| 摘要 |
PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a residual ink detector which does not need a high sensitivity sensor and can detect residual ink easily and surely when the residual amount of ink becomes a prescribed value or below. SOLUTION: An ink tank 202 is composed of an ink packing block 303, a residual amount detecting block 304, and a calibration block 305. The residual amount detecting block 304 forms a reverse U-shaped ink passage and is connected with the ink packing block 303 through two parts of an upper connection part 306 and a lower connection part 307. The upper connection part 306 is arranged at the position of a residual amount detection level 308, while a residual amount inspection place 309 is arranged above the upper connection part 306. A residual amount detection part 203 inspects both the residual amount inspection place 309 and the calibration block 305 and judges whether ink is in the residual amount inspection place by processing the difference in the inspection results so that whether residual ink is below the residual amount detection level 308 is judged. |
