JP2000071468A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a recorder in which sliding load of a carriage is decreased during recording operation, an urging force of a cleaning means is generated at the time of cleaning of a recording head, and the upper structure of the carriage is decreased in size. SOLUTION: A carriage is provided with an inter-sheet adjusting lever 58, and a press contact lever 59 for imparting an urging force to a cleaning section, and guided by a guide rail 82 coming into face contact with the sliding face 581 of the adjusting lever 58. Position of the press contact lever 59 is regulated by a first stopper 5012 and the abutting face 594 does not abut against a chassis 8 formed integrally with the guide rail 82 in the record scanning range. An abutting part 88 is formed on the chassis 8 at a cleaning position and the abutting face 594 abuts against the abutting part 88 to generate a force for urging a recording head 7 to the cleaning section.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a serial type recording apparatus having a carriage for detachably holding a recording head for forming an image on a recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A recording device having a function such as a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile or the like, or a recording device used as an output device of a composite electronic device or a workstation including a computer or a word processor, etc. It is configured to record an image on a recording medium such as a plastic thin plate. The recording device,
Depending on the recording method, inkjet, wire dot,
It can be divided into thermal type, laser beam type, etc.

In a serial type recording apparatus employing a serial scanning system in which a main scan is performed in a direction intersecting a conveying direction (sub-scanning direction) of a recording material, a recording means mounted on a carriage which moves along the recording material. The image is printed (main scanning), a predetermined amount of paper is fed (pitch transport) after printing of one line is completed, and then the image of the next line is printed on the stopped recording material again. By repeating the operation of (main scanning), recording of the entire recording material is performed.

Among the above recording apparatuses, an ink jet type recording apparatus (ink jet recording apparatus) performs recording by discharging ink from a recording means (recording head) onto a recording material. It is easy, can record high-definition images at high speed, can record on plain paper without requiring special processing, running costs are low, and the non-impact method reduces noise, and It has the advantage that it is easy to record a color image using multicolor inks. In particular, an ink-jet type recording means (recording head) that ejects ink using thermal energy includes an electrothermal transducer, an electrode, and a film formed on a substrate through a semiconductor manufacturing process such as etching, vapor deposition, or sputtering. By forming a liquid path wall, a top plate, and the like, a device having a liquid path arrangement (discharge port arrangement) with high density can be easily manufactured, and further downsizing can be achieved.

Here, an example of a conventional serial type ink jet recording apparatus is shown in FIG.

In FIG. 15, a carriage 1050 on which a recording head is detachably mounted is slidably fitted on a guide shaft 1081 and a guide rail 1082 mounted on a chassis. A timing belt 1083 is attached to the back of the carriage 1050. The timing belt 1083 is suspended by a pulley 1802 fixed to a rotating shaft of a carriage motor (not shown) attached to the chassis and an idle pulley 1084 attached to the chassis.
Is reciprocated by driving a carriage motor.

[0007] An upper portion of the carriage 1050 is provided with a paper interval adjusting section for adjusting the gap between the recording head and the recording sheet. Hereinafter, the paper interval adjusting unit will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 14 is a plan view of the carriage 1050 shown in FIG.

[0008] The paper gap adjusting section has an adjusting lever 1581, a pressing lever 1582, a pressing spring 1583, and a top cover 1584.

The adjustment lever 1581 is connected to the carriage 105
The shaft is rotatably supported by a hole provided at the center. The adjustment lever 1581 has a polygonal sliding surface 1585 whose distance from the center of rotation of the adjustment lever 1581 differs according to the number of sheet positions. The pressure contact lever 1582 is rotatably supported around a pin provided on the carriage 1050, and urges the sliding surface 1585 of the adjustment lever 1581 to the guide rail 1082 by a pressure contact spring 1583. By changing the sliding surface 1585 of the adjustment lever 1581, the carriage 1050 rotates about the guide shaft 1081, so that the paper interval can be changed. The top cover 1584 is fixed with claws formed on both sides of the carriage 1050, and has an adjustment lever 1581, a press-contact lever 158.
2, etc. are held. Further, a protrusion having elasticity is formed at the tip of the lever of the adjustment lever 1581. The protrusion is fitted into a groove formed at a predetermined position of the top cover 1584 to fix the adjustment lever 1581. Has formed.

Further, since the pressure contact lever 1582 is urged against the guide rail 1082, this is also a contact pressure to a cap for capping the recording head during the recovery operation of the recording head.

With the above configuration, the following effects can be obtained. (1) The paper interval can be easily adjusted with a simple and low-cost configuration. (2) Since the carriage is provided with the recording head cap urging means, the pressure for contacting the head recovery system cap with the head recovery system can be secured with a simple and low-cost configuration, and the recovery of the recording head can be improved satisfactorily. It can be carried out.

In recent years, the image quality has been greatly improved, and the dot diameter and the number of gradations have been increasing. Among them, in the configuration of the conventional carriage described above, the urging force for urging the recording head to the cap acts on the guide rail even during the recording scan, so that a force that twists the carriage acts. As a result, the load torque increases, and furthermore, the slidability of the carriage may gradually deteriorate and stick-slip may occur. This has been an obstacle in improving the recording accuracy and the durability.

To solve these problems, FIG.
17 has been proposed.

The point different from the one shown in FIG. 14 is that a sliding surface 158 is provided at the base of the sliding surface 1585 of the adjusting lever 1581.
The stopper portion 1581a is provided at an equal distance from 5 and the contact portion 1782a of the pressure contact lever 1582 is in contact with the stopper portion 1581a in a range where the carriage 1050 performs the printing scan. Accordingly, a gap G of about 0.3 to 1 mm is provided between the press contact lever 1582 and the guide rail 1082. At this time, as shown in FIG. 16, the contact portion 15 of the pressure contact lever 1582 is moved through the guide rail 1082.
82a and the sliding surface 1585 of the adjustment lever 1581 are approximately 3 to 10 in the direction perpendicular to the scanning direction of the carriage 1050.
The arrangement is such that it is shifted by about mm.

With the above-described configuration, the carriage 1050 and the recording head are biased by their own weights during the printing scan, thereby positioning and scanning the carriage 1050. Therefore, the sliding load of the carriage 1050 is reduced. Become. Therefore, a force that twists the carriage 1050 is not applied, and smooth carriage scanning can be performed.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 13, at one end of the scanning range of the carriage 1050, a cleaning unit 1006 for cleaning the recording head is provided. The cleaning unit 1006 has a cap for capping the ejection port surface of the recording head, a rubber blade for wiping the ejection port surface of the recording head, and the like. When capping or wiping, it is necessary to press the recording head against the cap or rubber blade. is there. However, when the paper gap adjusting unit is configured as shown in FIGS. 15 and 16, the press contact lever 1582 does not contact the guide rail 1082, and a gap G is formed between the guide rail 1082 and the press contact lever 1582. As a result, the necessary contact pressure cannot be obtained when cleaning the recording head.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 17, the guide rail 1082 is bent toward the near side at one end thereof, and at a position corresponding to the cleaning unit 1006, the guide lever 1 is bent.
082 presses the pressure contact lever 1582.

As a result, during the printing scan, the carriage 10
While reducing the sliding load of 50, at the time of cleaning,
The contact pressure against the cap and the rubber blade can be obtained.

As shown in FIG. 17, a cap guide 1086 for guiding the movement of the carriage during capping is provided at one end of the chassis.
The cap guide 1086 has a mountain-shaped cam portion 186 that meshes with a cam shaft 1501 provided on the carriage 1050.
17 is provided, and when the recording head is brought into contact with the cap, as shown in FIG.
When the camshaft 1501 moves along, the carriage 1050 is once lifted up so that the recording head comes into contact with the cap from above.

[0020]

However, in the structure described above, the urging means is provided on the near side of the guide rail, so that the structure of the carriage is limited. For example, since the mechanism for adjusting the paper interval occupies a large space above the carriage, the insertion direction of the recording head is limited. At present, the use of the recording apparatus is increasing, and various measures are required. However, the restriction on the insertion direction of the recording head has been a constraint.

Therefore, according to the present invention, a structure in which the upper structure of the carriage is small while reducing the sliding load of the carriage during the recording operation and generating a biasing force to the cleaning means when cleaning the recording head. It is intended to provide a device.

[0022]

In order to achieve the above object, a recording apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a carriage for holding a recording head for forming an image on a recording medium and capable of scanning in a main scanning direction;
Guide means for guiding the carriage in the main scanning direction, conveying means for conveying the recording medium in a sub-scanning direction intersecting with the main scanning direction, and cleaning means for cleaning a recording portion of the recording head. A biasing means for biasing the recording head against the cleaning means, and the biasing means abutting at a cleaning position of the recording head by the cleaning means, and A contact portion that generates the urging force, and a sliding portion that slides in surface contact with the guide means during scanning of the carriage, wherein the urging means, the contact portion, and the sliding portion are The sliding means of the guide means is located on the back side of the sliding surface.

In the recording apparatus of the present invention constructed as described above, the carriage slides with the sliding portion in surface contact with the guide means, but the urging force of the urging means is applied to the carriage at the cleaning position of the recording head. Since the contact portion is generated by contact with the urging means, the urging force of the urging means does not act on the carriage in the scanning range other than the cleaning position. Therefore, the sliding load of the carriage is reduced during the printing operation, and at the time of cleaning the printing head, the printing head is urged by the cleaning means. On the other hand, since these urging means, the abutting part and the sliding part are located on the back side of the surface on which the sliding part of the guide means slides, the upper part of the carriage is located on the front side of the guide means. Fewer parts are located. As a result, the space above the carriage is effectively used, and the degree of freedom in configuration is increased, for example, the range in which the recording head can be inserted is increased. Further, the recording apparatus of the present invention has a second guide means for guiding the carriage in the main scanning direction together with the guide means, wherein the carriage is provided rotatably around the second guide means, May be in surface contact with the guide means by the weight of the carriage and the recording head. In this case, it is preferable that the guide means is a plate-like rail, and the second guide means is a shaft member.

Further, an adjusting member rotatably supported by the carriage for changing the attitude of the carriage in accordance with the thickness of the recording medium is provided, and the sliding portion is provided on the adjusting member. In this case, the sliding portion may have a plurality of sliding surfaces having different distances from the center of rotation of the adjustment member.

Further, the guide means may be formed integrally with the main body chassis. In particular, the main body chassis is made of sheet metal, and the guide means is formed by bending sheet metal. Becomes easier. Further, in this case, preferably, the contact portion is formed by bending and bending a sheet metal, and the carriage has a stopper for preventing the biasing means from contacting the sheet metal in a printing scan range in which printing is performed by the print head. Is provided. Further, the contact portion may be formed on a surface facing a surface on which the sliding portion of the guide means slides.

The present invention is particularly applied to a recording apparatus equipped with an ink jet recording head for forming an image on the recording medium by discharging ink.

[0027]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a front view of a recording apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the configuration of the recording apparatus shown in FIG.

The recording apparatus 1 of the present embodiment is a serial type ink jet recording apparatus, and includes a carriage section 5 on which a recording head 7 for recording is mounted, a sheet feeding section 2 for conveying a sheet material P, and a sheet feeding section 3. And a cleaning unit 6 for cleaning the recording head 7 of the carriage unit 5. Hereinafter, each of these units will be described.

(A) Sheet Feeding Unit 2 The sheet feeding unit 2 has a configuration in which a pressure plate 21 on which a sheet material P is loaded and a feed rotating body 22 for feeding the sheet material P are attached to a base 20. A movable side guide (not shown) is provided on the pressure plate 21 so as to be movable, and regulates the loading position of the sheet material P. The pressure plate 21 is provided so as to be rotatable about a rotation shaft coupled to the base 20.
As a result, while being urged by the feed rotating body 22, the release cam (not shown) can rotate in a direction away from the feeding rotating body 22 against the spring force of the pressure plate spring 24. At a portion of the pressure plate 21 facing the feed rotating body 22,
In order to prevent double feeding of the sheet material P, a separation pad 25 made of a material having a large coefficient of friction such as artificial leather is provided. The base 20 covers the corner at the lower end of the sheet material P,
Separation claws 26 for separating the recording sheets P one by one are provided. In addition, the separation claw 26 which is hard to bend, such as a thick paper, is used.
In order to separate the recording medium that cannot be separated by
A bank 27 is formed integrally with the base 20, and a switching lever (not shown) is provided for switching so that the separating claw 26 operates at the plain paper position and does not operate at the thick paper position.

In the above configuration, in the standby state, a force against the spring force of the pressure plate spring 24 acts on the pressure plate 21 by the release cam 29, so that the contact between the feed rotary member 22 and the sheet material P is released. ing. In this state, when the driving force due to the rotation of the transport roller 36 is transmitted to the feed rotator 22 and the release cam by a gear or the like, the release cam is
1 and the feed rotating body 2 by the spring force of the pressure plate spring 24.
2 and the sheet material P contact. When the feed rotator 22 is rotated, the sheet material P is fed with the rotation of the feed rotator 22 due to the frictional force with the feed rotator 22, and the separation claw 2 is rotated.
The sheets are separated one by one by 6 and sent to a sheet feeding unit 3 described later. The feed rotator 22 and the release cam are made of a sheet material P.
Is rotated until the sheet P is fed into the paper feeding unit 3, and the driving force from the conveying roller 36 is cut off in a standby state in which the contact between the sheet material P and the feeding rotating body 22 is released again.

(B) Paper Feeding Section 3 The paper feeding section 3 includes a transport roller 36 for transporting the sheet material P.
And a PE sensor 32 for detecting the front and rear ends of the sheet material P. The transport roller 36 is rotated by the drive of an LF motor (not shown), and a pinch roller (not shown) driven by the transport roller 36 is provided in contact with the transport roller 36. The pinch roller is held by a pinch roller guide (not shown), and is pressed against the transport roller 36 by being urged toward the transport roller 36 by a pinch roller spring to generate a transport force of the sheet material P. Further, an upper guide 33 and a platen 34 for guiding the sheet material P are provided at an entrance of the sheet feeding section 3 to which the sheet material P is conveyed. In addition, upper guide 3
3 includes a PE sensor 32 for detecting the leading and trailing edges of the sheet material P.
A PE sensor lever 35 is provided.

In the above configuration, the sheet material P sent to the paper feeding section 3 is guided by the upper guide 33 and the pinch roller guide, and is sent to a roller pair of a transport roller 36 and a pinch roller. At this time, PE sensor lever 3
5 detects the leading end of the conveyed sheet material P, thereby obtaining the recording position of the sheet material P. Then, the sheet material P is further conveyed by the conveying roller 36 and the pinch roller and reaches the platen 34, where recording is performed by the recording head 7 mounted on the carriage unit 5.

(C) Paper Discharge Unit 4 In the paper discharge unit 4, the transmission roller 40 contacts the transport roller 36, and further, the paper discharge roller 41 is connected to the transmission roller 40.
It is provided in contact with. Therefore, the driving force of the transport roller 36 is transmitted to the discharge roller 41 via the transmission roller 40. Further, a spur 42 that can rotate following the paper discharge roller 41 is in contact with the paper discharge roller 41.

The spur 42 is attached to a spur stay 341 provided integrally with the platen 34. By providing the spur stay 341 integrally with the platen 34 in this way, the dimensions of the spur 42 and the paper discharge roller 41 can be managed in the same part, so that the dimensional relationship can be stably maintained. . A notch 342 is formed in one part of the spur stay 341. When the recording head 7 is replaced, a carriage 50 described below is moved to this position, and the hook lever 53 for attaching and detaching the recording head 7 is operated. To secure space for

With the above configuration, the sheet material P on which an image has been formed by the carriage unit 5 is sandwiched between the nip between the discharge roller 41 and the spur 42, conveyed, and discharged to a discharge tray (not shown). .

(D) Cleaning Unit 6 The cleaning unit 6 wipes the cap 61 (see FIG. 9) for capping the recording head 7 to prevent the recording head 7 from drying, and the ink discharge port surface of the recording head 7. A blade 63 (see FIG. 9), a pump (not shown) for forcibly sucking ink from the recording head 7 in a state where the recording head 7 is capped by the cap 61,
And a drive switching arm (not shown) for switching the driving force from the transport roller 36 to the paper feed unit 2 or the pump. The drive switching arm fixes a planetary gear (not shown) that rotates around the axis of the transport roller 36 at a predetermined position other than when feeding or cleaning,
At this time, the driving force of the transport roller 36 is not transmitted to the paper feeding unit 2 and the pump. When the drive switching arm is moved by moving a carriage 50 to be described later, the planetary gears become free, and the planetary gears move according to the forward and reverse rotations of the transport roller 36, and the transport roller 36 rotates forward. The driving force is transmitted to the paper feeding unit 2, and when the rotation is reversed, the driving force is transmitted to the pump.

(E) Carriage section 5 The carriage section 5 has a carriage 50 as a mounting means on which the recording head 7 is removably mounted. Make up.

The carriage 50 has a guide shaft 8 for reciprocating scanning in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the sheet material P.
1 and the recording head 7 while holding the rear end of the carriage 50.
And the sheet material P is supported by a guide rail 82 that maintains a gap between the sheet material P and the sheet material P. The guide shaft 81 is mounted on the chassis 8
The guide rail 82 is attached to the chassis 8.
Is bent toward the front side to be integrally formed with the chassis 8. As described above, by configuring the guide rail 82 integrally with the chassis 8, the number of parts and the number of assembly steps can be reduced, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced. Further, since the rigidity of the chassis 8 is improved by bending the guide rail 82, the mechanical strength is improved. Further, when the conventional strength is sufficient, the thickness of the sheet metal forming the chassis 8 can be reduced, so that the cost can be further reduced.

The carriage 50 is driven by a carriage motor 80 attached to the chassis 8 via a timing belt 83. Timing belt 83
Are stretched and supported between an idle pulley 84 and a pulley 801 fixed to the rotation shaft of the carriage motor 80. Further, a flexible substrate 56 for transmitting a recording signal from the electric substrate 9 to the recording head 7 is attached to the carriage 50.

In the above configuration, when printing is performed on the sheet material P, the sheet material P is transported by the transport roller 36 and the pinch roller to the line position (the position in the transport direction of the sheet material P) where the recording is performed, and the carriage is moved. The carriage 50 is moved to a row position (a direction perpendicular to the sheet material P transport direction) where printing is performed by the motor 80, and the print head 7 is opposed to the print position. Thereafter, the recording head 7 ejects ink toward the sheet material P in response to a signal from the electric substrate 9 to perform recording.

As shown in FIG. 18, the recording head 7 is of a cartridge type in which a nozzle 70 for discharging ink and an ink tank 73 for storing ink to be supplied to the nozzle 70 are integrated. The nozzle 70 and the ink tank 73 are fixed to the base plate 72, respectively. This recording head 7 causes film boiling in the ink by applying heat to the ink by a heater or the like, and causes the ink to protrude from the nozzle portion 70 by a pressure change caused by the growth and contraction of bubbles due to the film boiling. The detailed configuration of the recording head 7 will be described as appropriate.

Next, the carriage 50 will be described in detail. 3 and 4 are plan views of the carriage section 5 in various states, and FIG. 5 is an external view of a contact section of the carriage section 5 with the recording head 7.

The detachable portion of the recording head 7 is
0, head holder 51, base cover 52, contact spring 54, hook cover 55, flexible board 5
6. It is composed of a rubber pad 57.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the carriage 5
0 has a head holder 51 for holding the recording head 7, and the head holder 51 is configured to slide left and right along a guide 501 provided on the carriage 50. The head holder 51 has a guide portion 511 for guiding the recording head 7, and a contact surface 503 and three positioning surfaces 504 a and 504 b formed on a side plate 502 erected perpendicularly to the carriage 50. A pressing portion 512 is provided. Of the positioning surfaces 504a and 504b, 2
One positioning surface 504a corresponds to the base plate 72 of the recording head 7 (see FIG. 18), and the other positioning surface 504b corresponds to the upper side of the ink tank 73 of the recording head 7 (see FIG. 18). ing. The contact surface 503 is located inside a triangle formed by the positioning surfaces 504a and 504b. Head holder 51
The pressing position of the pressing portion 512 is also determined by each positioning surface 504.
a, 504b are inside the triangle formed. A rotatable roller (not shown) is provided on the pressing portion of the head holder 51, and enables a good mounting property of the recording head 7. The head holder 51 is configured to form a box shape together with the carriage 50. Therefore, when the recording head 7 is inserted from obliquely above, the recording head 7 can naturally take a posture of being mounted on the carriage 50.

The hook lever 53 is rotatably attached to the side plate 502 of the carriage 50. A contact spring 54 is provided at the center of rotation of the hook lever 53, and urges the hook lever 53 in the direction of arrow B shown in FIG. Further, a hook cover 55 is attached so as to cover the hook lever 53, and holds the hook lever 53 so as not to come off the carriage 50. The hook lever 53 and the head holder 51 each have a cam that comes into contact with each other, and by rotating the hook lever 53 by the spring force of the contact spring 54,
The head holder 51 is configured to move from the head release state shown in FIG. 3A to the head set state shown in FIG. 3B. The contact spring 54
Is the pressing force of the recording head 7 of the head holder 51 via the hook lever 53.

As shown in FIG. 5, on the side plate 502 of the carriage 50, fitting pins 505a and 505b for positioning the recording head 7 are provided. On the other hand, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 8, the base plate 72 of the recording head 7
Are mounted at an angle of 1 to 4 with respect to the conveying direction of the sheet material P. In order to cope with this, one of the fitting pins 505a is formed into a rectangular shape having a partially cylindrical shape 505d as shown in an enlarged view in FIG.
, The other fitting pin 505b was formed in a round shape having a taper. A fitting hole (square hole) 77a into which the square fitting pin 505a fits is formed in the base plate 72 of the recording head 7, and a fitting hole (the square hole) into which the round fitting pin 505b fits. A round hole 77b is formed.

In particular, regarding the round fitting pin 505b, an undercut portion is removed from the mold structure of the carriage 50, and the positioning surface 504 of the carriage 50 is removed.
a position at which the recording head 7 is abutted against a.
The fitting at the headset position virtual line shown in FIG. In this manner, the recording head 7 can be accurately and smoothly positioned even on the inclined base plate 72 without requiring a complicated mold structure.

Further, on a contact surface 503 (see FIG. 5) provided on the side plate 502 of the carriage 50, a rubber hardness of 30 is provided for making electrical contact with the recording head 7.
A rubber pad 57 made of an elastic material such as silicone rubber having an angle of 50 ° to 50 ° is provided. The contact portion 561 of the flexible substrate 56 is located thereon.

As shown in FIG.
Is FPC (Flexible Print Circuit) 5
63 and FFC (flexible flat cable) 5
65 is fused and joined with solder or the like.

The FPC 563 forms an electrical contact portion 561 with the recording head 7 and solders the home position sensor 54 (see FIG. 2).
The formed conductor pattern is sandwiched between films of polyimide or the like. Also, the contact portion 56
Reference numeral 1 denotes a position where the polyimide cover on the contact surface is removed, and a position corresponding to a contact pad provided on the contact surface 78 (see FIG. 18) of the recording head 7 is 0.5 to 1 m.
A dimple having a height of about m is formed. Further, a photo interrupter as the home position sensor 54 is attached to the sensor attachment portion 564 by soldering, and this can be fixed to the carriage 50. As shown in FIG. 2, a light shielding plate 87 formed by bending and raising the chassis 8 is provided, and the position of the carriage 50 is detected based on this edge. FFC 565 is
The PC 563 is electrically connected to the electric board 9 (see FIG. 2), and is configured to be able to correspond to the shape while bending depending on the position of the carriage 50.
The FFC 565 is configured by uniformly arranging conducting wires at a pitch of about 0.8 to 1.25 mm and sandwiching the conducting wires with PET or the like.

Referring again to FIG. 5, the rubber pad 5
7. Both the flexible substrates 56 are positioned by positioning pins 506 provided on the side plate 502 of the carriage 50. A slit 563 (see FIG. 6) is provided on the opposite side of the contact portion 561 of the positioning portion of the flexible substrate 56.
Are provided so that the deformation and the like in assembling the flexible substrate 56 do not affect the contact portion 561. The distal end portion 562 of the flexible substrate 56 (see FIG. 7A) is connected to the base plate 72 of the recording head 7.
562a
(See FIG. 7A). In this manner, by forming the contact portion 561 in a triangular shape and reducing the number of contact pads toward the tip, the forming of the signal line becomes easy, and the density can be increased. Further, the processing of the distal end portion 562 of the flexible substrate 56 becomes easy.

The side plate 502 of the carriage 50 has slit holes 5 for inserting the distal end portion 562 of the flexible substrate 56.
07 is provided. When inserting the distal end portion 562 of the flexible substrate 56 into the slit hole 507,
As shown in (b), the tip 5 of the flexible substrate 56
62 is warped and inserted into the slit hole 507. After passing through the slit hole 507, the distal end portion 562 of the flexible substrate 56 is moved by the elasticity of the flexible substrate 56 as shown in FIG.
It is straightened as shown in FIG.
There is no way to get caught. With this configuration, the distal end portion 562 of the flexible substrate 56 is free and the contact portion 561 of the flexible substrate 56 does not have rigidity, so that the contact surface 78 of the recording head 7 (FIG. 18)
(D) and good contact can be made. When the recording head 7 is mounted, the contact surface 503 of the carriage 50 is
(See FIG. 5) enters into the notch 79 (see FIG. 18D) of the base plate 72 of the recording head 7 and comes into contact with the contact surface 78 on the substrate formed inside the notch 79.

The flexible substrate 56 is routed along the side plate 502 of the carriage 50, folded vertically, and fixed to the carriage 50 by the base cover 52. Rubber pads 57 and a flexible substrate 56 are provided on the base cover 52 with positioning pins 506 on the carriage 50.
A pressing portion 521 is provided so as not to come off.

The recording head 7 has positioning pins 5.
06 and a concave portion 731 (see FIG. 18D) for allowing the protrusion of the pressing portion 521 of the base cover 52 to escape. Therefore, the length of the positioning pin 506 and the thickness of the pressing portion 521 of the base cover 52 can be increased, and the rubber pad 57 and the flexible substrate 56 can be reliably positioned and prevented from coming off.

The flexible substrate 56 is fixed to the chassis 8 by a flexible fixing plate 85 as shown in FIG.
The curvature is changed according to the position of the carriage unit 5,
A head drive signal from the electric board 9 (see FIG. 2) is transmitted to the recording head 7 in accordance with the movement of the carriage unit 5.

With the above configuration, attachment / detachment of the recording head 7 to / from the carriage portion 5, holding, positioning, electrical contact and the like can be easily performed. When the recording head 7 is mounted, as shown in FIG. 3A, the hook lever 53 is pulled up and the head holder 51 is moved to the left, so that the recording head 7 can be mounted (head release state). In this state, when the recording head 7 is mounted and the hook lever 53 is rotated downward as shown in FIG. 3B, the head holder 51 moves to the right along with the recording head 7, and the positioning of the recording head 7 is performed. Electrical contact and the like are performed. In this state (head set state), an image can be formed on the sheet material P. Further, when the recording head 7 is detached from the carriage section 5, the hook lever 53 is pulled up as shown in FIG. 3A and the head holder 51 is moved to the left. , The recording head 7 is detached from the carriage unit 5.

At the upper part of the carriage 50, there is provided a paper interval adjusting unit for adjusting the gap between the recording head 7 and the recording sheet P. The paper interval adjusting unit includes an adjusting lever 58.
, A press-contact lever 59, and a press-contact spring 591 for urging the press-contact lever 59.

As shown in FIGS. 3, 4, and 10, the adjusting lever 58 is configured to be rotatable by inserting a pin into a hole provided in the carriage 50. Adjustment lever 58
Has a polygonal sliding surface 581 having a different distance from the center of rotation of the adjustment lever 58 according to the number of sheet positions. The sliding surface 581 slides in surface contact with the back surface of the guide rail 82 during the recording scan of the carriage 50. The carriage 50 is rotatable about the guide shaft 81, and by changing the sliding surface 581 of the adjustment lever 58, the carriage 50 rotates about the guide shaft 81, so that the paper interval can be changed. Further, the leading end of the adjustment lever 58 has elasticity, and the adjustment lever 58 is fixed by fitting into a groove (not shown) formed in the carriage 50 to form a predetermined sheet interval. In the present embodiment, there are two paper gap positions, and in FIGS. 3 and 4, the left side is set to the plain paper position where the paper gap is narrow, and the left side is set to the thick paper position where the paper gap is wide. The sliding surface 581 of the adjustment lever 58 is in contact with the guide rail 82 by the weight of the carriage 50 and the recording head 7.

The pressure contact lever 59 is rotatable around a pin provided on the carriage 50, and is pressed by a pressure contact spring 591.
An urging force can be applied at the time of cleaning the recording head 7 and at the time of capping. However, in order to prevent the urging force from acting during the printing scan, the carriage 50 is provided with a first stopper 5012 for preventing the pressing lever 59 from abutting the chassis 8 integrated with the guide rail 82. At the same time, the adjustment lever 58 is provided with a second stopper 582. Correspondingly, the first engaging portion 59 with which the first stopper 5012 abuts
Second and second engaging portions 593 with which the second stopper 582 abuts are provided on the press-contact lever 59, respectively.

In the plain paper position, the first engaging portion 592 is in contact with the first stopper 5012. When the adjustment lever 58 is operated to the right as viewed, the cam portion of the adjustment lever 58 comes into contact with the cam portion of the pressure contact lever 59 to move the pressure contact lever 59, and the second engagement portion 593 contacts the second stopper 582. It is held at the contact position. In other words, even if the inter-paper position is changed, the sliding surface 581 and the pressing lever 59
Are configured such that the distances L1 and L2 to the contact surface are equal. Therefore, with this configuration, the carriage 5
In a range where 0 is a printing scan range, the first engaging portion 592 and the second engaging portion 593 contact the first stopper 5012 and the second stopper 582, and the urging force of the press-contact lever 59 does not act. ing.

As described above, during the printing scan, the guide rail 82 and the carriage 5 are moved by the adjustment lever 58.
Since only the sliding surface 581 is in contact and the carriage 50 and the recording head 7 are urged by their own weight to perform positioning and scanning, the sliding load can be set small. Therefore, a force that twists the carriage 50 does not act, and smooth carriage scanning becomes possible. Further, since the load torque is reduced, it is possible to increase the speed of driving the carriage, or to reduce the size and cost of the carriage motor 80 and the like.

When the recording head 7 is brought into contact with the cap 61 of the cleaning unit 6, as shown in FIG. 4A, the sliding surface 581 of the adjustment lever 58 moves over the guide rail 82, Further, the contact portion 594 of the pressure contact lever 59 urges the contact portion 88 provided on the chassis 8, so that the recording head 7 can contact the cap 61 as shown in FIG. That is, when the carriage unit 5 moves to the cleaning unit 6 and the recording head 7 comes into contact with the cap 61, the cam unit 861 of the cap guide 86 (see FIG. 1).
When the cam shaft 5011 of the carriage 50 moves along the
1 is brought into contact with the recording head 7 from above. At this time, since the lower side of the guide rail 82 is cut and the sliding surface 581 of the adjustment lever 58 does not abut on the guide rail 82, sufficient cap pressure is applied.

Since the pressure contact lever 59 is urged by the contact portion 88 provided on the chassis 8, the pressure contact lever 59
Since the first engaging portion 592 and the second engaging portion 593 of the recording head 7 are separated from the first stopper 5012 and the second stopper 582,
It produces a contact pressure to 1. The contact portion 88 is formed on the surface facing the guide rail 82 by bending and raising from the chassis 8, and has a two-stage shape. In the first stage, the gap with the pressure contact lever 59 is set to be 0.3 to 1 mm. During this time, the blade 63 acts on the recording head 7, and even if the inter-sheet position of the adjustment lever 58 changes, the above gap can be similarly secured. The contact pressure, the amount of intrusion, etc. can be managed stably. In the second stage, the pressure contact lever 59 always contacts the position corresponding to the cap 61, and a predetermined cap pressure, for example, 100
It is configured to give ~ 300g.

The sliding surface 581, the pressure contact lever 591 and the contact portion 88 of the adjusting lever 58 are located inside the U-shape formed by the chassis 8 during recording scanning, that is, the guide rail 8
2 is located on the back side. Thereby, it is possible to provide a device configuration that can further increase the degree of freedom of the configuration, such as efficiently configuring the configuration of the upper portion of the carriage 50 and, for example, enabling the recording head 7 to be inserted from the upper portion or obliquely from the upper portion. Becomes

(Second Embodiment) In the first embodiment,
An example is shown in which the sheet interval position is two positions, the left side is set to the plain paper position, and the right side is set to the thick paper position. Conversely, as shown in FIG. 11, the left side is the thick paper position and the right side is the thick paper position. You may set so that it may become a plain paper position.

As shown in FIG. 11A, the first stopper 50 of the carriage 50 is in the plain paper position.
The first engaging portion 592 of the press-contact lever 59 is in contact with 12. When the adjustment lever 58 is operated to the left as viewed, the cam portion of the adjustment lever 58 contacts the cam portion of the pressure contact lever 59 to move the pressure contact lever 59, as shown in FIG. The stopper 582 is held at a position where the second engagement portion 593 of the pressure contact lever 59 abuts. Further, similarly to the above-described embodiment, the distances L1 and L2 between the sliding surface 581 and the contact surface 594 of the press-contact lever 59 are configured to be the same even when the inter-sheet position is changed. Other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment.

In the present embodiment, the contact between the cam portion of the adjustment lever 58 and the cam portion of the pressure contact lever 59 is no longer a counter, so that the second stopper 582 and the second engagement portion 5
93 can be smoothly contacted.

(Third Embodiment) In the above-described embodiment, an example was shown in which the contact portion 88 of the press contact lever 59 was formed by bending and raising from the chassis 8, but as shown in FIG. 862 may be formed as a separate part of the mold. Other configurations may be similar to those of the first embodiment or the second embodiment.

A contact portion 862 with which the pressure contact lever 59 contacts.
Is integrally formed with the cap guide 86 having its shape incorporated therein, and attached to the chassis 8. As a result, the dimensional accuracy is easily obtained, and the slidability of the carriage unit 5 is improved, so that grease or the like is not required.

[0071]

As described above, according to the present invention, the urging means abuts at the cleaning position by the cleaning means, and the urging means has an abutting portion for generating an urging force. When the recording head is cleaned, a biasing force to the cleaning means can be applied to the recording head while reducing the sliding load of the recording head.
In addition, since the urging means, the abutting part and the sliding part are located on the back side of the guide part on the surface on which the sliding part slides, it is possible to effectively use the space above the carriage. Thus, the degree of freedom of the configuration of the carriage can be increased.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a recording apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the configuration of the recording apparatus shown in FIG.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are plan views of the carriage unit of the recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1 at a plain paper position, where FIG. 3A shows a head release state and FIG. 3B shows a head set state.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are plan views of a carriage unit of the recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1, in which FIG. 4A shows a press-contact state at a cap position in a plain paper position, and FIG. 4B shows a state of an adjustment lever in a thick paper position.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a contact portion of the carriage portion with a recording head.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a flexible substrate.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a front end portion of a flexible substrate of the carriage unit illustrated in FIG. 5 is assembled.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of a fitting pin of the carriage unit shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a front view of the carriage unit at a cleaning position.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of the positional relationship of the adjustment lever and the press-contact lever of the carriage unit shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 with respect to the guide rail, as viewed from the side.

FIGS. 11A and 11B are plan views of a carriage unit according to a second embodiment of the present invention, wherein FIG. 11A shows a plain paper position and FIG.

FIG. 12 illustrates a carriage unit according to a third embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a pressed state at a cleaning position.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of an example of a conventional serial type ink jet recording apparatus.

14 is a plan view of a carriage of the recording apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 15 is a plan view of a carriage of another example of the conventional inkjet recording apparatus.

16 is a cross-sectional view of the positional relationship between the adjustment lever and the press-contact lever shown in FIG. 15 with respect to a guide rail, as viewed from the side.

FIG. 17 is a plan view of the carriage shown in FIG. 15 at a cleaning position.

FIG. 18 is a front view, a bottom view, and both side views of the recording head.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Recording device 2 Paper feed part 3 Paper feed part 4 Paper discharge part 5 Carriage part 6 Cleaning part 7 Recording head 8 Chassis 50 Carriage 51 Head holder 52 Base cover 53 Hook lever 55 Hook cover 56 Flexible board 58 Adjustment lever 59 Pressure contact lever 61 Cap 63 Blade 81 Guide shaft 82 Guide rail 83 Timing belt 86 Cap guide 88, 862 Contact part 581 Sliding surface 582 Second stopper 591 Pressure contact spring 592 First engagement part 593 Second engagement part 594 Contact Surface 5011 Cam shaft 5012 First stopper

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Shinya Sonoda 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo F-term in Canon Inc. (reference) 2C056 EA23 FA10 HA12 HA37 JA09 2C480 CB02 DA01 DB02 DB03 DB06 DB08

Claims (10)

[Claims] A carriage for holding a recording head for forming an image on a recording medium and capable of scanning in a main scanning direction; a guide unit for guiding the carriage in the main scanning direction;
In a printing apparatus, comprising: a transport unit configured to transport the recording medium in a sub-scanning direction that intersects the main scanning direction; and a cleaning unit configured to clean a recording unit of the recording head. An urging means for applying an urging force to be urged, an abutting portion for causing the urging means to abut at a cleaning position of the recording head by the cleaning means, and generating the urging force to the urging means; A sliding portion that slides in surface contact with the guide device during scanning, wherein the urging device, the contact portion, and the sliding portion are surfaces on which the sliding portion of the guide device slides. A recording device that is located on the back side of the recording device. And a second guide means for guiding the carriage in the main scanning direction together with the guide means, wherein the carriage is rotatably provided around the second guide means, The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the unit is in surface contact with the guide unit by the weight of the carriage and the recording head. 3. The guide means is a plate-like rail,
3. The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said second guide means is a shaft member. 4. An adjusting member rotatably supported by the carriage for changing a posture of the carriage in accordance with a thickness of the recording medium, wherein the sliding portion is provided on the adjusting member. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein 5. The recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the sliding portion has a plurality of sliding surfaces having different distances from a center of rotation of the adjustment member. 6. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said guide means is formed integrally with a main body chassis. 7. The recording apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said main body chassis is made of sheet metal, and said guide means is formed by bending said sheet metal. 8. The contact portion is formed by bending and raising the sheet metal, and the urging means is prevented from contacting the sheet metal in the carriage in a print scanning range in which printing is performed by the print head. 8. The recording apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising a stopper. 9. The recording apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the abutting portion is formed on a surface of the guide means facing a surface on which the sliding portion slides. 10. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording head is an inkjet recording head that forms an image on the recording medium by discharging ink.