Suction priming of a newly exchanged ink container
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsNobuyuki Kuwabara, Hiroshi Tajika, Kazuhiro Nakajima, Shuichi Murakami, Tamaki Sato
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Abstract
An ink jet apparatus, used with an exchangeable ink jet cartridge having an ink jet head and an ink container, includes a cap, a sucking device and a controller. When the cap caps the ejection orifices of the recording head, the sucking device sucks ink from the ejection orifices. The controller controls the operation of the cap and sucking device. After a sucking operation is performed, the cap is held away from the ejection orifices for a predetermined duration of time; the capping and sucking operations are then repeated.
Claims9
An ink jet apparatus for use with an ink jet head with an ejection orifice for ejecting ink and an exchangeable ink container for containing ink to be supplied to said ink jet head, the apparatus comprising:
- a cap for capping said ejection orifice;
- sucking means for sucking ink from said ejection orifice when said cap caps said ejection orifice after said ink container is exchanged;
- and
- control means for controlling said cap and said sucking means so that said sucking means sucks ink form said ejection orifice when said cap caps said ejection orifice;
- wherein the ink container includes an ink absorbing member, said control means controls said sucking means so that said sucking means sucks ink from said ejection orifice when said cap caps said ejection orifice after said ink container is exchanged, and then said control means controls said cap to be separated from said ejection orifice and held away therefrom, without laterally moving said ink jet head relative to said cap, for a predetermined duration of time, during which a sucking operation is not performed by said sucking means and ink drawn into the ink jet head in the sucking operation is returned toward the ink container by negative pressure produced by the ink absorbing member, and after said predetermined duration of time said control means controls said cap and said sucking means so that said cap again caps said ejection orifice and said sucking means again sucks ink from said ejection orifice.
A recovery method for an ink jet apparatus for use with an ink jet head with an ejection orifice for ejecting ink and an exchangeable ink container for containing ink to be supplied to said ink jet head, the ink container including an ink absorbing member, said recovery method being performed after said ink container is exchanged and said ink jet apparatus including a cap for capping said ejection orifice and sucking means for sucking ink from said ejection orifice, said method comprising:
- a first sucking step in which said sucking means sucks ink from said ejection orifice when said cap caps said ejection orifice after said ink container is exchanged;
- a non-sucking step, after said first sucking step, in which said cap is separated from and held away from said ejection orifice for a predetermined duration of time during which said ink jet head is not moved laterally relative to the cap, and during which said sucking means does not perform a sucking operation, whereby ink drawn into the ink jet head in the sucking operation is returned toward the ink container during said predetermined duration of time by negative pressure produced by the ink absorbing member;
- and
- a second sucking step, after said non-sucking step, in which said cap again caps said ejection orifice and said sucking means again sucks ink from said ejection orifice.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.