Inkjet printer and printing head capping method
AssigneeBrother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsTakamasa Usui, Katsunori Nishida
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An inkjet printer has a printing head having a nozzle surface on which a plurality of nozzles are located that spray a plurality of kinds of ink and a cap that covers the nozzle surface of the printing head. This cap includes a ring-shaped seal lip that is constructed so that the tip end thereof comes in contact with the nozzle surface to perform capping and a partitioning lip that partitions the area inside the seal lip into areas for nozzle groups that correspond to the kinds of ink. The tip end of either seal lip or partitioning lip is shaped so that it is compressed more easily than that of the other.
Claims17
An inkjet printer, comprising:
- a printing head having a nozzle surface on which a plurality of nozzles are located that spray a plurality of kinds of ink;
- and
- a cap that covers said nozzle surface of said printing head;
- wherein
- said cap comprises:
- a ring-shaped seal lip that is constructed so that the tip end thereof comes in contact with said nozzle surface to perform capping;
- and a partitioning lip that partitions the area inside said seal lip into areas for nozzle groups that correspond to the kinds of ink;
- and
- the tip end of either said seal lip or said partitioning lip is shaped so that it is compressed more easily than that of the other.
An inkjet printer, comprising:
- a printing head having a nozzle surface on which a plurality of nozzles are located that spray a plurality of kinds of ink;
- and
- a cap that covers said nozzle surface of said printing head;
- wherein
- said cap comprises:
- a ring-shaped seal lip that is constructed so that the tip end thereof comes in contact with said nozzle surface to perform capping;
- and a partitioning lip that partitions the area inside said seal lip into areas for nozzle groups that correspond to the kinds of ink;
- and
- the tip end of said seal lip protrudes more than the tip end of said partitioning lip.
An inkjet printer, comprising:
- a printing head having a nozzle surface on which a plurality of nozzles are located that spray a plurality of kinds of ink;
- and
- a cap that covers said nozzle surface of said printing head;
- wherein
- said cap comprises:
- a ring-shaped seal lip that is constructed so that the tip end thereof comes in contact with said nozzle surface and cover all of the plurality of nozzles;
- and a partitioning lip that is located inside said seal lip, and can separate nozzle groups that spray specified kinds of ink, and cover the nozzle groups;
- and wherein
- the cross-sectional shapes of said seal lip and said partitioning lip differ so that the loads that said nozzle surface receives from said seal lip and said partitioning lip differ when capped.
A capping method for capping a printing head in which a cap covers a nozzle surface of a printing head on which a plurality of nozzles that spray a plurality of kinds of ink are located, comprising the steps of:
- moving said printing head to the position where said cap is located so that said printing head faces said cap;
- moving said cap toward said printing head;
- stopping movement of said cap when the tip end of a ring-shaped seal lip, which is formed in said cap, and the tip end of a partitioning lip, which partitions the inside of said seal lip for each kind of ink, come in contact with said nozzle surface when sucking ink from inside of the nozzles, and stopping the movement of said cap in a state where the tip end of said seal lip comes in contact with said nozzle surface, and the tip end of said partitioning lip does not come in contact with said nozzle surface, when storing the nozzles when not printing;
- and
- maintaining said cap in this stopped position.
A capping method for capping a printing head when not printing in which a cap covers a nozzle surface of a printing head on which a plurality of nozzles that spray a plurality of kinds of ink are located, comprising the steps of:
- bringing the tip end of a ring-shaped partitioning lip that is located in said cap in contact with said nozzle surface, and covering a nozzle group that sprays an ink that becomes thicker more easily than other ink that is sprayed from the other nozzle groups with said partitioning lip;
- and
- bringing the tip end of a ring-shaped seal lip that is located around said partitioning lip in contact with said nozzle surface and covering all of the plurality of nozzles with said seal lip.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.