Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Ejector mechanism
Reexamination Certificate
1997-12-29
2001-01-23
Tran, Huan (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Ejector mechanism
Reexamination Certificate
active
06176564
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus having an ink jet recording head for recording by ejecting ink onto a recording medium, and a recovery device for recovering the function of the recording head.
2. Description of Related Art
In conventional ink jet recording apparatuses for recording by ejecting ink from nozzles, it is necessary to place a cap on an ink jet head when not in use because ink on a nozzle surface is likely to dry and solidify causing an ink ejection failure. In order to recover from an ink ejection failure or prevent an ink ejection failure, there is a need to perform maintenance of an ink jet head. There are several maintenance methods for ink jet heads, for example, a purging method in which nozzle clogging is eliminated by, for example, drawing dry ink from an ink jet head nozzle, or a wiping method in which an ink-wet nozzle surface is wiped. As a device for facilitating such an ink jet head maintenance operation, U.S. Pat. No. 4,543,591 discloses a maintenance device for an ink jet recording apparatus, which immediately performs the capping of a nozzle and the subsequent ink drawing at freely selectable timings by operation of a lever in one direction.
However, if the aforementioned maintenance device is incorporated into a head recovery device, the operability improves, but unnecessary ink consumption may result through improper operation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an ink jet recording apparatus that prevents improper operation of a head recovery device and, thereby, eliminates unnecessary ink consumption, without degrading operability.
To achieve the aforementioned object, the invention provides an ink jet recording apparatus including a recording head for recording by ejecting ink onto a recording medium, a head recovery device that recovers a function of the recording head, a first switch for operating the head recovery device, and an inhibition device that inhibits operation of the head recovery device under a predetermined condition.
Because the inhibition device inhibits operation of the head recovery device under a predetermined condition, unintentional or accidental operation of the head recovery device can be prevented even if the switch for operating the head recovery device is operated in such an occasion. Therefore, unnecessary ink consumption is prevented.
The inhibition device may have a second switch provided aside from the first switch, and the inhibition device cancels the inhibition of operation of the head recovery device when the first switch and the second switch are operated.
The inhibition device may cancel the inhibition of operation of the head recovery device when the first switch is continually operated.
The inhibition device may have a timer for measuring time elapsed after a previous operation of the head recovery device, and the inhibition device cancels the inhibition of operation of the head recovery device when the time measured by the timer reaches a predetermined length of time.
The inhibition device may have a timer for measuring time elapsed after a previous operation of the recording head, and the inhibition device cancels the inhibition of operation of the head recovery device when the time measured by the timer reaches a predetermined length of time.
The inhibition device may have a timer for measuring time elapsed after a main switch of the ink jet recording apparatus is turned on, and the inhibition device cancels the inhibition of operation of the head recovery device when the time measured by the timer reaches a predetermined length of time.
The inhibition device may have a counter for counting an amount of printed characters that are printed by the recording head after a previous operation of the head recovery device, and the inhibition device cancels the inhibition of operation of the head recovery device when the count by the counter reaches a predetermined value.
The inhibition device may have a sensor for counting an amount of ink that is used by the recording head after a previous operation of the head recovery device, and the inhibition device cancels the inhibition of operation of the head recovery device when the count provided by the sensor reaches a predetermined amount.
The inhibition device may have a counter for counting a number of times that the recording head prints after a previous operation of the head recovery device, and wherein the inhibition device cancels the inhibition of operation of the head recovery device when the count by the counter reaches a predetermined value.
The inhibition device may have a counter for counting an amount of printed characters that are printed by the recording head after a main switch of the ink jet recording apparatus is turned on, and the inhibition device cancels the inhibition of operation of the head recovery device when the count by the counter reaches a predetermined amount.
The inhibition device may have a counter for counting an amount of ink that is used by the recording head after a main switch of the ink jet recording apparatus is turned on, and the inhibition device cancels the inhibition of operation of the head recovery device when the count by the counter reaches a predetermined amount.
The inhibition device may have a counter for counting a number of times that the recording head prints after a main switch of the ink jet recording apparatus is turned on, and the inhibition device cancels the inhibition of operation of the head recovery device when the count by the counter reaches a predetermined value.
The inhibition device may have a sensor for measuring an amount of ink remaining in the recording apparatus, and the inhibition device prevents cancellation of the inhibition of operation of the head recovery device when the amount measured by the sensor has become equal to or lower than a predetermined amount. With this structure, when the ink remaining in the recording apparatus has become equal to or less than the predetermined amount, it becomes impossible to operate the recovery device. This structure eliminates an inconvenient incident wherein the recovery device is operated when there is only a small amount of ink remaining, so that the remaining ink is completely consumed. That is, even when there is only a little ink left, it is possible to continue recording while preventing the recovery device from operating, even though minor problems occur in recording quality.
The inhibition device may have a second counter for counting a number of operations of the recovery device, and the inhibition device prevents cancellation of the inhibition of operation of the head recovery device when the count by the second counter has reached a predetermined value. With this structure, when the number of operations of the recovery device has reached the predetermined number, it becomes impossible to operate the recovery device. This structure prevents an unnecessarily great number of recovery operations and, therefore, prevents unnecessary ink consumption.
The ink jet recording apparatus may further include a recovery permission device that forcibly cancels a condition setting for the inhibition by the inhibition device. This structure allows the head recovery device to be driven even under the inhibition condition, if a recovery operation is needed.
The ink jet recording apparatus may further have an inhibition condition setting device that enables selection of whether to set a condition for the inhibition by the inhibition device. This structure makes it possible for a user to select a condition for the inhibition in accordance with the working conditions, thereby improving usability and reducing unnecessary ink consumption.
The ink jet recording apparatus may be a small-size manually-driven printing apparatus that records by ejecting ink onto a recording medium when the apparatus is manually moved over the recording medium.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4543591 (1985-09-01), Terasawa
patent: 5341163 (1994-08-01), Hanabusa
patent: 3-23454
Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Oliff & Berridg,e PLC
Tran Huan
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