Ink Storing Device

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to an ink storing device for use with an ink jet printer, and more particularly to such ink storing device in which the construction of storing means is improved.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Generally in a multi-color ink jet printer, cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks are used to effect a color output and ink tanks containing the respective inks therein are contained in discrete ink cassette cases which can be freely replaced with new ink cassette cases.

There is also adopted a construction in which the aforementioned four ink tanks are contained in a single ink cassette case.

The adoption of the structure in which the discrete ink cassette cases are provided necessitates providing a plurality of ink cassette cases and accordingly leads to a high cost and poor operability.

Also, the case where a plurality of ink tanks are contained within a single ink cassette case means that an ink tank in which the amount of ink consumption is great and ink tanks in which the amount of ink consumption is small are contained in a single ink cassette case, and in such case, it may happen that the ink cassette case must be replaced with a new one even when inks of other colors still remain in the ink tanks, and this may result in a waste of ink. Further, the fact that a plurality of ink tanks each requiring a predetermined volume are contained within a single ink cassette case leads to the bulkiness of the cassette case itself which means an economical disadvantage.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an effective ink storing device.

It is another object of the present invention to eliminate the waste of inks.

It is still another object of the present invention to facilitate ink replenishment.

It is yet still another object of the present invention to make the ink storing device compact.

Other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

An embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of ink cassette cases;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of an ink cassette case which contains therewithin an ink tank in which the amount of ink consumption is great; and

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of an ink cassette case which contains therewithin a plurality of ink tanks in which the amount of ink consumption is small.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3 which illustrate an embodiment of the present invention, reference numeral 1 designates an ink cassette case containing therein an ink tank in which the amount of ink consumption is great, and reference numeral 2 denotes an ink cassette case containing therein a plurality of ink tanks in which the amount of ink consumption is small. Within the ink cassette case 1, as shown in FIG. 2, there is contained a flexible ink tank 3 in which the amount of ink consumption is great. The ink contained in this ink tank 3 is, for example, black ink whose amount of consumption is great, and the ink tank 3 is contained as a large ink tank within the cassette case 1. A rubber plug 5 which is an outlet portion for letting out the ink is mounted in the supply port 3a of the ink tank 3 and is fixed to a side wall of the ink cassette case 1. A needle 4 provided at one end of a tube connected to a nozzle, not shown, in fixed to a printer body (not shown). When the ink cassette case 1 is inserted into the printer body, the needle 4 may be inserted into the rubber plug 5, whereby the supply port 3a of the ink tank 3 and the needle 4 may be connected together to permit the ink to be supplied.

On the other hand, the ink tanks containing therein inks whose amount of consumption is small are contained within the ink cassette case 2.

That is, as shown in FIG. 3, horizontal partition plates 6 and 7 are provided within the ink cassette case 2 to divide the interior thereof into three equal spaces.

A flexible ink tank 8 containing, for example, cyan ink therein is contained within the space above the partition plate 6, a flexible ink tank 9 containing magenta ink therein is contained within the space between the partition plates 6 and 7, and a flexible ink tank 10 containing yellow ink therein is contained within the lowermost space.

Rubber plugs 5 are mounted in the supply ports 8a-10a of the ink tanks 8-10 in the same manner as described previously and are fixed to a side wall of the cassette case 2. These rubber plugs 5 are disposed in spaced apart and staggered relationship with each other so that adjacent plugs are not proximate to each other.

When the cassette case 2 is inserted into the printer body, a needle 4 provided at one end of each of tubes (not shown) connected to nozzles may be inserted into each of the rubber plugs 5 to permit the ink to be supplied.

Of course, the spaces containing the ink tanks 8-10 are formed as such spaces that do not impart pressure to the ink tanks 8-10.

As a second embodiment, the ink cassette cases 1 and 2 may be formed to the entirely identical size as shown in FIG. 1 and the partition plates 6 and 7 may be made removable. Thus, the ink cassette cases used will become entirely identical in size and shape and can be manufactured very economically as compared with a case where ink cassette cases of different sizes and shapes are manufactured. As required, one of these ink cassette cases may be utilized as the ink cassette case 1 containing therein only the ink tank which contains therein the ink whose amount of consumption is greatest and the other ink cassette case may be utilized as the ink cassette case 2 containing therein the ink tanks in which the amount of ink consumption is smaller.

Three rubber plugs 5 may be provided in each of these ink cassette cases, or alternatively a rubber plug may be provided in one of the ink cassette cases and three rubber plugs may be provided in the other ink cassette case.

The present embodiment, as described above, adopts a structure in which the ink cassette is separated into two ink cassette cases, that is, an ink tank of a larger volume containing therein the ink whose amount of consumption is great is contained within one ink cassette case and a plurality of other ink tanks are contained within the other ink cassette case. Therefore, the ink tank in which the amount of ink consumption is great can be made into a large volume and this eliminates the need to replace the cassette case with new one so frequently. Also, as compared with a case where all ink tanks are contained within an ink cassette case, the waste of replacing the ink cassette case with new one in spite of the fact that some of the ink tanks within the ink cassette case still contain inks therein when the ink tank in which the amount of ink consumption is great has become empty is eliminated.

Further, the use of two ink cassette cases, as compared with the structure in which more than two ink cassette cases are used, leads to the possibility of reducing the occupied space and accordingly increasing the compactness of the device.

Furthermore, the use of two ink cassette cases leads to greater ease with which the cassette cases are replaced with new ones.

In the above-described embodiments, as shown in FIG. 3, the ink cassette case containing a plurality of ink tanks therein is vertically divided into three spaces by the partition plates 6 and 7, but alternatively, such ink cassette case may of course be horizontally divided into three spaces.

As will be apparent from the foregoing description, according to the present invention, use is made of two ink cassette cases one of which contains therein an ink tank in which the amount of ink consumption is great and the other contains therein a plurality of ink tanks in which the amount of ink consumption is small, and this leads to the possibility of increasing the volume of the ink cassette case containing therein an ink tank in which the amount of ink consumption is great and which is high in the frequency of replacement, and accordingly the possibility of decreasing the frequency of replacement of such ink cassette case. Also, the use of two ink cassette cases leads to the reduction in the space occupied in the device and accordingly increases the of the device. Moreover, the ink cassette case containing therein the ink tanks in which the amount of ink consumption is small is separate from the ink cassette case containing therein the ink tank in which the amount of ink consumption is great, and this eliminates the waste of ink resulting from replacing the ink cassette case in spite of its still containing inks of other colors therein.