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INK PRINTER WITH A CLEANING AND
SEALING STATION
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED
APPLICATIONS 5
This application is a continuation-in-part application of another international application filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty Dec. 4, 1990, bearing Application No. PCT/DE90/00940, and listing the United States as a desig- 10 nated and/or elected country. The entire disclosure of this latter application, including the drawings thereof, is hereby incorporated in this application as if fully set forth herein.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 15
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink print device including at least one ink jet print head, disposed movable back and forth along a platen, and exhibiting a recording 20 substrate and a cleaning and sealing station in a work region.
2. Brief Description of the Background of the Invention Including Prior Art
Ink jet printing devices are of increasing interest for the 2J user based on the development of ever more powerful and increasingly higher capability microprocessors in addition to a plurality of other print devices such as, for example, pin printers, matrix printers, thermal transfer printers, thermal printers, thermographic printers and electrophotographic 3Q printers. The purchase of a printer is frequently a complex decision, where the production features such as speed, economy and print quality are in the foreground based on the increased capability of the peripheral text processing apparatus. The production feature, namely to be able to print in 35 color, is furthermore of marked importance for various fields of application. For this purpose, ink printing presents optimum preconditions and prerequisites based on the use of color writing liquids, which can be produced at a low cost and in a simple manner, in addition to the thermal transfer 4Q printing process.
The ink colors employed for providing color to the writing liquids are, for example, yellow, cyan, magenta, and black according to the German printed patent document DE-A1 37 36 916. The ink in the nozzle exit or nozzle 45 ejection openings of an ink jet print head can dry up in case of longer printing intervals. In order to prevent this drying, the ink jet print device exhibits, for example, a cleaning and sealing station or, respectively, a suction regeneration device. Cleaning and sealing stations can also be employed 50 to eliminate soiling at the nozzle exit openings of the ink jet print head in the ink jet print device. For this purpose, the ink jet print heads are cleaned at regular time intervals and are sealed in case of longer printing intervals of the ink jet printing device. In case of use of cleaning and sealing 55 stations in color printers, it has to be guaranteed that there does not occur a mixing of colors during the cleaning and sealing of the ink jet print heads.
A cleaning and sealing station or, respectively, a suction regeneration device for ink jet print heads in ink jet print 60 devices is known in each case from the German printed patent document DE-A1-33 16 474, German printed patent document DE-A1-33 16 968, German printed patent document DE-A1-36 04 373, German printed patent document DE-A1 3611 333, German printed patent document DE-A1- 65 36 33 239, German printed patent document DE-A1-37 26 671, German printed patent document DE-A1-38 10 698,
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and European printed patent document EP-Al-0,094,220. Nozzle exit openings of the ink jet print heads are cleaned, flushed and the nozzle exit openings are sealed in case of longer printing intervals of the ink jet print devices in different ways with the cleaning and sealing station or, respectively, the suction regeneration device. The cleaning and sealing station or, respectively, suction regeneration device is disposed for this purpose preferably in a parking position outside the operating and working region of a printer carriage, supporting the ink jet print heads and disposed in the ink jet print device. The construction space, additionally required based on this arrangement, in the ink printer effects that, depending on the outer dimensioning of the cleaning and sealing station or, respectively, suction regeneration device, the ink jet print device becomes wider and thus more cumbersome to handle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
1. Purposes of the Invention
It is an object of the present invention to construct an ink jet print device with a cleaning and sealing station which is simple, low cost, and service friendly.
It is a further object of the present invention to keep the mounting space for the cleaning and sealing station as small as possible in the ink jet print device.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide for a cleaning and sealing station which is a selfcontained unit.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide for a cleaning and sealing station which can be used for different ink jet print devices.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become evident from the description which follows.
2. Brief Description of the Invention
The present invention provides for an ink jet print device. A print support platen receives and supports a recording substrate. An ink jet print head is disposed movable back and forth parallel to and along a longitudinal direction of the print support platen. A cleaning and sealing station is disposed in a work region for engaging the ink jet print head. The work region includes a printing region, a first overshoot region, and a second overshoot region, thereby providing two overshoot regions. The first overshoot region and the second overshoot region are adjoining to the printing region. The first overshoot region and the second overshoot region serve for allowing to accelerate and to brake the back and forth movable ink jet print head. The cleaning and sealing station is disposed in one of the two overshoot regions.
The cleaning and sealing station can be constructed as a self-contained construction unit capable of being exchanged by withdrawing from and inserting into the ink jet print device.
A suction device can suction ink from the ink jet print head. A cover device can cover the ink jet print head. A support member can support the suction device and support the cover device and can be disposed at the cleaning and sealing station. The support member can be constructed and attached at the sealing and cleaning station swivelable toward the ink jet print head.
An adjustment device can be attached to the support member. The adjustment device can furnish the support member with adjustability of a position for setting a relative position of the support member with respect to the ink jet print head.
