Patent ID: 8366237

Claim:
A maintenance assembly for cleaning a plurality of printheads in a printing machine, comprising: a plurality of cleaning members supported on a plurality of beams within a frame, each of said cleaning members having a length that spans a width of a single printhead and is configured to be positioned opposite one printhead in the plurality of printheads in a one-to-one correspondence between the printheads in the plurality of printheads and the cleaning members in the plurality of cleaning members; a plurality of drive mechanisms, each drive mechanism being associated with one of said cleaning members in a one-to-one correspondence between the drive mechanisms in the plurality of drive mechanisms and the cleaning members in the plurality of cleaning members, each drive mechanism configured to selectively move the associated cleaning member between a cleaning position, in which the cleaning member contacts a face of the printhead opposite the cleaning member and spans across the width of the single printhead contacting the cleaning member, and a retracted position, in which the cleaning member does not contact the face of the printhead opposite the cleaning member; a sweep mechanism operatively connected to the beams to move the beams in a vertical direction with reference to the plurality of printheads to move each cleaning member contacting the face of the printhead opposite the cleaning member from an upper end of the printhead face to a lower end of the printhead face; and a mechanism operatively connected to the frame to translate said frame relative to the plurality of printheads to retract the plurality of cleaning members from a position where the cleaning members are in one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of printheads to enable at least one backing member to return to a position opposite the plurality of printheads.