JPS58211482A - Ink container - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable to securely confirm the quantity of residual ink by an inexpensive means, by a method wherein an indicating member moved concurrently with a reduction in the ink quantity is placed on an ink-containing bag, in an ink container comprising a flexible ink-containing bag placed in a case. CONSTITUTION:On the flexible ink-containing bag 1 placed in an ink cassette case 4, a hardly deformable flat plate 19 is placed in the condition of making contact with the bag 1, and an end part or a bent part 20 of the plate 19 is colored in red or the like. On the other hand,an inspection window 21 for indicating the position of the plate 19 is provided at a back part of the case 4. In this construction, when the bag 1 becomes collapsed as the ink is consumed, the flat plate 19 is lowered, the end part thereof becomes seen from the upper side of the window 21, and finally, entire part of the plate 19 becomes seen. Accordingly, the time for replacing the ink cassette is known.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an ink storage container, and particularly to an ink storage container that is used in an inkjet printer and allows the remaining amount of ink to be confirmed.

Inkjet printers record information such as letters and pictures as dots by colliding liquid ink with droplets on paper. Therefore, ink must be stored in liquid form, like gasoline in automobiles.
Furthermore, if the ink scatters, it will stain the surrounding area, so it is necessary to store the ink in an ink container so that it will not leak out due to vibrations or shocks.

This ink container preferably has a structure that maintains the physical characteristics of the ink, such as surface tension, viscosity, and pH, at a constant value, and prevents evaporation and deterioration of the ink components as much as possible. In the case of an inkjet printer that ejects ink by applying a voltage only when recording is necessary, rather than selectively charging and deflecting droplets, the ink container has a device that maintains a constant ink level. In addition, a structure that maintains the pressure inside the container at the same pressure as the atmosphere is required.

In addition, when the ink in the container runs low, it is required to be able to replenish or replace the ink.

This is the first ink storage container that satisfies these conditions.
The one shown in FIG. 2 is known.

That is, in FIG. 1, ink 2 is stored in a flexible storage bag 1, and the entire ink storage bag 1 is stored in an ink cassette case 4 provided with a ventilation hole 3. The structure is such that the ink 2 is led out to the outside through a lead-out pipe 5 and a rubber stopper 6 arranged inside the lead-out pipe 5. Specifically, the lead-out pipe 5 has an insertion needle 7 guided to the rubber stopper 6. The ink 2 is taken out by connecting it to.

For example, as shown in Figure 2, this ink storage bag consists of a thin M8 nylon outer cover with a thickness of 5 to 10 μm, and an approximately 10 μm thick aluminum film to prevent ink evaporation and deterioration due to ultraviolet rays. It consists of an inner main bag 10 made of a thin polyethylene film with a thickness of 50 to 70 μm.

In the case of an ink storage container configured in this way, ink is replenished by replacing the entire cassette, and the old cassette is discarded. The ink level changes by at most 10 mm until it is emptied, and the ink storage container is configured to minimize pressure fluctuations.0 When an ink storage container configured in this way is connected to an inkjet printer for recording , When the amount of ink remaining is low, the printing density does not gradually become lighter, but the phenomenon of sudden inability to print also occurs when an impact is applied to the device, and printing is not possible due to the impact or the amount of ink remaining is low. It is impossible to determine whether printing is not possible or not. Therefore, it is necessary to accurately inform the user of the amount of ink remaining in the book in order to replenish ink, replace the ink storage bag, or determine if printing is not possible due to shock.

Conventionally, a mechanism as shown in FIG. 6 has been generally used to detect the amount of liquid remaining in a liquid storage container. That is, in the mechanism shown in FIG. 6(a), a float 12 with a built-in magnet is suspended in a side channel 16 of a liquid container 11, and the float 12 is further suspended in a side channel 13 of a liquid container 11.
A reed switch 14 is arranged opposite to.

When the liquid 15 in the liquid container 11 becomes low, the float 12 in the side channel 16 descends according to the level of the liquid 15, and the reed switch 14 is activated to detect the remaining amount of ink. In the mechanism shown in FIG. 3(b), a light emitting means 16 and a light receiving means 17 are used instead of the reed switch 140.
When the amount of liquid such as opaque ink decreases to below a predetermined level, the light receiving means 17 receives light from the light emitting means 16 to detect the remaining amount of liquid. Figure 6 (C
), two conductors 18 are inserted into the sample liquid 15, and these are used as electrodes to detect resistance changes due to a decrease in the liquid 15, and when the remaining amount is low, the resistance value suddenly increases. This is what was used.

However, such a conventional liquid remaining amount detection method cannot be used to detect the remaining amount of ink contained in a flat type ink storage container as shown in FIG. This is because the ink storage container shown in Figure 1 is designed to minimize changes in the liquid level in order to keep the ink pressure constant. Even in such a mechanism, even if the remaining ink becomes low and is completely used up, there is a risk that the resistance will decrease due to the ink adhering to the inside of the ink storage bag, making it impossible to accurately detect the remaining amount of ink. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ink storage container that solves the conventional drawbacks and allows the remaining amount of ink in the container to be confirmed with low cost and with certainty.The present invention achieves this object. For this reason, a configuration is used in which an indicating member is placed on the ink storage bag, and movement of the indicating member as the amount of remaining ink changes is displayed from a window of the ink cassette case.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

An embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5. In the figures, the same parts as those in FIG. Now, on top of the ink storage bag 1 inside the ink cassette case 4, place the flat and hard-to-deform flat plate 19, which is an indicator for indicating the amount of ink remaining, in contact with the ink storage bag 1.This flat plate is also used for storage. It also has the function of uniformly deforming the bag 1. At the back of the ink cassette case 4, there is a flat plate 22.
In such a configuration, the shape of the ink storage bag 1 changes as the ink is consumed, and as the ink storage bag 1 collapses, a peep window 21 is formed, which is an opening for displaying the position of the ink storage bag 1. The entire flat plate 19 placed thereon descends in a free state. Therefore, as the ink in the ink storage bag 1 decreases, the flat plate 19 also descends, and its end begins to be visible from above through the viewing window 21. Finally, Figure 4 (11O and Figure 5 (
If you color the edge or bent portion 20 of the flat plate 19 in red 6tO, it will be easier to confirm.However, the present invention is limited to the above embodiment. The flat plate 22 may have any shape and material as long as it moves with the deformation of the ink storage bag. In addition to the opening, as a peephole,
This opening may be filled with a transparent synthetic resin or the like. Furthermore, it is clear that the present invention can be applied to any type of inkjet printer.

As explained above, according to the present invention, the indicating member is placed on the ink storage bag, and a window is installed in the ink cassette case so that the movement of the indicating member as the amount of remaining ink changes can be confirmed from the outside. Therefore, the structure is simplified and the remaining amount of ink can be displayed relatively accurately with minimal increase in cost.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional ink storage container that does not have a remaining ink level display function, Figure 2 is a partial cross-sectional view of an ink storage bag,
Figure 3 (at r (b + l (Q)) is a sectional view of a conventional ink storage container equipped with a remaining ink level display function, and Figure 4 (a) + (1)) is a sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention. , 5th
Figure (al l (b) is a front view of the peephole. 1. Fist, 0, ink storage bag 4----. Ink cassette case 19...Flat plate 21... Applicant for the peephole Canon Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In an ink storage container in which a flexible ink storage bag is housed in an ink cassette case, an indicating member that moves as the amount of ink in the storage bag decreases is placed on the ink storage bag, and An ink storage container characterized in that a cassette case is provided with a window portion for confirming the position of the indicating member. (2) The ink storage container according to claim 1, wherein the indicating member is made of a flat plate that is less deformable than at least the ink storage bag, and one end or the entirety thereof is colored for easy visibility. .