US 12,214,589 B2
Indirect printing system
Benzion Landa, Nes Ziona (IL); Aharon Shmaiser, Rishon LeZion (IL); Alon Siman-Tov, Or Yehuda (IL); and Alon Levy, Rehovot (IL)
Assigned to LANDA CORPORATION LTD., Rehovot (IL)
Filed by LANDA CORPORATION LTD., Rehovot (IL)
Filed on Apr. 21, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/137,460.
Application 18/137,460 is a continuation of application No. 17/551,219, filed on Dec. 15, 2021, granted, now 11,660,857.
Application 17/551,219 is a continuation of application No. 16/784,208, filed on Feb. 6, 2020, granted, now 11,235,568, issued on Feb. 1, 2022.
Application 16/784,208 is a continuation of application No. 15/556,324, granted, now 10,596,804, issued on Mar. 24, 2020, previously published as PCT/IB2016/051560, filed on Mar. 20, 2016.
Claims priority of application No. 1504716 (GB), filed on Mar. 20, 2015.
Prior Publication US 2023/0364905 A1, Nov. 16, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. B41J 2/01 (2006.01)
CPC B41J 2/01 (2013.01) [B41J 2002/012 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of operating an indirect printing system having an intermediate transfer member (ITM) in the form of a circulating endless belt, the method comprising:
at an image forming station of the indirect printing system, depositing ink images on an outer surface of the ITM by a plurality of print bars;
transporting the images from the image forming station to an impression station of the indirect printing system; and
at the impression station, transferring the ink images from the outer surface of the ITM onto a printing substrate,
wherein the outer surface of the ITM is maintained within the image forming station at a predetermined vertical distance from the print bars by a plurality of support rollers, the support rollers (i) having a common flat tangential plane; and (ii) contacting the inner surface of the ITM, and wherein the method further comprises:
for each given support roller of the plurality of support rollers, respectively applying suction to the ITM so as to cause a respective section of the ITM disposed immediately downstream of the given support roller to be deflected downwards away from the common tangential plane of the support rollers so that respective contact between the ITM and the given support roller is greater on the downstream side than on the upstream side of the given support roller.