Patent Publication Number: US-2005140717-A1

Title: Cleaning apparatus of a wiper

Description:
This application claims the benefit of Taiwan application Serial No. 92137533, filed Dec. 30, 2003, the subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The invention relates in general to a cleaning apparatus and more particularly to a cleaning apparatus with a scraper and an absorber.  
      2. Description of the Related Art  
      Ink-jet printing system has been popularly applied to various office equipments, such as facsimile machine, printer, printing apparatus, and so on. Conventionally, an ink-jet printing system includes a carrier, an ink cartridge, and a maintenance station for the ink-jet head. The ink cartridge is disposed on the carrier which is disposed movably in the ink-jet printing system to proceed printing. Sometimes, the ink cartridge temporarily stops printing and enters into the maintenance station for cleaning ink residue on the ink-jet head. A conventional maintenance station includes a wiper movable with respect to the ink-jet head for wiping the ink residue thereon. As the result, the ink reside removed from the ink-jet head by the wiper would be transferred to the wiper, and the ink cartridge would continue printing or wait for next following printing command. The ink residue removed from the ink-jet head will be accumulated on the wiper and become harden to deteriorate the utilization of the wiper.  
      Therefore, it is necessary to provide a cleaning product for wiping the ink residue on the wiper. Referring to both  FIG. 1A  and  FIG. 1B , they are two cross-sectional views showing working states of a conventional cleaning apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,997,128. In  FIG. 1A , a ink-jet head  7  is kept stationary and two wipers  4  move along a direction of the arrow in  FIG. 1A  so that the ink residue  9  on the ink-jet head  7  can be scraped away and the ink residue  9  will be kept on the top of the two wipers  4 . Then, an absorber  10  is disposed on the moving route of two wipers  4  and contacts the top of the wipers  4  for absorbing the ink residue  9  to keep the wipers clean, as shown in  FIG. 1B . However, the absorber  10  becomes dirty after it is used for a predetermined time, and the conventional design of using the absorber  10  to absorb ink residue will lose its efficacy and become a polluter to the wipers  4 .  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a cleaning apparatus including a scraper and an absorber. The cleaning apparatus can remove ink residue on a wiper and absorb the removed ink residue to keep the wiper clean.  
      The invention achieves the above-identified object by providing a cleaning apparatus for removing ink residue on a wiper. The cleaning apparatus includes a scraper and an absorber. The scraper includes a scraper tip and a supporting part, and the scraper tip scrapes ink residue on a wiper to transfer it to the supporting part. The absorber for absorbing ink residue on the supporting part is disposed on the supporting part.  
      It is another object of the invention to provide a printing apparatus, including at least a housing, a ink-jet head, a wiper, and a cleaning apparatus. The ink-jet head is movable within the housing for printing, and the wiper, disposed movably with respect to the ink-jet head within the housing, is for wiping ink residue on a the ink-jet head. The cleaning apparatus disposed in the housing includes a scraper and an absorber. The scraper includes a scraper tip and a supporting part, and the scraper tip scrapes ink residue on a wiper to transfer it to the supporting part. The absorber for absorbing ink residue on the supporting part is disposed on the supporting part.  
      Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred but non-limiting embodiments. The following description is made with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1A  and  FIG. 1B  (Prior Art) are two cross-sectional views showing working states of a conventional cleaning apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,997,128.  
       FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view of a partial printing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the invention.  
       FIG. 3A  is a perspective view showing the wiper and the cleaning apparatus in  FIG. 2 .  
       FIG. 3B  is a lateral view showing the wiper and the cleaning apparatus in  FIG. 3A .  
       FIG. 4A  to  FIG. 4D  are cross-sectional views showing working states during the cleaning apparatus wiping the ink residue on the wiper in  FIG. 3A .  
       FIG. 5  is a cross-sectional view of a partial cleaning apparatus according to the second embodiment of the invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
     First Example  
      Referring to  FIG. 2 , it is a cross-sectional view of a partial printing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the invention. In  FIG. 2 , a printing apparatus  20  includes a housing  21 , a ink-jet head  23 , a wiper  24 , and a cleaning apparatus  25 . The ink-jet head  23  for printing process is movable within the housing  21 . The wiper  24  for wiping ink residue on the ink-jet head  23  is disposed within the housing  21  and is movable relatively to the ink-jet head  23 . The cleaning apparatus  25  disposed within the housing  21  includes a scraper  27  and an absorber  29 . The scraper  27  has a scraper tip  28  and a supporting part  30 . The ink residue on the wiper  24  is scraped by the scraper tip  28  and transferred to the supporting part  30 . Then, the absorber  29  disposed on the supporting part  30  absorbs ink residue on the supporting part  30 .  
      Referring to  FIG. 3A  and  FIG. 3B ,  FIG. 3A  is a perspective view showing the wiper  24  and the cleaning apparatus  25 , and  FIG. 3B  is a lateral view showing the wiper  24  and the cleaning apparatus  25 . It is necessary to be noticed here that the wiper  24  is movable within the housing  21  in  FIG. 2  by using a move member  26  coupling to the housing  21 . As for how the cleaning apparatus  25  effectively scrapes the ink residue on the wiper  24  will be described in detail as follow with its corresponding figures.  
      Referring to  FIG. 4A  to  FIG. 4D , they are four cross-sectional views showing working states during the cleaning apparatus  25  scraping the ink residue  31  on the wiper  24 . At first, the wiper  24  moves close to the cleaning apparatus  25  within the housing  21  along the direction of the arrow  50 , as shown in  FIG. 4A . There is an ink residue  31  on the wiper  24 , and the scraper tip  28  is lower the top of the wiper  24 . In  FIG. 4B , the scraper tip  28  contacts the top of the wiper  24 . In  FIG. 4C , as the wiper  24  moves further in the direction shown by the arrow  50 , the wiper  24  is bent leftward, the ink residue  31  is transferred to the supporting part  30  and absorbed by the absorber  29 , as shown in  FIG. 4C . Therefore, the ink reside  31  on the wiper  24  can be effectively removed by the cleaning apparatus  25 .  
     Second Example  
      Referring to  FIG. 5 , it is a cross-sectional view of a partial cleaning apparatus according to the second example of the preferred embodiment of the invention. In  FIG. 5 , the cleaning apparatus  25 ′ includes a scraper  27 ′ and an absorber  29 ′. The scraper  27 ′ includes a scraper tip  28 ′ and a supporting part  30 ′. There is a predetermined distance between the absorber  29 ′ disposed on the supporting part  30 ′ and the scraper tip  28 ′ to prevent the wiper from contacting the absorber  29 ′. The supporting part  30 ′ includes a surface inclined towards the scraper tip  28 ′. Further, a fillister  33 ′ on the surface could be designed for containing the absorber  29 ′. With an aid of the design of the fillister  33 ′, the absorber  29 ′ attaches the scraper  27 ′ more tightly.  
      The material of the scraper can be metal, plastic, rubber, or a material is proof against ink residue. The material of the absorber can be sponge, sheep&#39;s wool, a blotting paper, or a material absorbs ink residue.  
      While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements and procedures, and the scope of the appended claims therefore should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements and procedures.