US 12,134,276 B2
Liquid cartridge including plate member pivotally movable between first posture and second posture
Satoru Oki, Nagoya (JP); Masahiro Hayashi, Nishio (JP); Nanami Abe, Niigata (JP); and Naoya Okazaki, Hashima (JP)
Assigned to BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Nagoya (JP)
Filed by BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Nagoya (JP)
Filed on Aug. 3, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/817,050.
Claims priority of application No. 2021-128072 (JP), filed on Aug. 4, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2023/0045050 A1, Feb. 9, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. B41J 2/175 (2006.01)
CPC B41J 2/17566 (2013.01) [B41J 2002/17573 (2013.01)] 23 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A liquid cartridge movable relative to a printer in a front-rear direction crossing an up-down direction along a gravitational direction to be attached to the printer in an attached posture,
the liquid cartridge comprising:
a cartridge case defining therein a liquid storage chamber, the cartridge case having a front surface;
a liquid supply portion protruding frontward from the front surface of the cartridge case and configured to supply liquid stored in the liquid storage chamber to an outside;
a circuit board comprising an electrode group comprising at least three electrodes, the at least three electrodes facing upward and being exposed to the outside in the attached posture;
a plate member extending in the front-rear direction and positioned rearward of the electrode group in the attached posture; and
a residual-amount detecting portion positioned upward relative to the electrode group and rearward of the plate member in the attached posture, the residual-amount detecting portion being configured to change a state of incident light according to an amount of the liquid stored in the liquid storage chamber, the residual-amount detecting portion comprising an optical access portion on which light traveling in a left-right direction crossing the up-down direction and the front-rear direction is incident in the attached posture,
wherein the plate member is pivotally movable about an axis extending in the left-right direction between:
a first posture in which a portion of the plate member is positioned upward relative to the optical access portion; and
a second posture in which the plate member is positioned downward relative to the optical access portion, the plate member in the second posture being positioned rearward relative to the plate member in the first posture, and
wherein the plate member in the first posture and the residual-amount detecting portion define a light transmissive region therebetween in the front-rear direction, the light transmissive region having a light transmittance greater than a light transmittance of the plate member.