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US 6,644,776 B1Granted
Snout wiper assembly
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsJohn A. Barinaga, Jeffrey J. Anderson, Antonio Gomez, Russell P. Yearout
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A snout wiper assembly includes a support member, a supported member and a snout wiper. The support member defines a travel slot. The supported member is movable along the travel slot between positions including a wiping position and a resting position. The snout wiper is carried by the supported member.
Claims21
An inkjet printing mechanism, comprising:
- an inkjet pen having a snout surface;
- a snout wiper assembly to clean the snout surface, comprising:
- a shuttle base, defining a travel slot;
- a shuttle, movable along the travel slot between a wiping position and a resting position;
- and
- a snout wiper, carried by the shuttle:
- a pair of blade cleaning members, carried by a support member and having a cleaning surface separated incrementally from a blade portion of the snout wiper, to separate ink residue from the blade portion as the supported member is moved from the wiping position to the resting position;
- and
- a spit wheel, positioned to receive and remove the ink residue separated from the blade portion of the snout wiper.
6 more elements
An inkjet printing mechanism, comprising:
- an inkjet pen having a snout surface;
- and
- a snout wiper assembly to clean the snout surface, comprising:
- a shuttle base, defining a travel slot, wherein the shuttle base is supported by a service station portion of the inkjet printing mechanism and wherein the shuttle base defines an alignment notch to orient the shuttle base with respect to the inkjet printing mechanism;
- a shuttle, movable along the travel slot between a wiping position and a resting position, wherein the shuttle defines a socket within which a base portion of a snout wiper is carried;
- a pair of blade cleaning members, each blade cleaning member carried by the shuttle base and having a cleaning surface separated incrementally from a blade portion of the snout wiper, to separate ink residue from the blade portion as the shuttle is moved from the wiping to the resting position;
- a member which biases the shuttle into a first position, the first position selected from among:
- the resting position and the wiping position;
- an activation member which urges the shuttle from the first position;
- and
- a spit wheel, positioned to receive and remove the ink residue separated from the blade portion of the snout wiper by the pair of blade cleaning members.
8 more elements
A method of servicing an inkjet printing mechanism, comprising:
- moving an inkjet pen into a nozzle wiping position;
- wiping an orifice plate of the inkjet pen;
- depositing some residue removed from the orifice plate onto a snout surface of the inkjet pen;
- moving the inkjet pen into a snout wiping position;
- moving a shuttle into a wiping position;
- moving the inkjet pen to transfer the residue from the snout surface to a blade portion of a snout wiper carried by the shuttle;
- and
- moving the shuttle into a resting position, thereby moving the blade portion of the snout wiper between two blade cleaning members, which contact and remove the residue from the blade portion.
5 more elements
A processor-readable medium comprising processor-executable instructions for:
- moving an inkjet pen into a nozzle wiping position;
- wiping an orifice plate of the inkjet pen;
- depositing some residue removed from the orifice plate onto the snout surface;
- moving the inkjet pen into a snout wiping position;
- moving a shuttle into a wiping position;
- moving the inkjet pen to transfer the residue from the snout surface to a blade portion of a snout wiper carried by the shuttle;
- and
- moving the shuttle into a resting position, thereby moving the blade portion of the snout wiper between two blade cleaning members, which contact and remove the residue from the blade portion.
5 more elements
A processor-readable medium comprising processor-executable instructions for:
- moving an inkjet pen into a nozzle wiping position;
- wiping an orifice plate of the inkjet pen;
- depositing residue removed from the orifice plate onto a snout surface;
- moving the inkjet pen into a snout wiping position;
- moving a shuttle into a wiping position by overcoming a bias which urges the shuttle into a resting position;
- moving the inkjet pen to transfer the residue from the snout surface to a blade portion of a snout wiper carried by the shuttle;
- moving the shuttle into the resting position by urging the shuttle with a biasing member, thereby moving the blade portion of the snout wiper between two blade cleaning members that remove the residue from the blade portion;
- and
- removing residue that falls off the two blade cleaning members with a spit wheel.
6 more elements
An inkjet printing mechanism, comprising:
- means for moving an inkjet pen into a nozzle wiping position;
- means for wiping an orifice plate of the inkjet pen;
- means for depositing residue removed from the orifice plate onto a snout surface of the inkjet pen;
- means for moving the inkjet pen into a snout wiping position;
- means for moving a shuttle into a wiping position;
- means for moving the inkjet pen to transfer the residue from the snout surface to a blade portion of a snout wiper carried by the shuttle;
- and
- means for moving the blade portion of the snout wiper between two blade cleaning members, which remove the residue from the blade portion.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.