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US 6,663,220 B2Granted
Ink jet printer
AssigneeToshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsAtsushi Suzuki, Takuro Ito
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A discharge port is formed in a bottom surface of ink tank. The ink tank is made to communicate with a waste ink tank by connecting the discharge port to the waste ink tank in a position lower than the discharge port, and a part of connection member is openable/closable by a valve. If the connection member is opened, ink is discharged from the discharge port of the ink tank to the waste ink tank. If impurities are deposited on the bottom surface of the ink tank, the impurities can be discharged with ink from the discharge port to the waste ink tank, thereby clogging in the nozzle head due to impurities can be reliably prevented.
Claims12
An ink jet printer, comprising:
- a nozzle head having plural ink jet nozzles to allow selectively discharging ink;
- an ink tank which holds the ink to be supplied to the nozzle head;
- a first connection member which is connected to the ink tank and the nozzle head and connects the ink tank to the nozzle head;
- a discharge port formed in a bottom surface of the ink tank and at which impurities are deposited;
- a second connection member which connects the discharge port to a waste ink tank, which collects waste ink produced upon maintenance of the nozzle head, wherein the waste ink tank is at a position lower than the discharge port, and wherein the second connection member connects the ink tank to the waste ink tank;
- and
- a valve which opens/closes a part of the second connection member,
- wherein a connection portion of the first connection member to the ink tank is in a portion higher than the bottom surface of the ink tank.
5 more elements
An ink jet printer, comprising:
- a nozzle head having plural ink jet nozzles to allow selectively discharging ink;
- an ink tank which holds the ink to be supplied to the nozzle head;
- a first connection member which is connected to the ink tank and the nozzle head and connects the ink tank to the nozzle head;
- a discharge port formed in a bottom surface of the ink tank and at which impurities are deposited;
- a second connection member which connects the discharge port to a waste ink tank, which collects waste ink produced upon maintenance of the nozzle head, wherein the waste ink tank is at a position lower than the discharge port, and wherein the second connection member connects the ink tank to the waste ink tank;
- and
- a valve which opens/closes a part of the second connection member,
- wherein a connection portion between the first connection member and the second connection member to the ink tank is partitioned by a filter.
5 more elements
An ink jet printer, comprising:
- a nozzle head having plural ink jet nozzles to allow selectively discharging ink;
- an ink tank which holds the ink to be supplied to the nozzle head;
- a first connection member which is connected to the ink tank and the nozzle head and connects the ink tank to the nozzle head;
- a discharge port formed in a bottom surface of the ink tank and at which impurities are deposited;
- a second connection member which connects the discharge port to a waste ink tank, which collects waste ink produced upon maintenance of the nozzle head, wherein the waste ink tank is at a position lower than the discharge port, and wherein the second connection member connects the ink tank to the waste ink tank;
- and
- a valve which opens/closes a part of the second connection member,
- wherein the bottom surface of the ink tank has a dent.
5 more elements
An ink jet printer, comprising:
- a nozzle head having plural ink jet nozzles to allow selectively discharging ink;
- an ink tank which holds the ink to be supplied to the nozzle head;
- a first connection member which is connected to the ink tank and the nozzle head and connects the ink tank to the nozzle head;
- a discharge port formed in a bottom surface of the ink tank and at which impurities are deposited;
- a second connection member which connects the discharge port to a waste ink tank, which collects waste ink produced upon maintenance of the nozzle head, wherein the waste ink tank is at a position lower than the discharge port, and wherein the second connection member connects the ink tank to the waste ink tank;
- and
- a valve which opens/closes a part of the second connection member,
- wherein a connection portion of the first connection member to the ink tank is in a position higher than the bottom surface of the ink tank.
5 more elements
An ink jet printer, comprising:
- a nozzle head having plural ink jet nozzles to allow selectively discharging ink;
- an ink tank which holds the ink to be supplied to the nozzle head;
- a first connection member which is connected to the ink tank and the nozzle head and connects the ink tank to the nozzle head;
- a discharge port formed in a bottom surface of the ink tank and at which impurities are deposited;
- a second connection member which connects the discharge port to a waste ink tank, which collects waste ink produced upon maintenance of the nozzle head, wherein the waste ink tank is at a position lower than the discharge port, and wherein the second connection member connects the ink tank to the waste ink tank;
- and
- a valve which opens/closes a part of the second connection member,
- wherein the bottom surface of the ink tank has a dent.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.