Solid ink jet image forming apparatus
AssigneeSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
InventorsSang-cheol Park, Jeong-yeon Park
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A solid ink jet image forming apparatus includes a printing unit which fires melted solid ink onto an image on a printing medium for printing, and an ink supplying unit which contains solid ink in a lateral direction of the printing unit. In the case where the solid ink jet image forming apparatus includes a scanning unit reading an image from a document, a user can simply and easily load the solid ink without moving the scanning unit, so that the solid ink jet image forming apparatus has improved installation stability and a compact size.
Claims29
A solid ink jet image forming apparatus comprising:
- a printing unit which fires melted ink onto a printing medium to print an image;
- a scanning unit installed above a first side of the printing unit to scan data;
- and
- an ink supplying unit disposed under the scanning unit and accessible from a lateral side of the printing unit adjacent to the first side,
- wherein the ink supplying unit receives solid ink, melts the solid ink, and supplies the melted ink to the printing unit, and
- the ink supplying unit comprises
- a containing portion which contains at least one piece of the solid ink;
- a heating plate which melts the solid ink;
- and
- a loader which reciprocates in a lateral direction of the printing unit to open the containing portion to allow the solid ink to be loaded into the containing portion, and to close the containing portion to bias the loaded solid ink against the heating plate.
A solid ink jet image forming apparatus comprising:
- a printing unit which fires melted ink onto a printing medium to print an image;
- and
- an ink supplying unit accessible from a lateral side of the printing unit and disposed between a top side and a bottom side of the printing unit,
- wherein the ink supplying unit receives solid ink, melts the solid ink and supplies the melted ink to the printing unit, and
- the ink supplying unit comprises
- a containing portion which contains at least one piece of the solid ink;
- a heating plate which melts the solid ink;
- and
- a loader which reciprocates in a lateral direction of the printing unit to open the containing portion to allow the solid ink to be loaded into the containing portion, and to close the containing portion to bias the loaded solid ink against the heating plate.
A solid ink jet image forming apparatus comprising:
- a printing unit which fires melted ink onto a printing medium to print an image;
- a scanning unit installed on a first side of the printing unit to scan data;
- and
- an ink supplying unit which moves in and out of the solid inkjet image forming apparatus in a direction which does not pass through the first side on which the scanning unit is installed,
- wherein the ink supplying unit is disposed underneath the scanning unit and the direction is substantially parallel to a scanning direction of the scanning unit, and
- the ink supplying unit comprises
- a containing portion which contains at least one piece of solid ink;
- a heating plate which melts the solid ink;
- and
- a loader which reciprocates in a lateral direction of the printing unit to open the containing portion to allow the solid ink to be loaded into the containing portion, and to close the containing portion to bias the loaded solid ink against the heating plate.
An ink supplying unit to supply ink to a printing unit, comprising:
- a containing portion which contains solid ink;
- a heating plate which melts the solid ink;
- and
- a loader which reciprocates in a lateral direction of the printing unit, through a lateral side of the printing unit located between a top side and a bottom side of the printing unit, to open the containing portion to allow the solid ink to be loaded into the containing portion and close the containing portion to bias the loaded solid ink against the heating plate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.