Ink cartridge and recording apparatus

• US 20060152564A1
• Filed: 12/27/2005
• Published: 07/13/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kazuaki Aoki, Kazuhiro Hashii, Kazumasa Harada, Satoshi Shinada, Yasuto Sakai
• Original Assignee: Kazuaki Aoki, Kazuhiro Hashii, Kazumasa Harada, Satoshi Shinada, Yasuto Sakai
• Inventors: Shinada, Satoshi, Sakai, Yasuto, Hashii, Kazuhiro, Aoki, Kazuaki, Harada, Kazumasa
• Granted Patent: US 7,244,018 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 347/86
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/17503 Ink cartridges
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/1752 Mounting within the printer
• 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 2/1755 mechanically
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/17553 Outer structure

Abstract

The ink cartridge includes an ink supply port formed at a position, offset to one side, of a wall configuring an ink container body; a positioning projecting portion, formed on one wall out of two opposing walls adjacent the wall, whose upper surface and side portion are regulated imposition when the cartridge has been mounted on a recording apparatus; a lever, formed on the other wall out of the two walls, maintaining a normal hinged-open state and having a projection that is forcibly displaced outward when the cartridge is mounted on the recording apparatus; and electrodes that are connected to a memory unit storing information on the ink in an ink container and formed on the positioning projecting portion.

Claims

1. An ink cartridge detachably mountable on a recording apparatus having an ink supply needle, comprising:

an ink container having an upper wall, a bottom wall, and opposing first and second walls;

an ink supply port, for receiving the ink supply needle of the recording apparatus, disposed on the bottom wall closer to the first wall than to the second wall;

a retaining member having an engagement portion that is spaced apart from the first wall and that is movable toward and away from the first wall;

a projection protruding from the second wall, the projection having a plurality of side portions and a surface disposed between the side portions;

a memory unit disposed on the ink container;

a plurality of electrodes in electrical communication with the memory unit, the electrodes being disposed on the surface of the projection.

2. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the side portions of the projection prevent substantial movement of the ink cartridge relative to the ink jet recording apparatus in a direction between the side portions when the ink cartridge is mounted on the recording apparatus.

3. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the projection has a circuit board and the surface of the projection is a surface of the circuit board.

4. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising a press portion disposed on the second wall, wherein an upper surface of the press portion is positioned so that a structure of the recording apparatus contacts the surface and presses the surface toward the bottom wall when the ink cartridge is mounted in the recording apparatus.

5. An ink cartridge according to claim 4, wherein the upper surface of the press portion includes a flat surface.

6. An ink cartridge according to claim 4, wherein the press portion is a projecting portion projecting from the second wall and is located closer to the top wall than the bottom wall.

7. An ink cartridge according to claim 4, wherein the press portion is constructed as a separate member from the projection.

8. An ink cartridge according to claim 6, wherein the projecting portion is arranged to receive an applied downward positioning force exerted on the ink cartridge at a location that is substantially disposed on an imaginary surface extending upward from the surface on which the electrode are formed.

9. An ink cartridge according to claim 6, wherein the projecting portion is dimensioned such that a projecting height from the second wall of the ink cartridge is smaller than a projecting height of the projection.

10. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising a projecting portion, wherein the projecting portion is located within a region defined by and between outermost said electrodes in a direction that is perpendicular to an insertion direction of the ink cartridge into the recording apparatus and that is parallel to the second wall.

11. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising a projecting portion, wherein a height of the projecting portion from the second wall is smaller than a height of the projection from the second wall.

12. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising a guide projecting portion which extends in a loading direction of the container and which is located below the retaining member.

13. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising a recessed portion formed in another wall adjacent to the second wall from which the projection protrudes.

14. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising a valve body that is usually maintained in a closed valve state by a biasing member, and an elastic sealing member that abuts the valve body and that elastically contacts an outer circumference of the ink supply needle of the recording apparatus, the valve body and the elastic sealing member being housed in the ink supply port.

15. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the retaining member includes a lever having the engagement portion engageable with a part of the recording apparatus, and the lever has at least one projection that biases an upper portion of the lever outward as the cartridge is mounted on the recording apparatus.

16. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising two side projections, the side projections being respectively provided on each side surface of the retaining member.

17. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein a width of the projection is smaller than a width of the ink container.

18. An ink cartridge according to claim 17, wherein a space between the projection and a side wall of the ink cartridge is used as a region for receiving therein a rib formed on a cartridge holder of the recording apparatus.

19. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the electrodes are arranged in at least two rows, and each of the rows extends in a direction perpendicular to an axis of the ink supply port.

20. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the retaining member includes a lever having the engagement portion engageable with a part of the recording apparatus, and the lever comprises an elastic member that urges the ink container in a direction in which the projection protrudes from the second wall.

21. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising an elastic sealing member, housed in the ink supply port, that engages the ink supply needle of the recording apparatus when the ink cartridge is mounted on the recording apparatus.

22. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the second wall has at least one of a pinching recess and a protruded portion.

23. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the second wall is elongated in an insertion direction of the ink cartridge into the recording apparatus so that a length of the second wall in the insertion direction is longer than a length of the second wall in a direction perpendicular to the insertion direction.

24. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the electrodes and the memory unit are formed on a circuit board mounted on the projection, and the surface of the projection is a surface of the circuit board.

25. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of electrodes is has an elongated shape which is longer in a cartridge insertion direction than in a direction perpendicular to the cartridge insertion direction.

26. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the electrodes are disposed on a circuit board at an offset position closer to the bottom wall than to the top wall.

27. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising an identification piece extending outward from the second wall at a position located between the top wall and the projection.

28. An ink cartridge according to claim 27, wherein the identification piece extends outward past a plane in which the surface lies and on which the electrodes are arranged.

29. An ink cartridge according to claim 27, wherein at least one of a shape, a width and a length of the identification piece corresponds to a property of an ink within the ink container.

30. An ink cartridge according to claim 27, wherein the projection and the identification piece are formed as a block.

31. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising at least one of a projection, a ridge and a groove formed on one of the side portions of the projection.

32. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising a first one of a projection, a ridge and a groove formed on a first one of the side portions and a second one of a projection, a ridge and a groove formed on a second one of the side portions.

33. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the side portions respectively define side surface parallel to an insertion direction of the ink cartridge into the recording apparatus.

34. An ink cartridge according to claim 6, wherein the projecting portion is integral with the projection on which the electrodes are disposed.

35. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the retaining member extends from the first wall towards the upper wall.

36. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the surface of the projection is at least one of parallel to the second wall and perpendicular to the bottom wall.

37. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the surface of the projection is parallel to an axis of the ink supply port.

38. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the projection is disposed on the vertically elongated second wall at a location close to the bottom wall.

39. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the projection is disposed on the second wall proximate to the bottom wall.

40. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising a projecting portion, wherein the surface of the projecting portion to be contacted with a mounting lever of the recording apparatus is formed to at least partially extend in a direction perpendicular to the surface on which the electrodes are arranged.

41. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising a projecting portion, wherein the surface of the projecting portion to be contacted with a mounting lever of the recording apparatus is set at least one of substantially parallel to the bottom wall and substantially perpendicular to the second wall on which the projecting portion is formed.

42. An ink cartridge according to claim 4, wherein the location of the press portion is at substantially a same level in an cartridge insertion direction as the location of the engagement portion of the retaining member formed on the first wall.

43. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising a projecting portion, wherein the electrodes are arranged in at least one row perpendicular to an insertion direction of the ink cartridge and parallel to the second wall, and the projecting portion is located within a width of the at least one electrode row.

44. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising a projecting portion wherein the projecting portion is located on a center of at least one row of the electrodes and is arranged symmetrically with respect to the center of the electrode row.

45. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein a part of the ink supply port protrudes outward from the bottom wall of the ink container.

46. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the projection is located at a position offset to one side of the ink container in a widthwise direction.

47. An ink cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the retaining member is disposed on the first wall.