Liquid discharging apparatus and waste liquid tank

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025346033-A1
Application number	US-202519273688-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 18, 2025
Priority date	Apr 1, 2022
Publication date	Nov 13, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

A liquid discharging apparatus, having a sheet conveyer path, a liquid discharging head including nozzles for discharging liquid, a cap configured to cover the liquid discharging head, a liquid receiver located at a position different from the cap and configured to receive the liquid discharged from the liquid discharging head, and a waste liquid tank demountably mountable in a housing of the liquid discharging apparatus and configured to store the liquid received by the liquid receiver, is provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A liquid discharging apparatus, comprising:
a sheet conveyer path; a liquid discharging head including nozzles for discharging liquid; a cap configured to cover the liquid discharging head; a liquid receiver located at a position different from the cap, the liquid receiver being configured to receive the liquid discharged from the liquid discharging head; and a waste liquid tank demountably mounted in a housing of the liquid discharging apparatus, the waste liquid tank being configured to store the liquid received by the liquid receiver, wherein the liquid receiver includes a waste liquid guide having a slant surface for guiding the liquid discharged from the liquid discharging head to the waste liquid tank, and the waste liquid guide is fixed to a frame in the housing.

2 . The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the waste liquid guide is located between the liquid discharging head and the waste liquid tank in a direction intersecting orthogonally with a nozzle surface of the liquid discharging head.

3 . The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the waste liquid guide is located at a position where the waste liquid guide at least partly overlaps the waste liquid tank in a direction intersecting orthogonally with a nozzle surface of the liquid discharging head.

4 . The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a lower end of the waste liquid guide is located to be higher than an edge of the waste liquid tank facing the nozzle surface of the liquid discharging head.

5 . The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a contact portion, the contact portion being located on an edge of the waste liquid tank facing a nozzle surface of the liquid discharging head, the contact portion being configured to contact a lower end of the waste liquid guide when the waste liquid tank is being mounted in and demounted from the housing.

6 . The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the contact portion is in a form engageable with the lower end of the waste liquid guide mounted in the housing.

7 . The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising an absorber configured to pass the liquid from the waste liquid guide to the waste liquid tank, wherein the absorber is in contact with at least a part of a lower end of the waste liquid guide.

8 . The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a guide rail arranged in the housing, the guide rail slanting to be higher from an outer side toward an inner side in a direction to mount the waste liquid tank in the housing; and a guide rail contact portion arranged on the waste liquid tank, the guide rail contact portion being configured to, in a condition where the waste liquid tank is mounted in the housing, contact the guide rail and enable the waste liquid tank to move along the guide rail.

9 . The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising an inclination angle changeable assembly located in the housing, the inclination angle changeable assembly being configured to change an inclination angle of the waste liquid guide in a condition where the waste liquid tank is being mounted in and demounted from the housing.

10 . The liquid discharging apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the waste liquid tank is located to be lower than the liquid discharging head in a direction intersecting orthogonally with a nozzle surface of the liquid discharging head.

Assignees

• Brother Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Saigusa Kazushige
• Ichikawa Shohei
• Nakamura Fumiya
• Kobayashi Kazuma
• Kawagoe Masako
• Shirai Haruhisa
• Hashimoto Asami

Classifications

• B41J2/16508 Primary

  connected with the printer frame · CPC title

• B41J2/1728

  Closed waste ink collectors · CPC title

• B41J2/16523

  Waste ink transport from caps or spittoons, e.g. by suction (Collecting or collectors of waste ink B41J2/1721) · CPC title

• B41J2/16517

  Cleaning of print head nozzles (B41J2/16505, B41J2/1707 take precedence) · CPC title

• B41J2/1721 Primary

  Collecting waste ink; Collectors therefor · CPC title