Ink tank and ink-jet recording apparatus
AssigneeFUJIFILM Corporation
InventorMasahito Katada
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An ink cartridge is provided with a storage chamber storing ink and an ink absorbent chamber containing an ink absorbent that absorbs the ink from the storage chamber through an interconnection slot. An ejection opening is formed through the ink absorbent chamber to supply the ink to a recording head. A residual ink ejecting mechanism is built in the storage chamber, wherein a liquid send-out member is usually locked in a standby position by a lock member. When an ink run-out sensor detects that the ink is almost used up, an unlock device is activated to unlock the residual ink ejecting mechanism. Then the liquid send-out member pushes out the ink remaining on a bottom of the storage chamber toward the ejection opening, according to a force of a spring.
Claims12
An ink tank for supplying ink to an ink jet type recording head, comprising:
- an ink chamber containing the ink;
- an ejection opening formed through a bottom of said ink chamber, to eject the ink from said ink chamber toward said recording head;
- and
- a residual ink ejecting mechanism disposed in said ink chamber, said residual ink ejecting mechanism comprising a liquid send-out member movable between a standby position and a send-out position, a biasing member for biasing said liquid send-out member toward said send-out position, and a lock member movable between a lock position for locking said liquid send-out member in said standby position against a biasing force of said biasing member, and an unlock position allowing said liquid send-out member to move to said send-out position, wherein said liquid send-out member pushes out a residue of the ink, which remains on the bottom of said ink chamber, toward said ejection opening, while moving to said send-out position.
An ink-jet recording apparatus for recording an image on a recording medium by use of an ink jet type recording head, wherein an ink tank for supplying ink to said recording head comprises an ink chamber containing the ink;
- an ejection opening formed through a bottom of said ink chamber, to eject the ink from said ink chamber toward said recording head;
- and a residual ink ejecting mechanism disposed in said ink chamber, said residual ink ejecting mechanism comprising a liquid send-out member movable between a standby position and a send-out position, a biasing member for biasing said liquid send-out member toward said send-out position, and a lock member movable between a lock position for locking said liquid send-out member in said standby position against a biasing force of said biasing member, and an unlock position allowing said liquid send-out member to move to said send-out position, wherein said liquid send-out member pushes a residue of the ink, which remains on the bottom of said ink chamber, toward said ejection opening, while moving to said send-out position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.