at a portion which engages with the rotation of the ink cartridge unit, and when the microswitch is rotated upward as shown in FIG. The power supply may be turned on and turned off when it is turned down and stored in the main body case 21 as shown in FIG.

The above-described configuration in which the thin ink cartridge portion is stored in the main body case has a shape in which the thin ink cartridge portion is arranged in parallel to the paper passing direction and the upper side in the paper transport direction is vertically rotated as described above. It is not limited.

FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of a printer (serial type ink jet printer) according to another embodiment, and FIG. 3 (b) is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line JJ 'of FIG. The ink jet printer 45 shown in FIGS.
Are the ink cartridge 46 and the cartridge holder 47
The ink cartridges (46, 47) are formed flat and thin as a whole, and are parallel to the main scanning direction of the print head 48 (the left-right direction in FIG.
When the one end in the main scanning direction is lifted upward, it is rotatable about the rotation support hinge 51 as a fulcrum.

FIG. 4A is a perspective view showing a state of the ink jet printer 45 during printing, and FIG.
(a) is supported. FIG. 4 (b) is an enlarged side sectional view showing a state at the time of printing, and corresponds to FIG. 3 (b) described above. As shown in FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b), when the cartridge holder 47 is pivoted upward with the pivot support hinge 51 as a fulcrum, as indicated by the arrow K in the figure, the ink cartridge pivots. The space that was located before is open widely.

In this state, the print head 48 is driven by the rotation of the lead screw shaft 54, and is conveyed on the platen plate 55 while reciprocating in the main scanning direction (horizontal direction in FIG. 3B). Printing is performed on paper (not shown).

At this time, as described above, the print head 48
Since the upper part of the moving space of the FPC 52 is widely opened, the FPC 52 connected to the print head 48 and moving along with the reciprocation of the print head 48 in the main scanning direction can have a margin. Further, at this time, the ink 53 in the tank is concentrated below the tank and the supply of the ink is smooth, as in the case of the previous embodiment.

[0042]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, when printing is not performed, the flat ink cartridge portion is arranged in parallel with the paper passing direction, and when printing, the ink cartridge portion is rotated downward to rotate downward. A wide paper feed path space is formed and the ink inside the ink cartridge is concentrated under the tank by its own weight.Thus, even if the main body case is thinned and the ink cartridge section is stored inside it, it can be used for paper feeding and ink supply during printing operation. Without any hindrance, this makes it possible to make the printer body thin and portable.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is an external perspective view of an ink jet printer according to an embodiment, and FIG. 1B is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line EE 'of FIG.

FIG. 2A is a perspective view showing a state of the inkjet printer according to one embodiment at the time of printing, and FIG. 2B is an enlarged side sectional view showing a state at the time of printing.

FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of a printer (serial ink jet printer) according to another embodiment, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is an enlarged view taken along a line −J ′.

FIG. 4 (a) is a perspective view showing a state at the time of printing of an ink jet printer according to another embodiment, and FIG. 4 (b) is an enlarged side sectional view showing a state at the time of printing.

5A is a perspective view schematically showing a configuration of a conventional ink jet printer, FIG. 5B is an enlarged view of the print head of FIG. 5A as viewed from the paper side, and FIG. 5C is an ink of FIG. FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of the cartridge as viewed from the front.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ink jet printer 2 Carriage 3 Print head 4 Ink cartridge 4b (4b-1, 4b-2, 4b-3, 4b-4) Ink chamber 5 Guide rail 6 Toothed drive belt 7 Flexible communication cable 8 Device body frame 9 Platen Reference Signs List 10 paper 11 paper feed roller pair 12 paper discharge roller pair 13 motor 14 (14y, 14m, 14c, 14k) nozzle row 15 (15k-1, 15k-2, 15k-3, 15k-)
4) Discharge nozzle 20 Inkjet printer 21 Main body case 22 Print head (inkjet head) 23 Cartridge holder 24 (24-1, 24-2, 24-2, 24-4) Ink cartridge 25 Subtank 26 Male connection tube section 27 Supply Tube 28 paper carry-in tray 28a first slope 28b second slope 29 transport roller pair 31 platen plate 32 paper discharge roller pair 33 paper discharge port 34 ink 35 engagement nozzle 36 valley-folding hinge 37 pin 38 guide plate 39 engagement groove 41 Mountain-folded hinge 42 Hinge 43 Paper 44 Power switch 45 Inkjet printer 46 Ink cartridge 47 Cartridge holder 48 Print head 49 Main body case 51 Rotation support hinge 52 FPC 53 Ink 54 Lead screw Shaft 55 the platen

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An ink jet printer comprising: a power switch, an ink jet head for discharging ink toward a sheet, and a conveyance unit for conveying the sheet toward the ink jet head, wherein the ink is supplied to the ink jet head. An ink tank portion coupled to the ink jet head to be disposed substantially on the side of the ink jet head, and a support portion rotatably supporting the ink tank portion upward with a vicinity of a joint portion with the ink jet head as a fulcrum. An ink jet printer comprising: 2. An ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein said power switch is turned on in conjunction with upward rotation of said ink tank portion. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transport unit is disposed substantially below the ink tank unit.
The ink-jet printer as described.