Patent ID: 6145957
Filing Date: 2000-11-14
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
A suction apparatus for sucking ink from an inkjet head, comprising:a cap for making contact with the inkjet when the inkjet head is located at a home position;a chamber having an inverted truncated cone shape with an elastic side wall, the chamber including an inlet at a top part thereof and an outlet hole at a bottom part thereof, wherein the inlet is connected to the cap;a sleeve disposed outside the chamber and in contact therewith, the sleeve being movable in a first direction to deform the chamber;a rod disposed within the sleeve and through the outlet, the rod having a seal that is disposed within the chamber and movable in the first direction to open the outlet hole and in a second direction to close the outlet hole and restore the chamber toward an original shape thereof; anda reciprocating drive mechanism which is coupled with the rod to drive the rod in the first and second directions, and, in various positions, is in contact with the sleeve to drive the sleeve in the first direction.