US 10,471,722 B2Granted

Waste liquid tank and printer

AssigneeBrother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

InventorToshiro Ueda

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A waste liquid tank includes a case. The case includes a first accommodating portion having an inlet and a first communication opening, a second accommodating portion having a second communication opening and a connecting portion connecting the first communication opening and the second communication opening, wherein a cross-sectional area of the connecting portion is less than a cross-sectional area of the first accommodating portion and is less than a cross-sectional of the second accommodating portion. The waste liquid tank includes a first absorber accommodated in the first accommodating portion, a second absorber accommodated in the second accommodating portion and a third absorber accommodated in the connecting portion. The connecting portion includes a passage defined between the third absorber and a peripheral portion of the connecting portion, the passage allowing the first accommodating portion to communicate with the second accommodating portion and for air to pass therethrough.

Claims6

Dependent claims

A printer comprising:

a waste liquid tank including:
a case including
a first accommodating portion having an inlet and a first communication opening, the first accommodating portion having a first absorber therein and a first passage that is not occupied by the first absorber,
a second accommodating portion having a second communication opening, the second accommodating portion having a second absorber therein and a second passage that is not occupied by the second absorber, and
a connecting portion connecting the first communication opening and the second communication opening, the connecting portion having a third absorber therein, a peripheral portion and a third passage not occupied by the third absorber, the third passage allowing the first passage of the first accommodating portion to communicate with the second passage of the second accommodating portion and for air to pass therethrough such that the first passage, the second passage and the third passage together define an air passage;
a discharge outlet for discharging waste liquid toward the inlet;
and
a controller configured to select one of a plurality of modes in which a particular volume of waste liquid discharged per unit of time through the discharge outlet toward the inlet is greater than a particular volume of waste liquid discharged per unit of time through the discharge outlet toward the inlet in other ones of the plurality of modes,
wherein a volume of the air passage is greater than the particular volume of the waste liquid discharged per unit of time through the discharge outlet in the selected one of the plurality of modes.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 16/201,566Filed 27 Nov 2018 · division
Priority: JP 2016-1763899 Sep 2016
Published: US 2019/0092027 A128 Mar 2019
Granted: 12 Nov 2019
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification8 codes

B41J 2/1721
Characterised by ink handling: collecting waste ink; Collectors therefor
B41J 2/16523
By driving a fluid through the nozzles to the outside thereof, e.g. by applying pressure to the inside or vacuum at the outside of the print head:…
B41J 2/16526
By driving a fluid through the nozzles to the outside thereof, e.g. by applying pressure to the inside or vacuum at the outside of the print head:…
B41J 29/13
Guards, shields or dust excluders: cases or covers

Family

Application15/662,763Parent of this division · filed 28 Jul 2017
US 2019/0092027 A1Pre-grant publication · published 28 Mar 2019
US 10,179,457 B2Parent of this division
US 2018/0072063 A1Published application
US 10,471,722 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.