JPH05162334A - Ink recording apparatus and waste ink receiving cartridge thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a means capable of surely recovering the waste ink generated by recovery means such as preparatory emission suction recovery or pressure recovery necessary for recording, for example, in the ink recording apparatus of an ink jet type printer. CONSTITUTION:A nonwoven fabric 5A being the shape holding material of a liquid absorbing member 6 becoming a waste ink sump is folded back to hold waste ink absorbing body 5 and a slit 5C is cut in the waste ink absorbing body 5 so that the leading end of a waste ink guide pipe is positioned in the space 5D provided by notching a part of the body 5.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink recording apparatus, and more particularly to a waste ink containing cartridge for collecting waste ink not used for recording, or an ink container and a waste ink containing member contained in the cartridge. The present invention relates to an ink cartridge capable of supplying ink and treating waste liquid at the same time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of ink recording apparatus such as an ink jet printer, when printing is performed by a recording head, defective ejection occurs due to inclusion of air bubbles, dust, ink ejection opening meniscus receding at the nozzle tip, and the like. Since it may not be possible to obtain proper printing, a recovery operation or an ink preliminary discharge process for stabilizing the ejection characteristics is performed in advance. In this way, it is not for the purpose of printing, for example, discarding the ink discharged from the discharge port,
A waste ink reservoir was needed for temporary storage.

The structure of the conventional waste ink reservoir as described above is generally a water-absorbing force housed in a waste ink storage cartridge in order to prevent the ink from leaking to the outside from the supply port to the waste ink reservoir. Often, high components were used. Here, as the member having a high water absorbing property, for example, a water absorbing paper, a high density fiber structure such as felt, a foaming molding material made of polyurethane, PVA (polyvinyl alcohol), or the like, or the absorbing member containing a water absorbing high molecular polymer Made of etc.

Further, since the ink discharged to the waste ink absorber serving as a waste ink reservoir diverges, conventionally, FIG. 8 shows a fragmentary cross-sectional view of an example of a conventional waste ink storage cartridge. In addition, a blow-back stop bell eater 108 having a notch in the central portion is provided between the waste ink receiving port 242 and the waste ink absorber 5, and when the waste ink guide tube 24 is inserted, the ink cartridge is inserted. It is well introduced into the inside of the apparatus, and is designed to prevent the scattering of the waste ink and the dripping of the waste ink from the waste ink guide tube 24 when the ink cartridge is removed from the apparatus. In FIG. 8, 1 is a seal cap, 2 is an ink cartridge exterior, 3 is an ink bag, 4 is ink, 5 is a waste ink absorber, 21 is a cartridge loading section, 22 is an injection needle, and 23.
Is an ink supply tube, 24 is a waste ink guide tube, 241
Is a corresponding position, 242 is a waste ink receiving opening, 25 is a waste ink guide member, and 211 is a locking member as a positioning stopper.

[0005]

However, the water absorption is good, and when the waste ink is absorbed, the absorber 5 is hydrolyzed and becomes fragile and aged. In some cases, the ink leaked out, or the position was misaligned when carrying it around, making it unable to function.

Further, although the bell eater 108 is provided, since it is formed by contact with another member, there is a possibility that ink may leak from the gap or space.
Further, since the bell eater 108 is a slightly special material, the cost is high.

The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the conventional example as described above. Waste ink generated by recovery means such as preliminary ejection, suction recovery, and pressure recovery required for recording is An ink recording device that can be reliably collected without being contaminated in the device and, as a result, can stabilize good recording for a long period of time, as well as high reliability with little ink leakage from the waste ink reservoir and its surroundings, and The purpose is to provide a low-cost waste ink storage cartridge of this type.

[0008]

For this reason, in the present invention, the waste ink containing means has therein an ink recording means, a recording medium conveying means, and a liquid absorbing member for containing the waste ink from the inside of the apparatus. In an ink recording device in which a cartridge is detachable, the liquid absorbing member has a structure sandwiched by a cloth-like member made of one sheet, and a waste ink guide tube is inserted near a folded portion of the cloth-like member. A configuration is provided in which a waste ink guide tube having a slit for inserting the waste ink storage cartridge is provided in the space inside the cloth-like member of the one piece when the waste ink storage cartridge is mounted in the apparatus. In addition, in the waste ink storage cartridge that is removable from the ink recording device and has a liquid absorbing member for storing the waste ink from the recording device, the liquid absorbing member is a cloth-like member. The cloth-like member is formed so as to be sandwiched or sandwiched and sewn together, the cloth-like member is formed of a non-woven fabric, and the non-woven fabric is formed of synthetic fibers. Or a slit for inserting the waste ink guide tube is provided in the vicinity of the folded portion of the one cloth member, and the slit is constituted so as to be surrounded by the seams of the cloth member at a plurality of positions.
Furthermore, the present invention is intended to achieve the above-mentioned object by providing a space at a position where the waste ink guide tube of the liquid absorbing member is inserted.

[0009]

By adopting the waste ink cartridge of the present invention as described above in the ink recording apparatus, even if the waste ink absorber absorbs the waste ink and aged to some extent, it is discarded as a non-woven fabric which is a shape-retaining material. By sandwiching and fixing the ink absorber, the waste ink absorber is prevented from tearing, ink does not leak out, an expensive bell eater is not required, and the waste ink storage cartridge can be manufactured at low cost. And good records can be expected.

[0010]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described in detail below based on examples. FIG. 1A is a perspective view of an embodiment of an ink cartridge as a waste ink containing cartridge according to the present invention used in FIG. 8 of an inkjet recording apparatus described later. (B) shows the waste ink absorber 5 used in (A), and (C) shows the non-woven fabric 5A as the waste ink absorber 5.
It is a perspective view of the liquid-absorbent member 6 which sewed on both sides of.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a seal cap made of an elastic material such as silicon rubber or butyl rubber, which is connected to the ink bag 3 via an internal tube to keep the ink bag 3 in a sealed state. As is well known, the seal cap 1 is capable of supplying ink by inserting and connecting an ink supply pipe (23 in FIG. 2, which will be described later) in the recording apparatus. The ink bag 3 has flexibility, and the ink 4 is injected therein. 2 is the exterior of the ink cartridge, which is usually molded by plastic to prevent ink leakage.
It is formed in accordance with the ink cartridge housing portion of the inkjet recording device.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a waste ink absorber, which absorbs the waste ink discarded by the recovery operation from the ejection port of the ink jet head, and is made of a material having a high water absorbing property, for example, a high density fiber structure such as water absorbing paper or felt. Polyurethane, Cellulose, Foaming molding material such as PVA, EVA, or acrylic acid graft starch, acrylic salt graft starch, vinyl alcohol acrylic acid block copolymer, vinyl alcohol acrylic acid block copolymer, crosslinked polyacrylic acid, crosslinked polyacrylic salt, modified P
VA, polystyrene sulfonic acid, cellulose ether,
The water-absorbing material described above contains a water-absorbing polymer such as carboxymethyl cellulose.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of the essential structure of a recording apparatus for mounting the ink cartridge shown in FIG. In this figure,
An example will be described with reference to FIG. 7, which will be described later, in which a not-shown ink recording unit, a recording medium conveying unit, and a waste ink storage cartridge having therein a liquid absorbing member 6 for storing waste ink from the inside of the apparatus are detachable. In the ink recording device, a nonwoven fabric 5A that is a shape-retaining material for the absorber 5 that serves as a waste ink reservoir is folded back and sewn with the absorber 5 sandwiched therebetween, and a part of the liquid-absorbent member 6 is notched. Stay in space 5
It is characterized in that a notch is formed so that the tip of the waste ink guide tube 24 is positioned at D (5C is a corresponding notch slit).

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 22 denotes an injection needle for drawing out the recording ink from the ink bag 3, which is connected to a supply tube 23 for supplying the ink to a recording head (not shown) in the recording apparatus. It is fixedly held. Reference numeral 25 is a guide member for guiding the waste ink discharged by the recovery means in the recording device to a waste ink guide tube 24 for supplying the waste ink absorber 5 with the waste ink from the ink recording device,
It is fixed in the recording device. The injection needle 22 and the waste ink guide tube 24 respectively have a seal cap 1 of the cartridge exterior 2 and a waste ink receiving opening 242 which also serves as an atmosphere communication port.
Is fixed at a position (corresponding position of the waste ink guide tube 24 is shown at 241) corresponding to the cartridge. By contacting the tip of the outer package 2, ink supply and waste ink recovery can be achieved at the same time.

In the present embodiment, the waste ink containing cartridge has an ink containing portion containing ink to be supplied to the recording apparatus placed directly on the liquid absorbing member 6 in the waste ink containing cartridge, and the sheet Although the liquid absorbing member 6 is pressed against the bottom surface of the cartridge, the above operation surely prevents the defective ink supply from the ink storage portion. Needless to say, even a waste ink containing cartridge having no ink containing portion of this structure has the above-described waste ink collecting effect and ink scattering preventing effect.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are perspective views of another embodiment of the liquid-absorbent member 6, respectively. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the arrangement of the seal cap 1 in FIG. The absorbent body 5 has a width half that of the absorbent body 5, but the absorbent body 5 is expanded to the entire width, and the nonwoven fabric 5A is formed into a simple rectangle to facilitate manufacture. Further, in FIG. 4, the convex portion 5L is further simplified by eliminating the bending, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram corresponding to FIG. The constituent elements in FIGS. 3, 4, and 5 corresponding to those in FIGS.

FIG. 6 shows an exploded perspective view of another embodiment of the ink cartridge according to the present invention. In FIG. 6, 2
A and 2B are an upper casing and a lower casing of the ink tank cartridge, which accommodates an ink bag 3 containing ink and a waste ink absorber 5 for collecting the discharged waste ink,
They are joined together to form an ink tank cartridge.

In the upper housing 2A, a fixing member 1 for pressing down the ink pulling portion 1 for pulling out the ink in the ink bag 3.
01a is formed together with the concave portion 101 in the corresponding portion of the upper housing. The fixing member 101a is a fixing member 1 that holds down the ink lead-out portion 1 provided at a corresponding portion of the lower housing 2B.
It is fixed in cooperation with 05.

The position of the ink lead-out portion 1 is fixed by
The first positioning member 1a and the second positioning member 1b, which are provided as ribs on the periphery, perform even better. These positioning members 1a and 1b are easily fitted to the recessed portion 101b of the upper housing 2A and the recessed portions 107 and 109 of the lower housing 2B, so that the ink bag 3 can be easily attached. It is configured to be placed inside. A good arrangement can be achieved simply by fitting in such a recess, and the assembling property of the cartridge can be improved.

Further, a groove 110 is also provided in the waste ink receiving port 7 portion of the lower housing 2B, and a conventional structure for preventing the ink discharged to the waste ink absorber 5 from scattering in the groove 110. The convex portion 5L is inserted in place of the bell eater 108 of FIG. The convex portion 5L is well introduced into the ink cartridge when the waste ink guide tube 24 is inserted, and the waste ink guide tube is scattered when the waste ink is scattered or the ink cartridge is removed from the apparatus. A slit slit 5C is provided in the central portion for preventing the waste ink from dripping from the slit 24, and the slit 5C is pushed open to insert the waste ink guide tube 24 into the ink cartridge. There is. By engaging with the groove 111 of the corresponding portion of the upper housing 2A, the force for inserting the waste ink guide tube 24 is achieved, and the assemblability is improved.

The notch 1 is formed on a part of the side surface of the lower housing 2B.
04 are provided. Further, a convex member 103 is provided on the side of the lower housing 2B that engages with the ink supply and the like.
The convex member 103 is for unlocking the safety lid provided for ensuring safety so that the ink supply needle 22 is not touched by a hand when the ink cartridge is loaded in the loading portion of the apparatus. This convex member 103
The lock is released by means of which the loading in the cartridge device is achieved. Further, the notch portion 104 is a portion that functions as a click portion for making the operator recognize the reliable loading of the cartridge into the loading portion, and engages with a pin (not shown) on the apparatus side to position the cartridge at the same time. , The completion of loading is recognized by the click feeling.

An information medium 102 is provided in the upper housing 2A. The information medium 102 is used to detect the presence / absence of loading of a cartridge in the apparatus and to transmit the characteristics of the stored ink to the apparatus side to measure the matching of the head driving conditions with the used ink. Is. In this example, this information medium 102
Is provided as a resistor. Therefore, the characteristic of the contained ink is recognized by the comparison with the conversion table on the apparatus side by the set resistance value.

The information medium 102 and the waste ink receiving port 7 are provided on both sides with the seal cap 1 of the ink lead-out portion interposed therebetween. Moreover, since the pressing portion of the upper housing 2A corresponding to the ink lead-out portion 1 is provided as the concave portion 101, even if the waste ink adheres to the upper housing 2A, the waste ink receiving port 7 and the lock information medium 102 are provided. Since they are separated from each other, the fear of ink adhesion is reduced. Further, even if the ink wraps around, the ink is trapped by the recess 101, so that there is no fear that the ink wraps around to the area where the information medium 102 is provided. Therefore, the information medium 102 functions well without fear of short circuit due to ink.

Further, since the waste ink can be efficiently spread over the entire cartridge by the sheet-shaped liquid absorbing member 6 in the cartridge, it is possible to prevent the waste ink from leaking out to the waste ink receiving port 7. It can be prevented. for that reason,
It is also possible to prevent the fear of waste ink flowing around the information medium 102 side. Further, the slit 106 is formed also in the portion of the pressing member 105 of the lower housing 2B that presses in the ink outlet port 1.
Is provided. The slit 106 extends to the area where the waste ink absorber 5 is arranged, and from the ink supply tube 23 that may be generated when the ink leaking from the ink outlet 1 or the cartridge is loaded into or removed from the apparatus. The leaked ink can be satisfactorily taken in. Therefore, there is no fear that such ink adheres to the upper part of the ink cartridge, and there is no fear of affecting the information medium 102.

The notch 104 and the information medium 10 described above
2, and the ink supply needle 22 on the device side is the ink outlet port 2
The order of communicating with the ink in 3 is such that the order of the ink communication, the reading of the information medium 102, and the engagement of the notch 104 are configured in this order, so that the state of reliably leading out the ink and reading the characteristics of the ink is formed. It is preferable because Incidentally, reference numeral 112 is a knob member when the ink cartridge is pulled out from the apparatus. In this example, the resin-coated paper material is excellent in strength, and is folded at the broken line portion so that it functions well just by being pulled out.

Next, an embodiment of an ink jet recording apparatus to which the recovery means of each of the above embodiments is applied will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 7, reference numeral 26 is a recording head which has an internal energy generating means (piezoelectric element or electrothermal converter, etc.) and is driven according to recording information to eject ink droplets.
Reference numeral 30 is a carriage for mounting the recording head 26 and moving in the main scanning direction, 34 is a carriage shaft for slidably supporting the carriage 30, 32 is a recording medium to be recorded, and 3 is a recording medium.
Reference numeral 5 is a feed roller for conveying the recording medium 32 according to the recording condition.

M is a pulse motor that serves as a drive source for automatically feeding the feed roller 35 and the recording medium 32 in the set. 37 is a pump carriage that can recover the cap unit and move in parallel with the carriage shaft 34.
Is a guide shaft for guiding the parallel movement of the pump carriage 30, and 39 is a return spring for urging the pump carriage 30 to the right in the drawing. Pump carriage 37
An arm portion 37a is provided on the front side of the carriage 30, and a hole 37b into which the protrusion 31 provided on the right side surface of the carriage 30 can be fitted is provided at the tip end portion thereof. The protrusion 31 is fitted into the hole 37b when the carriage 30 moves to the left, and prevents the carriage 30 from rotating in the vertical direction when the cap 43 is put on the ejection surface of the recording head 26. ing.

The slide gear support base 42 supporting the slide gear 28 is provided so as to be movable in the carriage traveling direction along the slide shaft. For this reason, the carriage 30 moves, the protrusion 31 of the carriage 30 abuts on the arm portion 37a of the pump carriage 37, and moves integrally, so that the slide gear 28 moves in the carriage running direction and the pulse motor. It becomes rotatable by engaging with the gear 46 that receives the drive of M. In the figure, 41 is a feed gear for transmitting driving force to a paper feeding gear, 40 is a gear for transmitting driving force for automatic paper feeding, and 36 is a suction driving force to a suction pump 27 as a suction recovery device. Is a pump gear for transmitting.

The gears 36, 40, 41, 46 are for driving the above-mentioned contents by a known driving force transmission means (not shown). In this embodiment, the cap 43
Is configured to be moved between a position where it is pressed against the ejection portion of the recording head 26 and a position where it is separated from the ejection portion of the recording head 26 by the drive force of the gear 28. The carriage is moved to these positions by a known guide rail. Of course, it does not matter if the structure is displaced. Reference numeral 44 is a blade for cleaning the surface of the ejection portion of the recording head, and the movement of the blade is controlled by a known mechanism (not shown) to a cleaning position and a position retracted from the cleaning position to clean the recording head as necessary. .. Reference numeral 25 is a waste ink guide tube connected to the suction pump 27, and has an end portion 24 at the end portion for discharging the waste ink to the waste ink absorber in the cartridge 2 described above.

Numeral 50 is a recovery control means for the recording head, which serves as an energy generator for the recording head 26.
6 is driven in a state of facing the cap 43, and ink ejection control (preliminary ejection) different from that for recording is performed.
In addition, the control unit 50 controls the pump 27 to collect ink in the cap 43 into the cartridge 2 by the operation of the pump 27 and to perform suction recovery in a state where the cap 43 is pressed against the recording head 26. Activate it,
The recording head 26 is recovered. The present invention includes those that perform at least one of these recovery means. The ink is supplied to the recording head 26 by a known supply method (not shown).
Alternatively, the ink may be supplied from another ink supply unit.

If the present invention is not applied to this type of recording apparatus, the waste ink is fixed at the waste ink absorption inlet portion of the liquid absorbing member 6 and the capillary force at that portion is weakened, and the waste ink after that is eliminated. When ink comes in, the ink cannot be absorbed and diffused at a sufficiently high speed and overflows in the cartridge, and when the ink cartridge is taken out of the inkjet recording device, it is tilted or vibrated, so the above ink However, there has been a problem that the ink leaks from the air communication port of the ink cartridge or the waste ink receiving port 7 in the related art. However, in the recording apparatus of FIG. Can be achieved.

In the present invention, particularly in the ink jet recording system, a means (for example, an electrothermal converter or a laser beam) for generating heat energy as energy used for ejecting ink is provided, and This is because an excellent effect can be obtained in the above-mentioned apparatus having a recording head of a system that causes a change in ink state by energy, and high density and high definition of recording can be achieved by this system.

Regarding the typical structure and principle thereof, see, for example, US Pat. No. 4,723,129 and No. 4740.
What is done using the basic principles disclosed in 796 is preferred. This method is a so-called on-demand type,
It can be applied to any of the continuous type, but in particular, in the case of the on-demand type, it can be applied to the sheet holding the liquid (ink) or the electrothermal converter arranged corresponding to the flow path. By applying at least one drive signal corresponding to the recorded information and giving a rapid temperature rise exceeding nucleate boiling, heat energy is generated in the electrothermal converter, and film boiling is caused on the heat acting surface of the recording head. As a result, bubbles can be formed in the liquid (ink) in a one-to-one correspondence with this drive signal, which is effective. The liquid (ink) is ejected through the ejection openings by the growth and contraction of the bubbles to form at least one droplet. It is more preferable to make this drive signal into a pulse shape, because the bubble growth and contraction are immediately and appropriately performed, so that the ejection of the liquid (ink) with excellent responsiveness can be achieved. This pulse-shaped drive signal is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,359 and No. 43.
Those as described in 45262 are suitable. If the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,244 of the invention relating to the rate of temperature rise of the heat acting surface are adopted, more excellent recording can be performed.

As the constitution of the recording head, in addition to the combination constitution of the ejection port, the liquid passage, and the electrothermal converter (the straight liquid passage or the right-angled liquid passage) as disclosed in the above-mentioned respective specifications. The configuration using US Pat. No. 4,558,333 and US Pat. No. 4,459,600, which disclose the configuration in which the heat acting portion is arranged in the bending region, is also effective in the present invention. In addition, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 59-123670 discloses a configuration in which a common slit is used as a discharge portion of an electrothermal conversion pair for a plurality of electrothermal converters, and an opening for absorbing a pressure wave of thermal energy is provided. The present invention is also effective as a configuration based on Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-138461, which discloses a configuration corresponding to the ejection portion.

Further, although the serial type ink jet recording apparatus is shown in the embodiment, the present invention can be effectively applied to a full line type recording head having a length corresponding to the maximum recordable width. As a full-line type recording head, by a combination of a plurality of recording heads as disclosed in the above-mentioned specification, either a configuration satisfying the length or a configuration as one recording head integrally formed Although good, the present invention can more effectively exhibit the above-mentioned effects.

Further, it is preferable to add recovery means for the recording head and preliminary auxiliary means provided as a constitution of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention because the effects of the present invention can be further stabilized. Specific examples thereof include capping means, cleaning means, pressure or suction means, an electrothermal converter or a heating element other than this, or a preheating means for the recording head, recording and It is also effective to perform a preliminary ejection mode in which another ejection is performed for stable recording.

Regarding the type and number of recording heads and inks to be mounted, for example, single color ink and 1
In addition to one provided with a plurality of recording heads, a plurality of heads may be provided corresponding to a plurality of inks having different recording colors and densities, and any combination is effective. The present invention is effective not only in the recording mode such as black as the recording mode of the recording apparatus, but also in each of the full-color recording modes of different colors or mixed colors.

In the embodiment of the present invention described above,
Although the ink is described as a liquid, it is an ink that solidifies at room temperature or lower and softens or melts at room temperature, or in the above-mentioned inkjet, the ink itself has a temperature in the range of 30 ° C to 70 ° C. Since the temperature is generally adjusted to control the viscosity of the ink so that the viscosity of the ink is in a stable ejection range, it is sufficient that the ink is in a liquid state when a use recording signal is applied. In addition, in order to prevent temperature rise due to thermal energy, use ink that is positively used as energy for phase change from solid state to liquid state, or use ink that solidifies when left standing for the purpose of preventing ink evaporation. However, in any case, by applying heat energy such as ink that is liquefied by applying heat energy according to the recording signal and ejected as an ink liquid, or that has already started to solidify when it reaches the recording medium. The use of an ink having a property of liquefying for the first time is also applicable to the present invention. In the present invention, the most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is to execute the above-mentioned film boiling method.

Further, the present invention is an ink jet system such as a piezo jet system in which electricity is converted into a force to eject ink and a recording head in which a recording head is disposed in non-contact with a recording medium and ink is ejected for recording. Is effective in.

In addition, as a form of the recording apparatus of the present invention, a recording apparatus integrally or separately provided as an output terminal of information processing equipment such as a word processor or a computer, a copying apparatus combined with a scanner or the like, and further transmission / reception It may be in the form of a facsimile machine having a function.

[0041]

As described above, the effect of the present invention is as described above, but the basic effect is that the waste ink absorbing member is sewn with a non-woven fabric so that the reliability of the waste ink leakage is small. It is possible to provide a high waste ink storage cartridge and an ink recording apparatus including the same.
Further, by making the waste ink absorbing member expandable, the waste ink discharged in connection with the consumption of the ink in the ink bag is absorbed, and the absorbing member having an increased volume,
Since the position of the ink bag can be maintained at a substantially constant position, stable supply of ink and improvement in ink utilization efficiency can be achieved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of an ink cartridge.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of an ink cartridge mounting main part.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of another embodiment of the liquid absorbent member.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of still another embodiment of the liquid absorbent member.

5 is a view corresponding to FIG. 2 of another embodiment of the liquid-absorbent member.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the configuration of another embodiment of the ink cartridge.

FIG. 7 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing an embodiment of a recovery unit of the inkjet recording apparatus.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a main part of an example of a conventional waste ink cartridge.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 ink cartridge exterior 4 ink 5 waste ink absorber 5A non-woven fabric 5C slit 5D space 6 liquid absorbing member 24 waste ink guide tube 26 recording head 30 carriage (recording medium conveying means)

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. An ink recording device comprising an ink recording means, a recording medium conveying means, and a waste ink storage cartridge having a liquid absorbing member for storing waste ink from the inside thereof, which is detachable. The liquid absorbing member has a structure sandwiched by one cloth-like member, and has a slit for inserting a waste ink guide tube in the vicinity of the folded portion of the cloth-like member, An ink recording apparatus comprising a waste ink guide tube located at a front end of the cartridge in a space inside the cloth-like member when the cartridge is mounted on the apparatus. 2. A waste ink storage cartridge, which is removable from an ink recording device and has a liquid absorbing member for storing waste ink from the recording device, wherein the liquid absorbing member is sandwiched by cloth-like members. A waste ink storage cartridge for an ink recording apparatus, characterized in that. 3. The waste ink storage cartridge of the ink recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the cloth-like member is a non-woven fabric. 4. The waste ink storage cartridge of the ink recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the non-woven fabric is made of synthetic fiber. 5. The waste ink storage cartridge of the ink recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the cloth-like member is made of a single sheet and has a folded structure. 6. The waste ink storage cartridge of the ink recording apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a slit for inserting a waste ink guide tube in the vicinity of the folded portion of the one cloth member. 7. The waste ink storage cartridge of the ink recording apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the slit is surrounded by a plurality of seams of the cloth-like member. 8. The waste ink storage cartridge of the ink recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the liquid absorbing member is sandwiched and sewn by cloth-like members. 9. The waste ink storage cartridge of the ink recording apparatus according to claim 6, wherein a space is provided at a position where the waste ink guide tube of the liquid absorbing member is inserted.