Ink-jet printing apparatus and ink cartridge therefor

• US 20030058296A1
• Filed: 10/31/2002
• Published: 03/27/2003
• 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 7,275,810 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 mounting on a carriage of an inkjet printing apparatus to supply ink to a printhead of the inkjet printing apparatus through an ink supply needle, comprising:

a plurality of external surfaces;

an ink supply port formed in one of said external surfaces that receives the ink supply needle;

a semiconductor memory located on or in the cartridge; and

a plurality of contacts for connecting said memory to an external control means;

the contacts being positioned on another of said external surfaces and generally adjacent to said external surface having the ink supply port;

the contacts being provided in an upper row having a middle contact and a respective separate end contact on both sides thereof and a lower row having at each end a respective separate end contact;

such that each of the end contacts of the upper row terminates closer, in the direction of the rows, to said middle contact than does the respective end contact of the lower row terminate closer to said middle contact.

2. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein, when the cartridge is mounted on the carriage in a direction generally perpendicular to the direction of the rows, electrical connections can be made to the end contacts of the upper row without those electrical connections first having been made to the end contacts of the lower row.

3. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein, viewing the ink cartridge in a direction perpendicular to a plane of the contacts, at least one of the rows is symmetrically disposed about a plane passing through a centerline of the ink supply port.

4. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein said external surfaces are substantially rectangular and include a first external surface and a second external surface, and said contacts are disposed on said second external surface, which is substantially perpendicular to said first external surface, said second external surface having a shorter width than the other surface.

5. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein said memory is detachably mounted on one of said external surfaces.

6. The ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein said memory is mounted on one of said external surfaces by a spring and a mounting plate.

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

8. The ink cartridge according to claim 7, wherein said contacts are arranged on one surface of said substrate and said memory is disposed on an other surface of said substrate.

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

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