Patent ID: 6048055
Filing Date: 2000-04-11
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
An ink tank system for supplying ink to a print head of an ink jet printer from a replaceable ink tank by pressurizing inside of the ink tank with pressurized air, comprising:an air supply channel disposed with the ink tank for feeding the pressurized air supplied from a printer unit into the ink tank, the air supply channel having an auxiliary seal for closing the channel and, at an upstream side of the auxiliary seal, being branched to a main air supply channel and an auxiliary channel, an air filter being disposed in the main air supply channel;an ink supply channel disposed with the ink tank;an air inlet disposed on an upstream terminal end of said main air supply channel and having a first main seal for hermetically sealing the air inlet;an ink outlet disposed on a downstream terminal end of said ink supply channel of the ink tank and having a second main seal for hermetically sealing the ink outlet;a seal release port disposed on a terminal end of said auxiliary channel;a first hollow needle disposed on the side of the printer unit and being engageable with said air inlet to advance into the air inlet to hermetically penetrate the first main seal, said first hollow needle supplying the pressurized air into the ink tank via said air supply channel;a second hollow needle disposed on the side of the printer unit and being engageable with said ink outlet to advance into the ink outlet to hermetically penetrate the second main seal, said second hollow needle receiving the ink stored the ink tank to feed the ink to the print head; anda seal releasing protrusion disposed on the side of printer unit and advancing into said seal release port to break sealing of said auxiliary seal, said first hollow needle, said second hollow needle and said seal releasing protrusion being extended parallel with one another;wherein, when the ink tank is mounted on the printer unit, said first and second hollow needles being hermetically passed through said first and second main seals, respectively, and said seal releasing protrusion being advanced into said seal release port to open said auxiliary seal, wherebythe pressurized air supplied via said first hollow needle is passed through said air filter in said main air supply channel and the opened auxiliary seal in said air supply channel and fed into the ink tank, and the ink in the pressurized ink tank is force-fed toward the print head via said second hollow needle.