JP2003200584A - Ink jet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ink jet printer which can be prevented effectively from being clogged with ink due to incomplete wiping and in which ink can be prevented effectively from drying up due to incomplete capping. <P>SOLUTION: The ink jet printer comprises sled gears 20 and 21 fixed eccentrically with sled shafts 25 and 26 rotating as a carrier shaft gear 4 rotates and supporting a maintenance unit, and idler gears 9 and 10, a bevel gear 11 and idlers 22-24 for transmitting rotation of the carrier shaft gear 4 to the sled gear 20. Height of the maintenance unit is adjusted in the vertical direction by a dimension identical to the height of an ink cartridge 7 in two stages by rotating the sled gears 20 and 21 by 180° while interlocking with 180° rotation of the carrier shaft gear 4 for adjusting the-height of the ink cartridge 7 in the vertical direction. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet printer, and more particularly to an ink jet printer provided with a carrier shaft gear for adjusting the height of an ink cartridge in the vertical direction.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an inkjet printer has been known as one of inkjet devices. These are disclosed in, for example, JP-A-2-45156 and JP-A-20
No. 01-30503. JP-A-2-
In Japanese Patent No. 45156, by disposing a plurality of cams formed in independent shapes on the same axis,
A structure in which one motor drives a wiping mechanism and a capping mechanism is disclosed. In addition, JP 2001-3
Japanese Patent No. 0503 discloses a structure in which, in a capping mechanism, lifting and lowering is controlled by using only a motor and a plurality of gears without using a cam and a link. However, in both of the above-mentioned JP-A-2-45156 and JP-A-2001-30503,
Since there is no mechanism for adjusting the positions of the ink nozzles according to the thickness of the printing paper, it is difficult to perform appropriate printing, for example, in the case of thick paper.

Therefore, conventionally, in the ink jet printer, there has been proposed an ink jet printer capable of vertically adjusting the ink carrier in two steps in accordance with the thickness of the paper.

FIG. 15 is a front view of the vicinity of a maintenance unit of a conventional proposed ink jet printer. FIG. 16 is a side view of the periphery of the maintenance unit shown in FIG. Referring to FIGS. 15 and 16, as a structure around a conventional maintenance unit, a chassis 102 is installed in a bottom case 101. A bearing 103 is attached to the chassis 102. A carrier shaft gear 104, whose shaft mounting hole is eccentric to the center of rotation, is rotatably mounted on the bearing 103. The carrier shaft gear 104 is provided with a knob 104a. Also,
The carrier shaft 105 is attached to the eccentric shaft attachment hole of the carrier shaft gear 104. An ink carrier 106 is attached to the carrier shaft 105 so as to be movable laterally. An ink cartridge 107 is attached to the ink carrier 106. An ink ejection unit 108 is provided on the lower surface of the ink cartridge 107.

Then, the conventional maintenance unit is
The bottom case 101 is provided with a sled base 112, a sled 113, a cap 114, a wiper 115, a sled latch 118, and a sled spring 119.

The thread 113 has a guide groove 113a.
And the knob 113b are integrally formed. A projection 112b fixed to the thread base 112 is engaged with the guide groove 113a of the thread 113 so as to be movable in the lower left direction. Cap 114 and wiper 1
15 is attached to the sled 113 in the vertical direction. The sled latch 118 is attached rotatably around a predetermined fulcrum of the sled 113. The sled latch 118 is constantly urged in the lower left direction by the sled spring 119 in order to move the sled 113 in the lower left direction. This thread latch 11
8 is engaged with the threaded base 112.
Is formed integrally with the.

Next, referring to FIGS. 15 and 16, the ink carrier 106 is made to correspond to the thickness of the paper to be printed.
The operation of the conventional proposed inkjet printer when adjusting the vertical direction will be described. If the paper to be printed is thick, the knob 10 provided on the carrier shaft gear 104
4a by using the carrier shaft gear 1
Rotate 04 clockwise 180 degrees. As a result, the carrier shaft 105 mounted in the eccentric shaft mounting hole of the carrier shaft gear 104 is rotated 180 degrees clockwise with the rotation center of the carrier shaft gear 104 as a fulcrum. By this clockwise rotation,
The carrier shaft 105 is the carrier shaft gear 10
4 is moved upward by twice the amount of eccentricity of the shaft mounting hole provided in 4. Along with this, the ink carrier 10 attached to the carrier shaft 105 so as to be movable in the lateral direction.
6 is moved upward. As a result, the ink carrier 106 is adjusted to a position corresponding to the thickness of the paper.

[0008]

In the above proposed conventional ink jet printer, when the ink carrier 106 is moved up and down in order to correspond to the thickness of the paper, the maintenance unit including the cap 114 and the wiper 115. Is not moved up or down. Therefore, the height relationship between the ink carrier 106 and the maintenance unit including the cap 114 and the wiper 115 is changed, and as a result, it is difficult to reliably perform capping and wiping.

Specifically, when the ink carrier 106 is moved upward to accommodate thick paper, the maintenance unit including the cap 114 and the wiper 115 is not moved upward.
Of the ink ejecting portion 1 of the ink cartridge 107, as compared with the capping position of the wiper and the wiping position of the wiper 115.
The disadvantage that the position of the surface of 08 becomes high may arise. In this case, it becomes difficult to properly perform capping and wiping, and as a result, there is a problem that ink is dried due to defective capping and ink clogging occurs due to defective wiping. It was

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and one object of the present invention is to:
It is an object of the present invention to provide an inkjet printer that can effectively prevent ink drying due to defective capping and ink clogging due to defective wiping.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, an ink jet printer according to a first aspect of the invention has an ink cartridge for printing downward on a sheet, an ink cartridge accommodated in the ink cartridge, and a carrier shaft. A carrier unit that has an ink carrier that moves in the horizontal direction, a wiper that wipes the ink ejection portion of the ink cartridge in the horizontal direction, and a cap that vertically caps the ink ejection portion of the ink cartridge; and a carrier shaft. In an ink jet printer equipped with a carrier shaft gear that is eccentrically mounted and that adjusts the height of the ink cartridge in two steps in the vertical direction by rotating 180 degrees, the ink jet printer rotates according to the rotation of the carrier shaft gear. In addition, the shaft supporting the maintenance unit includes a first gear eccentrically mounted and a second gear for transmitting the rotation of the carrier shaft gear to the first gear, and adjusts the height of the ink cartridge in the vertical direction. By rotating the first gear by 180 degrees in conjunction with rotating the carrier shaft gear by 180 degrees, the height of the maintenance unit including the wiper and the cap is increased in two stages by the same dimension as the height of the ink cartridge. It is characterized by adjusting to.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, as described above, the first gear is set to 1 in association with the rotation of the carrier shaft gear for adjusting the height of the ink cartridge in the vertical direction by 180 degrees.
By rotating the maintenance unit including the wiper and the cap by 80 degrees, the height of the maintenance unit is adjusted vertically in two steps by the same dimension as the height of the ink cartridge, thereby including the ink cartridge, the wiper and the cap. A maintenance unit,
It is possible to always have the same height relationship regardless of the thickness of the paper. Accordingly, when wiping and capping the ink ejection portion of the ink cartridge using the wiper and cap of the maintenance unit, the ink ejection portion can be reliably wiped and capped. As a result, it is possible to effectively prevent clogging of ink due to defective wiping and drying of ink due to defective capping.

An ink jet printer according to a second aspect of the present invention includes an ink cartridge for printing on a sheet, an ink carrier that accommodates the ink cartridge, moves horizontally along a carrier shaft, and ejects ink from the ink cartridge. A maintenance unit having a wiper for wiping the ink cartridge and a cap for capping the ink ejection portion of the ink cartridge, and a carrier shaft is mounted eccentrically, and the carrier for vertically adjusting the height of the ink cartridge by its rotation. An inkjet printer including a shaft gear, a maintenance unit including a wiper and a cap, which is interlocked with rotation of a carrier shaft gear that vertically adjusts the height of an ink cartridge. The height and adjusting the same dimension of the vertical direction and the height of the ink cartridge.

In the second aspect, as described above, the height of the maintenance unit including the wiper and the cap is set to the height of the ink cartridge in association with the rotation of the carrier shaft gear for vertically adjusting the height of the ink cartridge. By adjusting the same size in the vertical direction, the ink cartridge and the maintenance unit including the wiper and the cap can always have the same height relationship regardless of the thickness of the paper. Accordingly, when wiping and capping the ink ejection portion of the ink cartridge using the wiper and cap of the maintenance unit, the ink ejection portion can be reliably wiped and capped. As a result, it is possible to effectively prevent clogging of ink due to defective wiping and drying of ink due to defective capping.

An ink jet printer according to a third aspect of the present invention is the ink jet printer according to the second aspect, further comprising a first gear that rotates in accordance with the rotation of the carrier shaft gear and that is eccentrically attached to a shaft that supports the maintenance unit. According to this structure, by using the first gear, the height of the maintenance unit including the wiper and the cap can be easily interlocked with the rotation of the carrier shaft gear that vertically adjusts the height of the ink cartridge. It can be adjusted in the vertical direction by the same dimension as the height of the ink cartridge.

An ink jet printer according to a fourth aspect is the ink jet printer according to the third aspect, further comprising a second gear for transmitting the rotation of the carrier shaft gear to the first gear. According to this structure, the rotation of the carrier shaft gear can be easily transmitted to the first gear by the second gear.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in an ink jet printer according to any one of the second to fourth aspects, the first shaft is interlocked with rotation of a carrier shaft gear for adjusting the height of the ink cartridge in the vertical direction by 180 degrees. By rotating the gear 180 degrees, the height of the maintenance unit including the wiper and the cap is vertically adjusted in two steps by the same dimension as the height of the ink cartridge. According to this structure, the heights of the ink cartridge and the maintenance unit can be easily adjusted in two stages according to the thickness of the paper.

[0018]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a printer engine portion of an ink jet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the maintenance unit of the inkjet printer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the printer engine unit of the ink jet printer according to the present embodiment is
A chassis 2 is installed in the bottom case 1. A bearing 3 is attached to the chassis 2. A carrier shaft gear 4 whose shaft mounting hole is eccentric to the center of rotation is rotatably mounted on the bearing 3. The carrier shaft gear 4 has a knob 4a.
Is provided. A carrier shaft 5 is attached to the eccentric shaft attachment hole of the carrier shaft gear 4. An ink carrier 6 is attached to the carrier shaft 5 so as to be movable in the lateral direction. An ink cartridge 7 is attached to the ink carrier 6. An ink ejection unit 8 is provided on the lower surface of the ink cartridge 7. A carriage motor (not shown) for laterally moving the ink carrier 6 is attached to the chassis 2 via the toothed belt 29.

Here, in this embodiment, an idler gear 10 is attached in order to transmit the rotation of the carrier shaft gear 4 to the idler gear 9. Idler gear 9
A bevel gear 11 is connected to the so as to rotate integrally with the idler gear 9. The idler gears 9 and 10 and the bevel gear 11 are the "second gear" of the present invention.
Is an example.

Next, referring to FIG. 2, the maintenance unit of the ink jet printer according to the present embodiment has a sled base 12 formed integrally with the bottom case 1.
, Thread 13, cap 14, wiper 15
And cap holder 16 and cap spring 17
A thread latch 18 and a thread spring 19.

The thread 13 is integrally formed with a guide groove 13a and a knob 13b. Cap 14
Are vertically attached to the sled 13 via a cap holder 16. Also, the cap 14 is
A cap spring 17 fitted in the cap holder 16 urges the cap spring 16 upward. The wiper 15 is vertically attached to the sled 13. The sled latch 18 is attached rotatably around a predetermined fulcrum of the sled 13. The sled latch 18 is always urged in the lower left direction by the sled spring 19 in order to move the sled 13 in the lower left direction. A protrusion 12 a with which the thread lever 18 engages is integrally formed with the thread base 12.

In this embodiment, the sled gears 20 and 21 whose shaft mounting holes are eccentric with respect to the center of rotation are rotatably mounted on the sled base 12. The sled gear 20 has an upper part made of a bevel gear and a lower part made of a spur gear. Further, the bevel gear portion on the upper portion of the thread gear 20 is a bevel gear 11 (see FIG.
Refer to)). The idler gears 22, 23 and 24 are rotatably attached to the thread base 12 in order to transmit the rotation of the thread gear 20 to the thread gear 21. Thread gears 20 and 21
At the ends of the thread shafts 25 and 26, which are eccentric to the center of rotation, are attached. The roots of the thread shafts 25 and 26 are rotatably attached to the thread base 12. Then, by engaging the guide groove 13a of the thread 13 with the thread shafts 25 and 26, the thread 13
Are movably supported in the upper right and lower left directions. In addition,
The thread gears 20 and 21 are examples of the "first gear" in the present invention. The idler gears 22, 23 and 24 are examples of the "second gear" in the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the vicinity of the maintenance unit of the ink jet printer according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. FIG. 4 is a side view of the periphery of the maintenance unit shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is an enlarged view for explaining the movement amount of the carrier shaft. FIG. 6 is a plan view around the maintenance unit shown in FIG. FIG. 7 is a view taken along the line 100-100 of FIG. FIG. 8 is an enlarged view for explaining the movement amount of the thread shaft.

Next, the operation of adjusting the ink carrier 6 in the vertical direction according to the thickness of the paper to be printed will be described with reference to FIGS. When the paper to be printed is thick, the carrier shaft gear 4 is rotated 180 degrees clockwise by using the knob 4a provided on the carrier shaft gear 4, as shown in FIGS. As a result, as shown in FIG. 5, the center 5a of the carrier shaft 5 mounted in the eccentric shaft mounting hole of the carrier shaft gear 4 rotates 180 degrees clockwise with the rotation center 4a of the carrier shaft gear 4 as a fulcrum. It is rotated. By this clockwise rotation, the carrier shaft 5 moves upward by twice the eccentric amount A of the shaft mounting hole provided in the carrier shaft gear 4. Along with this, the ink carrier 6 attached to the carrier shaft 5 so as to be movable in the lateral direction is moved in the upward direction. As a result, the ink carrier 6 is adjusted to a position corresponding to the thickness of the paper.

Here, in this embodiment, the rotation of the carrier shaft gear 4 is transmitted to the idler gear 9 via the idler gear 10, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.
As a result, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the idler gear 9 rotates clockwise and the bevel gear 11 integrally attached to the idler gear 9 rotates. Since the bevel gear 11 is engaged with the bevel gear on the upper portion of the sled gear 20, the rotation of the bevel gear 11 is transmitted to the sled gear 20. As a result, the thread gear 20
Is rotated 180 degrees.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the spur gear at the bottom of the thread gear 20 and the idler gear 22.
Since and are engaged with each other, the rotation of the thread gear 20 is transmitted to the idler gear 22. As a result, the rotation of the thread gear 20 is caused by the idler gears 22, 23 and 2
4 is transmitted to the thread gear 21. As a result, the thread gear 21 is rotated clockwise by 180 degrees.

The thread shafts 25 and 26 attached to the thread gears 20 and 21 are moved upward by the rotation of the thread gears 20 and 21. This is because the sled shafts 25 and 26 are attached to the sled gears 20 and 21 whose shaft mounting holes are eccentric. As a result, as shown in FIG. 8, the center 25a of the sled shaft 25 is rotated 180 degrees clockwise with the rotation center 20a of the sled gear 20 as a fulcrum. By this clockwise rotation,
The thread shaft 25 moves upward by twice the eccentric amount B of the shaft mounting hole of the thread gear 20. The amount of eccentricity B is equal to the amount of eccentricity A described above. As a result, the upward movement amounts of the thread shaft 25 and the carrier shaft 5 become equal. The same operation as above is performed for the thread gear 21 and the thread shaft 26. This allows the threaded shafts 25 and 26 to
Is slidably supported by the sled 13, the sled shafts 25 and 26 move upward,
Move up by the same amount. This allows the cap 1
The maintenance unit including 4 and wiper 15
The ink carrier 6 is adjusted to a position corresponding to the thickness of the paper in association with the upward movement of the ink carrier 6.

In the present embodiment, as described above, the height of the maintenance unit including the cap 14 and the wiper 15 is vertically adjusted in two steps by the same dimension as the height of the ink carrier 6. , The ink carrier 6 and the maintenance unit including the cap 14 and the wiper 15 regardless of the thickness of the paper.
You can always have the same height relationship.

9 to 14 are front views for explaining the capping and wiping operations of the ink jet printer according to the embodiment of the present invention. Next, FIG.
The capping and wiping operations according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. First, in the initial state, as shown in FIG. 9, the thread latch 18 is biased by the thread spring 19 in the lower left direction. As a result, the sled 13 is moved in the lower left direction while being supported by the sled shafts 25 and 26. In this state, even if the ink carrier 6 moves to the right, it does not come into contact with the wiper 15.

Then, as shown in FIG. 10, when the ink carrier 6 moves to the right, the ink carrier 6 presses the knob 13b of the sled 13. As a result, the sled 13 is moved in the upper right direction while being supported by the sled shafts 25 and 26. Be moved. as a result,
As shown in FIG. 11, capping is performed to cover the ink ejection portion 8 with the cap 14.

Next, at the time of printing, as shown in FIG. 12, the knob 13b of the sled 13 is opened by moving the ink carrier 6 leftward. As a result, the thread 13 is moved to the thread shaft 25 and
Being supported by, start moving to the lower left. Then, the thread latch 18 and the protrusion 12a of the thread base 12 are engaged with each other. Therefore, the thread latch 18
However, the sled 13 is not moved in the lower left direction from this state although it is biased in the lower left direction by the thread spring 19. The position of the sled 13 in this state is a wiping position where the wiper 15 cleans the surface of the ink ejection portion 8. As the ink carrier 6 continues to move to the left from this state, the wiper 15 moves while coming into contact with the surface of the ink ejection portion 8 as shown in FIG. This allows the wiper 1
Wiping of the ink ejecting portion 8 is performed by 5.

Then, as shown in FIG. 14, when the ink carrier 6 continues to move to the left, the protrusion 6a of the ink carrier 6 presses the sled latch 18.
As a result, the sled latch 18 is tilted to the left, and as a result, the engagement between the sled latch 18 and the protrusion 12a of the sled base 12 is released. Then, the sled 13 biased by the sled spring 19 is supported by the sled shafts 25 and 26, and moves to the lower left direction to return to the initial state (see FIG. 9). The capping operation and the wiping operation are performed each time the ink carrier 6 moves to the right end after printing is completed.

Here, in this embodiment, as described above, the maintenance unit including the cap 14 and the wiper 15 and the ink carrier 6 always have the same height relationship regardless of the thickness of the paper. Since they are moved in conjunction with each other, even when the ink carrier 6 is moved upward in accordance with the thickness of the paper, it is possible to reliably perform capping and wiping of the ink ejecting portion 8. As a result, it is possible to effectively prevent ink drying due to defective capping and ink clogging due to defective wiping.

It should be understood that the embodiments disclosed this time are exemplifications in all points and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is shown not by the above description of the embodiments but by the scope of claims for patent, and includes meaning equivalent to the scope of claims for patent and all modifications within the scope.

For example, in the above embodiment, the rotation of the carrier shaft is transmitted to the sled shaft by using a plurality of gears, and the sled shaft is eccentrically attached to the gears so that the carrier shaft and the sled move in the vertical direction. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and other means may be used to interlock the vertical movement of the carrier shaft and the sled.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention, in an ink jet printer, it is possible to effectively prevent ink drying due to defective capping and ink clogging due to defective wiping.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a printer engine unit of an inkjet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a maintenance unit of the inkjet printer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a front view of the vicinity of the maintenance unit of the inkjet printer according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the periphery of the maintenance unit shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view for explaining a movement amount of a carrier shaft.

FIG. 6 is a plan view around the maintenance unit shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a view taken along the line 100-100 of FIG.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view for explaining the movement amount of the thread shaft.

FIG. 9 is a front view for explaining capping and wiping operations of the inkjet printer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a front view for explaining capping and wiping operations of the inkjet printer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a front view for explaining capping and wiping operations of the inkjet printer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a front view for explaining capping and wiping operations of the inkjet printer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a front view illustrating the capping and wiping operations of the inkjet printer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a front view for explaining capping and wiping operations of the inkjet printer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a front view around a maintenance unit of a conventional inkjet printer.

16 is a side view of the periphery of the maintenance unit shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

4 Carrier shaft gear 5 carrier shaft 6 ink carrier 7 ink cartridges 8 Ink ejection section 9, 10 idler gear (2nd gear) 11 Bevel gear (2nd gear) 14 cap 15 wiper 20, 21 Thread gear (1st gear) 22, 23, 24 idler gear (2nd gear) 25, 26 thread shaft

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An ink cartridge for printing downward on a sheet, an ink carrier for accommodating the ink cartridge, moving horizontally along a carrier shaft, and an ink ejecting portion of the ink cartridge. A maintenance unit having a wiper for horizontally wiping and a cap for vertically capping the ink ejection portion of the ink cartridge, and the carrier shaft is mounted eccentrically and rotated by 180 degrees to cause the ink cartridge to rotate. An inkjet printer provided with a carrier shaft gear for vertically adjusting the height of the carrier shaft in two steps, the shaft supporting the maintenance unit being eccentric while rotating in accordance with the rotation of the carrier shaft gear. A first gear attached to the first gear and a second gear for transmitting the rotation of the carrier shaft gear to the first gear, and a carrier shaft gear for vertically adjusting the height of the ink cartridge is 180 degrees. By interlocking with the rotation, by rotating the first gear 180 degrees,
An inkjet printer, wherein a height of a maintenance unit including the wiper and the cap is vertically adjusted in two steps by the same dimension as the height of the ink cartridge. 2. An ink cartridge for printing on a sheet, an ink carrier for accommodating the ink cartridge, moving horizontally along a carrier shaft, and an ink ejection portion of the ink cartridge. Maintenance unit having a wiper and a cap for capping the ink ejection portion of the ink cartridge, and the carrier shaft is mounted eccentrically, and the rotation of the carrier shaft adjusts the height of the ink cartridge in the vertical direction. In an inkjet printer provided with a gear, the height of a maintenance unit including the wiper and the cap is adjusted in association with rotation of a carrier shaft gear that vertically adjusts the height of the ink cartridge. And adjusting the same dimension of the vertical direction and the height of the serial ink cartridge, an inkjet printer. 3. The ink jet printer according to claim 2, further comprising a first gear that rotates according to the rotation of the carrier shaft gear and that is eccentrically attached to a shaft that supports the maintenance unit. 4. The ink jet printer according to claim 3, further comprising a second gear for transmitting rotation of the carrier shaft gear to the first gear. 5. The wiper and the cap are included by rotating the first gear by 180 degrees in conjunction with rotating a carrier shaft gear that adjusts the height of the ink cartridge in the vertical direction by 180 degrees. The inkjet printer according to claim 2, wherein the height of the maintenance unit is vertically adjusted in two steps by the same dimension as the height of the ink cartridge.