Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Shusuke Inamura

Hiroyuki Inoue

Takashi Nojima

Takeshi Iwasaki

Noriko Sato

Masahito Yoshida

Yasufumi Tanaami

Yasuyuki Hirai

Naoji Otsuka

Hitoshi Sugimoto

Takeshi Yazawa

Takashi Horiba

Hiroshi Nakai

Manabu Yamazoe

Kosuke Yamamoto

Kenichi Moriya

Masayuki Hongo

The present invention provides an ink jet printing apparatus capable of improving reliability of an electrical connecting portion between a carriage side and head cartridge side. When an ink tank is mounted on a head cartridge, a hook of a set lever is obstructed to be operated in a lock releasing direction by a restricting surface of the ink tank. This prevents the head cartridge from being removed from the carriage, and maintains an electrical connecting condition between the carriage and the head cartridge. Therefore, for removing the head cartridge, it is necessary to remove the ink tank.

Ink jet printing apparatus

A recording apparatus includes a miniaturized carriage. When a recording head is mounted, a head side connecting portion to which electric power for driving the recording head and a signal are transmitted and a card edge connector of a head holding member are electrically connected to each other. The recording head is detachably attachable to the head holding member by rotation of a lever member. A pressing portion for pressing the recording head in a connector insertion direction of a connecting portion is arranged near a rotational center of the lever member. Due to the above configuration, a miniaturized carriage can be formed while the card edge connector is used, fixation and release of the recording head can be stably realized, and the miniaturization of the recording apparatus itself can be realized.

Recording apparatus

For eliminating waste of ink and achieving high charging efficiency with a reduced charging time where a printing head is equipped with a second tank for reserving a predetermined amount of ink and a supply system is configured to supply ink from a first tank to the second tank intermittently, the second tank is provided with a variable internal volume. The internal volume is varied to cause the second tank itself to function as an actuator for charging ink and performing a venting process. Specifically, the internal volume is forcibly reduced to cause a reverse flow of a gas residing in the second tank along with ink into the first tank, which makes it possible to generate of waste ink that is released to the outside. A normal charging operation can be completed simply by causing a change in the opposite direction (the direction of increasing the internal volume). Relatedly, the second tank may be provided with a member for holding ink and generating a negative pressure originating from an elastic force. With connection of the first tank and the member, the pressure in the second tank is reduced to cause the member to expand, thereby introducing ink into the same. This introduction is stopped by regulating the expansion with a displaceable unit which expands when the pressure is reduced. The regulation is performed at such a position that the negative pressure generated in the member by canceling regulation is in equilibrium with an ink meniscus-holding ability of the printing head.

Ink container, inkjet printing apparatus and ink supplying method

An ink jet recording apparatus for recording by discharging ink from nozzles of a recording head to a recording medium comprises a figure recording control section for executing recording control of figure draw commands for ruled lines and other figures, and a bitmap recording control section for executing recording control of draw commands other than the figure draw commands by developing bitmaps. For this ink jet recording apparatus, draw commands are individually controlled by the recording control sections, respectively, and at the same time, recording is performed by relatively moving in the intersecting two directions a recording head for discharging ink by the draw commands, and a recording medium held by a recording medium holding unit in the position facing the ink discharge surface of the recording head. With the structure thus arranged, it becomes possible to materialize an ink jet recording apparatus which can output high quality images while neither creating deviating seams of ruled lines to the left or right nor creating black strips or white strips.

Ink jet recording apparatus

An ink tank is formed having a generally rectangular parallelepiped shape, and air/fluid separating members having air pores are provided around at least the corner portions of the generally rectangular parallelepiped. The inner faces of wall members forming the outer faces of the generally rectangular parallelepiped are formed with an inclination of a predetermined angle as to the outer face of the wall member which it faces.

Ink tank

Disclosed is an ink supply mechanism comprising a first ink tank for storing ink; a joint portion connected to the first ink tank; and a second ink tank disposed to be movable to the first ink tank, being provided with a connection portion connected to the joint portion in order to make ink supply from the first ink tank possible, wherein the joint portion is movable between a connected position where the connection portion is connected thereto and a disconnected position where the connection portion is not connected thereto, and a cap member for sealing a region between the connection portion and the joint portion at both the connected position and the disconnected position is provided on the joint portion. Therefore, invasion of foreign materials into an ink path can be prevented when the joint portion and the second ink tank are connected to each other, and adherence of ink in the joint portion can also be prevented.

Ink supply mechanism and inkjet recording apparatus including the ink supply mechanism

In a supply system which includes an ink container for reserving a predetermined amount of ink to be supplied to a printing head and which is configured such that ink is intermittently supplied to the container from an ink tank, there is provided a structure that fundamentally eliminates waste of ink associated with an operation of charging the container to apply a required negative pressure to the head. An ink containing body in which a negative pressure can be generated because of its elasticity is provided in the container. After the ink containing body is expanded to introduce ink into the same by depressurizing the interior of the container, the interior of the container is pressurized to contract the ink containing body, thereby returning a predetermined amount of ink to the tank. A negative pressure is thus generated in equilibrium with an ink meniscus holding ability of the head.

Ink container, inkjet printing apparatus, and ink supplying method

The present invention provides an image forming apparatus for forming an image by discharging liquid from a recording head onto a recording medium, comprising a carriage to which the recording head and a sub-tank for storing the liquid to be supplied to the recording head are mounted and which can be shifted reciprocally, a main tank disposed out of the carriage and adapted to store the liquid, a liquid flow passage connected between the main tank and the sub-tank in order to supply the liquid from the main tank to the sub-tank, a flow passage opening/closing valve disposed in the liquid flow passage on the way and adapted to open and close the liquid flow passage, and control means for controlling opening/closing of the flow passage opening/closing valve in accordance with an image forming condition during image formation using the recording head.

Image forming apparatus

In a structure which includes a second tank for reserving a predetermined amount of ink to be supplied to a printing head and in which a supply system is configured such that ink is intermittently supplied to the second tank from a first tank, a high charging efficiency to and shortened processing time for charging the second tank, and high overall usability of ink are achieved. In an orientation upon using the printing apparatus, a port of a channel located at the second tank side for supplying ink from the first tank to the second tank is arranged relatively high position and an outlet port for supplying ink from the second tank to the head is arranged relatively low position in relation to the direction of gravity, and a port of the channel located at the first tank side is arranged at the bottom of the first tank.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Shusuke Inamura