The present invention relates to an inkjet printer and an ink-accommodation unit that is used in the inkjet printer.
An inkjet printer is configured to perform printing by ejecting ink toward a recording target (such as a printing paper). For example, one example is disclosed in a publication under Utility Model Registration No of CN203567356 U.
In actual use, when the inkjet printer 10 is placed on a desk and ink needs to be injected through the inlet 41 after ink is used up, a certain space should be preserved rearward of the inkjet printer 10 on the desk to allow sliding of the cover 31. Under such circumstances, not only a space suitable for placing the inkjet printer 10 needs to be secured on the desk, but an additional space rearward of the inkjet printer 10 also needs to be secured in advance to allow the slidable cover 31 to be opened, thereby necessitating a larger space on the desk. If the rearward space is insufficient and ink cannot be injected, the user would be forced to relocate the inkjet printer 10 to a place with a sufficient space. This structure may therefore cause inconvenience to the user. In particular, in case that only a limited space is available on the desk, the user may find difficulty in performing injection of ink.
The present invention is made in order to overcome the above-described drawbacks. An object of the present invention is to provide an ink-accommodation unit that is used in an inkjet printer, and to reduce a space that the inkjet printer occupies.
In order to attain the above and other objects, the present invention provides an ink-accommodation unit provided in an inkjet printer. Here, the inkjet printer includes a printer main body, and the ink ink-accommodation unit includes a first member and a second member. The first member is configured to accommodate therein ink to be supplied to the printer main body. The first member is provided with an injection portion through which the ink is configured to be injected. The second member is pivotably movably connected to the first member. The second member is pivotable about a pivot axis relative to the first member between a closed position and an open position such that: the injection portion is covered by the second member when the second cover is at the closed position; and the injection portion is exposed when the second cover is at the open position. The pivot axis is parallel to a front-rear direction with respect to the first member and is positioned at a side of the first member, the side being closer to the printer main body.
According to another aspect, the present invention further provides an inkjet printer including a printer main body and an ink-accommodation unit. The ink ink-accommodation unit includes a first member and a second member. The first member is configured to accommodate therein ink to be supplied to the printer main body. The first member is provided with an injection portion through which the ink is configured to be injected. The second member is pivotably movably connected to the first member. The second member is pivotable about a pivot axis relative to the first member between a closed position and an open position such that: the injection portion is covered by the second member when the second cover is at the closed position; and the injection portion is exposed when the second cover is at the open position. The pivot axis is parallel to a front-rear direction with respect to the first member and is positioned at a side of the first member, the side being closer to the printer main body.
In the drawings:
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described while referring to drawings. It should be noted that the terms “top”, “bottom”, “front”, “rear”, “left”, “right” and similar expressions referred to in the following description will be used for an explanatory purpose, and not be limited thereto.
In the following description, a member is “exposed” denotes a state that the member is not covered by another member and can be seen by a user when the member is viewed from above thereof. In the following description, a member is “covered” denotes a state that the member is covered by another member and cannot be seen by a user when the member is viewed from above thereof. In the following description, “parallel” or “orthogonal” means substantially or generally “parallel”, or “orthogonal”.
The inkjet printer disclosed in the present invention may have each of a scanner function, a facsimile function, a copying function and a printer function; or may only have a printing function. As a printer function, a double-surface image forming function to form images on both surfaces of a recording sheet may be provided, or only a single-surface image forming function may be provided. Here, whether or not any function other than the printer function is provided is not limited.
As depicted in
As an illustrative example, when a sheet is placed on the sheet-feeder portion 121, the sheet is fed from the sheet-feeder portion 121 into an inside of the inkjet printer where an image is recorded on a surface of the sheet. The sheet is discharged onto the sheet-discharging portion 122 thereafter.
Inside the printer main body 120, a carriage (not shown) configured to make reciprocating movement over the surface of the sheet may be provided. On one end of the carriage that faces the sheet, a recording head (not shown) in which a plurality of nozzles is formed is mounted. When performing printing (recording), ink within the ink-accommodation unit 110 is supplied to the recording head through a flexible ink supply tube (not shown), and is then ejected from the recording head toward the sheet.
Normally, the carriage is driven by a driving mechanism (not shown), and is guided by a guide rail (not shown) so as to be able to move reciprocatingly over the sheet. Other than that, generally, a sheet conveying device (not shown) used for conveying sheets is disposed within the printer main body 120. The sheets are sequentially conveyed in association with reciprocating movement of the carriage, while ink is ejected from the recording head. In this way, images are recorded on the sheets.
As depicted in
In the present embodiment, the ink-accommodating body 111 has a generally rectangular parallelepiped shape. To facilitate explanation, in a state to be used, a direction in which a longer side of the ink-accommodating body 111 extends in a projection onto a horizontal plane will be referred to as the front-rear direction, while a shorter side of the ink-accommodating body 111 in a projection onto a horizontal plane will be referred to as the left-right direction.
In the present embodiment, the ink-accommodating body 111 includes separate members: an ink-tank holder and an ink tank (not shown). The ink tank is accommodated in the ink-tank holder and is configured to accommodate ink therein. The ink that the printer main body 120 uses for printing is supplied through the ink tank. An injection portion 113 is provided at an upper surface of the ink tank to protrude upward therefrom to facilitate user's injection of ink into the ink tank. The injection portion 113 has an opening (inlet) that is open upward. It should be noted that, other than the opening (inlet), the injection portion 113 may include a sealing member (not shown) configured to seal the opening to prevent evaporation or leakage of the ink.
” shape in cross-section. The cover 112 includes a horizontal upper wall 112a (as an example of a “first portion”) and a lower wall 112b vertically connected to the upper wall 112a (as an example of a “second portion”). Preferably, the upper wall 112a and the lower wall 112b are formed integrally. The cover 112 is pivotably movably connected to the ink-accommodating body 111. The cover 112 is pivotable between a closed position and an open position relative to the ink-accommodating body 111.
As depicted in
As is apparent from
In the present embodiment, a grip 116 is disposed at the cover 112. Preferably, the grip 116 is provided at a side of the cover 112, the side being farther away from the pivot axis of the cover 112. For example, as depicted in
In the embodiments depicted in
In the embodiments depicted in
An ink-accommodation unit according to the embodiment 2 is conceptually depicted in
As depicted in
When using the conventional inkjet printer (depicted in
In contrast, the method of the embodiment depicted in
In the present embodiment, the inlet 219, the mount portion 218 and the sealing member 217 are generally circular shaped in a projection onto a horizontal plane. Further, there are provided one each of the inlet 219, the mount portion 218 and the sealing member 217. The sealing member 217 may be manufactured by an elastic material, and may include a sealing portion constituting a lower portion and a grip portion constituting an upper portion. The sealing portion may be used for sealing the inlet 219. The sealing portion includes a main portion having a generally cylindrical columnar shape, and has an upper portion provided with a protruding periphery extending outward. The grip portion is useful for the user to remove the sealing member 217 from the inlet 219 and to attach the sealing member 217 to the inlet 219. The sealing member 217 has a shape and a size in conformity with those of the inlet 219. The mount portion 218 is a recessed groove formed on an upper surface of the ink-tank holder. The recessed groove has an inner diameter that is slightly larger than an outer dimeter of the lower portion of the sealing member 217.
For example, the inner dimeter of the inlet 219 may be about 11.5 mm, while the outer diameter of the lower portion of the sealing member 217 may be about 12 mm which is slightly larger than the inner diameter of the inlet 219. This structure can provide a tight sealing of the inlet 219. The inner diameter of the mount portion 218 may be about 12.5 mm which is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the lower portion of the sealing member 217, in order for the sealing member 217 to be suitably placed. Other structures may be employed for the sealing member 217 and the mount portion 218. For example, structures using magnetic forces or engagement structures may be employed. Other than that, a distance between the sealing member 217 and mount portion 218 may not be fixed, provided that the ink adhered to the sealing member 217 can be confined to a region within the mount portion 218 when the sealing member 217 is placed on the mount portion 218.
Further, from a point of view of ergonomics, a distance between the inlet 219 and the mount portion 218 may be designed to be convenient for the user. For example, a linear distance between the centers of the inlet 219 and the mount portion 218 may be set to be 25 mm.
Further, a connecting member may be provided. One end of the connecting member may be connected to the sealing member 217, while another end of the connecting member may be connected to the ink-accommodating body 211. The connecting member may have an arbitrary length, provided that the sealing member 217 spans between the mount portion 218 and inlet 219.
At the time of use of the inkjet printer of the embodiment depicted in
Based on actual demands, a plurality of ink tanks may be provided within the ink-accommodation unit 210 (a plurality of ink chambers may be formed in case that the ink-accommodating body 211 is an integral member). For example, four pieces of ink thanks may be provided for accommodating four kinds of colors of ink, cyan, magenta, yellow and black, respectively, to perform color printing. Alternatively, within the ink-accommodation unit, six, eight or twelve pieces of ink tanks may be provided to store six, eight or twelve different kinds of colors of ink, respectively, to perform color printing using these six, eight or twelve different colors of ink. In this case, the numbers of the inlets 219, the sealing members 217 and the mount portions 218 may be plural, or may correspond to four, six, eight or twelve, for example. The number of mount portions 218 may be the same as the number of the sealing members 217. A corresponding mount portion 218 is provided for each of the sealing members 217. This structure can prevent transferring of contamination from one color to another color.
In the embodiment depicted in
Here, referring to
As another embodiment,
Preferably, in the present embodiment, the inlet 123 has a generally cylindrical shape, and has a side wall 123A extending upward from an upper surface of the ink tank. The side wall 123A protrudes upward from one opening of a recessed portion of the ink-accommodating body 131. The connecting-member fixing portion 126 has a ring-like shape, and is firmly fixed to an outer surface of the side wall 123A of the inlet 123.
As another embodiment,
Summarizing the present invention and the above-described embodiments, the ink-accommodation unit used in the inkjet printer described in the present invention facilitates the user's operability by reducing a space on the desk that the inkjet printer occupies when the inkjet printer to which the ink-accommodation unit is attached is placed on the desk on one hand, and on the other hand by eliminating the user's need to repeatedly carry the inkjet printer that would be required if a space rearward of the inkjet printer was insufficient to open the cover.
Further, according to an aspect, the injection portion includes an inlet and a sealing member corresponding to the inlet; the first member further includes a mount portion corresponding to the inlet; the sealing member is used for sealing the inlet and the mount portion is used for placing the sealing member; and the injection portion and the mount portion are covered by the second member when the second member is at the closed position and are exposed when the second member is at the open position. Since the injection portion and the mount portion are all exposed to the user when the second member is opened, the user can place the sealing member on the mount portion after removing the sealing member from the inlet. This structure can avoid occurrence of such circumstances that are likely to occur in the conventional art: that is, the user may perform injection of ink immediately upon seeing the inlet and put the sealing member on somewhere else, thereby causing contamination of the surrounding environment.
Further, according to an aspect, the second member includes a grip and the grip is provided at an outer surface of the second member. The user can utilize the grip to open and close the second member, thereby further enhancing operability.
Further, according to an aspect, the grip is provided at one end of the second member that is farther away from the axis. The user is required a smaller force to open the second member.
Further, according to an aspect, the second member includes a first portion and a second portion connected perpendicularly to the first portion; and the grip is provided at an outer surface of the first portion or at an outer surface of the second portion. The user's opening and closing of the second member can be facilitated, since the user can operate the grip.
Further, according to an aspect, the second member has a flat plate-like shape. A production process can be further simplified.
Further, according to an aspect, the ink-accommodation unit further includes a connecting member; the injection portion includes an inlet and a sealing member corresponding to the inlet, the connecting member having one end connected to the sealing member; and another end of the connecting member is used for fixing the connecting member to a connecting-member fixing portion that is provided at the first member. The length of the connecting member can be made relatively shorter, thereby facilitating user's operation.
Further, according to an aspect, the inlet includes a side wall; and the connecting-member fixing portion is provided on at an outer surface of the side wall of the inlet. The length of the connecting member can be made relatively shorter, thereby facilitating user's operation.
When the inkjet printer according to the present invention is placed on the desk, a space on the desk occupied by the inkjet printer can be reduced. Further, when the user tries to inject ink, the user is no longer required to carry the inkjet printer repeatedly due to lack of enough space rearward of the inkjet printer. User's operability can be thus enhanced.
The ordinal numbers, such as “first” and “second” cited in the present application merely signifies labels, and do not involve any other meaning that represents a particular order, for example. Further, for example, a technical term “first member” itself does not imply presence of a “second member”. Likewise, the technical term “second member” itself does not imply presence of the “first member”.
Unless otherwise defined, the terms used in the description and the technical terms that a skilled person in the art of the present invention normally understand have the same meanings. The technical terms used in the description are merely for describing the specific purposes of the embodiments, and should not be limited thereto. The terms such as “member” that appear in the present description may represent a single member, or may represent a combination of a plurality of members. The terms such as “attach” or “provide” that appear in the present description may denote direct attachment of one member to another member, or may denote attachment of a member to another member via an intermediate member. The feature described in one embodiment may be applied to other embodiments alone or in combination with other features, unless the feature is not applicable to other embodiments or unless different explanations are given for the feature.
While the present invention has been described through the embodiments, it should be understood that the above depicted embodiments are presented merely for explanatory purpose and do not intend to limit the present invention to the scope of the depicted embodiments. Other than that, it would be understood for a skilled person in the art that the present invention is not limited to the depicted embodiments, and various changes and modifications may be made therein based on teachings of the present invention. These changes and modifications fall within the scope that the present invention seeks to protect.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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201420780033.8 | Dec 2014 | CN | national |
201420792546.0 | Dec 2014 | CN | national |
This is a continuation application of International Application No. PCT/JP2015/084625 filed on Dec. 10, 2015 which claims priorities from Chinese Utility Model Application No. 201420780033.8 filed Dec. 10, 2014 and Chinese Utility Model Application No. 201420792546.0 filed Dec. 12, 2014. The entire contents of the earlier applications are incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/JP2015/084625 | Feb 2015 | US |
Child | 15616037 | US |