Ink cartridge and ink jet recording apparatus
AssigneeNEC Corporation
InventorKatsunori Tanaka
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An ink cartridge has a cover that is in intimate contact with an ink tank around the ink injection port and having an opening portion at a position corresponding to the ink injection port, and the protection cap held slidably between the cover and the ink tank for opening/closing the opening portion. When the protection cap is closed, the ink injection port is tightly closed. Also, the protection cap of the ink cartridge has a lever projecting from the opening portion of the cover. An ink cartridge holder fixed to the recording apparatus for loading the ink cartridge thereon has claws engaged with a lever of the ink cartridge in the loading condition. When the ink cartridge is loaded, the protection cap is opened by the claws.
Claims15
An ink jet recording apparatus, comprising:
- an ink cartridge which comprises:
- an ink tank;
- an ink injection port mounted on said ink tank for injecting ink;
- a cover which is in intimate contact with said ink tank around said ink injection port and has an opening portion at a position corresponding to said ink injection port;
- and
- a protection cap held slidably between said cover and said ink tank for opening/closing said opening portion,
- wherein when said protection cap is closed, said ink injection port is provided with a substantially air-tight closure with respect to air external to said covers;
- a holder on which said ink cartridge is loaded;
- arms extending from said holder to an opening/closing direction of said protection cap of said ink cartridge to be loaded;
- and
- an engagement portion, fixed to said arms, which is engaged with and opens said protection cap of said ink cartridge loaded along said arms.
An ink jet recording apparatus, comprising:
- an ink tank;
- an ink injection port mounted on said ink tank for injecting ink;
- a cover which is in intimate contact with said ink tank around said ink injection port and has an opening portion at a position corresponding to said ink injection port;
- a protection cap held slidably between said cover and said ink tank for opening/closing said opening portion, wherein when said protection cap is closed, said ink injection port is provided with a substantially air-tight closure with respect to air external to said cover;
- and
- rollers held rotatably in contact with said protection cap and sliding said protection cap by rotation.
An ink jet recording apparatus, comprising:
- an ink cartridge which comprises an ink tank, an ink injection port mounted on said ink tank for injecting ink, a cover which is in intimate contact with said ink tank around said ink injection port and has an opening portion at a position corresponding to said ink injection port, a protection cap held slidably between said cover and said ink tank for opening/closing said opening portion, wherein when said protection cap is closed, said ink injection port is provided with a substantially air-tight closure with respect to air external to said cover;
- an engagement portion that is engaged with said protection cap of said ink cartridge;
- an elastic member for pushing said engagement portion in a direction in which said protection cap is closed;
- an opening/closing driving means for moving said engagement portion in a direction in which said protection cap is opened, or in the direction in which said protection cap is closed, or for keeping said engagement portion free;
- and
- a controlling means for recognizing the reception of printing data and the printing processing condition and for controlling said opening/closing driving means.
An ink cartridge, comprising:
- an ink tank having an ink injection port mounted on a surface thereof;
- a cover which is in intimate contact with said ink tank, said cover having an opening portion that is positioned to allow said ink injection port to extend therethrough;
- a protection cap slidably disposed between said cover and said ink tank for opening and closing said opening portion, said protection cap having a protrusion disposed on an end thereof;
- and
- a rubber piece disposed on an edge of said opening portion of said cover,
- wherein, when said protection cap is closed, said protrusion of said protection cap enters into said rubber piece to provide a substantially air-tight closure for said ink injection port.
An ink jet recording apparatus, comprising:
- an ink tank;
- an ink injection port mounted on said ink tank for injecting ink;
- a cover which is in intimate contact with said ink tank around said ink injection port and has an opening portion at a position corresponding to said ink injection port;
- a protection cap held slidably between said cover and said ink tank for opening/closing said opening portion;
- and
- a retainer configured to hold said protection cap in an open state when said retainer is mounted to said cover,
- wherein when said protection cap is in a closed state, said ink injection port is provided with a substantially air-tight closure with respect to air external to said cover.
A retainer for an ink cartridge and a cover, the cover including a protection cap that can be positioned in a closed state to protect an ink injection port of the ink cartridge from outside air, or that can be positioned in an open state to allow for operation of the ink cartridge inside a printer, said retainer comprising:
- a base configured to abut against a bottom surface of the cover;
- a plurality of lower arms extending in a particular direction with respect to the base and configured to respectively slide into a plurality of grooves provided on a outer surface of the cover;
- and
- a protection cap retainer disposed between the plurality of lower arms, the protection cap retainer including a plurality of claws provided on the protection cap retainer and configured to position the protection cap into the open state when said plurality of lower arms are slid into the plurality of grooves of said cover.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.