Claims
- 1. An ink container comprising:a negative pressure producing material of fibrous material for retaining ink to be supplied to an ink jet recording head; a main body for accommodating said negative pressure producing material; and an ink discharging portion, formed in said main body, for supplying the ink to said ink jet recording head, wherein fibers of said negative pressure producing material include fiber strands, each of which substantially includes a core portion resin material having a first melting temperature and an external portion resin material having a second melting temperature lower than said first melting temperature, wherein said fiber strands are crossed at a great number of crossing portions at which only external portions of said fiber strands are welded together; and wherein a great number of gaps are formed by said welded crossing portions, said gaps being sized fine enough to produce negative pressure for retaining the ink therein.
- 2. An ink container according to claim 1, wherein said core portion material and said external portion material are of olefin resin material.
- 3. An ink container according to claim 2, wherein said main body is of a resin material similar to said fibrous material.
- 4. An ink container according to claim 1, further comprising a filter adjacent said ink discharging portion, wherein said fiber strands have cross-sectional diameters larger than a maximum diameter of meshes of said filter.
- 5. An ink container according to claim 1, wherein said fiber strands have cross-sectional diameters larger than a maximum diameter of meshes of a filter provided in the ink jet recording head.
- 6. An ink container according to claim 1, wherein the ink contains pigment.
- 7. An ink container according to claim 1, wherein the fiber strands of said negative pressure producing material have cross-sectional diameters in a range from 15 microns to 45 microns.
- 8. An ink container according to claim 1, wherein said welded portions are provided by heating said fiber strands to a temperature higher than said second melting temperature and lower than said first melting temperature.
- 9. An ink jet recording apparatus, comprising an ink container according to claim 1 and an ink jet recording head connected thereto for ejecting the ink supplied from said ink discharging portion.
- 10. An ink container according to claim 1, wherein said core portion resin material of said fiber strands before welding is completely covered with said external resin material.
- 11. An ink container according to claim 1, wherein said main body and said negative pressure generating material are of similar thermo-plastic resins.
- 12. A method of manufacturing an ink container, wherein said ink container comprises: a negative pressure producing material of fibrous material for retaining ink to be supplied to an ink jet recording head; a container casing for accommodating said negative pressure producing material; and an ink discharging portion in said container casing for supplying the ink to said ink jet recording head, wherein said container casing and said fibrous material are of similar thermo-plastic resins, and the material of said container casing or the material of said fibrous material is a recycled thermo-plastic resin, said method of manufacture comprising the steps of:melting the fibrous material and the casing altogether after use of said ink container; and forming at least one of the fibrous material and the container casing from melted material provided by said melting step.
Priority Claims (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
6-155076 |
Jul 1994 |
JP |
|
6-179505 |
Jul 1994 |
JP |
|
Parent Case Info
This application is a division of Application Ser. No. 08/498,870 filed Jul. 6, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,137,512.
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