US 10,766,261 B2Granted

Head cleaning device and liquid discharge apparatus

AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.

InventorAtsushi Kikuchi

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A head cleaning device includes a first wiping member, a first drive mechanism, a second wiping member, a second drive mechanism, a common drive source, and control circuitry. The first wiping member wipes a nozzle face of each of a plurality of liquid discharge heads. The first drive mechanism moves the first wiping member to a first wiping position at which the first wiping member wipes the nozzle face and a first retraction position spaced apart from the nozzle face. The second wiping member wipes the nozzle face. The second drive mechanism moves the second wiping member to a second wiping position at which the second wiping member wipes the nozzle face and a second retraction position spaced apart from the nozzle face. The common drive source drives the first drive mechanism and the second drive mechanism. The control circuitry controls the common drive source.

Claims14

Dependent claims

A head cleaning device comprising:

a first wiping member to wipe a nozzle face of each of a plurality of liquid discharge heads;
a first drive mechanism to move the first wiping member to a first wiping position at which the first wiping member wipes the nozzle face and a first retraction position spaced apart from the nozzle face;
a second wiping member to wipe the nozzle face;
a second drive mechanism to move the second wiping member to a second wiping position at which the second wiping member wipes the nozzle face and a second retraction position spaced apart from the nozzle face;
a common drive source to drive the first drive mechanism and the second drive mechanism;
control circuitry to control the common drive source;
and
a driving-force transmitter to transmit drive force of the second drive mechanism to the first drive mechanism,
wherein the first wiping member and the second wiping member are moved in synchronization with each other by the common drive source through the driving-force transmitter.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 16/356,561Filed 18 Mar 2019
Priority: JP 2018-05155819 Mar 2018
Published: US 2019/0283431 A119 Sep 2019
Granted: 8 Sep 2020
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification6 codes

B41J 2/16535
Cleaning of print head nozzles: using wiping constructions
B41J 2/16538
Using wiping constructions: with brushes or wiper blades perpendicular to the nozzle plate
B41J 2/16544
Using wiping constructions: constructions for the positioning of wipers
B41J 23/025
Mechanical power drives: using a single or common power source for two or more functions

Family

US 2019/0283431 A1Pre-grant publication · published 19 Sep 2019
US 10,766,261 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

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