Liquid discharge apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12466186-B2
Application number	US-202318395803-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 26, 2023
Priority date	Dec 26, 2022
Publication date	Nov 11, 2025
Grant date	Nov 11, 2025

Abstract

A movement section is configured to move one of the liquid discharge section and the maintenance section toward another of the liquid discharge section and the maintenance section in a first direction. A maintenance section includes first and second positioning sections that perform positioning of the maintenance section and the liquid discharge section by coming into contact with the liquid discharge section. The first positioning section is provided at a position farther than the second positioning section in a second direction intersecting with a first direction with, as a reference, an action point at which the movement section acts on the one of the liquid discharge section and the maintenance section. The first positioning section comes into contact with the liquid discharge section before the second positioning section when the one of the liquid discharge section and the maintenance section moves toward the other.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A liquid discharge apparatus comprising:
a liquid discharge section configured to discharge liquid; a maintenance section that performs maintenance of the liquid discharge section; and a movement section configured to move one of the liquid discharge section and the maintenance section toward another of the liquid discharge section and the maintenance section along a first direction intersecting with a horizontal direction and a vertical direction, wherein the maintenance section includes a first positioning section and a second positioning section, the first positioning section and the second positioning section perform positioning of the maintenance section and the liquid discharge section by coming into contact with the liquid discharge section, the first positioning section is provided at a position farther than the second positioning section in a second direction intersecting with the first direction with, as a reference, an action point at which the movement section acts on the one of the liquid discharge section and the maintenance section, and the first positioning section comes into contact with the liquid discharge section before the second positioning section when the one of the liquid discharge section and the maintenance section moves toward the other of the liquid discharge section and the maintenance section.

2 . The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the first positioning section is provided at a position closer to the liquid discharge section than the second positioning section in the first direction.

3 . The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
the first positioning section is longer than the second positioning section in the first direction.

4 . The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the liquid discharge section includes a nozzle configured to discharge the liquid and a nozzle surface on which the nozzle is open, the maintenance section includes a cap section, and the cap section includes a cap member configured to cover the nozzle surface.

5 . The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein
the first positioning section and the second positioning section are provided at positions with the cap member interposed therebetween in the second direction.

6 . The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein
the cap member is provided in a parallelogram shape when viewed from the first direction, the cap member includes a first acute angle portion that is one acute angle of the parallelogram shape when viewed from the first direction and a second acute angle portion that is another acute angle of the parallelogram shape when viewed from the first direction, at least a part of the first positioning section is provided in a region overlapping the first acute angle portion in a direction intersecting with the first direction, and at least a part of the second positioning section is provided in a region overlapping the second acute angle portion in a direction intersecting with the first direction.

7 . The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the movement section is configured to move the liquid discharge section toward the maintenance section along the first direction.

8 . The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the movement section is configured to move the maintenance section toward the liquid discharge section along the first direction.

9 . The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the liquid discharge section includes a first contact target portion coming into contact with the first positioning section and a second contact target portion coming into contact with the second positioning section, and the first contact target portion is provided at a position closer to the maintenance section than the second contact target portion in the first direction.

10 . The liquid discharge apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
an angle formed by the first direction and the horizontal direction is larger than 0 degrees and equal to or less than 30 degrees.

Assignees

• Seiko Epson Corp

Inventors

• Tanaka Takuto
• Seshimoto Akiho

Classifications

• B41J2/16511

  Constructions for cap positioning (B41J2/16547 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B41J2002/16576

  Cleaning means pushed or actuated by print head movement · CPC title

• B41J2002/16582

  Maintenance means fixed on the print head or its carriage · CPC title

• B41J2/16517

  Cleaning of print head nozzles (B41J2/16505, B41J2/1707 take precedence) · CPC title

• B41J2/16538

  with brushes or wiper blades perpendicular to the nozzle plate · CPC title