Howtek, Inc.

Kathryn McMahon

Allan G Hock

Calvin M Winey

John G Sousa

A head tending apparatus for an ink jet printing system with at least one ink jet being disclosed. The apparatus includes a solvent supply system for spraying solvent on the faces of the ink jets and in the jet openings and a brush for scrubbing the ink jet faces during and immediately after the spraying process. Solvent vapors enter the jets and deprime the jets so that the ink remaining in the jets drains out of the jets back to the ink reservoir allowing solvent vapors to penetrate the jets to the reservoir. Resultantly, when the jets are next primed with ink, the jets are substantially free of air bubbles. Head tending is normally performed when the printer is shut down, or prior to the priming of the ink jets.

Head tending method and apparatus for an ink jet printer

A head tending apparatus for an ink jet printing system with at least one ink jet is disclosed. The apparatus includes a solvent supply system for spraying solvent on the faces of the ink jets and in the jet openings. The apparatus also has a brush for scrubbing the ink jet faces during and immediately after the spraying process. The solvent loosens and dissolves any solid matter that may have formed on the jet faces or in the jet openings and also deprimes any ink remaining in the jets when the printer is shut down; the brush cleans the loosened matter off the jet faces. If the printer has a rotating image insert assembly with the ink jets thereon, the brush and a solvent jet are mounted to a shell adjacent the ink jets. The brush includes a bristle-free section that is normally adjacent the image insert assembly and spaced away therefrom when the head tending appartaus is deactivated; this prevents the apparatus from interfering with the normal operation of the printer. Head tending is normally performed when the

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Londonderry, NH, United States of America

Kathryn McMahon