Patent ID: 6474798
Filing Date: 2002-11-05
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
An ink tank cartridge for an ink-jet type recording apparatus, comprising:a plurality of walls, including a bottom wall, defining an ink-retaining chamber; an ink supply port extending through said bottom wall of said ink tank cartridge and having an entrance opening facing the interior of said ink-retaining chamber and an exit opening facing the exterior of said ink tank cartridge; a porous ink-absorbing member in said ink-retaining chamber positioned adjacent said ink supply port entrance opening and providing ink thereto, said porous ink-absorbing member being dimensioned to leave a portion of said ink-retaining chamber, spaced from said ink-supply port entrance opening, free of said porous ink-absorbing member, said porous ink-absorbing member having a free surface facing the portion of said ink-retaining chamber that is free of said porous ink-absorbing member; ink in part retained in said porous ink-absorbing member and in part in said portion of said ink-retaining chamber that is free of said porous ink-absorbing member; and at least one partition member extending from at least one of said ink tank walls and engaging said free surface of said porous ink-absorbing member and retaining said porous ink-absorbing member in position, said at least one partition member being dimensioned to permit more than half of said free surface of said porous ink-absorbing member to be exposed to ink in said portion of said ink-retaining chamber that is free of said porous ink-absorbing member and receiving ink therefrom.