Hewlett-Packard Company

Joan Carles Vives

Brian P Canfield

Jesus Garcia

Martin Urrutia

Jesus Garcia Maza

Eric Joseph Johnson

Gonzalo Gaston

Jorge Menendez

Jordi Bartolome

Richard A Becker

Joan Manel Garcia

A storage container for storing inkjet cartridges, when removed from the carriage of a printer, having a capping housing for holding one or more caps, associated with each cartridge, for capping the printhead of the cartridge, wherein the caps are easily removable from the storage container by a user. The provision of manually removable cap allows the cap of a storage container to be matched to a particular cartridge having a specific printhead, ink formulation and lifetime. This ensures the efficacy of the cartridge is maintained during storage and prevents contamination of one cartridge by ink residue that may be left on a cap by another cartridge, which can damage the printhead due to chemical interaction between the different ink formulations.

Storage container for inkjet cartridges having removable capping means and a method for storing inkjet cartridges

An inkjet printing system with a translational inkjet service module. The system includes a carriage which moves along a scan axis over a print zone, with a plurality of printheads mounted on the carriage, each printhead having an array of nozzles for applying ink to the print media in the print zone. The service module has wipers for engagement with the array of nozzles during a period when the nozzles are not applying ink to the media. A motor moves the servicing module in a linear direction orthogonal to the scan axis in order to simultaneously wipe each array of nozzles. The servicing module also provides a capper function and a priming function.

Translational inkjet servicing module with multiple functions

A replaceable inkjet printhead service module is provided for each separate inkjet printhead. When the printhead for a particular color ink such as cyan has reached the end of its life cycle and requires replacement, the corresponding printhead service module can also be replaced. The printhead service module includes a handle to facilitate manual mounting in a service station carriage which includes identical individual spring-loaded slots with datum guides for securely holding the service module. The service station carriage moves from a user-accessible position for mounting/removing the service module, to various other printhead servicing positions in the path of the printhead carriage.

Manually replaceable printhead servicing module for each different inkjet printhead

An inkjet printer service carriage mounted for movement in a printhead servicing direction between a first position in which the carriage is remote from the printhead cartridges to be serviced and a second position in which the service carriage abuts the printhead carriage to service the printheads includes two independent motorized actuators, the first of which linearly moves the carriage in a horizontal x-axis direction and the second of which arcuately moves the carriage in a vertical z-axis plane perpendicular to the x-axis direction.

Modular printhead service station with self-contained motorized components

An ink jet printing system comprises multiple print cartridges each containing a different ink and having a plurality of printhead nozzle arrays scanning across printing media in a printing zone. After a specified amount of ink has been dispensed, an ink jet printhead carriage is moved to a refill station for ink replenishment. A label on a print head service module displays encoded visual indicia which are sensed by an optical sensor on the ink jet printhead carriage. The optical sensor is used to read pre-encoded information as well as on the fly information which is recorded on a label when the carriage moves along a traverse path to the printhead service station.

Optical encoding of printhead service module

Printhead service station

An inkjet printing system includes a replaceable printhead servicing module which incorporates multiple functions in a single unit. There is a separate servicing module associated with each different printhead, thus avoiding any contamination of either the printhead or the servicing module from interaction or mixing of different color inks. The servicing module includes a capper, a wiper, a spittoon, and a primer connection.

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San Diego, CA, United States of America

Joan Carles Vives