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:
Nov. 20, 2001
Filed:
Mar. 09, 1998
Junji Nakahara, Nagoya, JP;
Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, Nagoya, JP;
Abstract
An ink-jet printer with a maintenance mechanism uses a single cam to clean and maintain a recording head. The cam is driven by a paper-feed motor in the forward direction during the maintenance operations. When the recording head is disposed in a maintenance area, the driving force of the paper-feed motor is transferred to the cam via a coupler. In one revolution of the cam, a suction cap, a suction pump, and a wiper are driven at a predetermined timing to clean the recording head. The paper-feed motor is also used to drive the platen roller during the recording operation. Because a common motor is used to drive the platen roller and the cam, and because a single cam completes the maintenance operations in one revolution, the structure and its control are simplified.