Ink cartridge for ink jet printer
AssigneeSeiko Epson Corporation
InventorYuji Iida
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An ink cartridge for an ink jet printer is provided with a container having at least a first wall. An ink supply port is formed through the first wall for supplying ink to the exterior of the container. An ink chamber and an ink supply chamber are formed by a membrane valve seat made of an elastic thin membrane and formed with a through hole therethrough. A valve body is positioned opposing the through hole formed in the membrane valve seat, the valve body and membrane valve seat adjacent said through hole formed therein being maintained selectively in contact by a pressure difference between said ink chamber and said ink supply chamber.
Claims8
An ink cartridge comprising:
- an ink chamber;
- a valve chamber;
- an ink supply port;
- a membrane valve seat disposed in the valve chamber to divide the valve chamber into a first compartment and a second compartment, wherein a periphery of the membrane valve seat is fixed to a wall of the valve chamber, a central portion of the membrane valve seat is displaceable with respect to the wall of the valve chamber, the membrane valve seat has a first surface facing the first compartment and receiving a pressure in the ink chamber via the first compartment and a second surface facing the second compartment and receiving a pressure in the ink supply port via the second compartment;
- and
- an ink flow passage selectively opened and closed by the displacement of the membrane valve seat central portion caused due to a pressure difference between the first and second compartments, to thereby selectively establish and interrupt fluidic communication between the ink chamber and the ink supply port.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.