Ink-jet printing apparatus and ink cartridge therefor

• US 20020180823A1
• Filed: 04/12/2002
• Published: 12/05/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujio Akahane, Makoto Matsuzaki, Minoru Usui, Satoshi Shinada, Takao Kobayashi
• Original Assignee: Fujio Akahane, Makoto Matsuzaki, Minoru Usui, Satoshi Shinada, Takao Kobayashi
• Inventors: Akahane, Fujio, Usui, Minoru, Kobayashi, Takao, Shinada, Satoshi, Matsuzaki, Makoto
• Granted Patent: US 7,278,708 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 347/19
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/17503 Ink cartridges
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/17513 Inner structure
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1752 Mounting within the printer
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/17523 Ink connection
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/17526 Electrical contacts to the cartridge
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1753 Details of contacts on the cartridge, e.g. protection of contacts
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/17546 electronically
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/17553 Outer structure
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/17559 Cartridge manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 25/304 Bodily-movable mechanisms for print heads or carriages movable towards or from paper surface
• CPC Class Codes: D06M 11/44 Oxides or hydroxides of elements of Groups 2 or 12 of the Periodic Table; Zincates; Cadmates
• CPC Class Codes: D06M 13/44 containing nitrogen and phosphorus
• CPC Class Codes: D06M 15/667 containing phosphorus in the main chain inorganic polyphosphates D06M11/72

Abstract

An ink jet type printing apparatus in which an ink supply needle is located near one side in a direction perpendicular to the reciprocated directions of a carriage, a circuit board is mounted on a wall of an ink cartridge in the vicinity of the side on which an ink supply port is formed and plural contacts for connecting to external control means are formed on the exposed surface of the circuit board.

Claims

1. An ink cartridge for an ink jet printing apparatus having a printhead which ejects ink droplets onto a recording medium, the printhead having an ink supply needle, and is mounted on a movable carriage, the ink cartridge comprising:

a housing containing an ink therein and configured for removable mounting on the printhead, said housing having a first wall and a second wall, the second wall having both a first upper corner and a second upper corner;

an ink supply port formed on said first wall for receiving the ink supply needle of the printhead and supplying the ink from said housing to the printhead, the ink supply port having a centerline;

a memory device storing information about the ink disposed on said housing; and

at least a first electrical contact having a first width and a second electrical contact having a second width, the first width being less than the second width, and wherein, viewing the ink cartridge in a direction perpendicular to a plane of the contacts, both the first electrical contact and the second electrical contact are intersected by a plane passing through the centerline of the ink supply port, the first electrical contact being further from the ink supply port than the second electrical contact.

2. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein said housing is substantially rectangular, said electrical contacts are disposed on said second wall which is substantially perpendicular to said first wall, and said second wall has a shorter width than the other wall of said housing.

3. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein said memory device is detachably mounted on said housing.

4. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein said memory device is mounted on said housing by a spring and a mounting plate.

5. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein said memory device and said electrical contacts are located on a substrate having a positioning member.

6. The ink cartridge according to claim 5, wherein said contacts are arranged on one surface of said substrate and said memory device is disposed on an other surface of said substrate.

7. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein said electrical contacts are grouped into at least a first group and a second group.

8. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein said electrical contacts come into engagement with an external control device at a time interval when the ink cartridge is mounted on the printing apparatus.

9. An ink cartridge as in claim 1, further comprising:

a third electric contact and a fourth electric contact which are disposed on a line passing through the first electric contact, which line is perpendicular to the centerline of the ink supply port; and

a fifth electric contact and a sixth electric contact which are disposed on a line passing through the second electric contact, which line is perpendicular to the centerline of the ink supply port.

10. An ink cartridge as in claim 9, wherein, viewing the ink cartridge in a direction perpendicular to a plane of the contacts, the third electric contact and the fourth electric contact are symmetrically disposed about the centerline of the ink supply port.

11. An ink cartridge as in claim 9, wherein, viewing the ink cartridge in a direction perpendicular to a plane of the contacts, the fifth electric contact and the sixth electric contact are symmetrically disposed about the centerline of the ink supply port.

12. An ink cartridge as in claim 10, wherein, viewing the ink cartridge in a direction perpendicular to a plane of the contacts, the fifth electric contact and the sixth electric contact are symmetrically disposed about the centerline of the ink supply port, and each of said third, fourth, fifth and sixth electric contacts has an inner edge, the distance between the inner edges of the third and fourth electric contacts being less than the distance between the inner edges of the fifth and sixth electric contacts.

14. An ink cartridge according to claim 13, wherein the first predetermined distance is less than the second predetermined distance.

16. An ink cartridge as in claim 15, wherein, viewing the ink cartridge in a direction perpendicular to a plane of the contacts, at least one of the first row and the second row are symmetrically disposed about the centerline of the ink supply port.

17. An ink cartridge as in claim 15, wherein the second width is greater than the first width.

19. An ink cartridge as in claim 18, further comprising:

a fourth and a fifth electrical contacts having respective portions which are disposed on a line passing through the portion of the first electrical contact, which line is essentially perpendicular to the centerline of the ink supply port;

wherein, viewing the ink cartridge in a direction perpendicular to a plane of the contacts, the fourth and the fifth electrical contacts have respective portions symmetrically disposed about the centerline of the ink supply port.

13. An ink cartridge for an ink jet printing apparatus having a printhead which ejects ink droplets onto a recording medium, the printhead having an ink supply needle, and is mounted on a movable carriage, the ink cartridge comprising:

a housing containing an ink therein and configured for removable mounting on the printhead, said housing having a first wall and a second wall, the second wall having both a first upper corner and a second upper corner;

an ink supply port formed on said first wall for receiving the ink supply needle of the printhead and supplying the ink from said housing to the printhead, the ink supply port having a centerline;

a memory device storing information about the ink disposed on said housing; and

at least a first electrical contact and a second electrical contact on said second wall and allowing electrical communication between the memory device and the ink jet printing apparatus, the first electrical contact having a first inner edge closest to the centerline of the ink supply port, the first inner edge of the first electrical contact being spaced from the centerline of the ink supply port by a first predetermined distance and the second electrical contact having a second inner edge closest to the centerline of the ink supply port, the second inner edge of the second electrical contact being spaced from the centerline of the ink supply port by a second predetermined distance, the first predetermined distance being different from the second predetermined distance, the first and second electrical contacts lying in at least a first row and a second row, respectively, the first row being closer to a line connecting the first and the second upper corners than the second row.

15. An ink cartridge for an ink jet printing apparatus having a printhead which ejects ink droplets onto a recording medium, the printhead having an ink supply needle, and is mounted on a movable carriage, the ink cartridge comprising:

a housing containing an ink therein and configured for removable mounting on the printhead, said housing having a first wall and a second wall, the second wall having both a first upper corner and a second upper corner;

an ink supply port formed on said first wall for receiving the ink supply needle of the printhead and supplying the ink from said housing to the printhead, the ink supply port having a centerline;

a memory device storing information about the ink disposed on said housing; and

a plurality of electrical contacts arranged in a first row having a first width, and a plurality of electrical contacts arranged in a second row having a second width, the second row being closer to the ink supply port than the first row, the first width being different from the second width.

18. An ink cartridge for an ink jet printing apparatus having a printhead which ejects ink droplets onto a recording medium, the printhead having an ink supply needle, and is mounted on a movable carriage, the ink cartridge comprising:

a housing containing an ink therein and configured for removable mounting on the printhead, said housing having a first wall and a second wall extending in different planes;

an ink supply port formed on said first wall for receiving the ink supply needle of the printhead and supplying the ink from said housing to the printhead, the ink supply port having a centerline;

a memory device carried by said housing and storing information about the ink contained in said housing; and

at least a first electrical contact having a portion located in a first row and positioned on said second wall, and a second and a third electrical contacts having respective portions positioned on said second wall in a second row, and, viewing the ink cartridge in a direction perpendicular to a plane of the contacts, the first electric contact is intersected by a plane passing through the centerline of the ink supply port and the second and third electrical contact portions are symmetrically disposed about the centerline of the ink supply port, the first row being further from the ink supply port than the second row.