Patents Assigned to Mimaki Engineering Co., Ltd.
  • Printing method, and method for manufacturing screen printing plate
    Patent number: 11059314
    Abstract: A printing method that carries out printing using a mesh screen, which is a screen gauze including multiple holes, is provided. The printing method includes: a covering process of covering one surface of the mesh screen with a covering member; an entering process of entering the covering member to at least a middle of the hole from a side of the one surface with respect to the multiple holes of the mesh screen; a mask forming process of ejecting a mask forming liquid used to form a mask that covers one part of an other surface of the mesh screen from an ejection head, to form the mask; a peeling process of peeling the covering member from the mesh screen; and a print executing process of printing an image corresponding to a pattern of the mask on the medium using the mesh screen and the printing ink.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 13, 2021
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Masaru Ohnishi
  • MULTILAYERED BODY, PRODUCING METHOD FOR MULTILAYERED BODY, AND PRINTING SYSTEM
    Publication number: 20210197608
    Abstract: A multilayered body includes a base material with a metal tone glossy layer having metal tone glossiness, and a color layer layered on the metal tone glossy layer. The color layer has an arithmetic mean height and a transmission density located in a region below a straight line represented as (y=?0.1067x+0.8) on coordinates of the arithmetic mean height x and the transmission density y.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 2, 2021
    Publication date: July 1, 2021
    Applicant: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Ryo Nishizawa, Akira Takatsu
  • INKJET PRINTER
    Publication number: 20210195038
    Abstract: An inkjet printer includes a control unit that counts the number of retries of communication between the control unit and a storage device and communication between the inkjet printer and a host computer and records the same in the storage unit. The control unit can also derive an installation environment level of the installation environment of the inkjet printer based on at least one number of retries recorded in the storage unit, and output the derived installation environment level to a display unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 16, 2020
    Publication date: June 24, 2021
    Applicant: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Chisato Tanaka
  • Building apparatus and building method
    Patent number: 11040488
    Abstract: A building apparatus building a three-dimensional object includes: an inkjet head serving as an ejection head; and a scan driver. The scan driver causes the inkjet head to perform a main scanning operation and a sub scanning operation. In an operation of forming one layer, the scan driver causes the inkjet head to perform the main scanning operation a certain number of times Pn (Pn is an integer equal to or greater than two), for each position of the layer being built, and to form, as the one layer, a layer configured such that a plurality of blocks formed by performing the Pn main scanning operations are arranged in a row in a sub scanning direction. Each of the blocks includes an intermediate region and an end region. The manner of forming the end region in the corresponding block is differentiated between two layers continuously overlapping in the deposition direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2021
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kunio Hakkaku, Tetsuya Katou, Yoshihiro Tanaka
  • Building apparatus and building method
    Patent number: 11040484
    Abstract: A building apparatus for building a three-dimensional object includes: an inkjet head that ejects ink as a building material; a scanning driver that causes the inkjet head to perform a scanning operation of moving relative to the object being built; a flattening roller that flattens a layer of the ink; and an ink removal unit that removes, from the flattening roller, the ink that is scraped off by the flattening roller. The ink removal unit includes a flow channel formation unit that forms a flow channel of fluid that enables the ink adhering to the flattening roller to be removed by causing the fluid for removing the ink to flow out or flow in, and removes the ink from the flattening roller without scraping off the ink from the flattening roller. Hence, flattening the layer of the building material more appropriately.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2021
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Kunio Hakkaku
  • Inkjet printer
    Patent number: 11040532
    Abstract: An inkjet printer is provided. Inclined surfaces of a first protrusion and a second protrusion of a first inkjet head and inclined surfaces of side walls of a head cap abut against each other, but other portions of the first inkjet head do not abut against the head cap. Specifically, the head cap 510 is not abutted against the lower surface 133 of the first inkjet head 130, and is also not abutted against the ejection surfaces 134A and 135A of the first protrusion 134 and the second protrusion 135. In particular, the side walls are formed to a shape so as not to overlap the ejection surfaces when viewed in the vertical direction, whereby the head cap does not abut against the ejection surfaces.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2021
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Sho Koshiba
  • Sliding mechanism and ink-jet printer
    Patent number: 11034175
    Abstract: A sliding mechanism is provided and includes a linear encoder for detecting a movement distance of a slider in relation to a support member. The sliding mechanism includes a slider that can move in relation to a support member, a slider that can move in relation to the support member as well as the slider, a linear scale fixed to the slider and a sensor fixed to the slider; and a linear encoder for detecting a movement distance of the slider in relation to the support member. In the sliding mechanism, the slider is transferred in relation to the support member and the slider, and subsequently the slider is transferred in relation to the support member and the slider, while the slider is kept in a state of being stopped.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 15, 2021
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Sho Koshiba
  • Head leading member, printing machine, and manufacturing method of head leading member
    Patent number: 11020995
    Abstract: To provide a head leading member with which it is possible to inexpensively lead a head with a high level of accuracy. A head leading member is a head leading member, provided in a printing machine that includes a head to discharge ink toward a working surface, for leading the head in a main travelling direction; and the head leading member comprises; a frame extending in the main travelling direction; a base member fixed to the frame, and having a guiding reference surface that is performed with a manufacture so as to be planar along the main travelling direction, in a state of being fixed to the frame; and a guide member extending in the main travelling direction and being supported on the guiding reference surface of the base member, in order to lead the head in the main travelling direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Toshiki Kitazawa
  • Ink supplying device and three-dimensional object forming device
    Patent number: 11014289
    Abstract: An ink supplying device is provided and supplies a functional ink to a droplet ejecting portion, including: a tube body through which the functional ink passes; a degasser that removes a dissolved gas from the functional ink; a first supply path in which the degasser is fitted to the tube body; a second supply path in which the degasser is not fitted to the tube body; and a controller that switches a supply path of the functional ink to the second supply path when a viscosity of the functional ink is higher than or equal to a predetermined value, and switches the supply path to the first supply path when the viscosity of the functional ink is lower than the predetermined value. The first supply path and the second supply path are coupled by an upstream side coupling portion and a downstream side coupling portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2021
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kyohei Maruyama, Yoshikazu Furukawa, Kenta Imai
  • CONNECTOR AND INKJET PRINTER
    Publication number: 20210146693
    Abstract: A connector includes a damper, a tube connecting member, and a sealing member having elasticity for preventing leakage of ink from between the damper and the tube connecting member. The tube connecting member includes a coupling part coupled to the damper by overlapping the damper in a radial direction of the flow path for each combination in which the flow path of the damper and the flow path of the tube connecting member are connected to each other. The sealing member is disposed in contact with the coupling part. The tube connecting member includes a continuous part continuously formed across multiple coupling parts, and a tongue-shaped piece portion extending from the continuous part. The continuous part is disposed on an outermost side of the connector in the vicinity of the sealing member. The tongue-shaped piece portion includes a claw that engages with the damper on a free end side.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 9, 2020
    Publication date: May 20, 2021
    Applicant: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Sotaro Kanai
  • Method for manufacturing three-dimensional object
    Patent number: 11007725
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing a three-dimensional object is provided. The method reduces the difference between the amount of build material used and the amount of decorative ink used. The method for manufacturing a three-dimensional object including an object body portion (A) and a decorative portion (C) is provided. The method includes forming the object body portion (A) from at least decorative ink and build material and forming the decorative portion (C) from the decorative ink. The decorative portion (C) covers the object body portion (A).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2021
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Kazuhiro Ochi
  • Up-down moving mechanism and inkjet printer
    Patent number: 11001086
    Abstract: An up-down moving mechanism includes a support member; an up-down moving member that is formed separately from the support member and can be moved up and down with respect to the support member; a screw shaft for moving up and down the up-down moving member; a nut member that is screwed onto the screw shaft; a guide rail that guides the up-down moving member in a vertical direction; a guide block that slidably engages with the guide rail; and a gas spring that includes a cylinder and a piston rod biased in a direction projecting out from the cylinder, and that biases the up-down moving member toward an upper side with respect to the support member. To the support member, the screw shaft is rotatably attached, the guide rail is fixed, and the piston rod is attached.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2021
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Sho Koshiba
  • Forming apparatus and forming method
    Patent number: 11000990
    Abstract: A forming apparatus configured to form a three-dimensional object includes a head configured to extrude build materials and a controller configured to control extrusion of the materials by the head. The three-dimensional object includes a colored region that is colored using a coloring material among the materials. The head includes a head for coloring that is an extrusion head configured to extrude the coloring material in multi-step variable amounts of droplets. The controller is configured to control the amount of droplets of the coloring material extruded by the head for coloring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2021
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Kazuhiro Ochi
  • System and apparatus for producing multilayered printed matter
    Patent number: 10981404
    Abstract: A multilayered printed matter is made up of a plurality of layers formed on a medium, including a front layer and a back layer with patterns printed thereon, and a white layer and a black layer interposed between the front layer and the back layer so as to conceal the back layer to be invisible from the front-layer side. The system for producing the multilayered printed matter includes a computer that executes a printing step of moving the medium and an inkjet head relative to each other using a moving device and printing the front, back, white, and black layers on the medium using the inkjet head, and a cutting step, subsequent to the printing step, of moving the medium and a cutting blade relative to each other using the moving device and cutting the medium using the cutting blade.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yuhei Horiuchi, Masashi Doi
  • Inkjet printing apparatus and inkjet printing method
    Patent number: 10982104
    Abstract: To provide an inkjet printing apparatus that improves the smoothness of the ink layer surface and improves the image quality. Provided is an inkjet printing apparatus that prints with a UV curable ink, the inkjet printing apparatus including: an ejection unit configured to eject the UV curable ink onto the surface of a print medium; and a control unit configured to control the ejection of the UV curable ink from the ejection unit, the UV curable ink containing a thixotropy-imparting agent, and the control unit setting the viscosity of the UV curable ink to 1 mPa·s to 20 mPa·s at the time of ejection and to at least 80 mPa·s within five seconds of landing on the print medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kazuki Bando, Kazuki Ohara, Osamu Saito
  • PRINTING DEVICE AND PRINTING METHOD
    Publication number: 20210107295
    Abstract: A printing device performs printing through an inkjet system includes an inkjet head, an ultraviolet irradiator, and a controller. An ink ejected by the inkjet head contains a curable substance and a solvent. The controller is configured to: cause the inkjet head to perform an ejecting operation; cause the ultraviolet irradiator to perform a viscosity increasing operation and a curing operation; cause, in the viscosity increasing operation, the ultraviolet irradiator to irradiate the ink with ultraviolet light to evaporate at least a part of the solvent in the ink by heat of polymerization and increase the viscosity of the ink to a viscosity at which smearing does not occur on the medium; and cause, in the curing operation, the ultraviolet irradiator to irradiate the ink with ultraviolet light to cure the ink on the medium.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 6, 2020
    Publication date: April 15, 2021
    Applicant: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Masaru OHNISHI
  • Manufacturing method for three-dimensional object
    Patent number: 10974452
    Abstract: To more efficiently manufacture a three-dimensional object shaped by layering a shaping material with a three-dimensional printer. A manufacturing method for a three-dimensional object according to an embodiment includes: a first shaping process (step S12) of layering a shaping material with a three-dimensional object shaping device (three-dimensional printer) to shape a first shaping portion including a recess opened in a layering direction of the shaping material; a closing process (step S15) of closing an open end of the recess of the first shaping portion; and a second shaping process (step S16) of layering the shaping material with the three-dimensional object shaping device (three-dimensional printer) on the first shaping portion, which open end of the recess is closed, to shape a second shaping portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2021
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yasunori Yamazaki, Kunio Hakkaku
  • Inkjet printer and control method for inkjet printer
    Patent number: 10974519
    Abstract: An inkjet printer includes an inkjet head that ejects ink droplets, and a sub tank that stores an ink to be supplied to the inkjet head, where the sub tank is provided with an ink outflow port through which the ink flows out from the sub tank, and an ink inflow port through which the ink that flowed out from the ink outflow port and passed through a predetermined circulation path flows toward the sub tank. In the inkjet printer, the ink is flowed out from the ink inflow port and the ink that passed through the circulation path is flowed into the sub tank from the ink outflow port at a predetermined timing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2021
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Ryo Nishizawa, Akira Takatsu, Yoshikazu Furukawa, Kosuke Miyake
  • Multilayered body, producing method for multilayered body, and printing system
    Patent number: 10967664
    Abstract: A multilayered body includes a base material with a metal tone glossy layer having metal tone glossiness, and a color layer layered on the metal tone glossy layer. The color layer has an arithmetic mean height and a transmission density located in a region below a straight line represented as (y=?0.1067x+0.8) on coordinates of the arithmetic mean height x and the transmission density y.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Ryo Nishizawa, Akira Takatsu
  • Printing device and printing method
    Patent number: 10967652
    Abstract: To perform high-quality printing more appropriately, a printing device that performs printing on a medium includes: an inkjet head as a head for pretreatment agent that ejects a pretreatment agent; inkjet heads as heads for color ink; and an ultraviolet ray irradiation unit as an energy ray irradiation unit. The pretreatment agent is a liquid that contains a solvent and generates heat in response to ultraviolet rays. The ultraviolet ray irradiation unit emits ultraviolet rays to respective positions at which printing is performed on the medium after the inkjet head ejects the pretreatment agent, and evaporates at least part of the solvent in the pretreatment agent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Masaru Ohnishi