Patent ID: 8449090
Filing Date: 2013-05-28
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
1. An ink jet recording apparatus, comprising: an ink jet head which discharges ink to a recording medium; a carriage which carries the ink jet head and moves in a reciprocating manner in a direction crossing a conveying direction of the recording medium; an ink cartridge which stores the ink to be supplied to the ink jet head; an ink supply path which communicates the ink jet head with the ink cartridge; and a sub tank mounted on the carriage and connected to the ink supply path, the sub tank including an ink container having an inlet connected to the ink cartridge and an outlet connected to the ink jet head, expansion means having higher resilience than the ink container and being disposed at a peripheral portion of the ink container for expanding the ink container and restoring it to its original shape after the ink container is deformed, and pressure adjustment means for maintaining an internal pressure of the ink container constant, the pressure adjustment means including plates fixed to flat surface portions of the ink container and springs for biasing the plates in directions separating the plates from each other so that the internal pressure of the ink container is maintained lower than an external pressure.