JPH09109413A - Recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the loss of a preparatory ink cartridge. SOLUTION: A recording apparatus capable of replacing an ink cartridge 13 is equipped with a recording means moving the carriage 8 capable of being loaded with the ink cartridge 13 to apply recording to a recording sheet, the feed means for feeding the recording system, the lid member 18 capable of opening and closing in order to replace the ink cartridge charged in a carriage 18 and a keeping means for keeping the ink cartridge 13 capable of charged in the carriage 8 in a visible state when a lid member 18 is opened.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus for recording by moving a carriage in which an ink cartridge can be loaded, and more particularly to a recording apparatus in which the ink cartridge can be replaced.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, recording devices, which are output devices such as personal computers, have become smaller and more colorized, and in order to cope with this, ink jet type or thermal transfer recording type serial printers for moving a carriage have become popular. ing. Among them, the inkjet recording device is
Due to its excellent low running cost, low noise, high recording speed, high quality of color recording, etc., it has rapidly spread to personal use.

These recording apparatuses are provided with a plurality of replaceable ink cartridges for realizing color output, and the user replaces the ink cartridges when the ink is used up.

The types of ink cartridges include two ink cartridges, a black ink cartridge and an ink cartridge in which three colors of cyan, magenta, and yellow are integrated, or four types of black, cyan, magenta, and yellow. Some are equipped with two ink cartridges.

In the serial recording apparatus, since these ink cartridges perform recording while reciprocally moving on the recording sheet together with the recording head, it cannot be increased in size because of its nature, and therefore the frequency of use of the recording apparatus. Depending on the situation, there are many opportunities to replace the ink cartridge.

When the ink is exhausted, it is necessary to open a lid member for replacing the ink cartridge provided in the recording apparatus, remove the ink cartridge depleted of ink from the carriage, and set a new ink cartridge.

[0007]

However, it is necessary for the user to purchase and store the spare ink cartridge individually. It may be stored in a fixed place, but if you forget where you stored it, or if you forget to purchase it, replace it with a spare ink cartridge because the ink in the recorded ink cartridge is exhausted. I can't do that, and I can't record immediately.

Further, there is a recording apparatus having a storage box for storing a spare ink cartridge which is separate from the main body of the recording apparatus, but this is the same if the storage box is lost.

In particular, when inks of cyan, magenta, and yellow are separately provided, the ink cartridges of all colors disappear at the same time as compared with an ink cartridge of which inks of cyan, magenta, and yellow are integrated. Since there is almost no such thing, it is rational in that ink is not wasted, but the number of types of ink cartridges increases, so the frequency of replacement of ink cartridges becomes high, and there is a possibility that the spare ink cartridge will be inadvertently cut off. Becomes higher.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus capable of preventing loss of a spare ink cartridge.

[0011]

A typical configuration according to the present invention for achieving the above object is a recording apparatus in which an ink cartridge can be replaced, and a carriage on which the ink cartridge can be loaded is moved to form a recording sheet. Recording means for recording, conveying means for conveying the recording sheet, an openable / closable lid member for replacing an ink cartridge loaded in the carriage, and a carriage provided on the carriage when the lid member is opened. A storage means for storing the loadable ink cartridge in a visible state is provided.

With the above arrangement, since the spare ink cartridge can be stored in a visible position when the ink cartridge is replaced in the carriage, it is possible to prevent the spare cartridge from being lost or forgotten to be purchased. It is a thing.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Next, a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment] A recording apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. still,
FIG. 1 is a perspective explanatory view of a recording apparatus with a lid member opened, FIGS. 2 and 3 are configuration explanatory views of recording means, and FIG. 4 is an ink cartridge loaded in a carriage and an ink cartridge accommodated in a storage section. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the positional relationship of FIG.

This device, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG.
It has a flatbed scanner A on the upper part and a recording device B on the lower part. Then, it is used as a scanner and a printer by connecting to a personal computer. It should be noted that the information read by the scanner A can be directly recorded by the recording device B without connecting to a personal computer, and can also be used as a facsimile device by mounting a modem. In spite of the multifunctional multifunction device as described above, by arranging the scanner A on the recording device B, the installation area of the recording device B is almost the same as that of the recording device B.
It is a compact device.

{Scanner} Flatbed scanner A
Is a light source which irradiates a document placed on a platen glass (not shown), causes the reflected light to reach a photoelectric conversion element through a mirror and a lens, and electrically converts image information optically read by the photoelectric conversion element. It is converted into a signal and transmitted to the personal computer or the recording device B below.

{Recording device} In this recording device B, as shown by an arrow a in FIG. 2, a recording sheet P is supplied from the lower front part of the device by a conveying means, and is conveyed by U-turn to record by an ink jet recording means. It is a thing.

(Conveying Means) The sheet feeding cassette 1 which is a sheet accommodating means for accommodating the recording sheets P in a stacked manner is a spring 1a.
The recording sheet P having the intermediate plate 1b biased upward by the above is pressed against the recording sheet conveying roller 2. The middle plate 1b is configured to be able to be pressed downward by a cam (not shown) during standby for feeding such as when the recording sheet P is replenished in the cassette 1, and the pressing of the middle plate 1b by the cam is released during sheet feeding. Then, the recording sheet P is pressed by the conveying roller 2.

Further, a retard roller 3 is biased to the conveying roller 2, and when the conveying roller 2 rotates in the sheet feeding direction while the recording sheet P is pressed, the retard roller 3 returns the sheet. Rotate, both rollers 2,
The recording sheets P are separated and conveyed one by one by the cooperative action of 3, and are made a U-turn along the sheet guide 4 to be conveyed to a recording position, and a predetermined image is recorded by a recording unit described later. The sheet P after recording is ejected onto the ejection stacker 7 by the ejection roller 5 and the spur 6 that presses the recording sheet P against the ejection roller 5. The spur 6 is made of a material having high water repellency, and is in contact with the recording surface of the recording sheet P only at the blade-shaped circumferential portion, and is a bearing member (not shown) at a position facing the discharge roller 5. Are arranged at a plurality of positions at predetermined intervals in the width direction of the recording sheet (direction orthogonal to the recording sheet conveying direction), and even if the unfixed image on the recording sheet immediately after recording is contacted, the image is not affected. The recording sheet P is configured to be guided and conveyed.

As described above, the recording sheet P is supplied from the lower side to the upper side of the apparatus and from the front side of the apparatus, and the recording sheet P is U-turned to be discharged to the front side of the apparatus.
The device is made more compact by eliminating the protrusion of
In addition, the operability is improved by handling the recording sheet P only on the front surface of the apparatus.

(Recording Means) Next, the recording means according to the present embodiment uses a serial type ink jet recording system, and as shown in FIG. 3, the carriage 8 conveys the recording sheet P indicated by an arrow G in FIG. The guide shafts 9 and 10 are slidably held by the guide shafts 9 and 10 so as to be capable of reciprocating in a direction orthogonal to the direction (sub scanning direction), that is, in the main scanning direction (arrow H direction). A timing belt 12 hung on a pulley 11 driven by a carriage motor (not shown) is locked to the carriage 8, and the carriage motor is driven according to a recording operation to reciprocate the carriage 8 in the main scanning direction. Let

As shown in FIG. 2, the carriage 8 is detachably loaded with an ink cartridge 13 containing a liquid ink which is an ink medium, and the loaded cartridge 13 is carried by the head retainer 8a. It is connected to a recording head 20 fixed to 8. A flexible cable 14 is connected to the recording head 20. By transmitting a recording signal to the recording head 20 in response to the movement of the carriage 8, ink is ejected from the head 20 to record an image on the recording sheet P. To do.

The recording apparatus of this embodiment is capable of color recording, and the ink cartridge 13 loaded in the carriage 8 is used.
As shown in FIG. 1, there are four cartridges, a black cartridge 13B containing black ink, a cyan cartridge 13C containing cyan ink, a magenta cartridge 13M containing magenta ink, and a yellow cartridge 13Y containing yellow ink. Ink cartridge and FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the ink cartridges are arranged in the above-mentioned order from the left and are loaded in the carriage 8. still,
Black cartridge 13B is the other ink cartridge 13C, 13
The reason why it is larger than M and 13Y is that a large proportion of black ink is used.

The recording head 20 has an energy acting portion provided at a part of an ejection port for ejecting ink from each of the ink cartridges 13B, 13C, 13M and 13Y in response to a recording signal, and the acting portion. And an energy generating means for generating a droplet forming energy by acting on the ink.

As the energy generating means for generating such energy, a recording method using an electromechanical transducer such as a piezo element, electromagnetic waves such as a laser are radiated to generate heat, and droplets are ejected by the action of the heat generation. There are a recording method using an energy generating means, a recording method using an energy generating means for heating a liquid and discharging the liquid by an electrothermal converter such as a heating element having a heating resistor.

Among them, the recording head used in the ink jet recording method for ejecting liquid by thermal energy has liquid ejection ports for ejecting recording droplets and forming ejection droplets arranged at high density. Therefore, it is possible to perform high-resolution recording. Among them, a recording head using an electrothermal transducer as an energy generating means is advantageous because it can be easily made compact, easily mounted at a high density, and inexpensively manufactured. For this reason, in the present embodiment, the ink is ejected from the ejection port at the tip of the ejection port by the film boiling pressure generated in the ink due to the heat generated by the electrothermal converter provided in the ejection port.

Further, at the time of non-recording, the ejection port of the recording head 20 is capped to prevent evaporation of ink from the ejection port and adhesion of dust or the like to the ejection port. Therefore, the carriage 8 is configured to stand by at the home position, which is one end of the moving area during non-recording, and when the carriage 8 is located at this home position, the recording head 20 attached to the carriage 8 faces the home position. A cap 15 for capping the discharge port is provided at the position. The cap 15 is movable up and down, and is raised during non-recording to cap the ejection port of the recording head 20 located at the home position, and is lowered during recording to release the capping.

In order to detect that the carriage 8 is at the home position, a home sensor 16 is provided at a predetermined position and the carriage 8 is provided with a light shielding plate 8b protruding downward. The home sensor 16
Is a transmissive photo interrupter, and is provided at a position where the light blocking plate 8b blocks light transmission of the photo interrupter when the carriage 8 is located at the home position, whereby it is detected that the carriage 8 is located at the home position. To do.

An ink sensor 17 is provided near the cap 15. The ink sensor 17 is composed of a photo interrupter that optically detects the ink ejected from the recording head, detects the presence or absence of the ink in the cartridge, and stops the recording operation when the ink is exhausted, and a display unit (not shown). The warning that prompts the replacement of the ink cartridge is displayed. As the ink presence / absence detection mechanism, the sponge portion of the ink cartridge may be directly detected by the light reflection type sensor.

(Ink cartridge storage means) In the recording apparatus B, when the ink in the ink cartridge is used up,
Although a new ink cartridge must be exchanged, when the ink sensor 17 detects that there is no ink, the carriage 8 automatically moves to the exchange position and stands by. As shown in FIG. 1, the cartridge replacement position is a position that does not overlap the scanner A and is adjacent to the conveyance path of the recording sheet P. As a result, the ink cartridge 13 can be easily replaced, and the entire device is made compact.

Further, the apparatus body is provided with a lid member 18 capable of opening and closing the portion when the carriage 8 is at the cartridge exchange position. When the lid member 18 is opened, as shown in FIG. Ink cartridge 13 loaded in
Is exposed and can be replaced.

Further, a box-shaped storage section having an open upper part which constitutes storage means for accommodating a spare ink cartridge 13 'on the front side of the apparatus from the cartridge replacement position of the carriage 8 and on the lower side of the apparatus. 19 is provided. The spare ink cartridge 13 'stored in the storage section 19 is stored in a visible state when the lid member 18 is opened.

Therefore, for example, if the yellow ink is exhausted, the yellow ink cartridge 13Y is removed from the carriage 8, and the spare yellow ink cartridge 13Y stored in the storage unit 19 is taken out and loaded into the carriage 8. Then, the lid member 18 is closed and the replacement of the ink cartridge is completed.

When the lid member 18 is opened for this cartridge replacement, the ink cartridge is removed from the carriage 8 and at the same time, a spare ink cartridge is stored.
Since it can be taken out from 19 and attached to the carriage 8, it is not necessary to search for a spare ink cartridge. Therefore, the spare ink cartridge 13 'is stored in the storage section 19.
If the ink cartridge is stored, it will not be lost, and whether or not the spare ink cartridge 13 'is stored in the storage unit 19 is surely confirmed when the ink cartridge is replaced. It is possible to easily confirm whether or not the spare ink cartridge 13 'is provided only by opening. Therefore, it is possible to prevent accidentally forgetting to buy the spare ink cartridge 13 '.

If the lid member 18 is made of a transparent material, or if a notch is provided in a part of the lid member 18, the spare ink cartridge 13 is stored in the storage unit 19 even when the lid member is closed. It is possible to easily confirm whether or not ‘is provided.

Further, the recording sheet P is supplied from the lower side to the upper side of the apparatus and from the front side of the apparatus so that the recording sheet P is discharged to the front side of the apparatus.
Since the carriage is configured to be conveyed by turns, the carriage position for exchanging the ink cartridge 13 is arranged adjacent to the conveying path of the recording sheet, and the storage unit 19 is provided in front of the cartridge exchanging position of the carriage. The ink cartridge 13 can be easily replaced.

Further, in this embodiment, when storing the spare ink cartridges 13 'in the storage section 19, as shown in FIG. 4, the ink cartridges 13B, 13C, 13M of the respective colors,
13Y is configured to be housed so as to have the same arrangement as the arrangement and loading on the carriage 8. Therefore, it is possible to easily know where the ink cartridge of the color to be replaced is located, and also in this respect, it becomes easy to replace the ink cartridge and it is possible to prevent the ink cartridge of another color from being replaced by mistake. Further, by arranging and storing the spare ink cartridges as described above, even if the spare ink cartridge of a certain color is used up, it is possible to easily know which color of the ink cartridge, and to prevent forgetting to buy the spare ink cartridge. At the same time, it is possible to prevent accidentally buying an ink cartridge of another color.

[Other Embodiments] In the above-described first embodiment, a device for carrying out color recording by loading a plurality of types (a plurality of colors) of ink cartridges 13 on the carriage 8 has been exemplified.
The same effect can be obtained with one type of ink cartridge, for example, an ink cartridge containing black ink. However, the more kinds of ink cartridges, the more difficult it is to store the spare ink cartridges, and the more chances of forgetting to buy or loss are. Therefore, it is more effective if the recording apparatus has many kinds of ink cartridges.

Further, the new ink cartridge is stored in a state of being packed in a bag made of polyethylene or the like in order to prevent the ink from drying and evaporating, and this packing is preferably opened when the carriage 8 is loaded. Therefore, it is more effective if the storage unit 19 for storing the spare ink cartridge can be stored in the packed state. As a result, it is possible to prevent the ink in the ink cartridge stored in the storage unit 19 from being dried and evaporated.

In the above-described first embodiment, the ink jet recording method is used as the recording means.
The same can be applied to a recording apparatus that uses a thermal transfer recording system as a recording unit and uses an ink cartridge for thermal transfer recording that accommodates an ink ribbon as an ink cartridge to be loaded in a carriage.

That is, in thermal transfer recording, an ink ribbon coated with a thermally transferable ink is used, and the ink ribbon is heated by a recording head that generates heat in response to a recording signal to perform recording on a recording sheet. The same effect can be obtained even if the spare ink ribbon cartridge in which the ribbon is made into a cartridge is configured to be stored by the storage means described above.

Further, in the above-described first embodiment, an apparatus having the scanner A above the recording apparatus B is exemplified, but the scanner A is not provided, and the recording apparatus B may be configured as an output terminal of a personal computer, for example. Is possible.

[0043]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the storage means for storing the ink cartridge which can be loaded in the carriage in a visible state when the lid member is opened is provided, the ink cartridge is replaced in the carriage. When the lid member is opened when doing so, it is obvious whether or not the spare ink cartridge is stored, and it is possible to prevent the spare ink cartridge from being lost or forgotten to be purchased.

Further, since the used ink cartridge can be removed and the spare ink cartridge can be attached continuously only by opening the lid member, the ink cartridge can be easily replaced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective explanatory view of a recording apparatus with a lid member opened.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration of a recording device.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration of recording means.

FIG. 4 is an ink cartridge loaded in a carriage,
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a positional relationship with an ink cartridge housed in a storage unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Sheet supply cassette 2 ... Conveying roller 3 ... Retard roller 4 ... Sheet guide 5 ... Ejection roller 6 ... Spur 7 ... Ejection stacker 8 ... Carriage 8a ... Head presser 8b ... Light shield 9 ... Guide shaft 10 ... Guide shaft 11 ... Pulley 12 ... Belt 13 ... Ink cartridge 13 '... Spare cartridge 14 ... Cable 15 ... Cap 16 ... Home sensor 17 ... Ink sensor 18 ... Lid member 19 ... Storage section 20 ... Recording head

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A recording apparatus in which an ink cartridge can be replaced, a recording unit that moves a carriage that can load an ink cartridge to record on a recording sheet, a conveyance unit that conveys the recording sheet, and the carriage. A lid member that can be opened and closed to replace the ink cartridge loaded in the carriage, and storage means for storing the ink cartridge that can be loaded in the carriage in a visible state when the lid member is opened. A recording device characterized by the above. 2. The conveying means conveys a recording sheet from the lower side to the upper side of the apparatus and from the front side of the apparatus so as to make a U-turn so that the recording sheet is discharged to the front side of the apparatus. The carriage position for replacing the ink cartridge is 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium is adjacent to a conveyance path of the recording sheet, and the storage unit is provided below the ink cartridge replacement position of the carriage and below the apparatus. 3. The carriage can be loaded with a plurality of ink cartridges in which a plurality of color ink media are stored and arranged for each color, and the storage means corresponds to an arrangement for each color of the ink media loaded in the carriage. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording apparatus is configured to accommodate a plurality of ink cartridges. 4. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit is configured to accommodate the ink cartridge in a packed state. 5. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording unit is an ink jet recording system that performs recording by ejecting ink according to a signal. 6. The recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the recording unit ejects the ink from the ejection port by utilizing the film boiling generated in the ink by the thermal energy applied by the electrothermal converter. . 7. The recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the storage means stores an ink cartridge containing a liquid ink.