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US 6,655,542 B2Granted
Ink tank
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsHiroshi Koshikawa, Masanori Takenouchi, Shozo Hattori, Hajime Yamamoto, Eiichiro Shimizu, Fumitaka Goto
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An ink tank producing a stable negative pressure regardless of material used is provided. In the ink tank, inner and outer walls include a bonding region having a bonding force distribution. With this arrangement, since the inner wall separates from the outer wall as ink in the ink tank is being guided out, the area of a non-bonding region increases.
Claims6
An ink tank comprising:
- an inner wall forming a liquid containing portion for storing liquid;
- an outer wall, having inner surfaces whose shapes are substantially the same as those of outer surfaces of the inner wall, comprising at least one atmospheric-air communicating portion for introducing atmospheric air into a space between the inner wall and the inner surfaces of the outer wall;
- and
- a liquid feeding port for feeding liquid in the liquid containing portion to the outside,
- wherein the inner wall is separable from the outer wall as the liquid is being guided out from the liquid feeding port,
- the ink tank further comprising:
- a first region in which the inner and outer walls are bonded to each other and are separable from each other by an external force;
- and
- a second region, next to the first region, in which the inner and outer walls are bonded to each other and a larger external force is needed to separate the inner wall from the outer wall than in the first region,
- wherein, as the liquid is being guided out, the inner wall separates from the outer wall first in the first region and then in the second region.
7 more elements
An ink tank comprising:
- an inner wall having an approximate prism-like shape and forming a liquid containing portion for storing liquid;
- an outer wall, having inner surfaces whose shapes are substantially the same as those of outer surfaces of the inner wall, comprising at least one atmospheric-air communicating portion for introducing atmospheric air into a space between the inner wall and the inner surfaces of the outer wall;
- and
- a liquid feeding port for feeding liquid in the liquid containing portion to the outside,
- wherein the inner wall is separable from the outer wall as the liquid is being guided out from the liquid feeding port,
- wherein the liquid feeding port is disposed on a surface of the inner wall except the largest-area surface of the same, and
- wherein a thickness distribution of each largest-area surface of the inner wall varies continuously so as to become larger from a position remote from the liquid feeding port toward the liquid feeding port.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.