Patents by Inventor Masaru Ohnishi

Masaru Ohnishi has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 9751333
    Abstract: The invention has an object to provide a printing method wherein a wide variety of recording medium can be used, and printed materials richer and more vivid in color can be obtained by using sublimation dyes. To achieve the object, provided is a printing method including: an ink applying step for applying an ink on a recording medium (100), and the ink contains a solvent, a binder resin (11) dispersed or emulsified in the solvent, and a sublimation dye (12) entrained in particles of the binder resin (11); and a heating step for heating the ink to diffuse the sublimation dye (12) among the particles of the binder resin (11) for color development.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2017
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Masaru Ohnishi
  • Patent number: 9751336
    Abstract: The disclosure appropriately performs high-quality printing in a case of using ultraviolet curing ink in a serial type inkjet printer. As a solution, a printing apparatus for performing printing in an inkjet mode by a multi-pass scheme includes: inkjet heads, a temporarily hardening light source, a fully hardening light source, and a controller configured to serve as a pixel selector, wherein the temporarily hardening light source radiates ultraviolet light whenever a predetermined number of main scan operations are performed, and the fully hardening light source radiates ultraviolet light after main scan operations of all printing passes finish.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2017
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Masaru Ohnishi
  • Publication number: 20170226642
    Abstract: A plating method includes: a mask forming step of discharging a SUV curable ink from an ink jet head in the form of ink droplets and having the ink droplets land on an object to be plated to form a plating mask on the object to be plated; and a plating step of plating the object to be plated subsequent to the mask forming step. In the mask forming step, the ink droplets are discharged so as to have adjacent ones of the ink droplets contact one another.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 2, 2017
    Publication date: August 10, 2017
    Applicant: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Masaru OHNISHI
  • Patent number: 9718283
    Abstract: The invention has an object to provide a high-quality print. To achieve the object, an inkjet printing device (100) includes: a transferring roller, a print-heater (6) for heating a medium (20); and an after-heater (7) for heating an ink, wherein the device has a plurality of inkjet heads, and the plurality of inkjet heads discharges inks in different colors and are aligned along a direction of transfer of the medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2017
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Masaru Ohnishi
  • Patent number: 9688072
    Abstract: The aim is to provide a low cost and highly reliable head cleaning technique. As a solution, a cleaning device 20 includes a cleaning tank 21 for immersing a head 10 in cleaning solution and cleaning the head; and liquid level height adjusting means for adjusting a liquid level height of the cleaning solution in the cleaning tank 21, wherein the liquid level height adjusting means includes a supply chamber 25 that stores the cleaning solution to be supplied to the cleaning tank 21, and communicates with the cleaning tank 21, and a driving section 23 for adjusting relative heights of the cleaning tank 21 and the supply chamber 25 by moving the supply chamber 25.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2017
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Masaru Ohnishi
  • Patent number: 9682548
    Abstract: A print device is configured to perform printing by an ink jet scheme including: an ink jet head including a nozzle, an ink chamber that stores ink droplets at an upstream of the nozzle, and a piezoelectric element; and a drive signal output section that outputs a drive signal for causing the piezoelectric element to be displaced. The drive signal includes a discharge driving signal for causing the piezoelectric element displaced so that ink droplets are discharged from the nozzle, and a post-discharge controlling signal for causing the piezoelectric element displaced after the ink droplets are discharged from the nozzle, the drive signal output section outputs the discharge driving signal by which a voltage changes linearly from a first voltage to a second voltage which are predeterminedly set, at a timing when the ink droplets are to be discharged from the nozzle, and outputs a substantial sine wave.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2017
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Masaru Ohnishi
  • Patent number: 9683116
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a way to appropriately decorate a heat-resistant member. This is achieved by a method for producing a painted heat-resistant member which is a heat-resistant member having an image drawn thereon. The method includes a drawing step of ejecting an ink onto a heat-resistant member medium in droplets with an inkjet head, and irradiating the ink landed on the medium with UV light to draw an image on the medium, the ink containing at least a pasty liquid containing an organic substance, an UV-polymerizable organic substance which is an organic substance that polymerizes upon being irradiated with UV light, and an inorganic pigment dispersed in the pasty liquid; and an organic substance removal step of heating the medium having the image drawn thereon to remove the organic substance component contained in the ink on the medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2017
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Masaru Ohnishi
  • Publication number: 20170157935
    Abstract: In order to effectively wash wiping members, a washing station which is a head washing device according to one embodiment of the present invention is characterized by including a wiping unit, a storage tank, and a washing unit. The wiping unit includes wipers which are wiping members for wiping an ejection surface of an inkjet head. In the storage tank, washing solution for washing the wiping unit is stored. The washing unit washes the wipers in the washing solution of the storage tank.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 2, 2015
    Publication date: June 8, 2017
    Applicant: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Masaru OHNISHI
  • Publication number: 20170151726
    Abstract: In a 3D printer (1), an inkjet head (10) is controlled such that, if a color tone that is expressed by mixing equal amounts of two or three colors of three color components is to be realized, an ink that corresponds to that color tone is used as a colored ink, and the height of an ink layer of the colored ink per unit area of a discharge target surface is supplemented with a supplementary ink so as to reach a predetermined height.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 22, 2015
    Publication date: June 1, 2017
    Applicant: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Akira Ikeda, Masaru Ohnishi, Ayumi Sakaguchi
  • Publication number: 20170144433
    Abstract: To more appropriately carry out printing at high precision even when a gap distance is large. A printing apparatus includes an inkjet head, a main scan driver, and a controller, where the controller sets a moving speed of the inkjet head according to a gap distance, and sets the moving speed in a main scanning operation so that an entering angle at a time of landing of the ink droplet on a medium becomes smaller than or equal to 45 degrees with respect to at least a position where the gap distance becomes the largest in a region of the medium to become a target of the main scanning operation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 5, 2015
    Publication date: May 25, 2017
    Applicant: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masaru OHNISHI, Akifumi SEKI
  • Publication number: 20170136783
    Abstract: To provide an inkjet printer capable of satisfactorily performing printing on a media made of a variety of materials. An inkjet printer includes a laser light irradiation device configured to irradiate a surface of a medium with laser light, thereby forming recesses in at least a portion of the surface of the medium, and an inkjet head configured to eject ink, thereby supplying the ink onto the surface of the medium having the recesses formed therein. The inkjet printer may further include an irradiation position adjusting unit configured to adjust a position on the medium to be irradiated with laser light, such that a plurality of the recesses is formed inside the outline of a pattern to be formed by ink, and a supply position adjusting unit configured to adjust an ink supply position on the medium such that the ink is supplied to the recesses.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 25, 2015
    Publication date: May 18, 2017
    Applicant: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Masaru Ohnishi
  • Publication number: 20170129257
    Abstract: A metallic decoration method of decorating decoration objects with decoration ink containing a silver ?-ketocarboxylate is shown. This metallic decoration method includes a printing process of performing printing on a decoration object 1 by ejecting decoration ink made by diluting a silver ?-ketocarboxylate with a solvent from an inkjet head 11, and a heating process of heating the decoration object 1 after the printing process, thereby vaporizing the solvent while decomposing the silver ?-ketocarboxylate into metallic silver, thereby forming a metallic decoration layer 2, and in the printing process, printing is performed on the decoration object 1 while the decoration object 1 is heated. In this metallic decoration method, a heating temperature of the decoration object 1 in the heating process is set so as to be equal to or higher than a heating temperature of the decoration object 1 in the printing process.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 4, 2016
    Publication date: May 11, 2017
    Applicant: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: AYUMI SAKAGUCHI, MASARU OHNISHI
  • Publication number: 20170129263
    Abstract: A printer is provided with: a feed roller on which an elongated shaped medium is wound in a roll form and from which the medium is unwound and fed in a predetermined transport direction; a printing unit that prints an object to be printed on the medium fed from the feed roller; a take-up roller that takes up the medium printed by the printing unit in a roll form; and a tension applying member that applies a tension to the medium by making a contact with a surface opposite to a print surface of the medium. The tension applying member has a support portion disposed at a center position in a width direction of the medium, and an oscillation shaft extending in the width direction of the medium and adapted to oscillate in contact with the medium. The oscillation shaft is oscillated on the support portion serving as fulcrum.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 24, 2015
    Publication date: May 11, 2017
    Applicant: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Masaru Ohnishi
  • Patent number: 9630439
    Abstract: A printing method is provided. In this printing method, a printing ink composed of pigment-based solvent UV ink or UV ink is applied onto a transfer sheet capable of transmitting an ultraviolet light, and then the printing ink is cured to form a printing ink layer. Thereafter, a bonding ink composed of solvent UV ink or UV ink for bonding the printing ink layer to a medium is applied onto the printing ink layer. Subsequently, the bonding ink is pressed against the medium. In this state, irradiation with the ultraviolet light from an opposite surface of the transfer sheet to a surface having the printing ink layer formed thereon is performed, such that the bonding ink is completely cured to form a bonding ink layer. Thereafter, the transfer sheet is peeled off from the printing ink layer, whereby the printing ink layer is transferred onto the medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2017
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Masaru Ohnishi
  • Patent number: 9623668
    Abstract: The object is to provide a printing device with a superior gas barrier property in an ink supplying passage. As a solution therefor, an ink supplying unit (10) of an inkjet printing device (100) includes a pressure chamber (11) connected to a supplying passage (21). The pressure chamber (11) is formed of a resin material having a superior gas barrier property, and can be warped by a biasing force in a direction along which a distance between opposing inner walls thereof is increased so as to be able to set an inside of the ink supplying passage to a negative pressure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignee: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Masaru Ohnishi
  • Publication number: 20170100937
    Abstract: Provided are a head cleaning apparatus, an inkjet printer, and a head cleaning method that allow an ink discharging surface of an inkjet head to be more adequately cleaned than the known art. A head cleaning apparatus has a cleaning liquid reserving tank containing a cleaning liquid for cleaning an ink discharging surface of an inkjet head from which an ink is discharged. The head cleaning apparatus further has a removing unit that removes dirt and/or ink stain from the ink discharging surface while the ink discharging surface is being immersed in the cleaning liquid in the cleaning liquid reserving tank, and a wiper that wipes off the cleaning liquid left on the ink discharging surface after the removal of dirt and/or ink stain by the removing unit. The removing unit and the wiper are both disposed in the cleaning liquid reserving tank.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 24, 2015
    Publication date: April 13, 2017
    Applicant: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Masaru OHNISHI
  • Publication number: 20170057251
    Abstract: An ink jet device including an ink jet head discharging ultraviolet curable ink and an ultraviolet ray emitting diode unit arranged on at least one of a front side and a rear side in a scanning direction of the ink jet head is provided. The ultraviolet ray emitting diode unit includes a single ultraviolet ray emitting diode and a single transparent member arranged to include an optical axis of the ultraviolet ray emitting diode. In a cross section of the transparent member that includes the optical axis and that is vertical to a first direction (X direction) that vertically intersects with the optical axis, a width in an optical axis direction of a center portion including the optical axis is longer than a width in the optical axis direction of a peripheral portion that is farther away from the optical axis than the center portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 14, 2016
    Publication date: March 2, 2017
    Applicant: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Masaru OHNISHI
  • Publication number: 20170028742
    Abstract: The disclosure is to more appropriately perform high-quality printing in a case of using ultraviolet curing ink in a serial type inkjet printer. In a printing apparatus for performing printing in an inkjet mode, an inkjet head for Y color, an inkjet head for M color, temporarily hardening light sources, an inkjet head, and an inkjet head are arranged such that their positions in the sub scan direction are deviated from each other. With respect to each position on a medium, after the inkjet head ejects ink drops, the temporarily hardening light sources hardens the ultraviolet curing ink of the Y color on the medium, to a temporarily hardened state, before the inkjet head ejects ink drops, and then the inkjet head ejects ink drops of the M color onto the area where the ultraviolet curing ink of the Y color has hardened to the temporarily hardened state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2014
    Publication date: February 2, 2017
    Applicant: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventor: MASARU OHNISHI
  • Publication number: 20170028739
    Abstract: There are provided an ink recording head, a printing apparatus, and a printing method that may suppress the occurrence of color smearing. An ink recording head 10 according to an aspect of the present disclosure includes ink recording heads 10 (Y), 10 (M), 10 (C), 10 (R), 10 (G), 10 (B), and 10 (K) respectively configured to record inks of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), red (R), green (G), blue (B), and black (K).
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 25, 2014
    Publication date: February 2, 2017
    Applicant: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masaru OHNISHI, Ayumi SAKAGUCHI
  • Publication number: 20170015122
    Abstract: This disclosure is directed to more effectively prevent blocking. An inkjet printing apparatus 100 has a platen 3, an after-heater 4, a take-up gear 5, and a cooler. The platen 3 heats a medium 20 to a temperature lower than or equal to a glass-transition temperature Tg1 of a resin included in the medium 20. The after-heater 4 heats the medium 20 to a temperature higher than or equal to a glass-transition temperature Tg2 of a resin contained in the ink. The take-up gear 5 collects the printed medium 20. The medium 20 or the take-up gear 5 is cooled by the cooler so as to reach a temperature lower than both the temperature Tg1 and the temperature Tg2.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 20, 2015
    Publication date: January 19, 2017
    Applicant: MIMAKI ENGINEERING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Akifumi SEKI, Masaru OHNISHI, Kazuya NOZAKI