Digital-to-garment inkjet printing machine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11801690-B2
Application number	US-202117360752-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 28, 2021
Priority date	Oct 18, 2019
Publication date	Oct 31, 2023
Grant date	Oct 31, 2023

Abstract

Disclosed is a carriage for a direct to garment inkjet printing machine. The machine has a frame having a leading edge, a trailing edge, and a pair of opposed lateral edges. A first row of slots is positioned on the leading edge and a second row of slots is positioned on the trailing edge. The second row of slots is spaced from the first row of slots by a gelling gap. A shelf on the frame supports tanks of white ink and tanks of color ink and a first plurality of tubing connects a tank of white ink positioned on the shelf with a print head in the first row of slots. A second plurality of tubing is for connecting a tank of color ink positioned on the shelf with a print head in the second row of slots. A pair of side heaters attached to opposed lateral edges of the first frame.

First claim

We claim:

1. A carriage for a direct to garment inkjet printing machine comprising:
a frame having a bottom wall and a leading edge and a trailing edge;
a first plurality of slots in a row on the bottom wall proximate the leading edge of the frame;
a second plurality of slots in a row on the bottom wall proximate the trailing edge of the frame and spaced from the first plurality of slots by a gelling gap greater than a print head;
a first plurality of print heads in the first plurality of slots, each of the first plurality of print heads coupled to a tank of white ink; and,
a second plurality of print heads in the second plurality of slots, each of the second plurality of print heads coupled to tank of color ink wherein the frame does not include operable print heads in the gelling gap; and,
a shelf on the frame positioned above the first plurality of printheads and the second plurality of print heads supporting a first tank of white ink and a first tank of color ink having an ink having a first color different than white.

2. The carriage of claim 1 further comprising a first heater connected to the frame.

3. The carriage of claim 2 further comprising a second heater connected to the frame.

4. The carriage of claim 3 wherein the first heater is connected to a first side of the frame and the second heater is connected to a second side of the frame.

5. The carriage of claim 2 wherein the first heater is a thermal heat source.

6. The carriage of claim 2 wherein the first heater is an inductive heat source.

7. The carriage of claim 6 wherein the first heater is an infrared source.

8. The carriage of claim 7 wherein the infrared source is an infrared quartz lamp.

9. The carriage of claim 1 further comprising tubing for connecting the tank of white ink to one of the first plurality of print heads.

10. The carriage of claim 9 further comprising tubing for connecting the tank of color ink to one of the second plurality of print heads.

11. The carriage of claim 1 wherein each of the tank for white ink and the tank for color ink includes a stirring mechanism.

12. The carriage of claim 1 further comprising a second tank of white ink supported on the shelf.

13. The carriage of claim 1 further comprising a second tank of color ink supported on the shelf wherein the second tank of color ink contains an ink having a second color different than the first color.

14. The carriage of claim 1 further comprising a print head board receiving area.

15. The carriage of claim 1 wherein the frame is mounted for reciprocating translational movement.

16. The carriage of claim 1 wherein the first plurality of slots includes six slots and the second plurality of slots includes six slots.

17. The carriage of claim 1 further comprising a humidor capping station for flushing the first plurality of print heads and the second plurality of print heads.

18. The carriage of claim 17 wherein the humidor capping station includes a squeegee for wiping a faceplate of each print head.

19. The carriage of claim 17 wherein the humidor capping station is configured to seal each print head to prevent it from drying out.

Assignees

• M & R Printing Equip Inc

Inventors

• Efendi Tolga
• Latka Piotr
• Chuddy Stephen

Classifications

• B41J3/4078 Primary

  Printing on textile · CPC title

• B41J2/2117

  Ejecting white liquids · CPC title

• B41J11/002

  Curing or drying the ink on the copy materials, e.g. by heating or irradiating · CPC title

• D06P5/30

  Ink jet printing · CPC title

• B41J11/00218

  Constructional details of the irradiation means, e.g. radiation source attached to reciprocating print head assembly or shutter means provided on the radiation source · CPC title