Seiko Epson Corporation

Kiyotaka Sema

Satoshi Shinada

Minoru Usui

Masaru Takahashi

Takahiro Naka

Kazuhiko Hara

Hitoshi Hayakawa

An ink flow passage is formed from an ink storage chamber of an ink cartridge to an ink supply port. A passage control system is located in the ink flow passage. The passage control system is capable of opening and closing the ink flow passage when receiving a drive force from an actuator . Particularly, air bubbles A staying on a filter member within an ink supplying needle is effectively discharged to a capping system in a manner that a negative pressure is accumulated in an inner space of the capping system in a state that the passage control system is placed to a valve closing state. The passage control system is provided in the ink cartridge. Accordingly, every time the ink cartridge is exchanged with a new one, the passage control system is also exchanged with a new one. Accordingly, the printing function restoring operation performed through a cleaning operation based on the negative pressure accumulation is improved in reliability.

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Tokyo, Japan

Kiyotaka Sema