Ink jet head maintenance mechanism and ink jet printer equipped with the mechanism

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE In an ink jet printer using an ink using a solvent which is quick-drying and highly volatile such as an organic solvent, even if the ink jet head nozzle surface is covered with a protective cap, a minute amount of ink around the nozzles is dried when the printer is kept on standby for a long period of time or left unused for a long time with the power off, with the result that pigment and a resin layer adhere to the interior of the nozzle, making it impossible to overcome nozzle dropout even by cleaning. An object of the invention is to provide an ink jet head maintenance mechanism which makes it possible to perform satisfactory printing involving no nozzle dropout even when an ink of the above-mentioned nature is used and the head has been left unused for a long period of time. In an ink jet printer using an ink using a quick-drying solvent such as an organic solvent, a nozzle surface of the ink jet head is protected with a cap when the power is turned off or no printing is to be performed for a fixed period of time, and the interior of the cap is completely filled with ink to effect such an operation as will restrain drying of the nozzle surface.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.