JP2003063668A - Paper guide mechanism, printer and slide mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recorded material guide mechanism and the like capable of reducing the frictional resistance of a sliding face for a long period and preventing the generation of noise. SOLUTION: This recorded material guide mechanism for guiding a recorded material comprises a guide member 32 for guiding the recorded material, and a supply tray 31 for slidably supporting the guide member 32, and at least one of the sliding faces of the guide member 32 and the supply tray 31 is provided with a contact part to be abutted on the other in a dispersed state.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper guide mechanism for guiding recording paper such as printers and facsimiles and paper such as originals.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In printers and facsimiles,
A guide mechanism is provided for conveying the recording paper and the original without skewing. This guide mechanism is provided with a slide mechanism for accommodating sheets of different sizes, and is configured to slide a guide member, which abuts against the edge of the sheet, in accordance with the sheet. Conventionally, a lubricant containing a compound is applied to sliding surfaces that rub against each other by sliding, thereby preventing deterioration of sliding operation and generation of abnormal noise due to an increase in friction between the sliding surfaces.

[0003]

However, such a lubricant is very expensive, and the friction is increased as the lubricant is gradually removed from the sliding surface by repeatedly sliding the guide portion. There is a problem that abnormal noise occurs.

An object of the present invention is to provide a paper guide mechanism and the like which can suppress the frictional resistance of the sliding surface for a long period of time and prevent the generation of abnormal noise.

[0005]

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a paper guide mechanism for guiding a paper, wherein the paper guide mechanism includes a guide member for guiding the paper and a supporting portion for slidably supporting the guide member. And a contact portion that comes into contact with the other is discretely provided on at least one of the sliding surfaces of the guide member and the support portion.

According to this memory material guide mechanism, since at least one of the sliding surfaces of the guide member and the supporting portion is provided with the contact portion which is in contact with the other in a discrete manner, the contact area is reduced. However, it is possible to suppress friction between the sliding surfaces of the guide member and the supporting portion, smooth the sliding, and prevent unpleasant noise. In addition, the sliding marks on the sliding surface provided with the contact portion are inconspicuous.
The shape of the sliding surface provided with the contact portion is not limited,
For example, the protrusions may be formed discretely, or the recesses may be provided discretely. Any shape may be used as long as the same portion of the sliding surface does not maintain contact when the guide member is slid. The contact portions may be provided discretely on both the sliding surfaces, or the contact portions may be discretely provided on one of the sliding surfaces.

The sliding surface provided with the contact portion may be formed by embossing.

By the embossing, the contact portions can be easily provided discretely. The shape formed by the embossing is not limited, and for example, the protrusions may be formed discretely or the recesses may be provided discretely.

The guide member and the support may be made of a plastic material.

In this case, since the hardness of the guide member and the hardness of the supporting portion are almost the same, it is easy for abnormal noise to easily occur. However, in the paper guide mechanism of the present invention, the contact portions are provided discretely. Therefore, generation of abnormal noise can be prevented.

The protrusions as the contact portions may be provided discretely on the sliding surface.

In this case, it is preferable that the upper surface of the protruding portion is a curved surface having a protruding shape rather than a flat surface because the contact area becomes smaller. The protruding curved surface may be, for example, a part of a spherical surface having a constant radius of curvature.

A printer may be provided with the paper guide mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

The slide mechanism of the present invention is a slide mechanism including two plastic members slidable with each other, and at least one of the sliding surfaces of the two plastic members has a discrete contact portion in contact with the other. It is characterized in that it is provided.

According to this slide mechanism, at least one of the sliding surfaces of the two plastic members is discretely provided with the contact portion that comes into contact with the other, so that the contact area is reduced and the plastic member is reduced. The friction between the sliding surfaces can be suppressed, the sliding of the plastic member can be smoothed, and the generation of unpleasant noise can be prevented. In addition, the sliding marks on the sliding surface provided with the contact portion are inconspicuous. The shape of the sliding surface provided with the contact portion is not limited, and for example, the protrusions may be formed discretely,
The recesses may be provided discretely. Any shape may be used as long as the same portion of the sliding surface does not maintain contact when the guide member is slid. Further, the plastic member is not limited to the constituent members of the paper guide mechanism. Further, the contact portions may be provided discretely on both the sliding surfaces, or the contact portions may be discretely provided on one of the sliding surfaces.

The sliding surface provided with the contact portion may be formed by embossing.

By the embossing, the contact portions can be easily provided discretely. The shape formed by the embossing is not limited, and for example, the protrusions may be formed discretely or the recesses may be provided discretely.

Further, the paper guide mechanism of the present invention is a paper guide mechanism for guiding a paper, wherein the paper guide mechanism guides a side portion of the paper, and a support member slidably supporting the guide member. A fixing member that slidably attaches the guide member to the support member, and contact portions are discretely provided at portions of the support member that slide with the guide member and the fixing member.

According to this paper guide mechanism, since the contact portions are discretely provided in the portion of the support member that slides on the guide member and the fixed member, the contact area is reduced,
Friction between the sliding surfaces of the guide member and the fixing member and the support member can be suppressed, and the sliding can be smoothed and unpleasant noise can be prevented from occurring. In addition, the sliding marks on the sliding surface provided with the contact portion are inconspicuous. The shape of the sliding surface provided with the contact portion is not limited, and for example, the protrusions may be formed discretely or the recesses may be provided discretely. Any shape may be used so long as the same portion of the sliding surface does not maintain contact when the guide member and the fixed member are slid.

The sliding surface provided with the contact portion may be formed by embossing.

In this case, the contact portions can be easily provided discretely by the embossing. The shape formed by embossing is not limited, and for example, the protrusions may be formed discretely or the recesses may be provided discretely.

The guide member and the fixing member may be attached so that the support member is sandwiched from both sides, and both surfaces of the support member may be textured.

[0023]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to FIGS.
An embodiment of the paper guide mechanism of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ink jet recording apparatus having a guide mechanism of this embodiment, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the ink jet recording apparatus, FIG. 3 is a front view showing the guide mechanism of this embodiment, and FIG. 4 is FIG. IV-IV line sectional drawing of FIG. 5, FIG. 5 is a partially expanded view of FIG.

First, the overall structure of the inkjet recording apparatus 1 with a communication function will be described.

The ink jet recording apparatus 1 includes an operation unit 2, a supply unit 3 for supplying recording paper, and a printing unit (recording unit).
4, a discharge unit 5 for discharging the recording paper, and a reading unit 6.

A recording material P (recording paper such as plain paper or OHP sheet) is inserted into the supply tray 31 of the supply unit 3 and provided on the operation panel 2a of the operation unit 2 based on a print command from the host computer. Buttons 2b, 2
When a printing instruction is given by b ... 2b, etc., the uppermost sheet of the recording material P is separated by the sheet feeding roller 3a of the supply section 3. The separated recording material P is guided to the printing unit 4 by the transport roller 4a. The recording head 7 reciprocates with respect to the recording material P guided to the printing unit 4, and a predetermined ink is ejected from the recording head 7 according to an image signal to perform printing. The printed recording material P is discharged onto the discharge tray 51 by the discharge roller 52 of the discharge unit 5.

On the other hand, the document inserting section 6 provided in the reading section 6
When a document is inserted from No. 1, the document is read by the document reading unit 62 and the read document is transmitted as data through the telephone line. The document is ejected from the document ejecting section 63 and supported by the supporting section 64. The inkjet recording apparatus 1 also has a function of converting data transmitted via a telephone line into an image signal. This image signal is used in the printing unit 4, and the printed recording material P is ejected. In this way, the inkjet recording apparatus 1 also has a function as a facsimile apparatus. Further, the document read by the reading unit 6 is converted into an image signal and printed by the printing unit 4. Printing machine 1
Also has a function as a copying machine.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the supply tray 31
Is provided so as to project obliquely upward so as to hold the paper obliquely. Further, a guide member 32 and a guide member 33 are attached to the supply tray 31 so as to be slidable in the horizontal direction. The guide member 32 and the guide member 33 are configured to slide symmetrically in opposite directions by a rack and a pinion (not shown). The rack is provided on the guide member 32 and the guide member 33, and the pinion is rotatably attached to the supply tray 31. The mechanism formed by such a rack and pinion is similar to the mechanism provided in a normal guide mechanism. By sliding the guide member 32 and the guide member 33 so as to contact both ends of the paper, a plurality of types of paper having different sizes are respectively positioned.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 to 5, the supply tray 31 has an elongated hole 31 for guiding the guide member 32.
a and a long hole 31b, and a long hole 31c and a long hole 31d for guiding the guide member 33 are formed.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the guide member 32 is formed with a ridge 32a inserted into the elongated hole 31a and a ridge 32b inserted into the elongated hole 31b.
Further, the fixing member 34 is fitted to the guide member 32 via the protrusion 32b, and the guide member 32 and the fixing member 34 sandwich the supply tray 31 and do not separate from the supply tray 31. And it is slidably attached.

FIG. 5 shows a forming area A of a sliding surface on which the supply tray 31 and the guide member 32 come into contact with each other. In this area A, the sliding surface of the supply tray 31 is textured, and the guide member 32 and the fixing member 34 are provided.
The projections that come into contact with the sliding surface of the are discretely provided.
The sliding surfaces of the guide member 33 and its fixed member are formed in the same manner as the sliding surfaces of the guide member 32 and the like.

The textured surface formed on the sliding surface of the supply tray 31 is, for example, "WK-5" manufactured by World Etching Co., Ltd.
The embossing pattern of "7" is adopted, and at least the forming area A of the sliding surface is embossed. However, in the present embodiment, the embossing area A is formed in consideration of the general effect of the embossing. The surface of the supply tray 31 including the surface is almost entirely textured. As a result, the appearance of the supply tray 31 is improved.

FIG. 6 shows the arrangement of protrusions formed on the sliding surface of the supply tray 31 in the area A by the embossing.
FIG. 7 shows an example of the shape of the protrusion. As shown in FIG. 6, the protrusions 41 are formed continuously as a whole in a direction substantially along the sliding direction of the guide member 32 and the fixing member 34, and about 210 protrusions are formed per square centimeter. As shown in FIG. 7, the protrusion 41 has an area A.
It is provided so as to project from the reference surface 42, and forms a part of a spherical surface that projects with a curvature radius of 0.7 mm except the peripheral portion. In this way, by making the surface of the protrusion 41 project into a curved shape instead of a flat surface, the contact area can be reduced and friction can be suppressed more effectively.

FIG. 8 shows a method of arranging the protrusions or ridges on the supply tray. FIG. 8A shows a case where the protrusions are linearly arranged along the sliding direction of the guide member. 8B shows a case where ribs (protrusions) are formed along the sliding direction of the guide member, and FIG. 8C shows a case where protrusions are randomly arranged. Figure 8 (b)
The upper surfaces of the ribs are flat.

In the case of FIGS. 8 (a) and 8 (b),
The protrusion of the supply tray repeatedly contacts the same position on the sliding surface of the guide member. For this reason, a specific portion of the guide member is scraped off by friction, and the protrusion easily bites into the guide member to form a groove. On the other hand, in the case of FIG. 8C, since the protrusions are randomly arranged, there is no specific portion on the sliding surface of the guide member with which the supply tray contacts. That is, since a specific portion is not cut to form a groove, there is no biting by the protrusion or the rib, and the slidability is always good. Therefore, it is considered more preferable to arrange the protrusions as shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the shape of the protruding portion. In FIG. 9A, the upper surface of the protruding portion is formed into a flat shape,
In FIG. 9B, the apexes of the protrusions are formed in a protruding curved surface. In FIG. 9A, the contact portion is a surface, whereas in FIG.
In (b), the contact portion becomes a point. For this reason, when the protrusions as shown in FIG. 9B are formed, the contact area can be reduced and the slidability is further improved.

When the contact portions are discretely provided by forming protrusions, there is also an advantage that the traces of the sliding surface scraped by sliding are inconspicuous.

In the above embodiment, the case where the sliding surface of the supply tray 31 is embossed in order to reduce the number of parts to be machined has been described, but the sliding surfaces of the guide member 32 and the fixing member 34 are embossed. Alternatively, the sliding surfaces of both the supply tray 31 and the guide member 32 may be embossed. Further, as a method of discretely providing the contact portion on the sliding surface, a method other than the embossing may be used. Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the plastic members slide with each other has been described, but the present invention can be applied to a slide member made of a material other than plastic.

10 to 13 are drawings-substituting photographs showing the embosses formed on the supply tray 31 in the above embodiment. FIG. 10 shows a part of the paper feed tray, and FIG. 11 shows an enlarged main part of FIG. 12 shows the shape of the protrusion, and FIG. 13 shows a part of FIG. 12 in an enlarged manner.

Incidentally, the paper guide mechanism is not limited to the one for guiding the recording material P, but it is needless to say that it can be applied to, for example, a guide mechanism for a document in the reading section 6.

[0042]

According to the paper guide mechanism of the present invention, at least one of the sliding surfaces of the guide member and the supporting portion is provided with the contact portion which comes into contact with the other in a discrete manner. The friction between the sliding surfaces of the guide member and the supporting portion can be suppressed, the slidability of the guide member can be improved, and unpleasant noise can be prevented.

Further, according to the slide mechanism of the present invention, 2
At least one of the sliding surfaces of the two plastic members is provided with discrete contact portions that come into contact with the other, reducing the contact area and suppressing friction between the sliding surfaces of the plastic members. As a result, the slidability of the plastic member is improved and the generation of unpleasant noise can be prevented. In addition, the sliding marks on the sliding surface provided with the contact portion are inconspicuous.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an inkjet recording apparatus including a guide mechanism according to this embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an inkjet recording device.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing a guide mechanism of the present embodiment.

4 is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV of FIG.

5 is a partially enlarged view of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an arrangement of protrusions formed on a sliding surface by a texturing process.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the shape of a protrusion.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a method of arranging protrusions or protrusions on the supply tray, FIG. 8A is a diagram showing a case where protrusions are linearly arranged along the sliding direction of the guide member,
FIG. 7B is a diagram showing a case where ribs (protrusions) are formed along the sliding direction of the guide member, and FIG. 7C is a diagram showing a case where protrusions are randomly arranged.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the shape of a protrusion, (a)
Is a diagram showing an example in which the upper surface of the protrusion is formed in a planar shape,
FIG. 6B is a diagram showing an example in which the apex of the protrusion is formed into a protruding curved surface.

FIG. 10 is a drawing-substitute photograph showing a part of a paper feed tray.

FIG. 11 is a drawing-substitute photograph showing an enlarged main part of FIG.

FIG. 12 is a drawing-substituting photograph showing the shape of protrusions.

FIG. 13 is a drawing-substitute photograph showing a part of FIG. 12 in an enlarged manner.

[Explanation of symbols]

31 supply tray (support portion, support member) 32 Guide member 34 Fixing member 41 Protrusion (contact part)

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 2C059 AA05 AA22 AA26                 3F343 FA02 FB03 FB04 GA02 GB01                       GC01 GD01 HE03 HE11 HE16                       HE29 JA01 KB02 KB16 LA04                       LA13

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A paper guide mechanism for guiding a paper, wherein the paper guide mechanism includes a guide member for guiding the paper, and a support portion for slidably supporting the guide member, the guide member and the guide member. A sheet guide mechanism, wherein at least one of the sliding surfaces of the support portion is discretely provided with a contact portion that comes into contact with the other. 2. The sliding surface on which the contact portion is provided is formed by embossing.
Paper guide mechanism described in. 3. The paper guide mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the guide member and the support portion are made of a plastic material. 4. The projections serving as the contact portions are discretely provided on the sliding surface.
The paper guide mechanism according to any one of 3 above. 5. A printer comprising the paper guide mechanism according to claim 1. Description: 6. A slide mechanism including two plastic members slidable with each other, wherein at least one of sliding surfaces of the two plastic members is provided with a contact portion discretely contacting the other. The slide mechanism is characterized by being. 7. The sliding surface on which the contact portion is provided is formed by embossing.
The slide mechanism described in. 8. A sheet guide mechanism for guiding a sheet, wherein the sheet guide mechanism guides a side portion of the sheet, a support member slidably supporting the guide member, and the guide member. A sheet guide mechanism, comprising: a fixing member slidably attached to a supporting member, wherein contact portions are discretely provided in a portion of the supporting member that slides with the guide member and the fixing member. 9. The sliding surface on which the contact portion is provided is formed by texturing.
Paper guide mechanism described in. 10. The guide member and the fixing member are attached so as to sandwich the support member from both sides, and both surfaces of the support member are textured. Paper guide mechanism.