Patent ID: 7024716

Claim:
A cleaning apparatus for a screen mask in a screen printing machine using a paste-like printing agent having a low viscosity wherein the printing agent adhered to an underside of the screen mask is removed by a cleaning unit, said cleaning unit comprising: an adhesive tape having an adhesive surface facing upward and brought into contact with the underside of said screen mask; an adhesive tape take-up member driven by a rotation driving means for taking up said adhesive tape at a given speed; an adhesive tape supply member for holding said adhesive tape in rolled form and delivering said adhesive tape to said take-up member; and an adhesive tape pressing table arranged between said take-up member and said supply member for pressing said adhesive tape to the underside of said screen mask while said tape slides on the table, wherein a driving mechanism causes said cleaning unit to be moved upward at a cleaning starting position, to be moved horizontally at a given speed from said starting position and to a cleaning completing position, to be moved downward at said cleaning completing position, and to be moved horizontally from said completing position to said starting position against, and wherein said take-up member, as driven by said rotation driving means, takes up said adhesive tape in a direction opposite to a direction of the horizontal movement of said cleaning unit from said starting position to said completing position at the speed of movement of said cleaning unit.