Apparatus and method for protecting printing heads

Details Apparatus and method for protecting printing heads Apparatus and method for protecting printing heads

2001-10-22

2004-04-27

Nghiem, Michael (Department: 2863)

Incremental printing of symbolic information

Ink jet

Ejector mechanism

Reexamination Certificate

active

06726307

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is generally related to apparatus for protecting a print head from a flexible cable carrier with which it is coupled and in particular is related to apparatus for protecting ink-jet printing heads.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
During printing, for example ink jet printing, the print array heads may be moved along one or more axes to print on to the substrate. Ink is generally supplied to the print heads by an ink delivery system. As the print heads moves, the ink delivery system attached to the print heads travels with the print heads. The ink delivery system may include tubing and hoses for supplying the ink. In addition, the printing system includes cables for data transfer and control information as well as electricity supply cables. Commonly, the tubing, hoses and cables associated with the printing system are enclosed within a cable carrier, which is rigidly attached to the print heads that they move together with the movement of the print heads.
Reference is now made to
FIG. 1
, which illustrates the print head
12
and cable carrier
14
of a printing system. The cable carrier
14
is rigidly attached to the print head
12
by a plate
16
configured to allow the ink supply tubing and data and electronic cables to pass through to the cable carrier
14
. The cable carrier
14
is generally flexible and travels along a support structure
18
. The print head
12
is configured to travel on linear bearings
20
by a linear motor (not shown) along the “Y”-axis. As the print head
12
moves along the “Y”-axis, the cable carrier
14
rotates as indicated by arrow
22
.
The height of the print head above the substrate may be as small as 2 mm. The weight of the tubing, hoses and cables is generally relatively heavy and causes vibration. Any vibration of the ink delivery system owing to the weight and movement of the tubing and cables, for example, will cause the print head to vibrate because of the rigidity of the attachment between the ink delivery system and the print heads. The vibration may lead to inaccurate, uneven and poor quality printing results.
It would be advantageous to provide an apparatus that overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Apparatus and method for protecting print heads from unwanted movement and vibration is provided. The apparatus includes at least one print head, a movable component attachable to a flexible cable carrier, the flexible cable carrier being coupled to at least one print head, and an isolating component attachable to the movable component, for isolating uncontrolled movement and vibration of the flexible cable carrier from the at least one print head.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5245361 (1993-09-01), Kashimura et al.
patent: 5367328 (1994-11-01), Erickson
patent: 5719608 (1998-02-01), Sabonis et al.
patent: 6007190 (1999-12-01), Murray et al.
patent: 6068370 (2000-05-01), Miller et al.

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