JP2009241355A - Recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily perform a jam processing in a device while improving a strength of board. <P>SOLUTION: An ink-jet printer includes an ink-jet head 2, a conveyance unit 21, a paper feed cassette and an ink tank cassette between a front side plate 81 and a rear side plate 82 which compose a body frame 80. The conveyance unit 21 is attached/detached in/from the space between the front side plate 81 and the rear side plate 82 along the sub scan direction. The paper feed cassette and the ink tank cassette are installed/detached in/from openings 81b, 81e along the main scan direction, respectively. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording apparatus including a transport mechanism that transports a medium.

  The printer described in Patent Document 1 includes a transfer belt unit and a paper for sending paper in a conveyance direction parallel to the front plate in a main body frame constituting the apparatus main body in which a front plate and a rear plate, which are plate members, are coupled by a connecting member. A paper feed cassette or the like as a storage unit. The front plate is formed with an opening that allows the transfer belt unit to be attached and detached in the front-rear direction perpendicular to the transport direction. Further, below the opening of the front plate, an opening is further formed so that the paper feed cassette can be attached and detached in the front-rear direction, like the transfer belt unit. The transfer belt unit and the paper feed cassette are attached to and detached from the apparatus main body through these openings.

Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-189664 (FIG. 1)

  In the printer described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-260, the opening on the front side plate that allows the transfer belt unit and the paper feed cassette to be attached and detached is formed, so that the strength of the front side plate is reduced. Further, in order to improve the strength of the front plate, it is conceivable to attach and detach the transfer belt unit and the paper feed cassette along the transport direction from the side where the connecting member is provided without forming an opening in the front plate. . However, in general, printers are often installed with the side where the paper cassette is attached / detached as the front side, and in this case, the paper on the transfer belt unit is sent from the front side toward the rear side along the transport direction. Become. Then, if the paper is jammed on the rear surface side on the transfer belt unit, it is difficult to perform jam processing from the front surface to the rear surface side, and the user has to change the orientation of the printer to perform the jam processing.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus that can easily perform jam processing in the apparatus while improving the strength of the plate material.

  The recording apparatus of the present invention is arranged between two plate members facing each other in parallel and the two plate members, and conveys a medium in a conveyance direction parallel to the two plate members, and from between the two plate members. A removable transport mechanism, a recording unit that forms an image on a medium transported by the transport mechanism, a first through hole penetrating in the thickness direction of one of the two plates, and the A first unit disposed between the two plate members and detachable from the first through hole.

  According to the recording apparatus of the present invention, since the through hole for attaching and detaching the transport mechanism is not formed in either of the two plate materials, the strength of the plate material can be improved. In addition, when a plate member with a first through hole for attaching and detaching the first unit is installed on the front side, even if a jam occurs on the upstream side or the downstream side in the transport direction, it is easily jammed from the side of the device. It can be performed.

  Moreover, it is preferable to further include a connecting member that connects the two plate members. According to this, two board | plate materials can be hold | maintained in the state which opposes in parallel.

  Furthermore, it is preferable that the connecting member is used as a guide member for guiding the first unit. According to this, the number of members can be reduced and the cost is reduced.

  In addition, it is preferable that a plurality of the connecting members are provided, and the transport mechanism is attached and detached from between the two connecting members. According to this, the connecting member does not hinder attachment / detachment of the transport mechanism.

  The transport mechanism is preferably supported by the two plate members. According to this, since the transport mechanism is only supported by the two plate members, the transport mechanism can be easily attached and detached.

  Further, the transport mechanism is a belt type having a pair of rollers and an endless transport belt spanned between the pair of rollers, and at least one rotation shaft of the pair of rollers has the two plate members It is preferable to be supported by. According to this, since the rotating shaft of the roller constituting the transport mechanism is only supported by the two plate members, the transport mechanism can be easily attached and detached.

  In addition, a notch along the transport direction is formed at the upstream end of the two plate members in the transport direction of the transport mechanism, and the transport mechanism is mounted in the pair of rollers. The upstream rotating shaft is preferably inserted and fixed in the notch. According to this, the conveyance mechanism can be positioned with high accuracy only by forming the cutout with high accuracy.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the first unit is a medium storage unit that stores a medium sent to the transport mechanism. According to this, the medium accommodating part can be attached and detached from the first through hole.

  Further, it is preferable that the transport mechanism is attached / detached from a direction not intersecting with a transport path for transporting the medium from the medium accommodating unit to the transport mechanism. According to this, the transport path does not get in the way when the transport mechanism is attached and detached.

  The recording unit may be a liquid discharge head, and the first unit may be a liquid storage unit in which liquid supplied to the liquid discharge head is stored. According to this, a liquid storage part can be attached or detached from a 1st through-hole.

  Furthermore, it is preferable that the recording unit is detachable from between the two plate members. According to this, since the through hole for attaching / detaching the recording part is not formed in any of the two plate members, and the recording part is attached / detached between the two plate members, the strength of the plate member can be improved.

  In addition, it is preferable that the recording unit is supported by the two plate members. According to this, since the recording unit is only supported by the two plate members, the recording unit can be easily attached and detached.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the 2nd through-hole penetrated in the thickness direction is formed in the area | region facing the said conveyance mechanism of said one board | plate material. According to this, it is possible to perform jam processing of the medium conveyed by the conveyance mechanism without removing the conveyance mechanism. Further, the direction in which the user attaches / detaches the first unit is the same as the direction in which the jam processing is performed, and the operability for the user is improved.

  Furthermore, it is preferable that the width | variety regarding the said conveyance direction of the said 2nd through-hole is smaller than the width | variety regarding the said conveyance direction of the said conveyance mechanism.

  In addition, it is preferable to further include a second unit that is disposed between the two plate members and is detachable from between the two plate members. According to this, since the through-hole for attaching / detaching the second unit is not formed in any of the two plate members and the second unit is attached / detached between the two plate members, the strength of the plate member can be improved.

  The second unit is preferably a return path forming member that forms a return path for sending the medium transported by the transport mechanism back to the transport mechanism. According to this, the return path forming member can be attached and detached from between the two plate members.

  Furthermore, it is preferable that a plurality of the first units are provided, and the second unit is provided between the plurality of first units.

  In addition, the transport mechanism and the second unit are preferably in the same attaching / detaching direction. According to this, the attaching / detaching directions of the transport mechanism and the second unit are the same, and the operability for the user is improved.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the attachment / detachment directions of the transport mechanism and the recording unit are orthogonal to each other.

  Furthermore, it is preferable that the shape of the first through hole is substantially the same as the shape of the first unit projected onto the plate material.

  In addition, it is preferable that the recording unit, the transport mechanism, and the first unit are arranged in this order from above between the two plate members.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The present embodiment is an example in which the present invention is applied to an ink jet printer that records characters, images, and the like by ejecting ink onto recording paper. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of an inkjet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the ink jet printer taken along line II-II in FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the ink jet printer when the housing is removed.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the inkjet printer 1 (recording apparatus) has a rectangular parallelepiped housing 1 a, and the front surface (the front surface in FIG. 1) has a user's order in order from the top. Rotating member 61 that is rotated by operation, opening 10d, door 1d that is fitted in opening 10d and that can be opened and closed with a horizontal axis at the lower end as a fulcrum, and an opening in which paper feed cassette 1b (medium accommodating portion: first unit) is inserted 10b and an opening 10e into which the ink tank cassette 1e (liquid storage unit: first unit) is inserted. The door 1d is disposed to face a transport unit 21 described later in the main scanning direction (a direction orthogonal to the paper surface of FIG. 2).

  Further, on the right side surface of the inkjet printer 1, an opening 10f that is fitted into the opening 10f, the opening 10f and that can be opened and closed with the horizontal axis at the lower end as a fulcrum, and an opening 10c into which the return cassette 1c is inserted are provided in order from the top. ing. The door 1f is disposed to face the transport unit 21 in the sub-scanning direction (left-right direction in FIG. 2).

  Furthermore, on the left side surface of the inkjet printer 1, there is provided an opening 10g, a door 1g that is fitted in the opening 10g and that can be opened and closed with the horizontal axis at the lower end as a fulcrum. Further, on the upper surface of the inkjet printer 1, there are provided an opening 10h, and an upper wall 1h that is fitted into the opening 10h and is removable upward. The upper wall 1h is fixed to the housing 1a with screws. Recesses 1i are formed at both ends of the upper wall 1h in the main scanning direction. The upper wall 1h can be removed by the user removing the screw and holding the recess 1i in his / her hand. A paper discharge unit 31 is provided on the upper surface of the upper wall 1h.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the ink jet printer 1 has a main body frame 80 when the housing 1 a is removed. The main body frame 80 includes a front side plate 81, a rear side plate 82, and a plurality of connection frames 83. The front side plate 81 and the rear side plate 82 are arranged to face each other in parallel, and are connected by a plurality of connection frames 83. With the plurality of connecting frames 83, the front side plate 81 and the rear side plate 82 are held in a state of facing each other in parallel.

  Openings 81b, 81d, 81e are formed in the front plate 81 at positions facing the openings 10b, 10d, 10e of the housing 1a. The areas (shapes) of the openings 81b and 81e include the area of a minute gap in which the paper feed cassette 1b and the ink tank cassette 1e can be attached and detached, respectively, so that the paper feed cassette 1b and the ink tank cassette 1e are substantially connected to the front plate 81. It is the same as the area (shape) when projected onto. The opening 81d is a position facing between the two belt rollers 6 and 7 of the conveyance unit 21 described later, and has an area smaller than the area where the conveyance unit 21 is projected onto the front side plate 81. The opening 81d has a width smaller than the width of the transport unit 21 in the sub-scanning direction, and the upper end thereof is higher than the lower surface of the inkjet head 2 described later. The opening 81d has a size that the transport unit 21 cannot take out, and a size that allows the jammed paper P to be taken out flat without being bent. As a result, the opening 81d having a minimum necessary size can be formed while ensuring the strength of the front side plate 81.

  Further, the front side plate 81 and the rear side plate 82 are formed with a notch 84 along the sub-scanning direction from the right end in FIG. A shaft 7x of a belt roller 7 to be described later is inserted through a bearing (not shown) at the tip of the notch 84. The bearing is positioned and fixed to the front side plate 81 and the rear side plate 82 by a fixing member (not shown).

  The front plate 81 and the rear plate 82 are each formed with a guide member 85 that guides a shaft 6x of a belt roller 6 (to be described later) partially folded in the main scanning direction toward a space in which the transport unit 21 is accommodated. Has been. The guide member 85 has an elongated shape with the position of the shaft 6x at the time of normal printing shown in FIG. 2 as the upper end and extending in an obliquely downward right direction while drawing an arc around the shaft 7x of the belt roller 7. The conveyance unit 21 to be described later is positioned and fixed in a state where the shaft 7x of the belt roller 7 is inserted to the tip of the notch 84 and the belt roller 6 is pulled by a wire 62 to be described later.

  A plurality of connecting frames 83 that connect the left side of FIG. 3 of the front side plate 81 and the rear side plate 82 are arranged at positions that do not overlap the opening 10g of the housing 1a along the sub-scanning direction. Further, the connecting frame 83 that connects the right side in FIG. 3 of the front side plate 81 and the rear side plate 82 is disposed at a position that does not overlap the openings 10c and 10f of the housing 1a along the sub-scanning direction.

  Next, the internal configuration of the inkjet printer 1 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the inkjet printer 1 includes four inkjet heads 2 (liquid ejection heads), a transport unit 21 (transport mechanism), a paper feed cassette 1b, and a return cassette 1c (return) in the housing 1a in order from the top. Path forming member: second unit) and an ink tank cassette 1e.

  The four inkjet heads 2 have a plurality of nozzles 2 a that respectively eject magenta, cyan, yellow, and black inks, and constitute a recording unit that prints images, characters, and the like on the paper P. Further, the four inkjet heads 2 can be detached from above by removing the upper wall 1h.

  The transport unit 21 transports the paper P from the left to the right in FIG. 2 along the transport direction while facing the nozzle 2a. Further, the transport unit 21 is detachable to the right in FIG. 2 along the sub-scanning direction from between the front plate 81 and the rear plate 82 through the opening 10f. That is, the mounting direction in which the transport unit 21 is mounted is from left to right in FIG. At this time, the opening 10f does not overlap with the connection frame 83 along the sub-scanning direction. That is, the transport unit 21 is attached / detached from between the two connection frames 83 without being blocked by the connection frame 83. Is done.

  The paper feed cassette 1b accommodates a plurality of sheets P, and feeds the sheets P one by one to the transport unit 21 so that one surface of the sheet P faces the nozzle 2a. The paper feed cassette 1b is detachable along the main scanning direction through the openings 81b and 10b.

  The return cassette 1c reverses the sheet P transported by the transport unit 21 so that the other surface of the sheet P faces the nozzle 2a and returns it to the transport unit 21. Similarly to the transport unit 21, the return cassette 1c is detachable from the front plate 81 and the rear plate 82 to the right in FIG. 2 along the sub-scanning direction. In this way, since the transport unit 21 and the return cassette 1c have the same attaching / detaching direction, the operability for the user is improved.

  The ink tank cassette 1e has four ink tanks 50 in which ink to be supplied to the four inkjet heads 2 is stored. The ink tank cassette 1e is detachable along the main scanning direction through the openings 81e and 10e, similarly to the paper feed cassette 1b. Thus, since the paper feed cassette 1b and the ink tank cassette 1e have the same attaching / detaching direction, the operability for the user is improved.

  That is, in the housing 1a, the transport unit 21 is disposed below the four inkjet heads 2, the paper feed cassette 1b is disposed below the transport unit 21, and the return cassette 1c is disposed below the paper feed cassette 1b. The four ink tanks 50 are arranged below the return cassette 1c.

  Inside the ink jet printer 1, a paper transport path is formed through which the paper P, which is a medium, is transported from the paper feed cassette 1 b toward the paper discharge unit 31. A plurality of sheets P accommodated in the sheet feeding cassette 1b are successively fed out one by one from the uppermost sheet P by the pickup roller 25, guided by the guides 27a, 27b, 27c and the roller pairs 26a, 26b, 26c. While being sandwiched between the two, the sheet is sent to the transport unit 21 so that one surface thereof faces the nozzle 2a. Here, the transport unit 21 is attached / detached from the right side of FIG. 2 which does not intersect the path where the guides 27a, 27b, 27c are arranged. Thereby, when the transport unit 21 is attached and detached, the path on which these guides are arranged does not get in the way.

  The pickup roller 25 is attached to the paper feed cassette 1b. Slide members 52 are respectively provided at both ends in the sub-scanning direction of the paper feed cassette 1b and are slidable with respect to the two connecting frames 83. Therefore, the paper feed cassette 1b is detachable in the main scanning direction by the two slide members 52 sliding along the two connecting frames 83, respectively. In this way, the connecting frame 83 is also used as a guide member for guiding the paper feed cassette 1b, so that the number of parts can be reduced and the cost of the printer can be reduced.

  The transport unit 21 includes two belt rollers 6 and 7, an endless transport belt 8 wound so as to be bridged between the two rollers 6 and 7, and an inner peripheral surface of the lower loop of the transport belt 8. A tension roller 9 that applies tension to the conveyor belt 8 by being biased downward while in contact with the belt, and a pair of support frames 11 that rotatably support the belt rollers 6 and 7 and the tension roller 9. Yes. The belt roller 7 is a driving roller and rotates clockwise in FIG. 2 when a driving force is applied from a conveyance motor (not shown) fixed to the shaft 7x. The belt roller 6 is a driven roller and rotates clockwise in FIG. 2 as the conveyor belt 8 travels as the belt roller 7 rotates. As will be described later, the belt roller 6 on the driven side is movable to a space formed by separating the paper feed cassette 1b from the housing 1a.

  The outer peripheral surface of the conveyance belt 8 has adhesiveness by being subjected to silicone treatment. A nip roller 4 is disposed at a position facing the belt roller 6 with the conveyance belt 8 interposed therebetween on the paper conveyance path. The nip roller 4 presses the paper P sent out from the paper feed cassette 1 b against the outer peripheral surface of the transport belt 8. The paper P pressed against the outer peripheral surface of the conveyor belt 8 is conveyed rightward while being held on the outer peripheral surface by the adhesive force of the outer peripheral surface.

  The pair of support frames 11 is made of a substantially rectangular plate-like member, and is disposed at a position sandwiching the two belt rollers 6 and 7 with respect to the axial direction (main scanning direction). Further, at the lower end portions of the pair of support frames 11, the center of the lower end protrudes downward so as to follow the inclination of the lower loop of the conveyor belt 8. A fall prevention plate 12 is attached to the lower surfaces of the pair of support frames 11.

  The fall prevention plate 12 can be produced by projecting the conveyor belt 8 onto the same horizontal plane from the vertical direction in an area obtained by projecting the fall prevention plate 12 from the vertical direction, that is, in the outer area when the fall prevention plate 12 is viewed in plan. That is, the entire outer region of the conveyor belt 8 when the conveyor unit 21 is viewed in plan is arranged below the conveyor unit 21. Thus, the fall prevention plate 12 is disposed below the transport unit 21 so as to overlap the entire transport belt 8 along the vertical direction.

  Further, the fall prevention plate 12 has a cross-sectional shape along the lower end of the pair of support frames 11. That is, the fall prevention plate 12 is inclined downward from the left and right ends to the center. Moreover, the fall prevention plate 12 extends to a region overlapping with the conveyor belt 8 in the vertical direction in the left-right direction in the drawing. Thereby, the foreign matter falling from the conveyance belt 8 can be received by the fall prevention plate 12. Since the fall prevention plate 12 is attached to the lower surface of the support frame 11, as will be described later, when the transport unit 21 is moved about the shaft 7 x as a rotation center, the fall prevention plate 12 moves together with the transport unit 21.

  Further, a peeling plate 5 is provided at a position facing the belt roller 7 with the conveyance belt 8 interposed therebetween on the paper conveyance path. The peeling plate 5 peels the paper P held on the outer peripheral surface of the transport belt 8 from the outer peripheral surface. The paper P peeled off from the outer peripheral surface of the transport belt 8 by the peeling plate 5 is guided upward by the guides 29a, 29b, 29c and sent upward while being sandwiched by the roller pairs 28a, 28b, 28c, and formed on the upper portion of the housing 1a. The paper is discharged from the opened opening 30 to the paper discharge unit 31.

  Also, one roller of the roller pair 28a, 28b, 28c is a switchback roller, and can rotate in a direction opposite to the rotation direction when it is sent from the conveyor belt 8 and discharged to the paper discharge unit 31. Yes. The paper P peeled off from the outer peripheral surface of the conveying belt 8 by the peeling plate 5 is guided upward by the guides 29a, 29b, 29c and sent upward while being sandwiched by the roller pairs 28a, 28b, 28c. When 28a, 28b, and 28c rotate in the reverse direction, they are guided by the guide 30 and sent to the lower return cassette 1c while being sandwiched by the roller pair 32.

  The return cassette 1c extends in the vertical direction (the vertical direction in FIG. 2), and forms a predetermined gap between the lower guide 71 and the lower guide 71 that is curved from the middle and extends in the main scanning direction. It has an upper guide 72 that forms a return path 70 for the paper P, and roller pairs 73a, 73b, and 73c. The sheet P guided by the guide 30 and fed downward while being sandwiched by the roller pair 32 is guided by the upper guide 72 and the lower guide 71 and is sandwiched by the roller pair 73a, 73b, 73c, and the sheet by the transport belt 8. It is sent in the direction opposite to the P conveying direction. At this time, the sheet P is skew-corrected by a not-shown skew roller.

  The sheet P is guided by guides 27a, 27b, 27c, and 74 that form U-turn paths that switch the transport direction to the opposite direction, and is sandwiched between the roller pairs 26a, 26b, and 75, and the other surface is connected to the nozzle 2a. It is sent to the transport unit 21 so as to face each other. That is, the sheet P transported from the return path 70 to the transport unit 21 faces the nozzle 2a on the opposite side of the sheet P transported from the paper feed cassette 1b to the transport unit 21. Printing becomes possible. The return path 70 is configured by the guide 30, the upper guide 72, the lower guide 71, and the guides 27a, 27b, 27c, and 74 that form the U-turn path.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the return cassette 1 c can be separated from the housing 1 a along the conveyance direction (sub-scanning direction) of the paper P by the conveyance belt 8. If the attachment / detachment direction of the return cassette 1c is a direction orthogonal to the transport direction (main scanning direction), the sheet P remaining between the housing 1a and the extracted return cassette 1c is Although it is torn when the return cassette 1c is extracted, it remains in the case 1a when the return cassette 1c is extracted from the case 1a because the return cassette 1c is attached and detached in the transport direction (sub-scanning direction). The sheet P is easy to see and jam processing in the return path 70 is facilitated. Also, if the attachment / detachment direction of the return cassette 1c is the main scanning direction, it is necessary to form an opening for attaching / detaching the return cassette 1c to the front side plate 81. Since the opening need not be formed, the strength of the front plate 81 is improved.

  The four inkjet heads 2 each extend along the main scanning direction, are arranged in parallel in the sub scanning direction, and are supported by the main body frame 80 via the frame 3. The inkjet printer 1 is a line-type color inkjet printer that can print on both sides of a sheet P. A plurality of nozzles 2 a are formed on the lower surface of each inkjet head 2.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the frame 3 has a hollow rectangular parallelepiped shape and is open at the top. Four openings for exposing the nozzles 2 a of the four inkjet heads 2 are formed on the lower surface of the frame 3. The four inkjet heads 2 are positioned and fixed to the frame 3 to constitute a head unit. Further, on the upper surfaces of the front side plate 3a and the rear side plate 3b on both sides of the frame 3 in the main scanning direction, projecting portions 3c are formed so as to project outside the frame 3 along the main scanning direction. The front side plate 81 and the front side plate 3a of the frame 3 are screwed together, and the rear side plate 82 and the rear side plate 3b of the frame 3 are screwed, so that the four inkjet heads 2 are positioned and fixed to the frame 3. The thus configured head unit is positioned and fixed to the main body frame 80.

  A handle 3d having a U-shape as viewed in the main scanning direction is attached to the upper surface of the overhang portion 3c. The two handles 3d can be folded inside the frame 3 along the main scanning direction from the connecting portion with the projecting portion 3c. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the four inkjet heads 2 are detachable along the vertical direction together with the frame 3 from between the front side plate 81 and the rear side plate 82. That is, the attachment / detachment direction of the four inkjet heads 2 and the attachment / detachment direction of the transport unit 21 are orthogonal to each other. Thus, since the opening for attaching / detaching these four inkjet heads 2 is not formed in either the front plate 81 or the rear plate 82, the strength of the front plate 81 and the rear plate 82 can be improved.

  The head unit is temporarily placed by placing the two overhanging portions 3 c on the upper surfaces of the front side plate 81 and the rear side plate 82. In this state, the front side plate 81 and the front side plate 3a of the frame 3 are screwed together, and the rear side plate 82 and the rear side plate 3b of the frame 3 are screwed, but the head unit is temporarily placed Since the screw holes are shifted, the overhanging portion 3c is separated from the front side plate 81 and the rear side plate 82 by several millimeters when the screwing is completed.

  A substantially rectangular parallelepiped platen 19 is disposed in the loop of the conveyor belt 8 so as to face the four inkjet heads 2. The upper surface of the platen 19 is in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the upper loop of the conveyor belt 8 and supports it from the inner peripheral side of the conveyor belt 8. As a result, the outer peripheral surface of the upper loop of the conveyor belt 8 and the lower surface of the inkjet head 2, that is, the nozzle 2a are parallel to each other, and a slight gap is formed between the nozzle 2a and the outer peripheral surface of the conveyor belt 8. It is formed. The gap constitutes a part of the paper transport path. When the paper P transported while being held on the outer peripheral surface of the transport belt 8 sequentially passes immediately below the four inkjet heads 2, ink of each color is ejected toward the upper surface of the paper P. A desired color image is formed on the paper P.

  Each of the inkjet heads 2 is connected to an ink tank 50 in an ink tank cassette 1e disposed below the housing 1a. That is, the four ink tanks 50 store inks of colors corresponding to the corresponding ink jet heads 2, and ink is supplied from the ink tanks 50 to the ink jet heads 2 via tubes (not shown). The

  Next, the movement of the belt roller 6 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining the movement of the belt roller.

  A shaft 6x is fixed to both ends of the belt roller 6 in the axial direction so as to protrude in the axial direction from the both ends. The shaft 6x is movable along a guide member 85 formed on a surface where the front plate 81 and the rear plate 82 face each other. 5A and 5B illustrate a state in which the shaft 6x provided at one end of the belt roller 6 is guided by the guide member 85. FIG. A cylindrical member 6y is provided on the shaft 6x via a bearing (not shown). A hook (not shown) provided at the other end of the wire 62 is hooked on the cylindrical member 6y. The hook 62 can be detached from the cylindrical member 6y. One end of the wire 62 is wound while being fixed to the shaft 61 x of the rotating member 61. In the state shown in FIG. 5A, that is, in the normal printing state, a load is applied clockwise around the shaft 61x of the rotating member 61 by, for example, a gear or a clutch spring so that the wire 62 is not unwound. Has been. That is, the transport unit 21 is positioned by the shaft 7x of the belt roller 7 being inserted into and supported by the notch 84 of the main body frame 80, and the shaft 6x of the belt roller 6 being pulled upward.

  When the paper P is jammed, the user of the printer 1 first pulls out the paper feed cassette 1b toward the front side of the paper in FIG. 1 and separates it from the housing 1a. Thereafter, when the rotating member 61 is rotated counterclockwise in FIG. 5A, the wire 62 is unwound from the shaft 61x. Accordingly, the length of the wire 62 between the shaft 61x and the cylindrical member 6y is increased, and the shaft 6x slides along the guide member 85 in an arc shape centering on the shaft 7x of the belt roller 7. It moves to the lower right and stops at the rear end of the guide member 85 as shown in FIG.

  Along with such movement of the shaft 6x, the belt roller 6 also moves obliquely downward to the right in an arc shape centered on the shaft 7x of the belt roller 7. Although the belt roller 7 is always in a fixed position, the tension rollers 9a and 9b are configured so that the tension on the conveyor belt 8 is maintained constant, and the belt roller 6 moves when the belt roller 6 moves so that the shape of the conveyor belt 8 is always constant. Like the roller 6, it swings in an arc shape around the shaft 7 x of the belt roller 7. Further, during the movement of the belt roller 6, a load is applied to the shaft 61x of the rotating member 61 clockwise by, for example, a gear or a clutch spring so that the moving speed does not become excessive.

  By moving the belt roller 6 from the position shown in FIG. 5A to the position shown in FIG. 5B, the distance between the conveyor belt 8 and the inkjet head 2 is increased. Therefore, the paper jammed in the middle of the conveyance between the upper loop of the conveyance belt 8 and the head 2 by pulling the door 1d (see FIG. 1) provided in front of the housing 1a forward and opening it thereafter. It becomes easy to confirm P and take it out of the housing 1a. Further, by using the arrangement space of the paper feed cassette 1b as the space for the belt roller 6 to move, a dedicated space for moving the transport unit 21 is not required, and the printer 1 can be miniaturized. Even when the distance between the transport belt 8 and the ink jet head 2 is increased, if jamming of the paper P is difficult, the user of the printer 1 pulls the return cassette 1c to the right side in FIG. Further, it may be configured to be separated from the housing 1a and further moved to the arrangement space of the return cassette 1c.

  After performing the jam processing in this manner, the opened door 1d is closed, and the rotating member 61 is rotated clockwise in FIG. 5B. Thus, the wire 62 is wound around the shaft 61x, the length between the shaft 61x and the cylindrical member 6y in the wire 62 is shortened, and the shaft of the belt roller 7 is slid along the guide member 85. It moves to the left and upward in an arc shape centering on 7x, and stops at the upper end of the guide member 85 shown in FIG. Along with the movement of the shaft 6x, the belt roller 6 also moves obliquely upward to the left in an arc shape centering on the shaft 7x of the belt roller 7, and the original position shown in FIG. Return to position. Thereafter, the paper feed cassette 1b is mounted on the housing 1a again, and the return cassette 1c is mounted on the housing 1a again. As a result, the printer 1 is ready for printing again. When receiving a print resumption instruction from, for example, a PC (personal computer), the printer 1 feeds out the uppermost sheet P in the paper feed cassette 1b and performs printing.

  In the inkjet printer 1 according to the present embodiment, when the paper P is jammed in the vicinity of the guides 27a, 27b, 27c, 74, as shown in FIG. 2, the door 1g is opened to perform jam processing. At this time, since the user generally installs the paper cassette 1b on the side where the paper cassette 1b is attached / detached, the jam processing near the guides 27a, 27b, 27c, 74 is performed from the side. That is, it is possible to easily perform jam processing without having to change the orientation of the printer.

  Next, a method for replacing the transport unit 21 will be described. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a series of operations when the transport unit is replaced. As shown in FIG. 6A, the inkjet printer 1 is equipped with a transport unit 21, a paper feed cassette 1b, a return cassette 1c, and an ink tank cassette 1e.

  When the transport unit 21 is replaced from this state, first, as shown in FIG. 6B, the sheet feeding cassette 1b is taken out along the main scanning direction through the openings 10b and 81b, and the return cassette 1c is opened in the opening 10c. , 81c along the sub-scanning direction. Then, as shown in FIG. 6C, a jig 90 having a U-shaped planar shape viewed from the main scanning direction along the guide rail 91 (see FIG. 3) guided when removing the return cassette 1c. Are inserted along the sub-scanning direction. Next, a fixing member (not shown) is removed to release the support of the shaft 7x, and a hook (not shown) provided at the other end of the wire 62 is removed from the cylindrical member 6y to release the support of the shaft 6x. Then, the door 1f is opened, and the jig 90 (in the sub-scanning direction) is opened through the opening 10f with the lower surface of the fall prevention plate 12 in contact with the upper surface of the jig 90 as shown in FIG. 6 (d). The transport unit 21 is slid along and removed.

  Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 6E, the transport unit 21 is slid along the jig 90 and attached. At this time, the shaft 7 x of the belt roller 7 of the transport unit 21 is guided along the notch 84. Then, a fixing member is attached, the shaft 7x is positioned and fixed rotatably, and a hook (not shown) provided at the other end of the wire 62 is hooked on the cylindrical member 6y and fixed. Thus, the transport unit 21 is attached. Next, as shown in FIG. 6 (f), the jig 90 is removed along the sub-scanning direction, and the paper feed cassette 1b and the return cassette 1c are reattached as shown in FIG. 6 (g). As a result, the printer 1 is ready for printing again. When receiving a print resumption instruction from, for example, a PC (personal computer), the printer 1 feeds out the uppermost sheet P in the paper feed cassette 1b and performs printing.

  As described above, according to the inkjet printer 1 according to the present embodiment, since the opening for attaching and detaching the transport unit 21 is not formed in either the front plate 81 or the rear plate 82, the front plate 81 and the rear plate 82 are formed. The strength of can be improved. Further, when the front plate 81 having the opening 10b for attaching and detaching the paper feed cassette 1b is installed on the front surface, even if a jam occurs on the upstream side or the downstream side in the transport direction, it is easily jammed from the side of the printer. Processing can be performed.

  The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, but the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various design changes can be made as long as they are described in the claims.

  In the above-described embodiment, the movement of the belt roller 6 is realized when the user pulls out the paper feed cassette 1b and separates it from the housing 1a and then operates the rotating member 61 during the jam processing. That is, the belt roller 6 is moved by the user's operation, but the movement of the belt roller 6 may be realized automatically, that is, without the user's operation, by the control of the controller of the printer 1. For example, when the printer 1 is provided with a sensor for detecting jam of the paper P, a sensor for detecting attachment / detachment of the paper feed cassette 1b, and a motor for driving the rotating member 61, the controller first jams the paper P by the sensor. In response to the detection, the user is notified of the occurrence of a jam and an instruction to pull out the paper feed cassette 1b. When the paper cassette 1b is pulled out by the user, the controller controls the motor so that the belt roller 6 moves to the accommodation space B of the paper cassette 1b based on the separation detection of the paper cassette 1b by the sensor. . After the movement of the belt roller 6, the controller notifies the user of an instruction to take out the paper P. When the user who has confirmed the notification opens the door 1d and takes out the jammed paper P from the housing 1a and then closes the door 1d, the controller detects that the paper P is jammed and the door 1d is closed. Controls the motor so that the belt roller 6 returns to its original position. Thereafter, the controller notifies the user of an instruction for mounting the paper feed cassette 1b. When the paper feed cassette 1b is mounted in the housing 1a again, printing is resumed based on the detection of mounting of the paper feed cassette 1b by the sensor. Note that separation and mounting of the paper feed cassette 1b from the housing 1a may be performed by controlling the controller without providing an appropriate mechanism and through user operation. The movement of the belt roller 6 may be realized by various other methods.

  The rotating member 61 may not be provided on the same surface as the surface on which the door 1d and / or the opening 10d is disposed in the housing 1a.

  In the above-described embodiment, the rotation member 61, the wire 62, and the like are provided as the movement mechanism. However, the movement is not limited to this configuration, and the movement of the belt roller 6 may be realized by various other mechanisms.

  In the above-described embodiment, only the driven-side belt roller 6 is moved while fixing the driving-side belt roller 7. However, for example, the belt roller 6 is fixed while the belt roller 6 is fixed contrary to the above-described embodiment. 7 may be moved, or the belt rollers 6 and 7 may be lowered simultaneously to move the entire transport unit 21 in parallel.

  In the above-described embodiment, the jamming process is performed by moving the driven belt roller 6 while fixing the driving belt roller 7. However, when the jam does not occur, the belt roller 6 is moved. It is not necessary to provide a mechanism for making it.

  In the above-described embodiment, the paper feed cassette 1b and the return cassette 1c are all pulled out. However, when the paper cassette 1b and the return cassette 1c are pulled out to the rear end, only a part that is fixed to the housing 1a is pulled out from the housing 1a. May be.

  In the embodiment described above, the attaching / detaching directions of the transport unit 21 and the return cassette 1c are the same, but the attaching / detaching directions of the transport unit 21 and the return cassette 1c may be opposite directions.

  The recording apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to the ink jet type, but can be applied to a thermal type, and is not limited to a line type, and can also be applied to a serial type in which a head reciprocates. Further, the present invention is not limited to a printer, and can be applied to a facsimile, a copier, and the like.

1 is a perspective view illustrating an appearance of an ink jet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the ink jet printer taken along line II-II in FIG. 1. It is a perspective view which shows the external appearance of an inkjet printer when a housing | casing is removed. It is a sectional side view of an ink jet printer when a return cassette is removed from a housing. It is the schematic for demonstrating the movement of a belt roller. It is the schematic for demonstrating replacement | exchange of a conveyance unit.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Inkjet printer 1a Case 1b Paper feed cassette 1c Return cassette 1e Ink tank cassette 2 Inkjet head 6, 7 Belt roller 21 Conveyance unit 81 Front plate 81b, 81d, 81e Opening 82 Rear plate 83 Connection frame 84 Notch P Paper

Claims (21)

Two plates facing each other in parallel;
A transport mechanism that is disposed between the two plates, transports the medium in a transport direction parallel to the two plates, and is removable from between the two plates;
A recording unit that forms an image on the medium being transported by the transport mechanism;
A first through hole penetrating in the thickness direction of one of the two plate members;
A recording apparatus comprising: a first unit disposed between the two plate members and detachable from the first through hole.   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a connecting member that connects the two plate members.   The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the connecting member is used as a guide member that guides the first unit. A plurality of the connecting members are provided,
The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the transport mechanism is attached to and detached from between the two connecting members.   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transport mechanism is supported by the two plate members. The transport mechanism is a belt type having a pair of rollers and an endless transport belt spanned between the pair of rollers,
The recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein at least one rotation shaft of the pair of rollers is supported by the two plate members. Cutouts along the transport direction are formed at the upstream ends of the two plate members in the mounting direction of the transport mechanism, respectively.
The recording apparatus according to claim 6, wherein a rotation shaft on the upstream side in the mounting direction of the transport mechanism among the pair of rollers is inserted into the cutout and fixed.   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first unit is a medium storage unit that stores a medium sent to the transport mechanism.   The recording apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the transport mechanism is attached and detached from a direction that does not intersect a transport path for transporting a medium from the medium storage unit to the transport mechanism. The recording unit is a liquid discharge head;
The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first unit is a liquid storage unit in which liquid supplied to the liquid discharge head is stored.   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording unit is detachable from between the two plate members.   The recording apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the recording unit is supported by the two plate members.   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a second through hole penetrating in a thickness direction is formed in a region of the one plate member facing the transport mechanism.   The recording apparatus according to claim 13, wherein a width of the second through hole in the transport direction is smaller than a width of the transport mechanism in the transport direction.   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a second unit that is disposed between the two plate members and is detachable from between the two plate members.   The recording apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the second unit is a return path forming member that forms a return path for sending again the medium transported by the transport mechanism to the transport mechanism. A plurality of the first units are provided,
The recording apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the second unit is provided between the plurality of first units.   The recording apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the transport mechanism and the second unit are in the same attaching / detaching direction.   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein attachment / detachment directions of the transport mechanism and the recording unit are orthogonal to each other.   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a shape of the first through hole is substantially the same as a shape of the first unit projected onto the plate member.   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording unit, the transport mechanism, and the first unit are arranged in this order from above between the two plate members. .

Images