Back to results
US 4,901,094 AGranted
Waste collecting device of an ink jet printer
AssigneeSharp Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsFusao Iwagami, Sei Murayama
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An ink jet printer is equipped with a cap for covering a nozzle face to prevent the nozzle from clogging and has maintenance solution supplied to the cap. A waste collecting device is provided in the printer and includes a powder type absorbent placed in a waste collecting tank case so that waste liquid such as maintenance solution and ink led from the cap into the tank case is absorbed by and retained in the powder absorbent.
Claims3
A waste collection device for an ink jet printer, comprising:
- an ink cartridge member removably mounted to said printer;
- ink supply means provided within said ink cartridge member for supplying ink liquid to said printer;
- a waste collecting bag provided within said ink cartridge member and in contact with said ink supply means, said bag being divided into a plurality of discrete sections, each of said plurality of sections containing a powdered material for absorbing fluid;
- means for directing waste fluid from said ink jet printer into communication with said waste collecting bag;
- and
- means for enabling said waste collecting bag to uniformly absorb said waste fluid within said ink cartridge member upon exhaustion of ink liquid from said ink supply means.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.