Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Ejector mechanism
Reexamination Certificate
2003-06-09
2004-11-23
Hsieh, Shih-Wen (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Ejector mechanism
C347S029000, C347S032000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06820960
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims the benefit of Korean Application No. 2002-59371, filed Sep. 30, 2002, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a maintenance apparatus of an inkjet printer, and more particularly, to a maintenance apparatus of an inkjet printer and a wiper-positioning method to precisely control a wiper stop position to prevent damage to the printer due to friction contact between a carrier conveying a print head or an ink spray nozzle of a print head, and a wiper wiping the print head.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an inkjet printer includes a paper feed apparatus to supply one sheet of paper at a time, a paper convey apparatus to convey the supplied sheet of paper to be printed on one line at a time, a print apparatus to print an image by spraying ink onto the sheet of paper, a paper discharge apparatus to discharge the printed sheet to an outside, and a maintenance apparatus to clean the surface of a print head nozzle of the print apparatus, collect and store waste ink, and seal the surface of the print head nozzle at the same time.
The maintenance apparatus maintains the surface of the ink spray nozzle of the print head in good condition and is thus essential to the inkjet printer of the print head to perform a satisfactory printing function.
In FIGS.
1
and
2
A-
2
C, a general maintenance apparatus
1
used in an inkjet printer is illustrated. The maintenance apparatus
1
shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
includes a housing
5
connected with a main frame (not shown) of the inkjet printer, and a capping member
10
disposed inside the housing
5
and including two caps
16
(only one is shown) to seal the surfaces of ink spray nozzles
3
of mono and color print heads
2
(only one is shown) mounted in a carrier
6
. The maintenance apparatus
1
includes a wiping member
20
disposed inside the housing
5
and including two wipers
24
(only one is shown) to wipe the surfaces of the ink spray nozzles
3
of the print heads
2
, a power transmission device
30
to receive a rotation force from a bi-directional motor provided separately from a print head motor (not shown) to drive the carrier
6
with the print heads
2
disposed therein, and a capping member convey device
14
,
40
to convert a rotation force of the power transmission device
30
into a vertical force and to transmit the converted force to a capping member
10
. The maintenance apparatus
1
further includes a wiping member convey device
26
,
28
,
50
to convert a rotation force of the power transmission device
30
into a horizontal force and transmit the converted force to the wiping member
20
.
The capping member
10
includes a rotation convey body
12
with the caps
16
formed on the upper surface thereof, and the wiping member
20
includes a horizontal convey body
22
with one of the wipers
24
disposed at one side.
The power transmission device
30
includes a first pulley
35
coaxially formed on a motor
32
to transmit a rotation force from the motor
32
, a second pulley
37
engaged with the first pulley
35
by a belt
36
, and a first gear (not shown) coaxially formed with the second pulley
37
.
The capping member convey device
14
,
40
includes a first connection pin
14
to hinge one end of the rotation convey body
12
to pivotably support the rotation convey body
12
in the direction illustrated by arrow A, and a first crank device
40
.
The first crank device
40
includes a crank gear
39
connected with the first gear of the power transmission device
30
, a crank shaft
41
coaxially connected with the crank gear
39
, two first crank arms
42
,
42
′ each with one end connected on the crank shaft
41
, and two first connecting rods
44
,
44
′ each with one end respectively connected with the other ends of the first crank arms
42
,
42
′ by a second connection pin
43
, and other ends connected with the lower part of the other ends of the rotation convey body
12
by a third connection pin
45
.
The wiping member convey device
26
,
28
,
50
includes two elongated guide grooves
28
formed in a length direction inside both sides of the upper portion of the housing
5
, two elongated slide protrusions
26
formed on both sides of the horizontal convey body
22
to correspond with the guide grooves
28
to slide along the guide grooves
28
in a horizontal direction, i.e., the direction illustrated by arrow B, which is perpendicular to the moving direction of the print heads
2
, and a second crank device
50
connected with the first gear of the power transmission device
30
.
The second crank device
50
includes a crank gear
39
connected with the first gear of the power transmission device
30
, a crank shaft
41
coaxially connected with the crank gear
39
, two second crank arms
52
,
52
′ each with one end respectively connected on the crank shaft
41
, and two second connecting rods
54
,
54
′ each with one end respectively connected with the other ends of the second crank arms
52
,
52
′ by fourth connection pins
53
,
53
′ and the other ends connected with one end of the horizontal convey body
22
by fifth connection pins
55
,
55
′.
The operation of the maintenance apparatus
1
for an inkjet printer structured as above will be described below with reference to
FIGS. 1 and 2
.
When the print heads
2
mounted in the carrier
6
complete printing by spraying ink on a sheet of paper while being moved left and right by a print head drive motor within a printing area, the print heads
2
move into a maintenance area, as shown in FIG.
2
A.
After the print heads
2
reach the maintenance area, the bi-directional motor
32
rotates in a first direction, for example, counter clockwise, the rotation force of the motor
32
is transferred from the first pulley
35
to the second pulley
37
by the belt
36
, and then finally to the crank gear
39
through the first gear coaxially formed with the second pulley
37
rotating the crank gear clockwise.
As shown in
FIG. 2B
, as the crank gear
39
rotates clockwise, the crack shaft
41
coaxially connected with the crank gear
39
also rotates clockwise, and accordingly the rotation convey body
12
of the capping member
10
placed in a standby position rotates counter clockwise around the first connection pin
14
by the first crank device
40
of the capping member convey device
14
.
The horizontal convey body
22
of the wiping member
20
moves to the right in the horizontal direction as the slide protrusion
26
slides along the guide groove
28
by the second crank device
50
of the wiping member convey device.
As the horizontal convey body
22
moves to the right, the wipers
24
formed to protrude upward at one side of the horizontal convey body
22
also move to the right, and accordingly the wiper
24
performs a wiping operation cleaning remaining ink, fine dust, etc. on the surface of the ink spray nozzles
3
of the print heads
2
.
After the wiping operation is completed, the wipers
24
are cleaned by a wiper cleaner (not shown) horizontally disposed in the housing
5
, and the waste ink which was on the upper end of the wipers
24
is collected in an ink storing receptacle (not shown) disposed in the housing
5
below the wiper cleaner.
When the rotation convey body
12
continues to rotate counter clockwise by the crank gear
39
, the caps
16
disposed on the upper surface of the rotation convey body
12
of the capping member
10
have one side close to the first connection pin
14
, brought in contact with the surface of the ink spray nozzles
3
of the print heads
2
forming a predetermined initial contact angle and then gradually sealing the surfaces of the ink spray nozzles
3
of the print heads
2
.
After the caps
16
close the surfaces of the ink spray nozzles
3
of the print heads
2
, the slide protrusion
26
of the horizontal
Lim Gui-taek
Yun Seuk-jin
Hsieh Shih-Wen
Samsung Electronics Co,. Ltd.
Staas & Halsey , LLP
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