Universal ink-jet printhead maintenance station
First Claim
1. A printhead wiper for wiping ink-jet printheads, said wiper comprising a resilient body having a beam portion and a head portion, said head portion having a first non-coplanar upper surface and a second non-coplanar upper surface, wherein at least one of said first non-coplanar upper surface and said second non-coplanar upper surface has a first surface portion spaced apart from a second surface portion, and said beam portion having a plurality of side surfaces diverging from a first side of said beam portion, and wherein each of said plurality of side surfaces intersects one of said first and said second of the non-coplanar upper surfaces at acute angles to form at least three printhead wiping edges.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A maintenance station for maintaining either a monochrome or a multi-color printhead in an ink-jet printer includes a single flexible wiper having a first wiping edge for wiping the ink-jet nozzle surface of a monochrome printhead and a plurality of second wiping edges for wiping the ink-jet nozzle surface of a multi-color printhead. Wiping of a monochrome printhead is accomplished by moving the printhead to one side of the wiper, raising the wiper into the path of travel of the nozzle surface, and moving the printhead past the wiper. Wiping of a multi-color printhead is accomplished in a similar manner but the printhead is first positioned on the opposite side of the wiper. The flexibility of the wiper is chosen to apply an optimum wiping force to a multi-color printhead as the printhead is moved past the wiper. A backstop is provided at one side of the wiper to brace it against deflection, so that the wiper applies a greater wiping force to a monochrome printhead than it does to a multi-color printhead. A microprocessor based controller senses the type of printhead and executes a first or a second maintenance routine depending on the type of printhead that is present in the printer.
28 Citations
21 Claims
- 1. A printhead wiper for wiping ink-jet printheads, said wiper comprising a resilient body having a beam portion and a head portion, said head portion having a first non-coplanar upper surface and a second non-coplanar upper surface, wherein at least one of said first non-coplanar upper surface and said second non-coplanar upper surface has a first surface portion spaced apart from a second surface portion, and said beam portion having a plurality of side surfaces diverging from a first side of said beam portion, and wherein each of said plurality of side surfaces intersects one of said first and said second of the non-coplanar upper surfaces at acute angles to form at least three printhead wiping edges.
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8. An ink-jet printer for printing on record pages passing through said printer, said printer including a printhead carrier for selectively carrying a monochrome or a multi-color ink-jet cartridge back and forth along a path;
- a resilient wiper movable into the path of a cartridge carried by said printhead carrier so that said wiper is deflected and wipes a surface of a cartridge carried by said printhead carriage as said cartridge is moved past said wiper, said surface having ink-jet nozzles therein; and
control means for controlling the wiping of said surface, said control means including means for sensing whether a cartridge carried by said printhead carrier is a monochrome cartridge or a multi-color cartridge, first means responsive to said sensing means for, in sequence, (1) moving said printhead carrier to a first side of said wiper, (2) raising said wiper into said path, and (3) moving said printhead carrier past said wiper so that said wiper is deflected in a first direction when said sensing means senses a monochrome cartridge in said printhead carrier, and second means responsive to said sensing means for, in sequence (1) moving said printhead carrier to a second side of said wiper, (2) raising said wiper into said path, and (3) moving said printhead carrier past said wiper so that said wiper is deflected in a second direction when said sensing means senses a multi-color cartridge in said printhead carrier. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
- a resilient wiper movable into the path of a cartridge carried by said printhead carrier so that said wiper is deflected and wipes a surface of a cartridge carried by said printhead carriage as said cartridge is moved past said wiper, said surface having ink-jet nozzles therein; and
- 20. A printhead wiper for wiping the nozzles of an ink-jet printhead having three groups of nozzles as the groups of nozzles are moved along three respective parallel paths past the wiper, said wiper being characterized in that said wiper has three separate wiping edges, a first and a second of said wiping edges being coaxially aligned along an axis and spaced one from another, and a third of said wiping edges being displaced from, but parallel to, said axis, whereby each of said wiping edges wipes only the nozzles of a respective one of said groups of nozzles.
Specification