Information
-
Patent Grant
-
6409324
-
Patent Number
6,409,324
-
Date Filed
Thursday, November 16, 200023 years ago
-
Date Issued
Tuesday, June 25, 200222 years ago
-
Inventors
-
Original Assignees
-
Examiners
Agents
-
CPC
-
US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 347 84
- 347 85
- 347 86
- 347 87
-
International Classifications
-
Abstract
The ink cartridge of the present invention uses a directional fibrous collection enclosed within a bushing to temporally retain the ink therein, wherein at least one controlled capillary portion is provided. The controlled capillary portion can be formed by the bushing or by a predetermined shape located in the cartridge. The capillary forces of the controlled capillary portion are stronger than the one of other portion of the directional fibrous collection. The flow rate of the ink can be precisely controlled by the directional fibrous collection, and the controlled capillary portion can efficiently drain out the ink to the printhead and there is no bubble left therein.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the invention
This invention relates to an ink cartridge. More particularly, this invention relates to an ink cartridge provided with at least one controlled capillary portion located in a directional fibrous collection.
2. Description of Prior Art
In general, porous materials such as sponge are currently used to store the ink in printing devices, and porous materials also can provide adequate back pressure to stabilize the ink stored in the cartridge.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,771,295 discloses a porous material used to store ink within an ink cartridge. The porous material is pressed by an ink pipe so as to generate more capillary force to facilitate the flow rate of the ink.
However, for properly fitting the porous material in the cartridge, the porous material should be first prestressed by well-designed fixtures. Although a greater bulk of porous material can hold more ink, the residual ink is also relatively larger. Furthermore, as the ink stored in the porous material is consumed, some of the bubbles cannot be fully expelled out off the porous material. Residual bubbles in the porous material may cause the interruption of the ink supplied to the printhead.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To solve the above problem, the primary object of this invention is to provide an ink cartridge using a directional fibrous collection enclosed within a bushing to retain the ink therein and provided with at least one controlled capillary portion. The controlled capillary portion can be formed by the bushing or by a predetermined shape located in the cartridge. The capillary forces of the controlled capillary portion are stronger than those of other portions of the directional fibrous collection. Thus, the flow rate of the ink can be precisely controlled, and the controlled capillary portion can efficiently drain out the ink to the printhead and there is no bubble left therein.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention can be more fully understood by reading the subsequent detailed description and examples with reference made to accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1A
is a perspective view showing the structure of an ink cartridge (
1
);
FIG. 1B
is an exploded view of
FIG. 1A
;
FIG. 2
is a sectional view showing the inner structure of the ink cartridge (
1
) according to a plane (Z) of FIG.
1
A.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
FIG. 1A
is a perspective view showing the structure of an ink cartridge
1
, and
FIG. 1B
is an exploded view of FIG.
1
A.
As shown in
FIG. 1A
, the ink cartridge
1
comprises a container
10
, a cover plate
11
provided with holes
110
, a base plate
12
and several storage units
13
received in the container
10
.
In
FIG. 1B
, a printhead
15
such as printhead is connected to the base plate
12
, and the base plate
12
is used as a guiding member to guide the ink from the container
10
to the printhead
15
. Then, the ink is jetted out by the printhead
15
and printed on the paper.
The container
10
comprises a plurality of chambers
100
therein separated from each other by a partition
101
. The chambers
100
are independent to each other, and each of which is formed with a first opening
100
H
1
located on the top of the container
10
and a second opening
100
H
2
located on the bottom of the container
10
. The inside of each of the chambers
100
has a reductive portion
100
S nearby its the second opening
100
H
2
, and the second opening
100
H
2
is covered with a filter
14
.
The storage unit
13
comprises a bushing
130
and a directional fibrous collection composed of fibers
131
to temporally keep the ink therebetween. The bushing
130
preferably is made of flexible material such as plastic and has at least one hole
130
H formed at its sidewall and two openings
130
H
1
(
130
H
2
) located at its two ends
13
-
1
(
13
-
2
), respectively. The fibers
131
are tensely gathered and enclosed by the bushing
130
, and the ends of the fibers
131
are exposed at the two openings
130
H
1
,
130
H
2
. When the fibers
131
wrapped with the bushing
130
are placed in the chamber
100
, the openings
130
H
1
,
130
H
2
of the bushing
130
are respectively adjacent to the first opening
100
H
1
and the second opening
100
H
2
of the container
10
. Further, with the formation of the reductive portion
100
S, a controlled capillary portion is generated nearby the second opening
100
H
2
of the bushing
130
. That is to say, the reductive portion
100
S squeezes the fibers
131
located at the end
13
-
2
of the bushing
130
while the storage unit
13
is placed in the chamber
100
. Therefore, the fiber density of fibers
131
at the controlled capillary portion
131
A nearby the hole
100
H
2
is greater than that of the other region
131
B away from hole
100
H
2
. Therefore, the capillary forces at this region are larger than the other regions of the fibers
131
within the bushing
130
.
In addition, the controlled capillary portion of the fibers
131
also can be formed by a bushing or a sleeve which is made of rigid material.
The base plate
12
is provided with several paths
120
S and holes
120
H and disposed on the bottom of the container
10
. The hole
120
H located at the path
120
S penetrates the base plate
12
, and each of the paths
120
S is connected to the corresponding second openings
100
H
2
of the chamber
100
. The ink from the chamber
100
can be guided to the printhead
15
via the path
120
S and the hole
120
H.
Referring to
FIG. 2
, a sectional view shows the inner structure of the ink cartridge
1
according to a plane Z of FIG.
1
A.
In
FIG. 2
the ink stored in the chamber
100
passes through the filter
14
and is then transmitted to the printhead
150
through the base plate
12
along the line L. The oozing ink being left between the inner wall of the chamber
100
and the bushing
130
can be easily absorbed by the fibers
131
via the hole
130
H. The capillary forces of the storage unit
13
become stronger at the controlled capillary portion capillary forces, and therefore the flow rate of the ink can be precisely controlled and the ink can be efficiently drained out by the controlled capillary portion.
In addition to the aforementioned controlled capillary portion of the fibers
131
which is formed by the bushing
130
, the controlled capillary portion of the storage units
13
also can be formed by the shape of the inner wall of the chamber
100
of container
10
. The bushing
130
made of rigid material can be instead of a soft one such as flexible plastics or other films. The method is to provide several ribs or tapered portions (not shown in Figs.), which are spaced each other and formed on the inner wall of the chamber
100
. While the wrapped fibers
131
is forcedly fitted into the chamber
100
, the controlled capillary portion can be naturally formed by these ribs or tapered portions.
While this invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
Claims
- 1. An apparatus for supplying ink to a printhead, comprising:a container having an opening connected to said printhead; a storage chamber in said container; a bushing comprising at least one hole formed on a sidewall of said bushing; and a plurality of directional fibers disposed in said bushing and provided with a first controlled capillary portion and a second portion, said first controlled capillary portion having a higher fiber density than said second portion, wherein the directional fibers receive and store said ink; and wherein said first controlled capillary portion guides said ink from said second portion to said opening.
- 2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said bushing further comprises a reduced segment for compressing a portion of the plurality of directional fibers to form said first controlled capillary portion.
- 3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said bushing is tapered to form the reduced segment.
- 4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said storage chamber further comprises a reduced segment for compressing a portion of the plurality of the directional fibers to form said first controlled capillary portion.
- 5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said storage chamber is tapered to form the reduced segment.
- 6. A method for supplying ink to a printhead, comprising the steps of:connecting an opening of a container having a storage chamber to said printhead; enclosing said storage chamber with a bushing comprising at least one hole; providing a first controlled capillary portion and a second portion with the directional fibers, wherein said first controlled capillary portion has a higher fiber density than said second portion; receiving and storing said ink in the directional fibers; and guiding said ink from said second portion to said opening using said first controlled capillary portion.
- 7. The method as claimed in claim 6 further comprising the step of forming said first controlled capillary portion by said bushing.
- 8. The method of claim 6 further comprising the step of tapering said storage chamber to form the reduced segment.
- 9. The method of claim 6 further comprising the step of tapering said bushing to form the reduced segment.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
89101463 A |
Jan 2000 |
TW |
|
US Referenced Citations (3)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
4017871 |
Hubbard |
Apr 1977 |
A |
4771295 |
Baker et al. |
Sep 1988 |
A |
5489932 |
Ceschin et al. |
Feb 1996 |
A |
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
0822085 |
Apr 1998 |
EP |
.404007157 |
Jan 1992 |
JP |