Citizen Watch Company, Ltd.

Wataru Ito

Hiroshi Ikeda

Kazumi Hasegawa

Tetsuya Yamamoto

Toshikiyo Kato

Humio Maeno

Yasuo Ichikawa

Yoshio Kamata

An ink-jet printer ( ) having a reciprocatingly movable printing head ( ) provided with a plurality of nozzles ( ) for ejecting ink droplets; a fluid-passage system including an ink supply passage ( ) for the printing head and other various fluids passages; and a fluidic-material storage device ( ) for storing ink and other various fluidic materials, the fluidic-material storage device being detachably connected to the fluid-passage system. The fluidic-material storage device has a body ( ) including a plurality of compartments capable of storing ink and other various fluidic materials in a classified manner; fluid-passing portions ( ) provided respectively in the compartments of the body to communicate the compartments with the fluid-passage system; first breakable seal members ( ) provided respectively in the fluid-passing portions to interrupt fluid flow in the fluid-passing portions; and second seal members ( ) provided in the fluid-passing portions to cover the respective first seal members, the second seal members including apertures ( ) for permitting an access of the fluid-passage system to the first seal members.

Fluid material reservoir

A material-feeding device (,) includes a base (,), a material passage (,) formed on the base, at least one guide member (,) provided in the material passage and having a material-guide surface (,), a direction-correcting roller assembly (,) provided in the material passage, and a conveyor roll mechanism (,) disposed downstream of the direction-correcting roller assembly in relation to a material-feeding direction, for conveying a material along the material passage. The direction-correcting roller assembly (,) includes a pair of integrally rotatable polygonal rollers (,) having a common rotation axis oblique to the material-guide surface and a freely rotatable ball (,) opposed to the pair of polygonal rollers and elastically supported in an operative position closer to the polygonal rollers to define a gap between the ball and each of the polygonal rollers for allowing the material to be inserted into the gap when the ball is in the operative position. The direction-correcting roller assembly (,) holds the material between the pair of polygonal rollers (,) and the ball (,), and intermittently feeds the material toward the guide members (,).

Material-feeding device having direction-correcting function

A dot matrix printer having a platen, a carriage, and a print head mounted on the carriage. A paper guide is secured to the carriage. A ribbon mask made of a resilient plate is attached to the paper guide. A cantilevered resilient plate is formed in the ribbon mask so as to be abutted on a front end of the print head to form a path for a ribbon between the resilient plate and the print head.

Ribbon mask for a printer

A push-pull printer includes at least one tractor unit thus is formed to have both a pull function and a push function. Fork-like mounting portions are respectively formed at lower portions of a pair of frames provided at both ends of the tractor unit. A pair of tractor guides are located at each of push and pull feed positions of the printer body. Each guide detachably holds a corresponding fork-like mounting portion. When the tractor is to be used in the push type paper feed mode, the fork-like mounting portions are attached to the tractor guides located at the push feed position. However, for use in the pull type paper feed mode, the fork-like mounting portions are attached to the tractor guides located at the pull feed position. Two such tractors, one providing the pull function and the other the push function, can be used cooperatively.

Tractor units for push-pull printer

A paper feed apparatus includes a plurality of guide ribs formed on a printer top cover disposed above a platen, the guide ribs being aligned along the axial direction of the platen, and a discharge roller is arranged between each pair of the guide ribs. Each discharge roller has its outer peripheral surface slightly extending toward corresponding guide ribs with respect to guide surfaces of these ribs and cooperating with the ribs to hold the printing paper. When the discharge rollers are driven in synchronism with rotation of the platen, the printing sheets are fed at a speed slightly higher than the paper feed speed of the platen. Therefore, the plurality of printing sheets can be simultaneously fed without causing a deviation therebetween.

Growing community of inventors

Tanashi, Japan

Wataru Ito