Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.

Fuji Xerox Corporation

Jun Takagi

Junichi Yoshida

Kazuyuki Oda

Ichiro Tomikawa

Katsuyuki Fujii

Yoshihiko Fujimura

Katsuhide Ogawa

Fumihiko Ogasawara

Mitsuhide Soga

Masaki Kataoka

Harumi Tamura

Naoki Morita

Jun Isozaki

Nobuo Hyakutake

Yoshinari Iwaki

Toshinobu Hamazaki

Masayoshi Tamai

Masahiko Fujii

Tatsuhiro Ishize

Kouji Hamabe

Akira Ogita

Yukihisa Koizumi

Koji Suenaga

Noriyoshi Kono

Hisayuki Kinoshita

Kunimasa Aoshima

Kouji Ikegami

Nobuo Kenmotsu

Mituhide Soga

A recording apparatus having a print head for printing characters on a medium and an ink tank for holding ink to be supplied to the print head. The ink tank includes an ink chamber having an ink holding member and an ink supplying port. A first meniscus forming member is located in the ink supplying port so as to be in communication with the ink holding member. The print head includes an ink introducing port for receiving ink from the ink tank and a second meniscus forming member located in the ink introducing port. When the ink tank is attached to the print head, the ink introducing port is coupled with the ink supplying port. An ink passing member is located in the portion where the ink introducing port is coupled with the ink supplying port. The ends of the ink passing member are in contact with the first meniscus forming member and the second meniscus forming member. The ink passing member is subject to only minor changes in volume upon contact with ink.

Recording apparatus, printer, and an ink tank therein

In an ink tank, there are provided a main ink chamber containing a capillary vessel member, and an intermediate ink chamber. When the ink is consumed, the ink held by capillary force of a capillary vessel member is supplied via a communication port from a joint port. The same amount of air as the amount of the consumed ink is conducted from the atmospheric communication port into the main ink chamber. The conducted air is supplied via a groove formed in a lid to an upper surface of the capillary vessel member. As a result, the air is entered into the capillary vessel member under better condition. In a plane portion of the lid, the ink is in contact with only the capillary vessel member, and the ink remaining this portion is reduced. Thus, the ink using efficiency is increased.

Ink tank and recording apparatus

An ink printer designed to make users free from any danger when an inktank is replaced and to prevent ink from leaking out when the inktank is detached. The joint part of an inktank is pressed against the ink guide of a print head to couple the inktank and the print head together, so that ink is supplied from the inktank to the print head. The joint part is supplied with a porous material. When the inktank is attached, the porous material is compressed and contained in the joint part. When the inktank is detached from the print head, the volume of the porous material increases thereby raising its porosity. The ink remaining in the joint part is absorbed by the porous material whose porosity has been raised, so that ink is prevented from flowing out in the vicinity of the joint part when the inktank is removed.

Ink printer and ink tank with ink spill prevention

In an ink tank, a main ink chamber is contiguous to a sub ink chamber containing an absorption member, and an air communication hole is formed on the top of the sub ink chamber. The absorption member holds ink pressure constant by capillary attraction of the absorption member. First, ink in the sub ink chamber is consumed with consumption of ink. When ink is consumed in a predetermined amount, air passes through the absorption member and a meniscus forming portion to form bubbles, which then move to the main ink chamber. Ink pressure is held constant by surface tension of the meniscus forming portion. Even if ink remains in a small amount, the ink leading portion makes the meniscus forming portion wet for holding ink pressure.

Ink supply device

A joint part of an ink tank has a connection part capillary member. A filter is placed at the tip of an ink introduction part on the side of a recording head. The ink tank is connected by bringing a face of the filter into contact with the connection part capillary member; liquid connection is made without entry of air. At this time, a force of pressing the connection part capillary member against the inside of the ink tank occurs. However, since the connection part capillary member is provided with a presser part on the rear side, the presser part absorbs the press pressure and the contact state is stable, preventing the connection part capillary member from being detached to the inside of the ink tank. Additionally, the ink tank has a seal material for sealing the ink supply hole in a state in which the tank joint part is detached from the recording head joint part.

Printer and ink tank

In an ink tank, there are provided a main ink chamber containing a capillary vessel member, and an intermediate ink chamber. When the ink is consumed, the ink held by capillary force of a capillary vessel member is supplied via a communication port from a joint port. The same amount of air as the amount of the consumed ink is conducted from the atmospheric communication port into the main ink chamber. The conducted ink is supplied via a groove formed in a lid to an upper surface of the capillary vessel member. As a result, the air is entered into the capillary vessel member under better condition. In a plane portion of the lid, the ink is in contact with only the capillary vessel member, and the ink remaining this portion is reduced. Thus, the ink using efficiency is increased.

An ink jet printer which causes ink to fly to a recording medium to form an image, comprising: plural nozzles functioning as ink ejection ports; plural individual flow paths which are disposed with respectively corresponding to the nozzles, the individual flow paths respectively having driving elements which eject internal ink through the nozzles; a common liquid chamber which communicates with the individual flow paths, the common liquid chamber having an opening portion through which ink is supplied into the chamber; an ink supply path which has a sectional area smaller than a sectional area of the opening portion of the common liquid chamber, the ink supply path being connected to the opening portion to guide ink to the common liquid chamber; and an ink supply source for supplying ink through the ink supply path.

Ink jet printer and ink jet print head

An ink supply passage 16 has a large cross-sectional area and ink tanks 6 are connected to the top of the ink supply passage 16. An ink supply passage 17 is a flow passage shaped like a semicylinder and has a cross-sectional area equal to or smaller than the cross-sectional area of the ink supply passage 16. Even if bubbles are mixed into the ink supply passage 17, they adhere to the upper portion of the flow passage 17 and do not flow into lower corners, so that a flow passage can be provided and the ink flow is not hindered. Since an ink supply passage 19 connected to a head chip 4 has a small diameter, bubbles mixed into the ink supply passage 19 can be removed by maintenance for sucking ink forcibly. Bubbles mixed upstream are not transported to the ink supply passage 19 because of the flow rate difference caused by the cross-sectional area difference.

Ink jet printer and ink jet recording unit

An ink jet printer comprises a plurality of print heads 23, 23' respectively communicating with interiors of mutually different ink tanks Tk, Ty, Tm, and Tc and each having an ink nozzle for ejecting ink accommodated in each of the ink tanks Tk, Ty, Tm, and Tc onto a printing surface, wherein the position of a distal end of the ink nozzle having a higher velocity of an ink droplet ejected from the distal end of the ink nozzle is disposed at a position apart farther from the printing surface than the position of a distal end of the ink nozzle having a lower velocity of the ink droplet, so as to reduce variations in a timing when the ink droplet ejected from each of the ink nozzles reaches the printing surface.

Ink jet printer

An ink jet print head is disclosed which comprises: a head chip having a plurality of heating elements thereon, a flow passage forming member including a plurality of injection ports respectively corresponding to the heating elements for jetting out ink, a substrate for fixing the head chip, and a joint for supplying ink, wherein the substrate includes an opening so formed as to extend in the arrangement direction of the heating elements, the flow passage forming member is disposed so as to cover the opening from a position above the head chip, at least part of the joint is connected to the flow passage forming member, and ink supplied from the joint is supplied along the flow passage forming member to the heating elements disposed on the head chip.

Ink jet print head, method for manufacturing the same, and ink jet

A main ink chamber with a through-hole contains a capillary member. An intermediate ink chamber is provided on the side wall of the main ink chamber. A path communicatively interconnects the main ink chamber and the intermediate ink chamber. A second meniscus forming member is disposed in a joint port, to thereby prevent ink leakage. In a print mode, ink flows from the main ink chamber to the joint port, through a meniscus forming member that is disposed in the through-hole. Air bubbles mingled into the ink move along the slanting upper wall of the path by their buoyant force, and are accumulatively stored in the upper part of the intermediate ink chamber. When ink is reduced to zero in the main ink chamber, air bubbles are introduced into the intermediate ink chamber through the meniscus forming member. As a result, the liquid level of the intermediate ink chamber is quickly reduced, thereby indicating a state that ink is used up.

Method and device for supplying ink to a print head

An ink tank has a main ink chamber which is hermetically sealed and communicated with an ink jet head connected to a lower portion of the main ink chamber, through a communicating passage, and in which ink is to be contained, and an auxiliary ink chamber which is communicated with a lower space of the main ink chamber through a communicating passage. A porous member is packed in the auxiliary ink chamber.

Method for supplying ink to an ink jet recording device

Considering the differential pressure .DELTA.P between pressures applied to both faces of a meniscus formation member, the differential pressure .DELTA.P becomes the maximum when an ink supply unit is left standing with the meniscus formation member placed upward. At this time, water head PH of ink attempting to fall due to gravity is applied to the inner face of the meniscus formation member in the same direction as negative pressure PR of a capillary member. Thus, the differential pressure .DELTA.P becomes .DELTA.P=PR+PH. The bubble point pressure PB of the meniscus formation member is set greater than the maximum value of the differential pressure, .DELTA.P=PR+PH, whereby air does not enter an ink tank through the meniscus formation member.

Ink supply unit and recorder

An ink supply device for use in an ink jet printer comprising a main ink chamber in communication through a communication hole with a sub-ink chamber containing an ink absorbing member therein. A meniscus film forming member covering the communication hole and communicating the main ink chamber with the sub-ink chamber; the member having a first surface facing the interior of the main ink chamber and an opposite second surface. An ink guide member extending into a lower portion of the main chamber and also being in contact with the first surface of the film forming member, wherein as ink in the main ink chamber is consumed a differential pressure between the first and second surfaces of the film forming member causes a gradual expansion of a liquid meniscus film into an air bubble on the film forming member to maintain a constant negative pressure in the main ink chamber.

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Ebina, Japan

Jun Takagi