Seiko Epson Corporation

Kenichi Kanbayashi

Eiji Kumai

Makoto Matsuzaki

Tohru Fukushima

Toshio Kumagai

Hiroto Nakamura

Masakazu Shinozuka

Fumie Uehara

Hiroe Niimura

Tsuyoshi Kitahara

Yasuhiko Kosugi

Hiroyuki Onishi

Hidehiko Komatsu

Toshihisa Saruta

Kazutoshi Fujisawa

Haruo Nakamura

Shigenori Fukasawa

Michinari Tsukahara

Hideo Yamazaki

Junhua Chang

Masamitsu Uehara

Kohji Watanabe

Yoshiyuki Ozawa

Hiromu Hirabayashi

Toru Fukushima

Fumiyuki Kanai

Noriko Oyama

Toshiaki Ohshima

Ikuko Kawakami

Yaeko Maruyama

An ink jet printer in which hardened ink is readily and reliably removed from a nozzle plate. The ink jet printer includes a print head having a plural number of nozzle openings arrayed in the width direction of a recording paper, a head drive circuit for selectively outputting a first signal to cause a stream of ink droplets at a speed suitable for print and a second signal to cause ink to ooze through each nozzle opening, and a cleaning device with a rubbing function and which is usually positioned in a nonprinting region, but is movable in the longitudinal direction of the print head and with respect to a nozzle plate. In a cleaning mode, the cleaning device is operated while oozing ink from the nozzle openings. The hardened ink on the nozzle plate is dissolved by the oozing ink, and then removed therefrom through the rubbing and wiping operations of the cleaning device.

Ink jet printer with a cleaning apparatus for removing hardened ink from

An ink composition for ink jet recording is described comprising a pigment, a resin dispersant, a thermoplastic resin emulsion and water, wherein the weight ratio of the pigment to the resin dispersant is from 20:1 to 5:2. The foregoing ink composition is little susceptible to irregular bleeding on a recording medium, undergoes no change in physical properties and jettability and no precipitation of solid matter and exhibits an excellent redispersibility.

Ink composition for ink jet recording and ink jet recording process

Recording method for use in ink jet type recording device and ink jet

Ink jet recorder and recording head cleaning method

Disclosed is an ink-jet type recording device that includes drive signal generation circuit 84 for generating a trapezoidal drive signal in synchronization with a timing signal applied from an external device, switching transistors respectively for outputting a drive signal to piezoelectric vibrators in accordance with a printing signal applied from an external device, and control signal generation means for generating a pulse signal to turn on the switching transistors so that only a portion of the drive signal is output to any piezoelectric vibrators set in a non-printing condition in synchronization with a timing signal. This portion of the drive signal is applied to the piezoelectric vibrators belonging to those nozzle openings that should not jet out ink droplets in accordance with the pulse signal, so that menisci in the nozzle openings are merely vibrated slightly, respectively. As a result of this, ink existing in a pressure generation chamber and ink existing in the neighborhood of the nozzle openings are mixed together and thus solvent is supplemented to the ink existing in the neighborhood of the nozzle opening, thereby preventing formation of an ink film due to evaporation of the solvent. Also, even in the non-printing period, the piezoelectric vibrators respectively generate heat to thereby be able to prevent absorption of humidity from the peripheral environment.

Ink-jet type recording device

A printer using a line-type ink jet recording head. The line-type head has pressure producing chambers formed by dividing nozzle openings extending in a recording paper width direction with vertical side walls and upper and lower ink flow paths which communicate with each other through the pressure producing chambers and extend in a horizontal direction. Each ink flow path has an inlet for replenishing ink and an outlet for discharging the ink. A plurality of pressure producing elements are provided for applying varied pressures to the pressure producing chambers for jetting ink droplets. A sealing member selectively seals the nozzle openings by abutting on the nozzle openings when the recording head has been evacuated to a predetermined position. An ink tank is connected to the inlets and the outlets through pipes, and an ink stream producing device is arranged in the pipes, for producing streams causing the ink to flow from the ink tank to the lower ink flow path and then to the upper ink flow path through the pressure producing chambers.

Printer having line-type ink jet recording head

Hot-melt ink composition

A hot-melt ink composition for an ink jet printer, comprising a coloring agent, and a vehicle which comprises a dialkylbenzenesulfonamide, a monoalkylbenzenesulfonamide, and a resin; and a hot-melt ink composition comprising from 10 to 30 wt. % of a coloring agent, and a vehicle. These ink compositions can produce high quality images which have improved resistance to abrasion and are free from blooming.

Ink for ink-jet printing

An ink composition particularly well suited for use in an ink jet printer wherein the ink is jetted at temperatures higher than room temperature. The ink composition includes a metallic complex solvent dye coloring material dispersed in a vehicle of at least one high molecular weight alkyl amine, at least one high molecular weight fatty acid and carnauba wax.

Ink composition

Growing community of inventors

Nagano, Japan

Kenichi Kanbayashi