Housekeeping station
AssigneeMailroom Technology, Inc.
InventorsAndreas von Niederhausern, Bruno Erni
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An inkjet printhead cleaning station for cleaning a movable inkjet printhead assembly comprises; a housing structure for the cleaning station; a wiper element having a free end portion; a pivotable carriage assembly secured to the wiper element and adapted to rotate the wiper and bend the free end portion of the wiper element; and a hook element positioned on the movable inkjet printhead assembly and adapted to engage the pivotable carriage and thereby rotate and bend the free end position of the wiper against the housing thereby removing ink from the wiper.
Claims7
An inkjet printhead cleaning station for cleaning a movable inkjet printhead assembly comprising:
- a housing structure for the cleaning station;
- a wiper element having a free end portion;
- a pivotable carriage assembly secured to the wiper element and adapted to rotate the wiper and thereby bend the free end portion of the wiper element;
- and
- a hook element positioned on the movable inkjet printhead assembly and adapted to engage the pivotable carriage and thereby rotate and bend the free end portion of the wiper against the housing thereby removing ink from the wiper.
An inkjet printhead cleaning station comprising in a unitary housing structure:
- (a) a first area in which ink is adapted to be forced through nozzles positioned in the inkjet printhead;
- (b) a second area including a plurality of wipers adapted to wipe an inkjet head, each of the wipers being mounted on a carriage assembly that is adapted to pivot thereby rotating the wipers and causing edges of the wipers to bend on the housing and scrape off excess ink on the wipers;
- (c) a third area in which ink is forced through the nozzle for a second time;
- and
- (d) a forth area of the cleaning station in which a cap is positioned on the head to seal nozzles in the printhead.
A cleaning station for an inkjet printhead comprising:
- a first area in which ink is adapted to be forced through nozzles positioned in the inkjet printhead;
- a second area including:
- a plurality of wipers adapted to wipe an inkjet head;
- and
- a self cleaning mechanism for the plurality of wipers including a pivotable carriage assembly for rotating the wipers,
- wherein a hook element positioned on the inkjet printhead is operable to engage the pivotable carriage and thereby rotate and bend the plurality of wipers against a housing of the cleaning station to clean the wipers;
- and
- a third area in which ink is forced through the nozzle for a second time;
- and
- a forth area of the cleaning station in which a cap is positioned on the printhead to seal nozzles in the printhead.
A method for cleaning an inkjet printhead comprising:
- positioning the printhead in a first area of a cleaning station where ink is forced through nozzles of the printhead;
- positioning the printhead over a second area of the cleaning station where a plurality of wipers wipe the printhead;
- positioning the printhead over a third area of the cleaning station where ink is forced through the nozzles for a second time;
- and
- positioning the printhead over a forth area of the cleaning station where a cap is positioned on the printhead to seal the nozzles.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.