Ink jet printer with nozzle clearing facility - has capillary line coupled to hand operated peristaltic pump to clear nozzles

摘要

The ink jet printer includes a filter facility and a hand operated unit to cleary any blocked nozzles. The print head (1) is mounted on a carriage (5) that is moved horizontally across the paper (3) by a stepping motor drive system (9). Actuators of the print head to pulse ink flow through the nozzles is effected by peizo-electric elements. Ink is supplied from a reservoir (19) through a flexible hose (17) with an inline filter (15) to extract dirt particles. In the event that nozzle stoppage does occur, a peristaltic pump (70) may be hand operated to apply pressure to the nozzles.