JPH03286875A - Ink cartridge for ink jet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to stably discharge printing ink from an ink tank by providing a support member which is integrated into a barrier of an ink chamber at a boundary section between an impregnation member and the ink chamber in the ink tank. CONSTITUTION:A foam pad 7 impregnated with ink is pressed onto a stool-like projection 11 so that the ink is gradually supplied to an ink chamber 12 by capillary action and fills the chamber 12 as the ink in the ink chamber 12 is consumed. If the ink is further consumed and gradually dried up, air 'j' enters to the foam pad 7 so as to take the place of the ink. When some of the air 'j' reaches to a bottom portion of the foam pad 7 against strong fluid resistance and faces to an ink takeoff port in which the ink in the foam pad 7 and the ink in the ink chamber 12 have communication with each other, the communication is partially interrupted. But, air flow resistance of the foam pad 7 is strong and the air takeoff port is upper than the ink chamber 12, thereby preventing air from entering to the ink chamber 12 by its buoyant force.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus that records characters, etc. on a recording medium by ejecting ink droplets from a nozzle, and particularly relates to an ink cartridge for supplying ink.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art Various ink supply means have been proposed and put into practical use in ink jet recording apparatuses that record characters and the like on a recording medium by ejecting ink droplets from a nostle. In particular, an ink cartridge configured to supply ink sealed in a flexible bag through a sealing member such as rubber through an ink needle is common in small ink jet recording apparatuses. The ink cartridge configured as the above-mentioned flexible bag is generally not configured to move along the recording medium together with the print head on a carriage, but is fixed within the recording device.
Ink is supplied to the print head on the carriage through a flexible tube or the like. However, in the above-mentioned method 1, the ink supply system is complicated, and the volumetric efficiency is poor, resulting in high cost.

Of course, to deal with this problem, it would be possible to mount the ink cartridge on a carriage, but if the ink cartridge made of the aforementioned flexible bag is mounted on the carriage, there will be problems with the durability of the bag. Moreover, there is a problem that the volumetric efficiency is poor and the carriage becomes larger than necessary. Furthermore, in order to deal with such problems, ink cartridges have been proposed in which an ink tank containing a porous material or the like is impregnated with ink and is mounted on a carriage. In order to efficiently take out the ink in the ink tank, it is important to compress the impregnating member at the outlet of the ink tank more tightly than other parts. For this purpose, in this type of ink cartridge, the ink outlet of the ink tank has a protruding shape toward the impregnation member, and the opening is provided with a stainless steel mesh member or the like.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

As mentioned above, this type of ink cartridge for inkjet recording devices has a stainless steel net-like member provided at the ink outlet part of the ink tank, which has the problem of a complicated structure and high cost. Ta.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is intended to solve these problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an ink cartridge for an inkjet recording device that has a simple structure and is inexpensive.

[Means to solve the problem]

The ink cartridge of the present invention includes an ink tank containing an ink-impregnated member such as a porous material impregnated with ink;
The present invention is characterized in that it has an ink chamber communicating with the bottom of the ink tank, and a support member is formed in the ink chamber.

[For production]

With this configuration, the impregnating member housed in the ink tank is tightly compressed by the support member formed in the ink chamber at the ink take-out portion of the ink tank, so that the ink is is stably taken out from the ink tank via the ink chamber.

〔Example〕

To explain the present invention based on the drawings, FIG. 1 shows an embodiment for an inkjet recording apparatus constructed using the ink cartridge of the present invention. Platen 1
A printing pad 3 is integrally provided on the carriage 2 that reciprocates along the platen 1 in the vicinity of the platen 1, and behind the carriage 2 there is a foam 7 which is an ink-impregnated member made of a porous material such as polyurethane foam. An ink tank 8 containing an ink tank is provided. This ink tank 8 is provided with a vent hole 10 in its lid 9 to allow atmospheric air to be taken in, and a platform-shaped protrusion 11 is formed on the bottom surface of the ink tank 8 to ensure close contact with the form 7. An ink chamber 1 that takes out ink from the form 7 downward from the center and holds it there.
2 is formed, and a support member 13 is integrally provided within this ink chamber 12 so as to be substantially flush with the protrusion 11. FIG. 2 shows a diagram of the ink chamber 12 viewed from the protrusion 11 side. Furthermore, this ink chamber 12 is provided with a communication hole 14 extending from its lower end in the direction of the head 3, and the end of this communication hole 14 is sealed with a sealing member 15 made of an elastic member such as rubber. An ink needle 5 is connected to the sealing member 15 and communicates with the print head 3 through the filter chamber 4.
By inserting the ink tank 8 through the ink tank 8, the ink impregnated in the ink tank 8 is supplied to the print head 3. The ink chamber 12 and the communication hole 14 are integrally formed, and the sealing member 15 and the foam 7 form a sealed chamber.

Next, a process in which ink is supplied from the form 7 housed in the ink tank 8 to the ink chamber 12 will be explained with reference to FIG.

When the form 7 is brought into pressure contact with the platform 11 which is the upper part of the ink chamber 12 whose upper end serves as the ink outlet from the ink tank 8, the ink impregnated into the form 7 will be released into the ink chamber 12. The consumed amount is sequentially supplied into the ink chamber 12 by capillary action to fill the ink chamber 12 (FIG. 3(a)). As ink consumption continues,
As the ink in the form 7 gradually depletes, a part of the air J that replaces the ink and enters the form 7 reaches the bottom of the form 7 while encountering great resistance, and reaches a part of the ink outlet. I started to show my face. When ink consumption progresses to this point, a partial break occurs between the ink in the form 7 and the ink in the ink chamber 12, which were communicating at the ink outlet (FIG. 3(b)). Even in this state, air does not flow into the ink chamber 12 due to the flow resistance of the air against the foam 7 and the buoyancy of the air due to the fact that the outlet is located above the ink chamber 12. Even if the air were to flow in, it remains stably above the ink chamber 12 due to the buoyancy of the air. As the ink in the form 7 is further depleted, the ink in the form 7 and the ink in the ink chamber 12 are finally separated, and the ink in the ink tank 8 becomes ink-empty (Fig. 3 (C)). .

In the ink removal process using the above-mentioned FIGS. 3(a) to 3(C), if the support member 13 or the stainless steel mesh member is not provided on the platform-shaped protrusion 11, the ink tank 8 may be If the opening diameter of the ink outlet is large, the foam 7, which is an impregnation member, will protrude into the ink chamber 12 due to its elastic force, as shown in FIG. In this state, the foam 7 is not dense along the outer ring of the platform-shaped protrusion 11, or is not dense in the center of the opening, so that The ink retention ability of the foam 7 is reduced, air flows into the ink chamber 12 quickly, and ink cannot be efficiently taken out from the ink tank 8. However, in the present invention, since the support member 13 is provided, the above problem is solved.

FIG. 5 is a view showing another embodiment of the support member of the present invention, and is a view of the ink chamber 12 viewed from the platform-shaped protrusion 11 side. The 11th part surface and the 13th part surface in (d) in the figure are substantially at the same height as shown in (e), and this is an effective shape when the opening area of the form 7 is required.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the impregnation member in the ink tank can be kept in a dense state by integrally forming the support member in the ink chamber at the boundary with the ink chamber. This has the great effect of providing an ink cartridge for an inkjet recording device with a simple structure and at a low cost, which can stably take out ink from an ink tank without using a stainless steel mesh member or the like.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an inkjet recording apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 2(a) is a view of the support member viewed from above. FIG. 2(b) is a sectional view taken along line A-A of the support member. Figure 3(a)
7A to 7C are explanatory diagrams showing the supply of ink to the ink chamber 12. FIG. FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a conventional impregnated member. Figure 5 (a
) to (d) are views seen from above showing another embodiment of the support member of the present invention. FIG. 5(e) is a sectional view taken along line B-8. 7 ・ 8 ・ 11 ・ 12 ・ 13 ・ ・Form, ink tank, protrusion, ink chamber, support members and above

Claims (1)

[Claims] An ink cartridge for an inkjet recording device in which ink is taken out from an ink tank by inserting an ink needle therein, the ink cartridge having an ink tank housing an ink impregnated member and an ink chamber communicating with the bottom of the ink tank; An ink cartridge for an inkjet recording device, characterized in that a supporting member is formed in an ink chamber.