JPS6135965A - Ink jet recording apparatus and its ink container - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to make even the joint part of ink compact, by forming an protruded part having a vent orifice to the upper part of an ink container and making the shape of an ink outtake port part thin while providing the guard part of a hollow needle to the container mounting part. CONSTITUTION:An ink container 4 has a protruded part 30 formed to a part of the upper part thereof and a vent orifice 12 is provided to the front surface of said protruded part 30. This vent orifice 12 is hermetically closed by a cock member 13 prior to mounting but, when the ink container 4 is mounted to the container mounting part 7, the cock member 13 is thrusted down in the container by an engagement projection 14 to open the vent orifice 12. At the time of mounting, the recessed part 4A provided to the part of the ink outtake port 10 of the ink container 4 is engaged with the guard part 7A downwardly projected from the container mounting part 7 to take a safety measure so as to prevent a finger from touching a hollow meedle 8. This recessed part 4A does not impart much effect to a total ink internal volume and ink capacity can be increased by the protruded part 30 and the apparatus can be constituted compactly and safely.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to an inkjet recording apparatus and the structure of an ink container thereof, and more particularly to the structure of a ventilation means and an ink joint portion of an ink container that supplies ink to a recording head.

[Prior art]

Inkjet recording devices produce less noise and are suitable for high-speed printing compared to wire dot and thermal types.
°It has the characteristic of being easy to print in color, and is used in printers, facsimiles, etc.

This inkjet recording device is configured to guide ink in an ink container to a recording head, and perform recording while ejecting ink toward a recording material by driving the nozzles of the recording head in accordance with a print pattern signal. Ru.

The ink container is generally a replaceable kerf (IJ) type, and is provided with an ink outlet as well as a vent for maintaining the pressure in the liquid chamber and ensuring smooth ink supply. In addition, a hollow needle is used at the joint with the ink outlet, which is the joint for supplying ink from the ink container to the recording head, but it is complicated because it is necessary to prevent fingers from touching this hollow needle for safety reasons. There are some models that are equipped with mechanical parts to provide safety measures.

By the way, in order to joint ink with a replaceable ink container without using a hollow needle, the joint part becomes large, and when the ink container is mounted on a carriage with a rectangular parallelepiped ink container, the inside of the ink container becomes larger. The structure is such that a predetermined space is secured and a ventilation hole is provided.

However, such conventional ink containers have the drawback that the volume of the container cannot be effectively utilized due to the vent hole, leaving a large amount of wasted space, and the joint portion also becomes large.

〔the purpose〕

The purpose of the present invention is to eliminate these drawbacks of conventional ink containers, create a structure that can increase the ink capacity relative to the volume of the ink container, make the ink supply joint compact, and easily take safety measures. An object of the present invention is to provide an ink container.

[Summary]

According to the present invention, a part of the upper part of the ink container is made to protrude upward to form a bulging part, and the bulging part is provided with a vent that communicates the lye liquid chamber with the atmosphere, and the shape of the ink outlet part is The above object is achieved by making the ink container thinner and forming an ink container shape in which a hollow needle guard part is provided in the container mounting part.

〔Example〕

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

FIG. 1 shows the main structure of an inkjet recording apparatus according to an embodiment when an ink container is attached, and FIG. 2 shows the ink container of FIG. 1.

In FIG. 1, a recording head 3 and an ink container 4 are mounted on a carriage 2 that moves left and right along an f9 ten roll 1. Reference numeral 5 indicates a recording material (paper) backed up on the grating roll 1, and reference numerals 6 and 6 indicate guide shafts for guiding a carriage provided with a VC in the main body of the apparatus (not shown).

The carriage 2 is provided with a container mounting portion 7 for accommodating the ink container 4, and a hollow needle 8 for supplying ink that protrudes in the ink container mounting/removal direction (horizontal direction in the illustrated example) is fixed to the container mounting portion. There is.

This hollow needle 8 is connected to the recording head 3 via an ink supply tube 9.

In the illustrated case, the ink container 4 is attached from the rear of the carriage 2, and in conjunction with the attachment operation, the hollow needle 8 is inserted into the ink outlet 10 of the elastic member provided near the bottom of the ink container 4, thereby discharging the ink. will be supplied. The ink taken out from the hollow needle 6 is introduced into the recording head 3 through the ink supply pipe 9, and is passed through the nozzles (
The drawing shows a nozzle with multiple nozzles)1
1 is driven in accordance with a print pattern signal, it is ejected toward the marking material 5, forming a dot print.

The ink container 4 has a box shape as shown in FIG.
0 is formed, and a vent hole 12 is formed in the front surface of the bulge. This vent hole 12 is sealed with a plug member 13 made of a rubber-like elastic body when the ink container is alone before being installed, but when the ink container 4 is inserted into the container mounting portion 7 and placed in a predetermined position as shown in FIG. When the container is attached to the container, the engaging protrusion 14 provided on the upper part of the container mounting portion T hits the plug member 13, and the plug member is pushed down into the container to open the vent hole 12.

In this way, the ink container 4 is sealed before it is installed, but when it is inserted into the container installation part T, the ink joint is performed in conjunction with the installation operation, and at the same time, the plug member 13 as a closing means to remove (remove)
The ink liquid chamber is communicated with the atmosphere.

In addition, a very simple structure for taking safety measures to prevent fingers from touching the hollow needle 8 is as shown in Fig. 4, in which a guard part 7A is provided at the container mounting part T in Fig. 1, and the hollow needle 8 is viewed from the front. The purpose is to prevent fingers 20 from touching the hollow needle 8.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the upper part of the ink outlet 10 is recessed, and the guard portion 7m is provided with a height and width that prevents fingers from touching the needle. Recessed portion 4 of ink container 4
Due to the shape of the concave portion, the decrease in ink amount due to the ink does not have any significant effect on the total ink internal volume.

According to the embodiment described above, the bulging portion 3 of the ink container 4
A vent hole 12 is formed in the hole 0, and the vent hole is connected to a plug member (
Closing means) 13 is used to seal the ink chamber, and by removing the plug member 13 in conjunction with the mounting operation, the ink chamber is communicated with the atmosphere, so ink leakage is reliably prevented when the ink container 4 is alone. In addition, the ink chamber can be easily and automatically communicated with the atmosphere when the ink container is installed, and therefore, an ink container ventilation means that is easy to handle is obtained.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment in which the structure of the ventilation means is changed,
In this embodiment, an on-off valve 15 is provided inside the vent 12 formed in the bulge 30 .

Specifically, a valve body 1T made of a Δ-stick material such as 5 is provided, which is held by a leaf spring 16 provided in the ink container 4 and pressed against the vent port 12 by spring force, and the valve body 17 is A bottle 18 that protrudes to the outside through the vent 12 is fixed therein, while a third bottle 18 is fixed to the upper part of the container mounting part T when the ink container is mounted.
As shown in the figure, an engagement slope 1s that abuts against the bottle 18 is formed.

According to such a structure, when the ink container 4 is alone before being installed, the ink liquid chamber is sealed, and when the ink container is installed, the bottle 16 is pushed against the leaf spring 16 by the slope 19 in conjunction with the installation operation. [Press down and hold the valve body 1T to the vent 1
It can be opened away from 2.

The rest of the structure of this embodiment is substantially the same as that of FIGS. 1 and 2.

According to this embodiment, in addition to obtaining the same effects as the above-mentioned embodiments, even when the ink container 4 is used or is being used, it can be automatically sealed, and the amount of remaining ink can be reduced during transportation. This provides the effect of reliably preventing leakage.

In each of the above embodiments, the ink container 4 is mounted on the carriage 2, but the present invention can be similarly applied to cases where the ink container is mounted in a location other than the carriage, such as in the main body of the recording apparatus.

Further, the present invention can be similarly applied to a case where a plurality of printing containers are attached, such as color printing.

〔effect〕

As is clear from the above description (according to the present invention, the ink container alone can be sealed tightly to reliably prevent ink leakage, the ink chamber can be easily and automatically communicated with the atmosphere during use, and It is possible to obtain an inkjet recording device in which safety measures are easily taken to prevent the ink from being damaged.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the main parts of an inkjet recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the ink container in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a front view of the hollow needle section taken from line 1--2 in FIG. 1 with the ink container removed. 3... Recording head, 4... Ink container, 5...
・Brass material, T... Container attachment part, 7 people... Guard part, 8... Hollow needle 11... Nozzle,
12...Vent, 10...Ink outlet, 20...Finger, 30...Bulging portion.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In an inkjet recording device that guides ink in a replaceably attached ink container to a recording head and ejects the ink toward a recording material from nozzles provided in the recording head, a portion of the upper part of the ink container is turned upward. 1. A recording apparatus characterized in that a bulging portion is provided to protrude from the ink container, a vent is formed in the bulging portion, and the height of the ink container above the ink outlet of the ink container is lowered. (2) In an ink container that is replaceably attached to an inkjet recording device, a portion of the upper portion thereof is provided with a bulge that protrudes upward, a vent is formed in the bulge, and an ink container above the ink outlet is provided. An ink container for an inkjet recording device characterized by a reduced container height.