EP1022143A1 - Cartouches d'encre pour imprimante à jet d'encre en forme de segments qui peuvent être combinés en une forme cylindrique droite généralisée - Google Patents

Cartouches d'encre pour imprimante à jet d'encre en forme de segments qui peuvent être combinés en une forme cylindrique droite généralisée Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1022143A1
EP1022143A1 EP00100990A EP00100990A EP1022143A1 EP 1022143 A1 EP1022143 A1 EP 1022143A1 EP 00100990 A EP00100990 A EP 00100990A EP 00100990 A EP00100990 A EP 00100990A EP 1022143 A1 EP1022143 A1 EP 1022143A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
ink
ink cartridges
cartridges
jet printer
recording
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP00100990A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Inventor
Kiyoshi c/o NEC Corporation Suzuki
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
NEC Corp
Original Assignee
NEC Corp
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by NEC Corp filed Critical NEC Corp
Publication of EP1022143A1 publication Critical patent/EP1022143A1/fr
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/17—Ink jet characterised by ink handling
    • B41J2/175—Ink supply systems ; Circuit parts therefor
    • B41J2/17503—Ink cartridges
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/17—Ink jet characterised by ink handling
    • B41J2/175—Ink supply systems ; Circuit parts therefor
    • B41J2/17503—Ink cartridges
    • B41J2/1752—Mounting within the printer
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/17—Ink jet characterised by ink handling
    • B41J2/175—Ink supply systems ; Circuit parts therefor
    • B41J2/17503—Ink cartridges
    • B41J2/17553—Outer structure

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to an ink-jet printer, more in detail to an ink cartridge and a retention structure in the ink-jet printer.
  • Non-impact recording methods attracting a great deal of attention are excellent in that a noise generated during the recording is negligibly small.
  • an ink-jet recording method has advantages that a rapid recording can be performed directly on a recording medium by employing a simple mechanism and the recording is convenient because ordinary paper may be employed as the recording medium.
  • a color printer among the above ink jet printers includes an ink cartridge accommodating, for example, four color inks such as cyan, magenta, yellow and black, and the printing is conducted by ejecting the inks supplied from the ink cartridge through nozzles.
  • the ink-jet printer has a drawback in that the respective color inks are not simultaneously consumed and the cartridges are replaced with new cartridges when one of the inks most frequently consumed is depleted.
  • an ink-jet printer (a first conventional example) in which a plurality of colors are individually accommodated in the respective ink cartridges and only the depleted ink cartridge is replaced.
  • the respective box-like ink tanks are arranged in a transverse direction to form a unified multiple-color cartridge, and thus supply lengths to the recording head from a central ink tank and from an outermost ink tank are different from each other.
  • a color ink-jet printing apparatus including a plurality of recording heads each corresponding to each of the respective ink cartridges is described in JP-A-8(1996)-90788 (a second conventional example).
  • the supply lengths to the recording head from a central ink tank and from an outermost ink tank are substantially the same.
  • the box-Like ink cartridges arranged in the transverse direction to form the unified multiple-color cartridge, as in the first and the second conventional examples, have lesser external dimensions, which make the printer large-scaled. Further, in the first conventional example, a high accuracy of dimensions is required due to the different supply lengths from the ink tanks to the recording head when the respective ink supply paths are formed.
  • one of the recording heads positioned at one outermost end must move a marginal space so that another of the recording head positioned at the other outermost end prints at the corresponding edge of the sheet. This necessitates a marginal space for one of the two outermost recording heads. Since the distance between the two outermost recording heads increases in the printer with the increase of the number of colors (four colors, six colors and eight colors), the space for the movement of the recording heads is further increased to make the apparatus larger-scaled.
  • an object of the present invention is to provide an ink-jet printer wherein only a depleted ink cartridge is replaceable, the external dimensions of a unified multi-color ink cartridge being reduced and wherein ink-supply paths to a recording head of every ink cartridge are unified.
  • Another object of the present invention is to provide the ink-jet printer which can suppress the variations ejecting positions for every recording head by reducing a distance between outermost recording heads as much as possible without requesting a high accuracy of printing in addition to achieving the above purpose.
  • the present invention provides an ink-jet printer including a plurality of ink cartridges, a retention mechanism for retaining the ink cartridges and a recording head, mounted on a head carriage, for ejecting color inks supplied from the respective ink cartridges, the ink cartridges being retained by the retention mechanism to form a pillar shape as a whole.
  • the plurality of the ink cartridges can be entirely retained in the nearly circular pillar or the nearly polygonal pillar shape while only a specified ink cartridge or only a depleted ink cartridge can be replaced by means of a procedure using a specified retention mechanism.
  • the external dimensions of the incorporated ink cartridges can be reduced.
  • the ink-jet printer can be manufactured with a high dimensional accuracy because lengths of ink supply paths to the recording head and positions thereof can be unified in each of the ink cartridges by providing the recording head around the center of the incorporated ink cartridges retained in the nearly circular pillar or the nearly polygonal pillar shape.
  • An ink-jet printer shown in Fig. 1 includes a guide shaft 21 horizontally supported along a printing apparatus (not shown) and a head carriage 20 making a reciprocating motion along the guide shaft 21 by means of the power of a motor (not shown).
  • the head carriage 20 has a pair of arms coupled in letter "L" and the guide shaft 21 slidably penetrates a portion where the two arms of the head carriage 20 are coupled.
  • Power supply cables 19 are disposed along the "L" shaped head carriage 20, and a recording head 16 is mounted on one end of the head cartridge 20.
  • An end cap (a second retention member) 17 is rotatably or pivotally supported at the other end of the head carriage 20.
  • the recording head 16 includes a first retention member 22 engaged with front guides 13. Between the retention member 22 and the end cap 17 are disposed six color ink cartridges 11 which are supported and integrated to form a circular pillar as a whole.
  • the first retention member 22 disposed on the recording head 16 has nozzles 15 penetrating therethrough.
  • the end cap 17 pivotally rotates around a support axis 18 for detachable engagement with the ink cartridges 11.
  • the body of the ink cartridge 11 has the front guide 13 formed as a forward projection projecting from the central portion of the pillar cartridge and a rear guide 14 formed as a backward projection.
  • the front guide 13 and the rear guide 14 determine the position when the ink cartridge 11 is mounted on the head carriage 20.
  • An ink supply port 12 is formed for each of colors on the front end surface of the front guide 13. The ink supply port is positioned corresponding to the nozzle 15 of the recording head 16 when it is mounted on a printing unit.
  • the six ink cartridges 11 having the divided angle of 60° per one color shown in Fig. 3 are tightly incorporated around the central axis "A" to exhibit the pillar shape as a whole as shown in Fig. 4.
  • the recording head 16 shown in Fig. 5 includes the disc-like first retention member 22 and a plurality of the nozzles 15 circumferentially disposed for ejecting the inks supplied from the ink supply openings 12.
  • the retention member 22 includes six sector members 22a each engaged with the respective front guide sectors 13 of the six ink cartridges 11 incorporated to make the pillar shape.
  • the disc-like end cap 17 shown in Fig. 6 includes six sectorial retention parts 23 each located in six parts around the central axis (Fig. 4).
  • Each of the retention parts 23 corresponds to each of the rear guides 14 having the sector, and is engaged with each of the rear guides 14 of the respective ink cartridges 11 of which the incorporated front guides 13 are engaged with the first retention member 22 when the end cap 17 is rotated around the support axis 18.
  • the ink cartridge 11 mounted on the printing unit ejects the ink from the nozzles 15 of the recording head 16 toward recording paper to conduct the printing in accordance with the printing data while the head carriage 20 reciprocally moves in a direction along the guide shaft 21.
  • the ink cartridge is replaced with a new ink cartridge.
  • the end cap 17 is rotated clock-wise in Fig. 2 to release the rear guides 14 of each of the ink cartridges 11 from the corresponding retention parts 23 of the end cap 17. In this situation, only the depleted ink cartridge 11 is pulled out from the retention part 22a of the first retention member 22.
  • the front guide of a fresh ink cartridge is pressed into the empty retention part 22a to determine and fix its position.
  • the end cap 17 is rotated counterclockwise in Fig. 2 while the incorporated six ink cartridges 11 are secured to engage the retention parts 23 of the end cap 17 with the rear guides 14 of the corresponding ink cartridges 14.
  • the printing can be similarly performed by employing the ink cartridge 11 having the newly mounted fresh ink cartridge.
  • the depleted ink cartridge 11 can be individually replaced with the fresh one because the ink cartridge is divided depending on the number of the colors. Thereby, a problem can be resolved that all the cartridges are replaced even when only one color ink is depleted, thereby to improve the economical efficiency. Since a plurality of the ink cartridges having the same or similar dimension are commonly employed for each of the colors, the management of the dimension of only one cartridge enables the management of all colors. Since all the six ink cartridges 11 may be incorporated and retained as the pillar-like shape, the external size of the multiple color unified cartridge formed by the respective ink cartridges 11 can be kept smaller. Since the recording head 16 is disposed around the center of the ink cartridge 11, the lengths of the ink supply paths and the positions thereof can be unified in each of the ink cartridges 11 and the ink cartridge 11 can be manufactured with a high dimensional accuracy.
  • the ink cartridge may be modified to have a variety of shapes.
  • An ink cartridge 11a shown in Fig. 7 is formed as an ink tank including a square section having two joining surfaces at right angles to each other. The four ink tanks are joined among one another to make a four-sided pillar having a circular pillar formed by four front guides 13a on the center thereof.
  • An ink cartridge 11b shown in Fig. 8 is formed as an ink tank including an equilateral triangular section having two joining surfaces at an angle of 60° to each other.
  • the six ink tanks are joined among one another to make a six-sided pillar having a circular pillar formed by six front guides 13b on the center thereof.
  • These four and six-sided pillars or even a pillar having more sides, for example, an eight-sided pillar can produce similar effects to those obtained by the ink cartridge 11 having the circular pillar shape.
  • the four, six and eight pillars can be employed corresponding to four colors, six colors and eight colors, respectively.
  • the external size remains unchanged with the increase of the number of colors, that is, four colors, six colors to eight colors because only the number of equal-angled division of the circular pillar or the polygonal pillar is changed. Accordingly, no marginal change is generated during the movement of the recording head to produce no disadvantages such that the apparatus becomes large-scaled with the increase of the number of colors.
  • an interconnect (a circuit pattern corresponding to a recording head) formed of an expensive material such as a polyimide film is integrally formed with the recording head and the circuit pattern is scrapped together with the recording head, no decrease of a running cost can be realized in this part.
  • the nozzles 15 formed on the head carriage 20 side enable the replacement of only the ink tanks themselves not to scrap the circuit pattern further employable to decrease the running cost.
  • the ink cartridges 11 can be made more compact by suitably reducing the size of the nozzles or the openings 12 concentrated on the central part.
  • An amount of ink chargeable in the ink tank can be adjusted by elongating the shape of the ink tank in a direction of its axis. During the adjustment, the change of the ink tank shape can be dealt with by horizontally moving the support axis 18 in connection with the head carriage 20.
  • the whole ink cartridge retained to be the circular pillar shape or the polygonal pillar shape can enlarge the size of the respective ink cartridges 11 by means of the minimum enlargement of the shape.
  • the miniaturization of the head carriage 20 can be easily realized because only the small changes of the sizes of the first retention member 22 and the end cap 17 are sufficient to cope with the change.
  • An ink cartridge 11c of the present embodiment shown in Fig. 9 is substantially the same with the ink cartridge 11 of the first embodiment except that the shapes of the front parts of the front guides are different from each other.
  • the ink cartridge 11c includes a plurality of nozzles 35 electrically driven for ejecting inks at the front part of the front guide 13a, and a circuit 24a for supplying signals from a control part not shown to the nozzles 35.
  • the six ink cartridges 11c shown in Fig. 9 are integrated to form a circular pillar shape as shown in Fig. 10.
  • Another circuit 24b at a printer side connected to the circuit 24a is positioned in a space formed at a central part surrounded by the six ink cartridges 11c.
  • the nozzles 35 having the different shape from that of the nozzles 15 of the first embodiment are mounted on the front parts of the front guides 13a of the respective ink cartridges 11c. Accordingly, the inks can be individually ejected from the recording heads of the ink cartridges 11c by forming the recording heads with the ink ejection nozzles 35 of the respective ink cartridges 11c and individually supplying power to the respective nozzles 35.
  • the nozzles 15 corresponding to all the ink cartridges 11 are collectively disposed at the recording head side.
  • the present embodiment has an advantage that the printing control and the printing accuracy can be easily obtained because the recording heads are disposed on the respective ink cartridges 11c even though the assembling accuracy of the ink cartridges 11c for every color must be considered.
  • the nozzles 35 are incorporated with the ink cartridge 11c and a separate nozzle is unnecessary, the corresponding first retention member having a ring shape which simply retains the front guides 13a is sufficient, and the cost down thereof can be attained.

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  • Ink Jet (AREA)
EP00100990A 1999-01-20 2000-01-19 Cartouches d'encre pour imprimante à jet d'encre en forme de segments qui peuvent être combinés en une forme cylindrique droite généralisée Withdrawn EP1022143A1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
JP1188999A JP2000211150A (ja) 1999-01-20 1999-01-20 インクジェット式プリンタ
JP1188999 1999-01-20

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1022143A1 true EP1022143A1 (fr) 2000-07-26

Family

ID=11790307

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP00100990A Withdrawn EP1022143A1 (fr) 1999-01-20 2000-01-19 Cartouches d'encre pour imprimante à jet d'encre en forme de segments qui peuvent être combinés en une forme cylindrique droite généralisée

Country Status (2)

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EP (1) EP1022143A1 (fr)
JP (1) JP2000211150A (fr)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
ITMI20091564A1 (it) * 2009-09-11 2011-03-12 Reggiani Macchine Spa Disposizione di alimentazione per una testa di stampa a getto d'inchiostro e relativa macchina di stampa per tessuti.

Families Citing this family (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JP4683614B2 (ja) * 2004-12-17 2011-05-18 キヤノン株式会社 インクジェットカートリッジ

Citations (10)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0546832A2 (fr) * 1991-12-11 1993-06-16 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Chariot pour appareil d'enregistrement à jet d'encre
EP0603516A2 (fr) * 1992-12-22 1994-06-29 Hewlett-Packard Company Cartouche à encre avec réservoir d'encre et tête d'impression
EP0604940A1 (fr) * 1992-12-28 1994-07-06 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Cartouche de tête à jet d'encre et réservoir d'encre pour celle-ci
EP0655336A1 (fr) * 1993-11-29 1995-05-31 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Réservoir d'encre amélioré, méthode de montage, démontage approprié et dispositif l'utilisant
JPH07276666A (ja) * 1994-04-08 1995-10-24 Canon Inc インクジェット記録装置
EP0699533A2 (fr) * 1994-09-02 1996-03-06 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Appareil d'enregistrement par jet d'encre
JPH09183233A (ja) * 1995-12-29 1997-07-15 Brother Ind Ltd インクジェット記録装置
JPH1044457A (ja) * 1996-07-31 1998-02-17 Pentel Kk インキジェットプリンター用インキタンクセット
JPH10175310A (ja) * 1996-12-19 1998-06-30 Oki Data:Kk インクカートリッジユニット及びリフィル装置
DE19733152A1 (de) * 1997-01-30 1998-08-13 Hewlett Packard Co Tintenbehälter zur Verwendung in einem Drucker

Patent Citations (10)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0546832A2 (fr) * 1991-12-11 1993-06-16 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Chariot pour appareil d'enregistrement à jet d'encre
EP0603516A2 (fr) * 1992-12-22 1994-06-29 Hewlett-Packard Company Cartouche à encre avec réservoir d'encre et tête d'impression
EP0604940A1 (fr) * 1992-12-28 1994-07-06 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Cartouche de tête à jet d'encre et réservoir d'encre pour celle-ci
EP0655336A1 (fr) * 1993-11-29 1995-05-31 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Réservoir d'encre amélioré, méthode de montage, démontage approprié et dispositif l'utilisant
JPH07276666A (ja) * 1994-04-08 1995-10-24 Canon Inc インクジェット記録装置
EP0699533A2 (fr) * 1994-09-02 1996-03-06 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Appareil d'enregistrement par jet d'encre
JPH09183233A (ja) * 1995-12-29 1997-07-15 Brother Ind Ltd インクジェット記録装置
JPH1044457A (ja) * 1996-07-31 1998-02-17 Pentel Kk インキジェットプリンター用インキタンクセット
JPH10175310A (ja) * 1996-12-19 1998-06-30 Oki Data:Kk インクカートリッジユニット及びリフィル装置
DE19733152A1 (de) * 1997-01-30 1998-08-13 Hewlett Packard Co Tintenbehälter zur Verwendung in einem Drucker

Non-Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN vol. 1996, no. 02 29 February 1996 (1996-02-29) *
PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN vol. 1997, no. 11 28 November 1997 (1997-11-28) *
PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN vol. 1998, no. 06 30 April 1998 (1998-04-30) *
PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN vol. 1998, no. 11 30 September 1998 (1998-09-30) *

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
ITMI20091564A1 (it) * 2009-09-11 2011-03-12 Reggiani Macchine Spa Disposizione di alimentazione per una testa di stampa a getto d'inchiostro e relativa macchina di stampa per tessuti.

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Publication number Publication date
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