JP2000190522A - Ink cartridge for ink jet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To effectively prevent the evaporation of ink by arranging a vent hole and an air communication groove in a first area, arranging an air communication hole in a second area and adding film members inseparably on the first area and separably on the second area. SOLUTION: An ink container 100 has a container part 10 and a lid part 20 linked integrally. The lid part 20 has a first area 20A and a second area 20B arranged adjacent to each other with a step. A vent hole 21 for connecting each ink substance 12 to the air is formed penetrating the first area 20A, and a serpentine air communication groove 22 connected to the vent hole 21 is recessed to an upper face of the first area. An air communication hole 23 opened to an upper face is formed in the second area 20B. A first film member 31 for sealing the vent hole 21 and covering the air communication hole 22 is inseparably attached to the first area 20A, and a second film member 32 for sealing the air communication hole 23 is separably attached to the second area 20B so that the air communication hole 23 can be opened to the air.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention belongs to the technical field of an ink cartridge capable of supplying ink to an ink jet printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-132635 (known example) is conventionally known as an ink cartridge of this type. Are connected to the atmosphere communication ports 41, 41, 41 through the meandering grooves 40, 40, 40, and these grooves 4
Reference numerals 0, 40, and 40 are formed so as to form a capillary tube when a seal 42 covering the ink injection holes 14, 15 and the atmosphere communication port 41 is attached at the stage when the ink injection operation is completed. 42 has an air communication port 41
A tongue piece 45 is formed, partly protruding from the lid 16 via a constricted portion 43 provided on the way to.

Accordingly, when the tongue piece 45 is peeled off from the lid 16 by such a configuration, only the tongue piece 45 can be easily separated from the constricted portion 43, and only the atmosphere communication port 41 can be exposed. At this time, when the tongue piece 45 of the lid 16 is peeled off, the tongue piece 45 is separated from the main body 44 at the constricted portion 43, whereby the ink injection port 14 communicates with the atmosphere communication port 41 through the groove 40.

In use, each of the foam chambers 4, 5,
Numeral 6 communicates with the atmosphere via the meandering long groove 40, so that evaporation of ink can be prevented while ensuring air permeability.

[0005]

According to the above-mentioned known examples, the evaporation of the ink can be prevented and the ink can be used for the printing process. However, there is still a point that improvement is desirable.

That is, in the case of the above-mentioned known example, the seal 42 may be largely peeled off at the time of use, so that the operability is poor, and there is also an anxiety regarding the adhesion of the seal 42. Was.

A first problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a device which can effectively prevent the evaporation of ink.

A second problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an ink chamber having a good sealing property of the ink chamber and easy opening to the atmosphere.

[0009] A third problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a film member which is unlikely to be peeled off by mistake.

A fourth problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an ink container in which a film member can be safely and effectively attached to an ink container.

[0011]

Means for solving the problems Specific means for solving the above problems according to the present invention are as follows.

(1) A container section provided with an ink chamber for holding ink, an ink supply port for supplying ink from the ink chamber to the recording head, and a lid section having a ventilation hole communicating the ink chamber with the atmosphere. An ink cartridge comprising an ink container comprising: a film member for sealing at least an ink chamber until use is provided on the lid, wherein the lid has a first region and a second region, Formed adjacent to each other with a step, at least a ventilation hole and an atmosphere communication groove are arranged in the first region, and an atmosphere communication hole is arranged in the second region;
An ink cartridge for an ink jet printer, wherein a film member is attached on the first area so as not to be peelable and on the second area so as to be peelable.

(2) The above-mentioned (1), wherein the membrane member on the first region forming the atmosphere communication passage and the membrane member on the second region closing the atmosphere communication hole until use are separate. Ink cartridges for inkjet printers.

(3) A membrane member on the first region forming the atmosphere communication passage and a second member for closing the atmosphere communication hole until use.
The ink cartridge for an ink jet printer according to the above (1), wherein the film member on the region is integrally formed so as to be separable.

According to the above-described solution, it is possible to provide an ink cartridge which can prevent evaporation of ink and can supply ink smoothly.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (Embodiment 1) As shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 4, an ink container 100 of an ink cartridge (cartridge) 1000 for an ink jet printer according to this embodiment is formed by molding a resin material by a molding means or the like to form a container 10 and a lid. 20
And a plurality of ink chambers 12 which are independently partitioned by a plurality of partition walls 11 in the container portion 10, and a plurality of ink chambers 12 for holding various inks therein. An ink supply port 14 for supplying ink to a recording head (not shown) of an ink jet printer is formed.

The lid 20 is provided with means for allowing the ink chamber 12 to communicate with the atmosphere.

That is, the first region 20 is provided on the lid 20.
A and the second area 20B are disposed adjacent to each other with a step. The first area 20A is provided with a ventilation hole 21 for communicating each ink chamber 12 with the atmosphere. The connected meandering air communication groove 22 is recessed on the upper surface thereof.

In the second region 20B, an atmosphere communication hole 23 opened on the upper surface is opened.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 6 to 8, the air communication groove 22 and the air communication hole 23 are formed on the back surface of the lid 20.
And a sealing surface 25 is formed so as to surround the outer periphery thereof, and an L-shaped pair of ribs 26 is formed outside the sealing surface 25 so as to surround the outer periphery thereof. It is ridged so as to form a shape that is not axially symmetric with respect to the inner surface.

As can be seen from FIG.
In the region 20A, the air hole 21 is sealed, and the first film member 31 that forms the air communication passage 27 by covering the air communication groove 22 is non-peelable, and the air communication hole 23 is sealed. The air communication hole 23 can be opened to the atmosphere by detachably attaching the second film member 32 to be stopped to the second region 20B of the lid 20 adjacent to the first film member 31.

The air communication groove 2 provided on the inner surface of the lid 20
An atmosphere communication path 28 is formed by attaching a stepped third film member 33 covering the cover 4 to the sealing surface 25 provided on the back surface of the lid 20 as shown in FIG.

Further, as shown in FIG.
Three and two sets (b) and (c) are formed so as to form two sets, and the same or similar open-to-atmosphere holes 23a are respectively formed in the outer periphery thereof. Two-membrane member 31,
Reference numeral 32 is attached so as to commonly cover the atmosphere communication passage 27 and the atmosphere communication hole 23 which communicate with the plurality of ink chambers accommodating the respective color inks.

2. Usage When the cartridge 1000 is used by being loaded into a printer, just before loading, only the second membrane member 32 is peeled off from the lid portion 20 to open the air communication hole 23 and open the air hole 21.
The ink chamber 12 is connected via the atmosphere communication path 27 and the atmosphere communication path 28.
Is exposed to the atmosphere, and the ink in the form 13 is supplied to the recording head to perform the printing process.

When the ink chamber 12 is opened to the atmosphere, the first film member 31 is combined with the air communication groove 22 to form an air communication path 27 and is permanently peeled off to prevent evaporation of the ink. It must be adhered to the upper surface of the lid 20 so as not to be carried out.

In the ink cartridge 1000, the first region 20 which is located low by forming a step of height is formed.
A, the first membrane member 31 is adhered to the second
Since the peelable second film member 32 is attached to the region 20B, there is no possibility that the user mistakenly recognizes the first and second film members 31 and 32, and therefore, the first film member 31 is erroneously detected. The ink supply port 14 can safely supply ink from the ink supply port 14 in order to prevent the risk of peeling off.

3. Specific Operations and Effects According to the cartridge 1000, at least the following operations and effects can be expected.

There is no possibility that the first film member 31 is accidentally peeled off and the meandering air communication passage 27 is damaged.

The operability is excellent because only the second film member 32 needs to be peeled off at the time of use, and the ink chamber is opened to the atmosphere through the air hole 21, the air communication path 27, the air communication path 28, and the air communication hole 23. Therefore, the evaporation of the ink in the unused cartridge 1000 is sufficiently prevented.

Further, the third film member 33 can be easily positioned and easily adhered by the rib portion 26, and the front and back of the third film member 33 can be easily and accurately determined.

Further, the probability that the first and second film members 31 and 32 are peeled off from the ends by the narrow grooves 29 along the shape of the first and second film members 31 and 32 can be reduced.

The ink cartridge 100 having a plurality of types (colors) of ink by the first and second film members 31 and 32
The air communication passage 27 and the air communication hole 23 can be covered in common, and the air communication holes 23 are gathered to concentrate the portion of the second membrane member 32 that needs to be peeled off so as to be easily opened. Can be done.

When the air communication holes 23 are put together, the shape of the air communication holes 23 is different for each ink, but by making them the same area, the ease of opening the air communication holes 23 can be made the same.

By covering the plurality of meandering air communication paths 28 with a single third film member 33, the number thereof can be reduced.

(Embodiment 2) The characteristic feature of the ink cartridge 1000X shown in FIGS.
A cover sheet 200X that entirely covers the first and second regions 20AX and 20BX of X is attached to the upper surface of the lid 20X, and the cover sheet 200X includes the first and second regions 20AX , 20BX are formed so as to be aligned in the vicinity of adjacent positions, so that only a portion located on the second region 20BX can be peeled off.

In the ink cartridge 1000X, since a single covering sheet 200X may be stuck on the lid 20X, the manufacturing process is simplified and the ink cartridge 1000X can be manufactured at low cost.

[0037]

The specific effects of the present invention described above are as follows.

It is possible to safely prevent evaporation of the ink.

It is possible to prevent the film member forming the meandering air communication path from being accidentally peeled off.

The amount of the peeled and discarded membrane member can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view of an ink cartridge according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along a line II in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view in which the membrane member of FIG. 1 is removed.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a lid of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a rear perspective view of the lid of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a main part of the lid of FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a rear view of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a longitudinal sectional view of a lid of the ink cartridge according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of FIG. 9;

[Explanation of symbols]

 1000 (X) Ink cartridge 10 (X) Container section 12 (X) Ink chamber 14 (X) Ink supply port 20 (X) Lid section 20 (X) A First area 20 (X) B Second area 21 (X) Vent hole 22 (X) Atmospheric communication groove 23 (X) Atmospheric opening hole 27 (X) Atmospheric communication passage 31-33 Membrane member (first to third) 200X Cover sheet

Claims (3)

[Claims] A container provided with an ink chamber for holding ink, an ink supply port for supplying ink from the ink chamber to a recording head, and a lid having an air hole communicating the ink chamber with the atmosphere. An ink container comprising an ink container comprising a film member for sealing at least the ink chamber until use, wherein the lid portion has a first region and a second region that are stepped from each other. And at least a ventilation hole and an air communication groove are provided in the first region, an air communication hole is provided in the second region, and peeling is performed on the first region. An ink cartridge for an ink jet printer in which a film member is detachably provided on the second area. 2. The ink-jet apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the film member on the first region forming the atmosphere communication passage is separate from the film member on the second region closing the air communication hole until use. Printer ink cartridge. 3. A membrane member on a first region forming the atmosphere communication passage and a membrane member on a second region closing the atmosphere communication hole until used are integrally formed so as to be separable. The ink cartridge for an ink jet printer according to claim 1.