Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Ejector mechanism
Reexamination Certificate
2002-05-01
2003-12-30
Nguyen, Thinh (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Ejector mechanism
Reexamination Certificate
active
06669328
ABSTRACT:
This application incorporates by reference of Taiwan application Ser. No. 090207391, filed May 7, 2001.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a wiper for cleaning the nozzle surface, and more particularly to a wiper for avoiding ink residues on side surfaces of the print head.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the technology booming age, the ink-jet machine, such as the ink-jet printer or inkjet copier, has grown in popularity and thus becomes indispensable for people's life. For example, the ink-jet printer is capable of printing the document by linking the ink-jet printer and the computer so as to improve work efficiency.
The ink required by the ink-jet machine is contained in the cartridge while the print head is positioned at the bottom of the cartridge. The print head jets small ink droplets onto the paper through the nozzle surface of the print head to create an output image. Accordingly, the ink residues adhere to the nozzle surface. If the ink residues are accumulated without cleaning, the dried ink residues are possible to form blockages in the print head or smudge the paper, which might decrease the printing quality. Therefore, the printing work shall be halted for wiping the ink residues on the nozzle surface in the cleaning area inside the ink-jet machine whenever the printing has performed several times. The following description takes an ink-jet printer as an example of the ink-jet machine.
Referring to
FIG. 1A
, it shows the top view of a conventional ink-jet printer. The ink-jet printer
100
comprises a casing
101
, print head
102
, and cleaning area
106
. The print head
102
inside the casing
101
is driven by a driving device (not shown in FIGS) and moves back and forth on the paper to be printed
104
along the direction of the arrow sign
150
of FIG.
1
A. The print head
102
jets ink droplets onto the paper to be printed
104
and the paper to be printed
104
moves upward along the direction of the arrow sign
160
of
FIG. 1A
to complete the printing work. The cleaning area
106
includes a wiper, cap, and blotter. The wiper is for wiping the ink residues on the surface of the print head
102
. The cap is the cover of the print head
102
for preventing the ink from being dried to form blockages in the print head
102
while the print head is homed at the cleaning area
106
. The blotter is for blotting out the ink splashed during the cleaning.
The structure of the wiper
130
in the cleaning area
106
is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,612,722 by Monty L. Francis, Edmund H. James, III, and Donald N. Spitz. Lateral views of the print head and the wiper of
FIG. 1A
are shown in FIG.
1
B. The wiper
130
includes a main body
108
and a base
118
. The main body
108
has a supporting portion
109
, flexible portion
112
, and wiping portion
114
. The supporting portion
109
has a groove
116
for the insertion of the protruding end
115
of the supporting portion
109
so that the main body
108
can be mounted on the base
118
. The flexible portion
112
is disposed upon the supporting portion
109
, the wiping portion
114
is upon the flexible portion, and therefore the supporting portion
109
, flexible portion
112
, and wiping portion
114
are in one unity.
Please refer to
FIG. 1C
, the enlarged view of the wiping portion
114
of
FIG. 1B
is shown. The wiping portion
114
has a coplanar surface
120
, wiping ends
122
a
and
122
b
. The wiping ends
122
a
and
122
b
are disposed at two sides of the coplanar surface
120
and form two acute angles respectively. The coplanar surface
120
is level with the wiping ends
122
a
and
122
b
. Besides, the plane formed by the coplanar surface
120
and the wiping ends
122
a
and
122
b
is higher than the plane level L of the nozzle surface
110
. When the wiper
130
is stationary and the print head
102
moves back and forth along the direction of the arrow sign
170
of
FIG. 1B
, the wiping ends
122
a
and
122
b
contact the side surfaces
102
a
and
102
b
of the print head
102
respectively. The flexible portion
112
bends down while the print head
102
pushes the wiping portion
114
. The wiping ends
122
a
and
122
b
touches the nozzle surface
110
and then the ink residues on the nozzle surface
110
is removed as the relative motion between the print head
102
and the wiper
130
proceeds.
Referring to
FIGS. 2A
to
2
G, it schematically illustrates the wiping sequences of the wiper of
FIG. 1B
for wiping the ink residues. Referring first to
FIG. 2A
, as the print head
102
approaches the wiping end
122
a
along the direction of the arrow sign
180
of
FIG. 2A
, the side surface
102
a
of the print head
102
subsequently touches and pushes the wiping end
122
a
so that the flexible portion
112
bends to the right. As shown in
FIG. 2B
, the print head
102
proceeds to move along the direction of the arrow sign
180
of FIG.
2
B. Subsequently, the wiping end
122
a
touches the nozzle surfaces
110
and removes the ink residue
111
as the relative motion between the print head
102
and the wiping end
122
a
proceeds. Referring to
FIG. 2C
, the wiping end
122
a
comes off the nozzle surface
110
and the ink residue
111
adheres to the left side of the wiping end
122
a
. Meanwhile, the flexible portion
112
recovers to the former shape and the plane formed by the coplanar surface
120
and the wiping ends
122
a
and
122
b
is higher than the plane level L of the nozzle surface L again.
On the other hand, when the print head
102
approaches the wiping end
122
b
along the direction of the arrow sign
190
of
FIG. 2C
, the side surface
102
b
of the print head
102
subsequently touches and pushes the wiping end
122
b
so that the flexible portion
112
bends to the left as shown in FIG.
2
D. The print head
102
proceeds to move along the direction of the arrow sign
190
of FIG.
2
D and the wiping end
122
b
subsequently touches the nozzle surfaces
110
and performs wiping. Once the wiping end
122
b
comes off the nozzle surface
110
, the flexible portion
112
recovers to the former shape and the ink residue
111
remains adhering to the left side of the wiping end
122
a
as shown in FIG.
2
E. At this time, if the print head
102
approaches the wiping end
122
a
along the direction of the arrow sign
180
of
FIG. 2E
again, the side surface
102
a
of the print head
102
subsequently touches the wiping end
122
a
and the ink residue
111
as shown in
FIG. 2F
As shown in
FIG. 2G
, the ink residue
111
is shifted from the left side of the wiping end
122
a
to the side surface
102
a
of the print head
102
.
Conventionally, the wiping ends
122
a
and
122
b
of the main body
108
are two sides of the coplanar surface
120
. The coplanar surface
120
is level with the wiping ends
122
a
and
122
b
and the wiping force is generated by the deformation of the main body
108
due to the relative motion between the print head
102
and the wiping ends
122
a
and
122
b
. The ink residue
111
on the nozzle surface
110
is removed by the wiping end
122
a
and
122
b
and finally adheres to the side surface
102
a
and
102
b
of the print head
102
. Consequently, when the cleaning completes and the print head
102
proceeds to print, the ink residue
111
adheres to the side surface
102
a
and
102
b
of the print head
102
might fall to the paper to be printed
104
. The paper is smudged with the ink residues and the printing quality is therefore decreased.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a wiper for avoiding ink residues on side surfaces of the print head. It keeps side surfaces of the print head clean and ensures the printing quality.
The invention achieves the above-identified objects by providing a wiper for avoiding ink residues on side surfaces of a print head, the wiper comprises a main body and a base. The main body comprises a supporting portion, flexible piece, and wiping portion. The flexible piece is
Benq Corporation
Nguyen Thinh
Rabin & Berdo PC
LandOfFree
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