1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink cartridge including an ink-jet head and plural liquid chambers storing inks different from each other.
2. Description of the Related Art
An ink-jet recording method is a recording method involving causing a small ink droplet to fly to plain paper or a dedicated glossy medium to form an image. The method has become rapidly widespread in association with advance of a reduction in price of a recording apparatus and an increase in recording rate of the apparatus. In addition, additional improvements in image quality such as an extreme reduction in size of an ink droplet to be flown and the expansion of a color gamut in association with the introduction of multicolor inks have progressed in recent years. In view of the foregoing, it has been desired to additionally suppress physical property changes with time of ink which may affect image property.
A physical property change resulting from evaporation is an example of the physical property changes with time of ink described above. An aqueous ink composition that can evaporate at a reduced speed has been disclosed as a technique concerning the problem (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H05-214282). Means for suppressing the amount of evaporation of ink depending on the shape of an ink cartridge has been also disclosed (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-278290). Further, a technique for suppressing the evaporation of ink by using a specific material as a packaging material for an ink cartridge has been disclosed (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-331688). Meanwhile, an ink having a density in a certain range has been disclosed (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-073598). An ink-jet recording method using two ink cartridges each capable of storing plural inks has been also disclosed (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H05-202328).
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds