Patent ID: 6019460
Filing Date: 2000-02-01
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
An ink-jet printer comprising:a plurality of ink reserve bottles containing inks of different colors;a plurality of ink tanks for detachably supporting the plurality of ink reserve bottles and for storing the inks respectively supplied from said ink reserve bottles;a print head having a plurality of nozzle units and connected to receive inks supplied from said plurality of ink tanks for printing a color image by ejecting the inks from said plurality of nozzle units onto a print medium;a lock system for individually locking each ink reserve bottle to a corresponding one of the ink tanks to prevent detachment from the corresponding one of the ink tanks; anda lock system controller for controlling said lock system, said lock system controller including: (i) a detecting section for detecting which one of said ink reserve bottles has been locked by said lock system, and (ii) an unlock section for causing said lock system to unlock any of said ink reserve bottles to be detached from said ink tanks for replacement, and for causing all of the ink reserve bottles other than an unlocked one to be inhibited from being unlocked until the unlocked ink reserve bottle is replaced by a new ink reserve bottle and the new ink reserve bottle is detected to be locked by said lock system.