APPARATUS FOR COLLECTING WASTE MATERIAL IN LARGE-SCALE INK-JET PRINTER

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus to collect waste print material such as paper particles and excess ink from printers that use caustic inks or otherwise harmful inks such as UV-curable inks.SOLUTION: A set of trays 20, 22, 24, 26 is stacked vertically to correspond to rows of printheads. Each tray includes a drain valve therein. The trays are mounted on a rack 10 that is slidably mounted on a bracket 50. When the rack is lowered to a drain position on the bracket, a linkage on the rack engages a surface within the printer, such as on the bracket, and the linkage is pushed upward to thereby open the valve associated with each tray. The opened valves cause the trays to drain out their waste material, ultimately to a collection container 70.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1