ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 31 -- United States Patent no. 12,508,810, issued on Dec. 30, was assigned to RICOH COMPANY LTD. (Tokyo).
"Liquid discharge apparatus and cleaning method" was invented by Yuta Kobayashi (Tokyo).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A liquid discharge apparatus includes a liquid discharge head, a cap, a waste liquid channel, a wiper, a cleaner, and a cleaning liquid drainage. The liquid discharge head has a nozzle, from which a liquid is discharged, on a nozzle face. The cap caps the nozzle to suck a waste liquid from the nozzle. The waste liquid channel is connected to the cap and has a waste liquid outlet from which the waste liquid is drained. The wiper wipes the nozzle face. ...