JP3879809B2 - Inkjet recording device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus in which an ink cartridge is mounted on a carriage in a replaceable manner.
[0002]
[Prior art]
A small-sized ink jet recording apparatus for personal use or the like is configured such that an ink cartridge is detachably mounted on a carriage that scans a recording head, and ink is supplied by exchanging the cartridge.
For this reason, when the ink cartridge is replaced, it is necessary to open the box cover and expose the carriage.
In addition, when each color ink is configured as an independent cartridge for efficient use of ink, the width of the cartridge is inevitably narrowed to prevent unnecessary enlargement of the carriage. The space becomes narrow and replacement becomes difficult.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet recording apparatus in which a target ink cartridge can be easily replaced without exposing a carriage. That is.
[0004]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve such a problem, in the present invention, an ink jet recording head is provided on a carriage, and a printing mechanism in which an ink cartridge is detachably mounted on the carriage is accommodated in a box made up of a lid and a case body. In the ink jet recording apparatus, the ink having an ink cartridge insertion / extraction window provided in the box and a guide member protruding to a back side of a member to which the ink cartridge provided in the carriage is mounted. A cartridge; pressing means for pressing the guide member by an external operation to slide the ink cartridge toward the window; and means for moving the ink cartridge to be replaced to the position of the pressing means.
[0005]
[Action]
When the ink cartridge to be replaced is designated and the pressing means is operated, the cartridge is moved out of the window.
[0006]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Therefore, details of the present invention will be described below based on the illustrated embodiment.
FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention. A case main body 1 that accommodates a printing mechanism and a cartridge replacement mechanism, which will be described later, is configured such that an upper surface can be opened and closed by a lid body 2. A cartridge insertion window 3 and a cartridge push-out lever 4 are provided near one side which is easy to operate. A cut sheet holder 5 is provided on the back of the case body 1, and a paper discharge tray 6 is provided on the bottom of the front.
[0007]
FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the cartridge exchanging mechanism described above. The lever 4 is supported by the rotation fulcrum 7 and reciprocated by being guided by the guide shaft 8, and the recording head 9 is provided. An arm 11 extending to the back surface of the carriage 10 and parallel to the guide shaft 8 is fixed to the tip.
The arm 11 is provided with a pressing piece 13 constituted by a roller having a width that does not contact the adjacent cartridge 12 at a position facing the insertion / extraction window 3.
[0008]
With such a configuration, for example, when the lever 4 is pushed down as shown in FIG. 2C (in the direction of arrow A in the figure), the pressing piece 13 moves to the front side and faces the window 3. Are selectively moved to the front side (arrow B in the figure). Thereby, the engagement between the cartridge 12 and the recording head 9 is released, and the cartridge 12 can be taken out from the window 3.
Since the pressing piece 13 is constituted by a rotatable roller, the cartridge 12 is applied to the carriage 10 by an unnecessary external force due to the rotation of the lever 4 and a force in the vertical direction, that is, a direction unnecessary for pulling out the cartridge. Can be prevented.
[0009]
When the pressing of the lever 4 is released, the lever 4 is moved upward by the urging member 14, and the pressing piece 13 is retracted to the original position (FIG. 2B).
[0010]
FIGS. 3 and 4 show an embodiment of the ink cartridge suitable for the recording apparatus as described above. The ink cartridge is formed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape and has a recess 20a opened on one surface. The main body is a base 20 having a guide portion 20b positioned on the back side of the recording head 9 and a gripping portion 20c on the rear end side, and the concave portion 20a is sealed with an airtight film 21. The storage room 22 is formed.
[0011]
At the upper and lower positions when mounted on the recording apparatus, valve mechanisms 25 and 26 that are normally kept closed by springs 23 and 24 are loaded, respectively, and an atmospheric communication connection port 27 that opens to a vertical plane is provided. Ink supply ports 28 are formed, and packings 29, 30 are provided at the front ends of the respective ports 27, 28 so that they can be attached to and detached from the atmosphere communication port of the recording head, the ink supply ports, and maintain airtightness in a combined state. Is loaded. Reference numeral 31 in the drawing is a narrow groove constituting a capillary, and one end 30a communicates with the atmosphere communication connection port 27 through a flow path 32 formed in the base 20, and the other end 30b is open to the atmosphere. The surface is sealed with a film 33.
[0012]
FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of a sub-tank 40 that forms a flow path for supplying ink from the cartridge 12 to the recording head 9, and includes an ink chamber 42 that communicates with the recording head 9 via the flow path 41. The base body 43 is provided with a cylindrical horizontally extending air communication port 44 and an ink supply port 45 communicating with the air communication connection port 27, the ink supply port 28 of the ink cartridge 12, respectively, at the upper and lower portions thereof. Here, valve bodies 48 and 49 for maintaining a normally closed state are loaded by springs 46 and 47, respectively. Reference numeral 50 in the figure is a differential pressure valve provided in a flow path connecting the ink chamber 42 and the ink flow path 41 and opened when the ink pressure on the recording head side decreases.
[0013]
FIG. 6 shows a state in which the ink cartridge 12 is connected to the recording head, that is, the sub tank 40. In this state, the guide portion 20b on the front end side of the ink cartridge 12 protrudes to the back side from the sub tank 40. Yes.
[0014]
Further, a cylindrical atmospheric communication port 44 and an ink supply port 45 of the sub tank 40 are inserted into the atmospheric communication hole 27 and the ink supply port 28 of the ink cartridge 12, and these ports 27, 28, 44, 45 are inserted. The valve bodies 25, 26, 48, and 49 retreat and open, and the upper part of the ink storage chamber 22 of the ink cartridge and the upper part of the ink chamber 42 of the sub tank 40 are capillaries formed by the narrow grooves 30. Is open to the atmosphere.
[0015]
In this state, when ink is consumed by the recording head 9 and the ink pressure of the recording head 9 is reduced, the ink in the ink chamber 42 flows into the recording head via the differential pressure valve 50, and also from the ink cartridge 12 to the ink chamber 42. Ink is replenished.
[0016]
When ink in the ink cartridge 12 is consumed in this way and this ink cartridge is designated by the panel 51 or the like, the designated ink cartridge 12 is positioned at a position facing the cartridge insertion / extraction window 3 of the case body 1. The carriage 10 moves.
[0017]
In this state, when the lever 4 is pushed down, the pressing piece 13 moves to the front side and pushes the guide portion 20b protruding from the sub tank 40 toward the back side, so that the ink cartridge 12 has the air communication hole 27 and the ink supply. The port 28 slides the cylindrical air communication port 44 and the ink supply port 45 of the sub tank 40 and moves to the window 3 side, and the gripping portion 20 c moves to a position where it can be pulled out from the window 3. At the same time, the air communication hole 27, the ink supply port 28 of the ink cartridge 12, the air communication port 44 of the sub tank 40, and the valve bodies 25, 26, 48, 49 of the ink supply port 45 lose their support and springs 23, 24, respectively. , And the urging force of the springs 46 and 47 are closed.
[0018]
Therefore, in this state, the grip portion 20c can be pulled out and the cartridge 12 can be pulled out from the recording head. Of course, since all the valve bodies 25, 26, 48, and 49 are in the closed state, when the ink cartridge is pulled out, ink leaks out from the ink supply port 28 of the ink cartridge 12 and the ink solvent in the sub tank 40 evaporates. Is also suppressed.
[0019]
In this state, when a new ink cartridge 12 is pushed in from the window 3, the air communication hole 27 and the ink supply port 28 of the ink cartridge 12 are connected to the cylindrical air communication port 44 and the ink supply port 45 of the sub tank 40. The valve bodies 25, 26, 48, 49 of these ports 27, 28, 44, 45 are retracted and opened, and the upper part of the ink storage chamber 22 of the ink cartridge and the ink chamber 42 of the sub tank 40 are opened. The upper part is opened to the atmosphere via a capillary formed by the narrow groove 30, and the ink of the cartridge 12 flows into the sub tank 40.
[0020]
In the present invention, the cartridge can be inserted / removed by moving it in the horizontal direction. However, if the cartridge is moved in a direction non-parallel to the carriage moving direction, for example, in the vertical direction, movement of the carriage due to the insertion / removal operation is prevented. Therefore, it can be appropriately selected depending on the case structure and the like.
[0021]
Further, in the above-described embodiment, the cartridge insertion / extraction window is formed on the case main body side. However, even if it is formed on the lid, it is not necessary to open the lid when replacing the ink cartridge. It is clear that
[0022]
Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the cartridge is moved to the window side by a manual operation, but the same effect can be obtained even by using electromagnetic driving means such as an electromagnetic solenoid.
[0023]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily replace only the target ink cartridge without applying unnecessary external force to the carriage without opening the lid and exposing the carriage.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention.
FIGS. 2A to 2C are a perspective view showing an embodiment of a cartridge exchange mechanism of an ink jet recording apparatus, a mounted state, and a state at the time of pulling out, respectively.
FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams showing an embodiment of an ink cartridge suitable for the recording apparatus. FIG.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of an ink cartridge suitable for the recording apparatus.
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of a sub tank suitable for a flow path to which the ink cartridge is connected.
FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where the ink cartridge and the sub tank are coupled to each other.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Case main body 2 Cover body 3 Window 4 Lever 9 Recording head 10 Carriage 11 Arm 12 Cartridge 13 Pressing piece 25, 26 Valve mechanism 27 Atmospheric communication connection port 28 Ink supply port 40 Sub tank 44 Atmospheric communication port 45 Ink supply port 48, 49 Valve body

Claims (4)

  In an ink jet recording apparatus in which an ink jet recording head is provided on a carriage, and a printing mechanism in which an ink cartridge is detachably mounted on the carriage is accommodated in a box composed of a lid and a case body, ink provided on the box A cartridge insertion / extraction window; an ink cartridge having a guide member that protrudes to the back side of the ink cartridge mounted on the carriage; and the guide member is pressed by an external operation to press the guide member. An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: pressing means for sliding an ink cartridge toward the window; and means for moving an ink cartridge to be replaced to the position of the pressing means.   The ink supply port of the ink cartridge is always provided with a valve means that keeps the valve closed and opens when mounted on the recording head, and a grip portion that is easy to pull out from the outside is provided at a position on the window side. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1.   The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording head is connected to the ink cartridge via a sub tank.   2. The ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pressing means is configured by providing a rotatable roller that moves to a window side on a rotatable lever that can be operated externally.

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