LIQUID CARTRIDGE CAPABLE OF IMPROVING VISIBILITY TO LIQUID STORED IN LIQUID STORAGE CHAMBER

• US 20180272724A1
• Filed: 07/31/2017
• Published: 09/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
• Original Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
• Inventors: NUKUI, Kosuke, TAKAHASHI, Hiroaki, MIYAO, Takahiro, ONO, Akihito, KOBAYASHI, Tetsuro, NAKAZAWA, Fumio
• Granted Patent: US 10,449,771 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/04 generating single droplets or particles on demand
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/17509 Whilst mounted in the printer
• 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 2/1753 Details of contacts on the cartridge, e.g. protection of contacts
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/17553 Outer structure
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/17566 Ink level or ink residue control
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2002/17573 using optical means for ink level indication

Abstract

A liquid cartridge includes: a cartridge casing having a liquid storage chamber defined by a front wall, a rear wall, a bottom wall, a first side wall, and a second side wall; and a liquid supply portion; a top wall; and an accessed member. The liquid supply portion has a liquid supply hole extending from the liquid storage chamber to the outside in a frontward direction. The front, rear, first side, and second side walls are formed of a material permitting the liquid stored in the liquid storage chamber to be visually recognized from the outside. Each of the front, rear, first side, and second side walls includes a portion forming an outer wall of the cartridge casing exposed to the outside of the cartridge casing. The accessed member is disposed upward relative to the liquid storage chamber and accessed from the outside.

Claims

1. A liquid cartridge comprising:

a cartridge casing having a liquid storage chamber configured to store a liquid therein;

a liquid supply portion having a liquid supply hole and configured to supply the liquid stored in the liquid storage chamber to an outside through the liquid supply hole, the liquid supply hole extending from the liquid storage chamber to the outside in a frontward direction perpendicular to a gravitational direction in a state where the liquid cartridge is in its upright posture,

the cartridge casing comprising;

in the upright posture of the liquid cartridge,

a front wall at which the liquid supply portion is disposed;

a rear wall spaced away from the front wall in a rearward direction opposite to the frontward direction;

a bottom wall extending in a front-rear direction between the front wall and the rear wall, the bottom wall having a portion positioned upward relative to the liquid supply hole;

a first side wall extending in an up-down direction and the front-rear direction, the first side wall being connected to the front wall, the rear wall and the bottom wall, the up-down direction being parallel to the gravitational direction; and

a second side wall facing the first side wall and extending in the up-down direction and the front-rear direction, the second side wall being connected to the front wall, the rear wall and the bottom wall,

the liquid storage chamber being defined by the front wall, the rear wall, the bottom wall, the first side wall, and the second side wall,

the front wall, the rear wall, the first side wall, and the second side wall being formed of a material permitting the liquid stored in the liquid storage chamber to be visually recognized from the outside, and

each of the front wall, the rear wall, the first side wall, and the second side wall including a portion forming an outer wall of the cartridge casing exposed to the outside of the cartridge casing;

a top wall extending in the front-rear direction between the front wall and the rear wall, the top wall being spaced away from the bottom wall in an upward direction opposite to the gravitational direction in a state where the liquid cartridge is in the upright posture; and

an accessed member disposed upward relative to the liquid storage chamber and configured to be accessed from the outside.

2. The liquid cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising a cover connected to the cartridge casing, the cover including the top wall.

3. The liquid cartridge according to claim 2, wherein one of the cartridge casing and the cover has a plurality of engaging portions, and remaining one of the cartridge casing and the cover has a plurality of engagement portions in one to one correspondence with the plurality of engaging portions, each of the plurality of engaging portions being engageable with each of the plurality of engagement portions.

4. The liquid cartridge according to claim 1, wherein each of the front wall, the rear wall, the first side wall, and the second side wall is free from a rib protruding toward the liquid storage chamber.

5. The liquid cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the liquid cartridge is configured to be detachably attached to a case,

wherein the accessed member has an accessed surface, and

wherein, in an attached state of the liquid cartridge to the case, the accessed surface is accessed by one of a physical access, an electric access, and an optical access from a component provided at the case, the component being positioned at an outside of the liquid cartridge.

6. The liquid cartridge according to claim 5, wherein the liquid cartridge is configured to be attached to the case in an attachment direction crossing the gravitational direction, and

wherein the accessed surface includes a lock surface facing rearward and configured to be abutted on a lock portion provided at the case in the attached state of the liquid cartridge to the case.

7. The liquid cartridge according to claim 6, wherein the accessed surface includes an electrical interface, the electrical interface being configured to be contacted by an electrical contact provided at the case in the attached state of the liquid cartridge to the case.

8. The liquid cartridge according to claim 7, wherein the accessed surface includes a light-blocking surface extending in the gravitational direction and the front-rear direction and disposed upward relative to the liquid storage chamber in the attached state of the liquid cartridge to the case, the light-blocking surface being configured to block a light traveling in a direction crossing the front-rear direction and the gravitational direction.

9. The liquid cartridge according to claim 8, wherein the light-blocking surface, the electrical interface, and the lock surface are arranged in this order from the front to the rear.

10. The liquid cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising a top end wall defining a top end of the liquid storage chamber in the upright posture of the liquid cartridge, the top end wall being formed with a communication hole allowing the liquid storage chamber to communicate with an atmosphere, the communication hole opening upward in the upright posture of the liquid cartridge.

11. The liquid cartridge according to claim 1, wherein, in the upright posture of the liquid cartridge, the bottom wall comprises:

a first bottom wall portion positioned upward relative to the liquid supply hole; and

a second bottom wall portion extending in the frontward direction from the lower end of the rear wall and positioned downward relative to the first bottom wall portion,

wherein, in the upright posture of the liquid cartridge, the front wall comprises;

a main front wall portion; and

a connecting wall portion positioned downward and rearward relative to the main front wall portion, the connecting wall portion connecting the first bottom wall portion to the second bottom wall portion, the liquid supply portion extending in the frontward direction from the connecting wall portion.

12. The liquid cartridge according to claim 11, wherein, in the upright posture of the liquid cartridge, the front wall has a portion positioned frontward relative to an open end of the liquid supply hole in the upright posture of the liquid cartridge, the open end being positioned at a front end of the liquid supply hole.

13. The liquid cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the liquid storage chamber comprises a first storage chamber and a second storage chamber, the second storage chamber being disposed downward relative to the first storage chamber in the upright posture of the liquid cartridge,

wherein the first storage chamber has an inner bottom surface visually recognized from the outside through the rear wall when no or little liquid remains in the first storage chamber, and

wherein the liquid supply hole is positioned downward relative to the inner bottom surface of the first storage chamber in the upright posture of the liquid cartridge.

14. The liquid cartridge according to claim 13, wherein the inner bottom surface is formed with a communication opening in communication with the liquid supply hole through the second storage chamber, the inner bottom surface being sloped downward toward the communication opening in the upright posture of the liquid cartridge.

15. The liquid cartridge according to claim 14, wherein the communication opening is positioned at a rear end portion of the inner bottom surface in the upright posture of the liquid cartridge.

16. The liquid cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the cartridge casing is made of a transparent or semi-transparent resin.