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:
Jun. 25, 2002
Filed:
Mar. 31, 2000
Jeffrey J. Anderson, Vancouver, WA (US);
Michael S. Millman, Vancouver, WA (US);
John A. Barinaga, Portland, OR (US);
Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A two-stage scraper system having coarse and fine cleaning components is provided for cleaning ink residue from a wiper following wiping a printhead in an inkjet printing mechanism. A fixed, coarse scraper bar is sandwiched between a pair of moveable fine scraper bars. During the first scraping stage, the fine scrapers are retracted from the wiper path and the coarse scraper cleans one side of the wiper. During the second scraping stage, the fine scraper move into the wiper path and one of the fine scrapers removes ink residue from the wiper tip. Moving bi-directionally, the wiper reverses to first encounter the coarse scraper, then the other fine scraper, removing ink residue from the other side and tip of the wiper. The fine scrapers may be absorbent or impregnated with an ink solvent. A method of cleaning printhead and inkjet printing mechanisms having two-stage wiper cleaning systems are also provided.