JP2002036659A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recorder in which a second operating member can be returned back to a correct state through operation of a first operating member when the second operating member is not in the correct state. SOLUTION: When a second operating member, e.g. a paper switch lever 581, is not at a regular position, the second operating member 581 is operated through operation of a first operating member, e.g. a lever 582 for fixing other recording head, to return the paper switch lever 581 back to the regular position.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus for performing recording on a recording medium using a recording head mounted on a head mounting section.

[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 has a configuration in which an image is recorded on a recording material (recording medium) such as a plastic thin plate. Such a recording device is an ink jet type,
It can be classified into a wire dot type, a thermal type, a laser beam type and the like.

[0003] In recent years, requirements for the material of a recording material have been diversified, and paper or resin thin plates (OHP) which are ordinary recording materials have been used.
Etc.), image recording on thin paper or processed paper (paper with perforated holes for filing, paper of any shape, etc.) has come to be required.

In the above-mentioned wire dot type recording apparatus and ink jet recording apparatus, in order to obtain a clear and high-quality recording result, the distance between the recording head and the recording material (hereinafter referred to as the recording medium).
It is indispensable that recording of each recording method is executed at an optimum interval (referred to as “paper interval”). In particular, in an ink jet recording apparatus, it is advantageous that the distance between the ink jet recording head and the recording material is small, but on the other hand, the recording head is prevented from being stained by the rubbing of the recording material and the recording head from being worn. In order to do so, it is necessary to ensure an appropriate sheet interval. Generally, the paper gap position corresponds to plain paper and high-quality media, etc., and the "thin paper position" has a narrow paper gap, and the "thick paper position" has a wide paper gap corresponding to envelopes and postcards. ] Are set for two positions. Further, when performing high-density image recording on plain paper, the surface of the recording material is likely to be wavyly deformed in an uneven shape due to swelling of the paper, and the recording material may rub against the recording head. In such a case, even if the recording material is plain paper, the paper interval may be set at the thick paper interval, and the user may freely switch the interval according to the situation.

[0005]

However, as described in the above-mentioned conventional example, since the user can freely switch the paper interval, the lever, which is a member for the operation for adjusting the paper interval, is provided halfway. It may be stopped at an odd position. If the image recording is performed in such a state, the operation of the carriage becomes unstable, and the image quality may be remarkably deteriorated. In addition, the lever may be broken by interfering with other members.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to operate the first operating member to bring the second operating member into an appropriate state when the second operating member is not in an appropriate state. It is another object of the present invention to provide a recording device that can return to the original.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and has been made in consideration of a head mounting portion for mounting a recording head and a head mounting portion for mounting the recording head on the head mounting portion. A first operating member used, and a second operating member used when adjusting the quality of a recorded image by the recording head, when operating the first operating member, the first operating member, The operation by the second operation member is performed via the second operation member.

Accordingly, the recording apparatus according to the present invention is configured such that when the second operation member such as the sheet interval switching lever is not at the normal position, the first operation member such as another recording head mounting lever is operated when the first operation member is operated. The second operation member is operated by the one operation member, and for example, the sheet interval switching lever is returned to the normal position.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. Examples of the recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied include a wire dot recording apparatus and an ink jet recording apparatus, and a recording head is mounted on a carriage and has a width direction orthogonal to a conveying direction of a recording medium. And a so-called full-line type recording apparatus in which recording elements are arranged over the entire width of a recording medium. A serial type inkjet recording apparatus will be described as an example of the recording apparatus described below.

(Embodiment 1) First, a schematic structure of a recording apparatus of the present invention is shown in FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the entire configuration of a recording apparatus.
FIG. 2 is a front view of the recording apparatus, and FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of the recording apparatus.

A recording apparatus 1 having an automatic feeding device includes a paper feeding unit 2, a paper feeding unit 3, a paper discharging unit 4, a carriage unit 5, and a cleaning unit 6. Below, these are divided into items,
The outline will be described sequentially.

(A) Paper Feeding Unit In FIGS. 1 to 3, a paper feeding unit 2 includes a pressure plate 21 on which recording paper P is loaded and a feed rotator 22 for feeding the recording paper P includes a base 20.
Has a configuration attached to the The pressure plate 21 includes:
The movable side guide 23 is provided so as to be movable, and regulates the loading position of the recording paper P. The pressure plate 21 is rotatable about an axis connected to the base 20, and is urged by a pressure plate spring 24 to the feeding rotating body 22. A separation pad 25 made of a material having a large coefficient of friction, such as artificial skin, for preventing double feeding of the recording paper P is provided at a portion of the pressure plate 21 facing the feeding rotating body 22. Further, the base 20 covers the corners in one direction of the recording paper P, and the separation claw 26 for separating the recording paper P one by one, and the base 20 for separating those which cannot use the separation claw 26 such as thick paper. In the integrally formed bank portion 27, the separation claw 26 operates at the plain paper position, and the switching lever 28 for switching so that the separation claw 26 does not operate at the thick paper position. Release cam 29 is provided.

In the above configuration, in the standby state, the release cam 29 pushes the pressure plate 21 down to a predetermined position. Thereby, the contact between the pressure plate 21 and the feeding rotating body 22 is released. Then, in this state, when the driving force of the transport roller 36 is transmitted to the feed rotator 22 and the release cam 29 by a gear or the like, the release cam 29 separates from the pressure plate 21 and the pressure plate 21 rises, and the feed rotation The recording paper P is picked up by the rotation of the feeding rotary body 22 and the paper feed is started, and the recording paper P is separated one by one by the separation claw 26 and the recording paper P is contacted. Sent to 3. The feed rotator 22 and the release cam 29 rotate until the recording paper P is fed into the paper feed unit 3, and come into a standby state in which the contact between the recording paper P and the feed rotator 22 is released again, and the transport roller 36 is released. The driving force from is cut off.

(B) Paper Feeding Section The paper feeding section 3 has a transport roller 36 for transporting the recording paper P and a PE sensor 32. A driven pinch roller 37 is provided in contact with the transport roller 36. The pinch roller 37 is held by the pinch roller guide 30, and is pressed against the transport roller 36 by being urged by the pinch roller spring 31, thereby generating a transport force of the recording paper P. Further, an upper guide 33 and a platen 34 for guiding the recording paper P are disposed at the entrance of the paper feeding unit 3 to which the recording paper P is transported. The upper guide 33 has a PE sensor 32 for transmitting the detection of the leading and trailing edges of the recording paper P to the PE sensor 32.
A sensor lever 35 is provided. Further, a head cartridge 7 that forms an image based on image information is provided downstream of the transport roller 36 in the recording paper transport direction.

In the above configuration, the recording sheet P sent to the sheet feeding section 3 is guided by the platen 34, the pinch roller guide 30 and the upper guide 33, and is sent to a pair of transport rollers 36 and a pinch roller 37. At this time, the PE sensor lever 35 detects the leading end of the conveyed recording paper P, and thereby obtains the printing position of the recording paper P. Further, the recording paper P is driven by a roller pair 3 by an LF motor (not shown).
By rotating 6, 37, it is conveyed on the platen 34.

In this case, as the head cartridge 7, an easily replaceable ink jet recording head integrally formed with the ink tank is used. The head cartridge 7 can apply heat to the ink by a heater or the like. Then, the ink causes film boiling due to the heat, and the ink is ejected from the nozzles of the head by a pressure change caused by growth or shrinkage of bubbles due to the film boiling, and an image is formed on the recording paper P.

(C) Carriage section The carriage section 5 has a carriage 50 on which the head cartridge 7 is mounted. And the carriage 50
Are provided by a guide shaft 81 for reciprocating scanning in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the recording paper P, and a guide rail 82 for holding a rear end of an upper portion of the carriage 50 and maintaining a gap between the recording head 7 and the recording paper P. Supported. Note that the guide shaft 81 and the guide rail 82 are attached to the chassis 8.

The carriage 50 is driven by a carriage motor 80 mounted on the chassis 8 to drive the timing belt 8.
3 is driven. This timing belt 83
The idle pulley 84 stretches and is supported. Further, the carriage 50 is provided with a flexible cable 56 for transmitting a head signal from the electric board 9 to the head cartridge 7. The carriage 50 has a linear encoder 101 for detecting the position of the carriage.
The position of the carriage can be detected by reading the number of lines of the linear scale 102 attached to the chassis 8. The signal of the linear encoder 101 is transmitted to the electric board 9 via the flexible cable 56 and processed.

In the above configuration, when an image is formed on the recording paper P, the roller pair 36, 37 conveys the recording paper P to the line position (position in the conveying direction of the recording paper P) where the image is to be formed, and the carriage motor 80 And the linear encoder 101
Carriage 50 by feedback control using
Is moved to the row position where the image is to be formed (the position orthogonal to the transport direction of the recording paper P), and the head cartridge 7 is opposed to the image forming position. Thereafter, the head cartridge 7 ejects ink toward the recording paper P in accordance with a signal from the electric board 9 to form an image.

(D) Paper Discharge Unit The paper discharge unit 4 is provided such that the transmission roller 40 abuts on the transport roller 36, and the transmission roller 40 abuts on the paper discharge roller 41. Accordingly, the driving force of the transport roller 36 is transmitted to the paper discharge roller 41 via the transmission roller 40. Further, a spur 42 as one of the discharge rotating bodies is in contact with the discharge roller 41 so as to be rotatable following the discharge roller 41. With the above configuration, the recording sheet P on which an image has been formed by the carriage unit 5 is conveyed while being sandwiched between the nip between the discharge roller 41 and the spur 42, and is discharged to a discharge tray (not shown).

(E) Cleaning Unit The cleaning unit 6 includes a pump 60 for cleaning the head cartridge 7 and a driving force from the cap 61 and the conveying roller 36 for suppressing drying of the head cartridge 7. The drive switching arm 62 is configured to switch between the two. Drive switching arm 6
When the reference numeral 2 is other than paper feeding or cleaning, a planetary gear (not shown) that rotates around the axis of the transport roller 36 is fixed at a predetermined position, so that the driving force is transmitted to the paper feeding unit 2 and the pump 60. Not done. When the drive switching arm 62 is moved in the direction of arrow A by moving the carriage 50, the planetary gears become free, so that the planetary gears move in accordance with the forward / reverse rotation of the transport rollers 36, and the transport rollers 36 The driving force is transmitted to the sheet feeding unit 2 when the rotation is normal, and the driving force is transmitted to the pump 60 when the rotation is reverse.

(F) Sheet Interval Adjustment Section Next, the details of the sheet interval adjustment section of the carriage section according to the present invention will be described.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show the carriage unit 5 of the above apparatus.
It is a perspective view of. FIG. 6 is a simplified side sectional view showing the relationship between the head cartridge and the platen at the sheet interval position in the apparatus.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the carriage section 5 has a carriage 50 to which components are attached to form a unit. A paper interval switching lever 581 for adjusting the gap between the head cartridge 7 and the recording sheet P is provided above the carriage 50.

The paper interval switching lever 581 is connected to the carriage 50
A pin is inserted into a hole provided in the device and is rotatable. The sheet interval switching lever 581 is provided on the sliding surface 5 having a different distance from the rotation center of the adjusting lever according to the number of sheet intervals.
81 (a). By changing the sliding surface 581 (a) of the sheet interval switching lever 581, the carriage 50 rotates around the guide shaft 81, so that the sheet interval can be changed. Further, the leading end of the paper interval switching lever 581 has elasticity, and corresponds to the two grooves 586 (a) and 586 (b) of the carriage 50 shown in FIG. 581 is fixed to form a predetermined sheet interval.

The groove 586 (a) is a position between sheets corresponding to thick paper such as a postcard or an envelope, and 586 (b) is a position between sheets corresponding to a thick sheet such as an envelope. .

When the head is mounted on the carriage 5,
The user operates the head lever 582. FIG. 4 shows the head mounted state, and FIG. 5 shows the head detached state. The headset lever 582 has three holes 582
(A), 582 (b) and 582 (c).

The carriage section 5 is provided with a guide shaft 81 mounted on the chassis 8 through a bearing of the carriage 50, and a guide rail 82 mounted on the chassis 8 with a sheet interval switching lever 581 and a pressure contact lever 5.
Reciprocal scanning can be performed by sliding 82. Carriage 50
A timing belt 83 is attached to the back of the camera. The timing belt 83 is suspended between a pulley 801 mounted on a shaft of a carriage motor 80 mounted on the chassis 8 and an idle pulley 84 which stretches the timing belt 83 mounted on the chassis 8. The position of the carriage can be accurately grasped by the linear encoder 101 reading the number of lines of the linear scale 102 even during operation.

As shown in FIG. 4, when the sheet interval is at the thin sheet position, the sheet interval switching lever 581 is engaged with the groove 586 (a) and fixed. In this state, even if the head lever is released as shown in FIG. 5, the paper interval switching lever 581 does not interfere with the hole 582 (a) of the head lever 582. However, when the sheet interval switching lever 581 is slightly deviated from the groove 586 (a), the position of the sheet interval switching lever 581 is not fixed. When the head lever 582 is released in this state,
The sheet interval switching lever 581 and the head lever 582 interfere with each other, but rotate while being guided by the hole 582 (a), and
6 (a). In this way, the sheet interval switching lever 581 can be returned to the normal position during the head attaching / detaching operation.

The same applies when the paper interval switching lever 581 is at an unstable position near the thick paper position.
81 is guided to the normal position by the hole 582 (b).

Further, when the sheet interval switching lever 581 is located exactly at the center between the thin sheet position and the thick sheet position, the sheet interval switching lever 581 is not guided by either hole, and in the worst case, the sheet interval switching lever 581 is broken. For this reason, in the present embodiment, a hole 582 (c) is provided in the head lever 582 so as not to guide to either position, but to avoid destruction of parts.

As described above, the sheet interval switching lever 58
When the head lever 582 is operated when the position 1 is not in the normal position, the sheet interval switching lever is guided to the normal position or the structure is designed to prevent destruction. Sometimes damage can be minimized.

(Embodiment 2) In the first embodiment, the sheet interval switching lever 581 is guided to holes (three places) located close to each other, but it may be configured to guide to a predetermined position.

For example, in the first embodiment, when the thin paper position is a standard position and the thick paper position is used only rarely, the head lever 582 is always returned to the thin paper position when the head lever 582 is operated.
When the user forgets to return the lever, the paper interval switching lever 581 can be returned to the standard position at the timing of replacing the head.

(Others) The present invention particularly provides an excellent effect in an ink jet recording apparatus in which a flying droplet is formed by utilizing thermal energy and recording is performed among ink jet recording systems.

The typical configuration and principle are described in, for example, US Pat. Nos. 4,723,129 and 4,740.
It is preferable to use the basic principle disclosed in the specification of Japanese Patent No. 796. This method can be applied to both the so-called on-demand type and continuous type. In particular, in the case of the on-demand type, liquid (ink)
By applying at least one drive signal corresponding to the recorded information and providing a rapid temperature rise exceeding nucleate boiling to an electrothermal transducer arranged corresponding to the sheet or liquid path in which This is effective because it generates heat energy in the electrothermal transducer, causing film boiling on the heat-acting surface of the recording head, and as a result, it is possible to form bubbles in the liquid (ink) corresponding to this drive signal on a one-to-one basis. It is. By discharging the liquid (ink) through the discharge opening by the growth and contraction of the bubble, at least one droplet is formed. When the drive signal is formed into a pulse shape, the growth and shrinkage of the bubble are performed immediately and appropriately, so that the ejection of liquid (ink) having particularly excellent responsiveness can be achieved, which is more preferable.

As the pulse-shaped drive signal, those described in US Pat. Nos. 4,463,359 and 4,345,262 are suitable. Further, if the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,124 relating to the temperature rise rate of the heat acting surface are adopted, more excellent recording can be performed.

As the configuration of the recording head, in addition to the combination of the ejection port, the liquid path, and the electrothermal converter (linear liquid flow path or right-angled liquid flow path) as disclosed in the above-mentioned respective specifications, The present invention also includes a configuration using U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,333 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,600, which disclose a configuration in which a heat acting portion is arranged in a bending region.

In addition, JP-A-59-123670 discloses a configuration in which a common slit is used as a discharge portion of an electrothermal transducer for a plurality of electrothermal transducers, or absorbs pressure waves of thermal energy. The present invention is also effective as a configuration based on JP-A-59-138461, which discloses a configuration in which an opening corresponds to a discharge unit.

Further, as a full-line type recording head having a length corresponding to the width of the maximum recording medium that can be recorded by the recording apparatus, the length is determined by combining a plurality of recording heads as disclosed in the above specification. The present invention can exhibit the above-mentioned effects more effectively, though it may be either a configuration that satisfies the above requirements or a configuration as a single recording head that is formed integrally.

In addition, the print head is exchangeable with a print head of a chip type which is electrically connected to the main body of the apparatus and can supply ink from the main body of the apparatus, or is integrated with the print head itself. The present invention is also effective when a cartridge type recording head provided with an ink tank is used.

It is preferable to add recovery means for the printhead, preliminary auxiliary means, and the like provided as components of the printing apparatus of the present invention since the effects of the present invention can be further stabilized. If you list these specifically,
Capping means, cleaning means, pressurizing or suction means for the printhead, preheating means using an electrothermal transducer or another heating element or a combination thereof, and a preliminary ejection mode for performing ejection other than recording Is also effective for performing stable recording.

Further, the recording mode of the recording apparatus is not limited to the recording mode of only the mainstream color such as black, and the recording head may be formed integrally or by combining a plurality of recording heads. The present invention is also extremely effective for an apparatus provided with at least one of full colors by color mixture.

In the embodiments of the present invention described above, the ink is described as a liquid. However, an ink which solidifies at room temperature or lower and which softens at room temperature or is liquid, In general, in the ink jet method, the temperature of the ink itself is controlled within a range of 30 ° C. or more and 70 ° C. or less to control the temperature so that the viscosity of the ink is in a stable ejection range. What is necessary is just to be liquid.

In addition, the temperature rise due to thermal energy is positively prevented by using it as energy for changing the state of the ink from the solid state to the liquid state, or the ink is solidified in a standing state for the purpose of preventing evaporation of the ink. Either ink may be used, or in any case, the ink may be liquefied by application of heat energy according to the recording signal and ejected as a liquid ink, or may already start to solidify when reaching the recording medium. The use of an ink having a property of being liquefied for the first time by thermal energy is also applicable to the present invention. In such a case, the ink is disclosed in JP-A-54-5684.
No. 7 or Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-71260, in which the porous sheet is opposed to the electrothermal converter while being held in a liquid or solid state in the concave portions or through holes of the porous sheet. It may be. In the present invention, the most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is to execute the above-mentioned film boiling method.

In addition, as a form of the recording apparatus according to the present invention, in addition to those provided integrally or separately as image output terminals of information processing equipment such as a word processor and a computer, a copying apparatus combined with a reader and the like, May take the form of a facsimile machine having a transmission / reception function.

According to each of the above-described embodiments, a recording head for recording on a recording medium, a carriage on which the recording head is mounted and which forms an image by reciprocatingly traveling, and a recording head mounted on the carriage And a second lever on the carriage that allows a plurality of distances between the recording head and the recording medium to be switched, and the second lever is moved to the second lever when the first lever is operated. Since the first lever is configured to guide, the position of the second lever can be moved when the head is replaced.

Further, since the rotation axis of the first lever and the rotation axis of the second lever are orthogonal to each other, it is easy to realize a configuration in which the rotation is guided in two directions.

Further, since the first lever guides the second lever when the second lever is not at the normal position, the second lever is at an incomplete position. Probability can be greatly reduced.

Further, the interval between the recording head and the recording medium is set to be "standard" and "other", and the second lever is set to "standard" when the first lever is operated. Since the guide is configured, it is possible to avoid forgetting to return the lever.

[0052]

As described above, in the recording apparatus according to the present invention, when the second operation member such as the sheet interval switching lever is not at the proper position, the first operation member is operated when the other first operation member is operated. The second operating member is operated by the operating member, and for example, a recording apparatus capable of returning the sheet interval switching lever to a normal position can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an overall configuration of an embodiment of a recording apparatus using the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the inside of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a carriage unit in the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a carriage unit (when a head lever is opened) in the apparatus of FIG. 1;

[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 Head cartridge 8 Chassis 9 Electric board 34 Platen 50 Carriage 81 Guide shaft 82 Guide rail 581 Sheet gap switching lever 582 Head lever 582 (a ) Hole 582 (b) Hole 582 (c) Hole 586 (a) Groove 586 (b) Groove

Claims (6)

[Claims] A head mounting unit for mounting a recording head;
A first operation member used when mounting the recording head on the head mounting portion, and a second operation member used when adjusting the quality of a recorded image with the recording head, wherein the first operation A recording apparatus, wherein, when a member is operated, an operation is performed by the second operation member via the first operation member. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second operation member is configured to set a distance between the recording head mounted on the head mounting section and a recording medium to a first distance.
2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording apparatus is used for an operation of changing to an interval and a second interval. 3. The first operating member, when the interval is the second interval, changes the interval to the first interval via the second operating member in response to an operation of the first operating member. 3. The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the recording apparatus is changed. 4. A shaft for rotatably supporting the first operation member,
4. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein axes for rotating and supporting the second operation member are orthogonal to each other. 5. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording head is an inkjet recording head that ejects ink from an ink ejection port to the recording medium. 6. The recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the recording head includes an electrothermal transducer for generating energy for discharging ink from an ink discharge port.