Liquid ejection apparatus

Claim 1

A liquid ejection apparatus, comprising: (a) an apparatus body including a liquid tank, a pump means for sucking out liquid contained in said tank and discharging said liquid, a boiler means for heating said liquid prior to its being sucked into said pump, and a washing agent injection means for injecting a washing agent into said liquid prior to its being sucked into said pump; (b) a liquid ejector comprising a liquid ejector housing including at a front portion thereof a liquid ejection conduit and at a rear portion thereof a hand grip portion, said grip portion including a cavity, a hollow lance fluidly connected at one end with said liquid ejection conduit, a nozzle connected to another end of said lance, an open-close valve disposed in said liquid ejector housing for opening and closing said liquid ejection conduit, and an operating lever means connected to said liquid ejector housing for opening and closing said open-close valve; (c) a liquid feed pipe means for fluidly interconnecting said pump means and said liquid ejector; (d) an optical fiber means disposed between said apparatus body and said liquid ejector; (e) said grip portion including a first switch means for switching between ON and OFF positions responsive to operation of said operating lever to alternately enable and prevent fluid flow discharging from said pump means, a second switch means for alternately enabling and preventing actuation of said boiler means and a third switch means for alternately enabling and preventing actuation of said washing agent injection means; (f) said cavity having disposed therein a light emitting means for transmitting an optical signal through said optical fiber means, an electrical power source for powering said light emitting means, and a signal transmitter control circuit for controlling optical signals output from said light emitting means responsive to ON conditions of each of said switches; and (g) said apparatus body further comprising an operation control means responsive to sid switches, for controlling operations including (i) supply of liquid from said pump means to said liquid feed pipe means, (ii) actuation of said boiler means, and (iii) injection of said washing agent by said washing agent injection means, said operation control means comprising a light receiving means for receiving an optical signal output from said optical fiber means corresponding to said ON conditions of each of said switches transmitted to said optical fiber means from said light emitting means, and an output circuit, responsive to said light receiving means, for discriminating said optical signal received by said light receiving means and converting said optical signal into an electrical signal which is supplied to said operation control means to control (i) supply of liquid from said pump means to said liquid feed pipe means, (ii) actuation of said boiler means, and (iii) injection of said washing agent by said washing agent ejection means.