Ink purge apparatus, ink purging method nozzle wiping apparatus and wiping method in printer

An ink purge method for use in a printer in which a thermally melted ink received within an ink tank of an ink jet head is sucked and discharged from a nozzle portion of the ink jet head toward the exterior of the ink jet head by an ink purge apparatus, said method comprising:

• providing an ink discard hole on a bottom portion of an ink suction casing of the purge apparatus from which the sucked melted ink is discharged;
• disposing an ink absorbent sheet and an ink absorbent sheet winding mechanism below the ink discard hole;
• and
• discarding the ink sucked and collected by the purge apparatus onto the ink absorbent sheet while the ink absorbent sheet is wound up by the winding mechanism to discard the ink.

A nozzle wiping apparatus for use in a printer comprising an ink jet head constituted by an ink tank for reserving ink, a plurality of nozzles provided so as to discharge ink as liquid drops by an ink drop generating mechanism, a carriage for carrying these nozzles to an arbitrary position, an easel erected substantially vertically, a printing medium fixed onto the easel, an ink purge apparatus disposed at an arbitrary end portion on the easel and in a position facing the nozzles to perform a purging operation in which ink is sucked from the nozzles and discarded through an ink discard hole, and a moving mechanism for moving the nozzles in a first direction and a second direction which is opposite to the first direction relative to the purge apparatus, whereby printing is performed by moving horizontally and vertically relative to the easel, said nozzle wiping apparatus comprising:

• an ink-absorbent sheet placed below the ink discard hole to collect the sucked ink discarded through the ink discard hole;
• an ink absorbent sheet winding mechanism to wind up the ink-absorbent sheet;
• and
• means for keeping the ink-absorbent sheet in contact with a part of the nozzles after completion of the purging operation so the nozzles may be moved relative to the ink-absorbent sheet to thereby wipe ink deposited on the nozzles.

A wiping method for use in a printer comprising an ink jet head constituted by an ink tank for reserving ink, a plurality of nozzles provided so as to discharge ink as liquid drops by an ink drop generating mechanism, a carriage for carrying these nozzles to an arbitrary position, an easel erected substantially vertically, a printing medium fixed onto the easel, an ink pure apparatus disposed at an arbitrary end portion on the easel and in a position facing the nozzles to perform a purging operation in which ink is sucked from the nozzles and discarded through an ink discard hole, and a moving mechanism for moving the nozzles in a first direction and a second direction which is opposite to the first direction relative to the purge apparatus, whereby printing is performed by moving horizontally and vertically relative to the easel, said method comprising:

• moving the ink jet head resting in the arbitrary position on the easel to a position facing the purge apparatus;
• advancing the ink jet head toward the purge apparatus to bring only the ink-absorbent sheet into contact with a part of a nozzle plate;
• continuing to advance the ink jet head to bring the ink jet head into contact with the purge apparatus to perform a purging operation;
• retracting the ink jet head from the purge apparatus while keeping the ink-absorbent sheet in contact with the nozzle plate after completion of the purging operation;
• and
• moving the ink jet head downward while keeping the ink-absorbent sheet in contact with the nozzle plate to thereby wipe ink deposited on the nozzle plate.