JP2006102964A - Ink cartridge and printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ink cartridge which can maintain high positioning precision at the time of setting to a carriage of a printer by providing a protrusion for positioning of high rigidity strength, and to provide a printer. <P>SOLUTION: The ink cartridge 7 is equipped with a cartridge body 71 which forms an ink storage chamber, an ink supply port 39 set at a bottom part of the ink storage chamber so as to supply an ink liquid stored in the ink storage chamber to a printing head loaded on the carriage of the printer, and the protrusion 87 for positioning which is set projecting at a front wall 73 of the cartridge body 71. The protrusion 87 for positioning is fitted in a groove for positioning of the carriage, thereby positioning the cartridge body 71 to a cartridge setting part of the carriage. The protrusion 87 for positioning is integrally formed into a hollow bag structure whose pair of opposed plate-shaped parts 87a and 87b are coupled with each other by a tip coupling wall 87c and a coupling bottom wall 87d. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

The present invention relates to an ink cartridge that stores an ink liquid in an ink storage chamber, and a printer to which the ink cartridge is mounted.

FIG. 10 shows a conventional example of a carriage mounted on an ink jet printer and an ink cartridge mounted on the carriage.
The carriage 1 shown in FIG. 10 is in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the printing paper in the printer (
A first cartridge mounting portion 13 that stores a color ink cartridge and a second cartridge mounting portion that stores a black ink cartridge on the upper surface of a carriage body 11 that is driven to reciprocate by a carriage driving mechanism (not shown) in the direction of arrow A in the figure. 15.
In the lower part of the carriage body 11, printing is performed such that the ink liquid supplied from the ink cartridges mounted on the first and second cartridge mounting portions 13 and 15 is ejected onto the printing paper as ink droplets having a predetermined particle diameter. A head 21 is mounted.

The ink cartridge 3 shown in FIG. 10 is a color ink cartridge that independently contains ink liquids of three colors of cyan, magenta, and yellow for color printing.
As shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, the ink cartridge 3 is divided into a cartridge main body 35 that partitions and forms three ink storage chambers 31, 32, 33 having upper openings, and the ink storage chambers 31, 32, 33, respectively. A porous elastic body (foam) 37 to be stored and held, and ink liquid stored in each of the ink storage chambers 31, 32 and 33 in a state of being impregnated in the porous elastic body 37 is supplied to the print head 21 of the ink jet printer. For each ink storage chamber 31, 32,
The porous elastic body 3 protrudes from the inner surface of the front wall 41 of the cartridge main body 35 that partitions and forms the ink storage chambers 31, 32, 33.
Elastic body holding ribs 43 for holding 7 in a predetermined compression state, and ink storage chambers 31, 32, 33.
A cover member 47 bonded to the upper surface of the cartridge main body 35 so as to cover the upper open portion of the first cartridge of the carriage main body 11 for supplying ink liquid to the print head 21. Mounted on the mounting portion 13.

The front wall 41 of the cartridge body 35 is a side wall erected substantially perpendicular to the bottom wall of the cartridge body 35. The elastic body holding rib 43 projecting from the inner surface of the front wall 41 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, the one end surface 37 a of the porous elastic body 37 is pressed and the porous elastic body 37 is pressed.
Is maintained in a compressed state at a predetermined compression rate, and at the same time, a space necessary for preventing pressure fluctuation during negative suction of ink liquid between the one end surface 37a of the porous elastic body 37 and the inner surface of the front wall 41. 42 is secured.

As shown in FIG. 11, an information recording device 51 is provided on the outer surface of the front wall 41 of the cartridge body 35.
Is attached.
The information recording device 51 includes a memory element that can read and write data such as the remaining ink amount of each ink storage chamber 31, 32, and 33 and the date of manufacture of the cartridge, and a plurality of information elements for inputting and outputting information to the memory element. The connection terminal 51a is attached to the outer surface of the front wall 41 so that the connection terminal 51a is exposed to the outer surface of the cartridge body 35.

Corresponding to the mounting position of the information recording device 51 on the ink cartridge 3, the connection terminal 51 is connected to the first cartridge mounting portion 13 of the carriage body 11 on which the ink cartridge 3 is mounted.
A carriage-side connection terminal 53 for conducting connection with a is provided.
As shown in FIG. 10, the carriage side connection terminal 53 is provided on the inner surface of the front partition wall 13 a that defines the first cartridge mounting portion 13.
The carriage-side connection terminal 53 is connected to a control circuit in the printer. When the carriage-side connection terminal 53 and the connection terminal 51a are electrically connected, the control circuit in the printer connects to the information recording device 51 on the ink cartridge 3. Can read and write information.

In order to accurately connect the plurality of connection terminals 51a of the information recording apparatus 51 to the carriage side connection terminal 53, it is necessary to improve the positioning accuracy of the ink cartridge 3 with respect to the first cartridge mounting portion 13 of the carriage body 11. .
Therefore, in order to improve the positioning accuracy of the cartridge body 35 with respect to the carriage body 11, an error for preventing the ink cartridge 3 from being inserted into the first cartridge mounting portion 13 in the wrong direction in the carriage body 11. The position of the connection terminal 51a on the ink cartridge 3 is aligned with the carriage-side connection terminal 53 on the carriage body 11 side with respect to the insertion prevention groove 54 and the ink cartridge 3 inserted into the first cartridge mounting portion 13 in an appropriate orientation. A positioning groove 55 is provided.

In the carriage body 11, the erroneous insertion preventing groove 54 is formed at the upper end of the side partition wall 13b that defines the first cartridge mounting portion 13, and the positioning groove 55 is the upper end of the front partition wall 13a. It is formed in the part.
On the other hand, the ink cartridge 3 is provided with an erroneous insertion preventing rib 57 that fits into the erroneous insertion preventing groove 54 on one side wall 38 of the cartridge main body 35 and before the information recording apparatus 51 is installed. On the outer surface of the wall 41, positioning ribs 58 that fit into the positioning grooves 55 are projected.

That is, the ink cartridge 3 cannot be inserted into the first cartridge mounting portion 13 unless the rib 57 for misinsertion is inserted into the misinsertion prevention groove 54 of the carriage body 11 and is inserted in an appropriate orientation. The leading end of the positioning rib 58 is positioned in the positioning groove 55.
The plurality of connection terminals 51a are accurately connected to the carriage-side connection terminal 53 by adjusting the position so as to be in close contact with the positioning surface 55b formed on one side of the positioning groove 55 by the taper surface 55a prepared in the above. (See, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2004-1430 A

However, the positioning rib 5 provided in the conventional ink cartridge 3 shown in FIG.
8 is a single thin plate-like shape, so that the moldability when the carriage body 11 is manufactured by the synthetic resin injection molding method is good. However, when the rigidity strength is insufficient, Positioning accuracy may be reduced due to elastic deformation or the like.
On the other hand, if the positioning rib 58 is formed into a thick plate shape in order to improve the rigidity strength of the positioning rib 58, there is a problem that it is difficult to maintain dimensional accuracy due to molding distortion such as sink marks.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems, and to provide an ink cartridge and a printer that can maintain high positioning accuracy when mounted on a printer carriage by providing a positioning protrusion having high rigidity and strength. It is.

The object of the present invention is to provide a cartridge main body forming an ink storage chamber and a bottom of the ink storage chamber for supplying ink liquid stored in the ink storage chamber to a print head mounted on a carriage of a printer. And a positioning projection protruding from a side wall of the cartridge body, and the positioning projection is fitted into a positioning groove of the carriage so that the cartridge body is attached to the carriage. An ink cartridge that is aligned with a cartridge mounting portion, wherein the positioning protrusion includes a pair of plate-like portions facing each other with a gap therebetween, and a connecting portion that connects the plate-like portions to each other. This is achieved by an ink cartridge in which the outer surface of the plate-like portion is set as a positioning surface that contacts the positioning groove.

According to the ink cartridge having the above configuration, the positioning protrusions are formed by connecting the pair of opposing plate-like portions to each other by the connecting portion, and each plate-like portion itself may be a thin plate-like piece. Compared with the case where each plate-like part is used for positioning alone, high rigidity strength can be obtained.
Therefore, when the ink cartridge is mounted on the carriage of the printer, high positioning accuracy can be maintained by the positioning protrusion having high rigidity and strength.
In addition, since the pair of plate-like portions and the connecting portion constituting the positioning protrusions have a structure in which the thickness of each portion is thin, molding distortion such as sink marks hardly occurs and dimensional accuracy can be improved.

In the ink cartridge having the above-described configuration, the positioning protrusion includes the pair of plate-like portions and the connecting portion, and is integrally formed in a bag structure in which the inside is hollowed by meat stealing communicating with the ink storage chamber. It is desirable that
According to the said structure, the improvement of rigidity strength can be anticipated because the structure of the positioning protrusion becomes a bag structure. Further, since the hollow structure is adopted, the occurrence of molding distortion such as sink marks can be suppressed, and the dimensional accuracy of the positioning protrusions can be improved.

In the ink cartridge having the above-described configuration, the side wall of the cartridge body has
It is desirable that an information recording apparatus including a connection terminal that is conductively connected to a carriage-side connection terminal provided in the cartridge mounting portion of the carriage is attached.
According to the above configuration, since the connection terminal of the information recording device attached to the side wall of the cartridge body is aligned with the carriage side connection terminal provided in the cartridge mounting portion with high accuracy, the operation reliability of the information recording device Can be improved.

In addition, according to the printer including the ink cartridge having the above-described configuration, high positioning accuracy can be maintained when the ink cartridge is mounted on the carriage, and the mounting workability of the ink cartridge can be improved.

According to the ink cartridge and the printer of the present invention, the positioning protrusions are formed by connecting the pair of opposing plate-like portions to each other by the connecting portion, and each plate-like portion itself is a single thin plate-like shape. However, high rigidity strength can be obtained.
In addition, since the pair of plate-like portions and the connecting portion constituting the positioning protrusions have a structure in which the thickness of each portion is thin, molding distortion such as sink marks hardly occurs and the dimensional accuracy can be improved.
Therefore, by providing positioning protrusions with high rigidity and strength, it is possible to provide an ink cartridge and a printer that can maintain high positioning accuracy when mounted on the carriage of the printer.

Hereinafter, an ink cartridge and a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ink cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention and a carriage of a printer in which the ink cartridge is mounted. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the ink cartridge shown in FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the ink cartridge shown in FIG. 1 as viewed obliquely from the front, FIG. 4 is a front view of the ink cartridge shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is a top view of the cartridge body shown in FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, the ink cartridge 7 according to this embodiment is mounted on a carriage 6 that is mounted on an inkjet printer.
The carriage 6 of the present embodiment has a color ink cartridge on the upper surface of a carriage body 61 that is driven to reciprocate by a carriage drive mechanism (not shown) in a direction (arrow A direction in the figure) perpendicular to the conveyance direction of printing paper in the printer. A first cartridge mounting portion 63 for storing
And a second cartridge mounting portion 65 for storing a black ink cartridge. Also, in the lower part of the carriage body 61, printing is performed in which the ink liquid supplied from the respective ink cartridges mounted in the first and second cartridge mounting portions 63 and 65 is ejected onto the printing paper as ink droplets having a predetermined particle size. A head 21 is mounted.

The ink cartridge 7 shown in FIGS. 1 to 6 is a color ink cartridge that independently contains ink liquids of three colors of cyan, magenta, and yellow for color printing.
Similar to the conventional ink cartridge 3 shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, the ink cartridge 7 of this embodiment includes a cartridge main body 71 that partitions and forms three ink storage chambers 31, 32, and 33 that are open at the top, A porous elastic body (foam) 37 accommodated and held in each of the ink storage chambers 31, 32 and 33, and an ink liquid stored in each of the ink storage chambers 31, 32 and 33 while being impregnated in the porous elastic body 37 An ink supply port 39 provided at the bottom of each of the ink storage chambers 31, 32, 33 for supplying the ink to the print head 21 of the inkjet printer,
The front wall 7 of the cartridge main body 71 that defines the ink storage chambers 31, 32, and 33.
3 and the elastic body holding rib 75 that protrudes from the inner surface 73a and holds the porous elastic body 37 in a predetermined compression state, and the cartridge main body so as to cover the open portions of the upper portions of the ink storage chambers 31, 32, and 33. And a cover member 47 bonded to the upper surface of 71.
In order to supply the ink liquid to the first cartridge mounting portion 63 of the carriage main body 61, the first cartridge mounting portion 63 is mounted.

Further, the cartridge main body of the black ink cartridge which is mounted on the second cartridge mounting portion 65 of the carriage main body 61 and independently stores the black ink liquid for monochrome printing, stores the ink in which the porous elastic body 37 is loaded. Since the configuration is substantially the same as the cartridge main body 71 of the color ink cartridge except that the number of equipments in the chamber is single, the cartridge main body 71 of the color ink cartridge will be described below, and the cartridge main body of the black ink cartridge will be described in detail. Description is omitted.

The front wall 73 of the cartridge main body 71 in the present embodiment is a side wall that stands up with respect to the bottom wall of the cartridge main body 71. As shown in FIG. 6, the elastic body holding rib 75 protruding from the inner surface 73a of the front wall 73 presses the one end surface 37a of the porous elastic body 37 so that the porous elastic body 37 is held in a predetermined state. While maintaining the compressed state at the compression rate, a space 77 necessary for preventing pressure fluctuation at the time of negative suction of the ink liquid is provided between the one end surface 37a of the porous elastic body 37 and the inner surface 73a of the front wall 73. Secured.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the protrusion height T of the elastic body holding rib 75 with respect to the inner surface 73 a of the front wall 73 is lowered on the front wall 73 of the cartridge main body 71 according to the present embodiment. The range L on the lower side of the inner surface 73a on which the elastic body holding rib 75 is protruded is defined as the ink containing chamber 31,
A recess 83 formed by projecting inwardly is provided.
Furthermore, in the case of the present embodiment, the inner surface 73a of the front wall 73 of the cartridge main body 71 from which the elastic body holding rib 75 is projected and the one end surface 37a of the porous elastic body 37 held by the elastic body holding rib 75 are provided. The front wall 73 in the recess 83 is at an angle with respect to the perpendicular to the bottom wall of the cartridge main body 71 so that the space 77 formed therebetween gradually expands upward from the bottom wall side of the cartridge main body 71. It stands up at an angle of θ.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a recording device attachment portion 81 to which the information recording device 51 is attached is provided on the outer surface of the front wall 73 of the cartridge body 71. The recording device mounting portion 81 has a relatively raised shape due to the concave portions 83 formed on both sides, but is equivalent to the outer surface of the front wall 41 in the conventional ink cartridge main body 35 shown in FIG. Position.

The information recording device 51 includes a memory element that can read and write data such as the remaining amount of ink in each of the ink storage chambers 31, 32, and 33 and the date of manufacture of the cartridge, and a plurality of information elements for inputting / outputting information to / from the memory element. The connection terminal 51a is attached to the front surface of the recording device attachment portion 81 of the front wall 73 so that the connection terminal 51a is exposed to the outer surface of the cartridge body 71.

As shown in FIG. 1, the first cartridge mounting portion 63 of the carriage body 61 on which the ink cartridge 7 is mounted corresponding to the mounting position of the information recording device 51 on the ink cartridge 7.
Is equipped with a carriage-side connection terminal 53 that is electrically connected to the connection terminal 51a.
As shown in FIG. 1, the carriage side connection terminal 53 is provided on the inner surface of the front partition wall 63 a that defines the first cartridge mounting portion 63.
The carriage side connection terminal 53 is connected to a control circuit in the printer, and the carriage side connection terminal 53 and the connection terminal 51a are electrically connected to each other so that the control circuit in the printer can connect to the information recording device 51 on the ink cartridge 7. Can read and write information.

In order to accurately connect the plurality of connection terminals 51 a of the information recording apparatus 51 to the carriage side connection terminal 53, it is necessary to improve the positioning accuracy of the ink cartridge 7 with respect to the first cartridge mounting portion 63 of the carriage body 61. .
Therefore, in order to improve the positioning accuracy of the cartridge main body 71 to the carriage main body 61, an error for preventing the ink cartridge 7 from being inserted into the first cartridge mounting portion 63 in the wrong direction in the carriage main body 61. The position of the connection terminal 51a on the ink cartridge 7 is aligned with the carriage-side connection terminal 53 on the carriage body 61 side with respect to the insertion prevention groove 54 and the ink cartridge 7 inserted into the first cartridge mounting portion 63 in an appropriate orientation. And positioning grooves 85 are provided.

In the carriage body 61, the erroneous insertion preventing groove 54 is formed at the upper end of the side partition 63b that defines the first cartridge mounting portion 63, and the positioning groove 85 is the upper end of the front partition 63a. It is formed in the part.
On the other hand, the ink cartridge 7 is provided with an erroneous insertion preventing rib 57 that fits into the erroneous insertion preventing groove 54 on one side wall 78 of the cartridge body 71 and before the information recording apparatus 51 is installed. On the outer surface of the wall 73, a positioning projection 87 that fits into the positioning groove 85 is provided.

That is, the ink cartridge 7 cannot be inserted into the first cartridge mounting portion 63 unless the erroneous insertion prevention rib 57 is inserted into the erroneous insertion prevention groove 54 of the carriage body 61, and is inserted in an appropriate direction. The leading end of the positioning projection 87 is aligned with the positioning groove 85.
The plurality of connection terminals 51a are accurately connected to the carriage-side connection terminal 53 by adjusting the position so as to be in close contact with the positioning surface 85b formed on one side of the positioning groove 85 by the taper surface 85a prepared in FIG. It will be in the state.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 8, the positioning projection 87 of the present embodiment includes a pair of plate-like portions 87a and 87b that are opposed to each other with a space left and right, and the plate-like portions 87a and 87b. The bag structure includes a tip connecting wall 87c that is a connecting portion that connects the tip portions, and a connecting bottom wall 87d that is a connecting portion that connects the lower edges of the left and right plate-like portions 87a and 87b. The rigidity strength is increased.

In other words, in order to improve the rigidity and strength of a single thin plate-like rib such as the positioning rib 58 in the conventional ink cartridge 3 shown in FIG. It becomes difficult to maintain dimensional accuracy due to molding distortion such as the above.
Therefore, the positioning protrusion 87 of this embodiment is used when the cartridge body 71 is formed.
By integrally molding into a bag structure whose inside is hollowed out by meat theft communicating with the ink containing chamber 33, the rigidity and strength can be improved and the dimensional accuracy can be maintained.

The positioning projection 87 has a pair of left and right plate-like portions 87a and 8 that face each other with the hollow portion interposed therebetween.
7 b functions as a pair of ribs that fit into the positioning groove 85 of the carriage 6, and the outer surface of one plate-like portion 87 a is set as a positioning surface that contacts the positioning surface 85 b of the positioning groove 85. .

Note that the positioning projection 87 of the present embodiment has a bag structure in order to improve the rigidity and strength, but may have a different structure as long as the necessary rigidity and strength can be obtained.
For example, as shown in FIG. 9, the connection bottom wall 87d that connects the lower edges of the pair of plate-like portions 87a and 87b is omitted, and a partition wall 87e is provided between the ink storage chamber 33 and the ink storage. Instead of meat stealing communicating with the chamber 33, a structure in which meat stealing communicating outside the cartridge can be provided.

Further, the carriage 6 according to the ink jet printer of the present embodiment has the recess 83 when the ink cartridge 7 is attached to the carriage 6 on the carriage body 61 facing the recess 83 provided on the front wall 73 of the cartridge body 71. A pair of guide protrusions 89, 89 are provided for sliding and contacting the outer surface 83a of the guide member.
That is, as shown in FIG. 7, the pair of guide projections 89, 89 of the present embodiment has both side surfaces of the recording apparatus mounting portion 81 formed in a shape protruding from the outer surface 83a of the concave portion 83 formed on both sides. The entire recording apparatus mounting portion 81 is disposed between the pair of guide protrusions 89.
, 89 are configured as engaging protrusions.

According to the ink cartridge 7 of the present embodiment described above, a pair of opposing plate-like portions 8
7a and 87b are connected to each other by a tip connecting wall 87c and a connecting bottom wall 87d to form a positioning projection 87, and each plate-like portion 87a and 87b itself is a single thin plate-like shape. As compared with the case where a single thin plate-like rib such as the positioning rib 58 in the conventional ink cartridge 3 shown in FIG. 11 is used for positioning alone, a high rigidity strength can be obtained.

Therefore, when the ink cartridge 7 is mounted on the carriage 6 of the printer, high positioning accuracy can be maintained by the positioning protrusion 87 having high rigidity and strength.
Further, the pair of plate-like portions 87a and 87b constituting the positioning projection 87 and the tip connecting wall 8
Since the 7c and the connecting bottom wall 87d have a structure in which the thickness of each part is thin, molding distortion such as sink marks hardly occurs, and the dimensional accuracy can be improved.

Further, the information recording apparatus provided with a connection terminal 51 a that is conductively connected to the carriage side connection terminal 53 provided in the cartridge mounting portion 63 of the carriage 6 on the front wall 73 of the cartridge main body 71 in the ink cartridge 7 of the present embodiment. 51, the connection terminal 51a of the information recording apparatus 513 is aligned with the carriage-side connection terminal 53 provided in the cartridge mounting portion 63 by the positioning projection 87 described above with high accuracy. The operational reliability of the device 51 can be improved.

In addition, according to the printer including the ink cartridge 7 having the above-described configuration, it is possible to maintain high positioning accuracy when the ink cartridge 7 is mounted on the carriage 6 and to improve the mounting workability of the ink cartridge 7. .
Further, according to the ink cartridge 7 of the present embodiment, the inner surface 73a of the front wall 73 is formed in the ink containing chambers 31 and 32 by the recess 83 provided in the front wall 73 of the cartridge main body 71 from which the elastic body holding rib 75 is protruded. 33, the protrusion height T of the elastic body holding rib 75 with respect to the inner surface 73a of the front wall 73 can be lowered by the amount by which the inner surface 73a protrudes inward.

Therefore, even when the porous elastic body 37 is made compact, the inner surface 73a of the front wall 73 of the cartridge main body 71 on which the elastic body holding rib 75 is projected and the porous elastic body pressed by the elastic body holding rib 75 are used. The space 77 formed between the one end surface 37a of the ink 37 is kept to the minimum necessary, and it is possible to prevent pressure fluctuations during negative suction of the ink liquid and to reduce residual ink when the cartridge is replaced.

On the other hand, the concave portion 8 for projecting the inner surface 73a of the front wall 73 into the ink containing chambers 31, 32, 33 inward.
3 may be only the range where the elastic body holding rib 75 is protruded, and the other recording device mounting portion 8.
1 and the upper side of the inner surface 73a can be kept in the same outer dimensions as those of the conventional ink cartridge 3 as shown in FIG.
The external dimensions of the main part of the ink cartridge 7 involved in the mounting to the cartridge mounting part 63 can be maintained at the conventional dimensions.

Therefore, the change of the molding die accompanying the downsizing of the porous elastic body 37 is limited only to the molding die for the cartridge main body 71, and the conventional molding die for the carriage 6 may be used as it is. This is possible and can be changed with a minimum, so that development costs caused by changing the mold can be suppressed.

Furthermore, in the ink cartridge 7 of the present embodiment, the front wall 73 rises at an angle θ with respect to the perpendicular to the bottom wall of the cartridge body 71, and the inner surface 73 a of the front wall 73 and one end surface of the porous elastic body 37. Since the space 77 formed between the cartridge body 37a and the bottom wall of the cartridge body 71 gradually expands upward, the residual ink in the space 77 is
The space 77 is attracted to the porous elastic body 37 side by the inclined inner surface 73a of the front wall 73.
The amount of ink remaining in the ink can be further reduced.

Further, in the ink jet printer in which the ink cartridge 7 is mounted on the carriage 6, the carriage body 61 opposed to the recording apparatus mounting portion 81 formed by the recess 83 provided on the front wall 73 of the cartridge body 71. The ink cartridge 7 is configured as an engaging protrusion that fits between a pair of guide protrusions 89, 89 protruding from the ink cartridge 7.
It is possible to improve the operability when the is attached to the carriage 6.

The configurations of the ink storage chamber, the cartridge main body, the ink supply port, the positioning protrusion, the cartridge mounting portion, the positioning groove, the plate upper portion, the connecting portion, and the like in the ink cartridge and the printer of the present invention are limited to the configurations of the above embodiments. Of course, various forms can be adopted based on the gist of the present invention.

1 is a perspective view of an ink cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention and a carriage of a printer to which the ink cartridge is mounted. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the ink cartridge shown in FIG. 1 as viewed from obliquely below the rear thereof. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the ink cartridge shown in FIG. 1 as viewed from diagonally below the front thereof. FIG. 2 is a front view of the ink cartridge illustrated in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a top view of the cartridge body shown in FIG. 1. It is sectional drawing which follows the BB line of FIG. FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part for explaining an insertion guide state when the ink cartridge shown in FIG. 1 is mounted on a carriage body. FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part for explaining a positioning portion between the ink cartridge and the carriage body shown in FIG. 1. It is a principal part expanded sectional view which shows the modification of the protrusion for positioning shown in FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the carriage and ink cartridge of the conventional inkjet printer. It is a disassembled perspective view of the ink cartridge shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

6 ... carriage, 7 ... ink cartridge, 21 ... print head, 39 ... ink supply port,
47 ... Cover member, 51 ... Information recording device, 53 ... Carriage side connection terminal, 54 ... Incorrect insertion preventing groove, 57 ... Incorrect insertion preventing rib, 61 ... Carriage body, 63 ... First cartridge mounting portion, 63a ... Front Partial partition wall, 63b ... Side partition wall, 65 ... Second cartridge mounting portion, 71 ... Cartridge body, 73 ... Front wall (side wall), 73a ... Inner surface, 77 ... Space, 78 ... Side wall, 81 ...
Recording device mounting portion, 83... Recess, 85 .. positioning groove, 85 a .. taper surface, 85 b .. positioning surface, 87 .. positioning projection, 87 a, 87 b .. plate-like portion, 87 c. ... Connection bottom wall (connection part), 89 ... Guide protrusion

Claims (4)

A cartridge main body forming an ink storage chamber; an ink supply port provided at the bottom of the ink storage chamber for supplying ink liquid stored in the ink storage chamber to a print head mounted on a carriage of a printer; A positioning protrusion protruding from a side wall of the cartridge body, and the positioning protrusion is fitted in a positioning groove of the carriage.
An ink cartridge in which the cartridge main body is aligned with a cartridge mounting portion of the carriage;
The positioning protrusion has a pair of plate-like portions opposed to each other with a gap therebetween, and a connecting portion that connects the plate-like portions to each other, and an outer surface of one plate-like portion contacts the positioning groove. An ink cartridge set on a positioning surface. The positioning protrusion includes the pair of plate-like portions and the connecting portion, and is integrally formed in a bag structure that is hollowed out by meat theft communicating with the ink storage chamber. The ink cartridge according to 1. 3. An information recording apparatus having a connection terminal connected to a carriage side connection terminal provided in a cartridge mounting portion of the carriage is attached to a side wall of the cartridge body. The ink cartridge described. A printer comprising the ink cartridge according to claim 1.

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