Maintenance station for an imaging apparatus
AssigneeFunai Electric Co., Ltd.
InventorGregory Leon Hutchison
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A maintenance station for servicing a printhead mounted on a carrier includes mechanisms that separate a wiping function from a capping function. The maintenance station includes a housing mounting a maintenance sled that is movable between a wiping position and a capping position. The capping position follows the wiping position along a direction of travel by the carrier when it enters the maintenance station. As the carrier enters the maintenance station, a latch pivotably mounted to the maintenance sled selectively locks the maintenance sled in the wiping position without engaging the capping position based on a stop position of the carrier upon initial entrance into the maintenance area.
Claims16
A maintenance station for servicing a printhead mounted on a carrier that is movable between an imaging region and a non-imaging region adjacent a maintenance area, comprising:
- a maintenance housing defining the maintenance area;
- a maintenance sled mounted to the maintenance housing and movable in conjunction with the carrier between a wiping position and a capping position, the capping position following the wiping position along a direction of travel by the carrier from the imaging region to the non-imaging region;
- and
- a latch pivotably mounted to the maintenance sled for selectively locking the maintenance sled at the wiping position without engaging the capping position based on a stop position of the carrier upon initial entrance into the maintenance area.
A maintenance station for servicing a printhead mounted on a carrier that is movable between an imaging region and a non-imaging region adjacent a maintenance area, comprising:
- a maintenance housing defining the maintenance area;
- a maintenance sled mounted to the maintenance housing and movable in conjunction with the carrier between a wiping position and a capping position, the capping position following the wiping position along a direction of travel by the carrier from the imaging region to the non-imaging region;
- and
- an arm pivotably mounted to the maintenance sled and operative to cause the maintenance sled to bypass the wiping position upon leaving the capping position such that a wiping operation is not performed as the carrier moves from the maintenance area after a capping operation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.