The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 10, 1996
Filed:
Jan. 03, 1994
John C Ackerman, Webster, NY (US);
Xerox Corporation, Stamford, CT (US);
Abstract
A self cleaning wiper blade cleaning system has at least one polyurethane wiping blade releasably mounted in a slot on a planar surface of a fixed structural member. A front end of the mounted blade wipes the nozzle face of the printhead as it enters and leaves a priming station to maintain the printhead nozzle face clear of ink and other debris. The ink which is removed from the printhead nozzle face by the edge of the wiper blade is drawn away therefrom by capillary action of small grooves cut in the wiper blade. The grooves have one end in contact with an absorbent pad provided at a bottom edge of the wiper blade and the other end of the slot is adjacent but spaced a predetermined distance from the front edge of the wiper blade. The capillary action of the grooves provide continuous removal of the ink from the vicinity of cleaning edge of the wiper blade, obviating the need of a separate system to clean the wiper blades. The grooves are so small that the beam strength and thus the cleaning force of the wiper blade is not significantly affected.