JP2005298082A - Recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recording apparatus capable of stacking and holding recording media discharged in an upright state in an organized state.
SOLUTION: A discharge section 121 that can hold a stacked recording medium in a standing state is provided, and a movable medium pressing section 123 that presses the discharged recording medium against a medium surface holding section 121a of the discharge section. Is provided. As a result, the discharged recording medium can be brought into a substantially upright state in the discharging portion, and interference between the discharged recording medium and the recording medium discharged from the medium can be prevented.
[Selection] Figure 4

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording apparatus including a discharge unit that can hold a stacked recording medium in a standing state.

  There has been proposed a vertical printer in which a sheet is conveyed substantially upright with respect to the apparatus main body mounting surface and discharged from an opening. In this vertical printer, when a part of the paper passes through the opening and the other part is inside the apparatus main body, the paper holding means provided in the vicinity of the opening waits while holding the paper. Yes.

JP-A-7-137379

  In the above-described vertical printer, only one sheet discharged from the opening can be held, and the user needs to take out the sheet one by one. In order to solve this problem, it is only necessary to stock paper in the apparatus. However, there is a case where the paper discharged before is curved due to gravity in the stock section, which may interfere with the paper discharged later. Then, it becomes a load of paper to be discharged later, the paper feeding accuracy is deteriorated, the recording accuracy is lowered, and there is a possibility that the paper discharged before is pushed out from the stock portion and contaminated.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus capable of stacking and holding recording media discharged in an upright state in an organized state. .

  To achieve the above object, in the recording apparatus of the present invention, the recording apparatus includes a discharge unit that can stack and hold the discharged recording medium in a standing state, and the discharged recording medium is used as the medium of the discharging unit. A movable medium pressing portion that presses against the surface holding portion is provided. As a result, the discharged recording medium can be brought into a substantially upright state in the discharging portion, and interference between the discharged recording medium and the recording medium to be discharged therefrom can be prevented.

  The medium pressing portion operates in a pressing direction at the start of recording on the recording medium. As a result, the medium pressing portion does not always press the recording medium held in the discharge portion, so that the recording medium is not damaged. Further, the medium pressing portion operates in a pressing release direction at the start of discharging of the recording medium. Thereby, since the recording medium in the middle of being sent to the discharge unit and the medium pressing unit do not interfere with each other, the recording medium can be discharged smoothly.

  The medium pressing portion is operated by a feed motor for the recording medium, is operated in a pressing direction by reverse rotation of feeding, and is operated in a pressing release direction by forward rotation of feeding. Thereby, the drive mechanism of the medium pressing portion can be simplified. Further, the medium pressing portion includes a play mechanism for adjusting a timing from an operation in a pressing direction at the start of recording of the recording medium to an operation in a pressing release direction at the start of discharging of the recording medium. It is said. Thereby, the drive mechanism of the medium pressing portion can be further simplified. Further, the medium pressing portion is operated by a dedicated motor. Further, the medium pressing portion is operated by a dedicated solenoid. Thereby, even if it is a complicated operation | movement, a medium press part can be controlled easily.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a configuration example of an ink jet printer, which is one of recording apparatuses according to an embodiment of the present invention, viewed obliquely from the front. The ink jet printer 100 has a flat rectangular parallelepiped shape, and can be operated from the front side of the apparatus so that paper can be fed, recorded, and discharged with the paper upright. It is configured. Therefore, since the apparatus width is narrow, installation space can be saved, and it is possible to install the apparatus on the side of a personal computer or the like even on a small desk.

  The paper conveyance unit 140 and the recording unit 150 shown in FIG. 2 of the ink jet printer 100 are covered with a casing 101. The casing 101 is formed by, for example, sheet metal processing of a metal plate or plastic injection molding. A paper feeding unit 110 is disposed on the front right side of the housing 101, and a paper discharge unit 120 including a characteristic portion of the present invention is disposed on the left front surface of the housing 101. An operation panel is provided between them. 130 is disposed. Since the user can perform operations such as power on / off, recording setting, paper replenishment and removal from the front side of the apparatus, the work efficiency can be greatly improved.

  The paper feeding unit 110 is provided with a tray 111 for storing a pre-recording paper that can be taken in and out in the sub-scanning direction (paper conveyance direction) indicated by an arrow a in the figure. The paper can be supplied, and the paper can be replenished or replaced in a state where the paper is pulled forward with respect to the housing 101. The tray 111 is made slightly larger than, for example, A4 size paper, and is formed by a widthwise positioning member and a lengthwise positioning member of the paper before recording. The stacked storage is performed in a state of being positioned at a predetermined position. As this paper, plain paper, exclusive paper, recommended OHP sheet, glossy paper, glossy film, label sheet, government postcard, etc. can be used.

  The paper discharge unit 120 is formed with a stacker 121 for storing recorded paper inside the housing 101, and the paper can be taken out from an opening 122 connected to the stacker 121 formed on the front surface of the housing 101. It is configured as follows. The stacker 121 is formed slightly larger than, for example, A4 size paper, and is stacked and held in a state where the paper after recording is stood up. Therefore, when recording on A4 size paper, the user can easily pick out the paper by inserting a finger from the opening 122. In the back of the stacker 121, a sheet discharge pressing portion (medium pressing portion) 123, which is a characteristic portion of the present invention shown in FIG.

  The operation panel 130 is provided with a power button 131, a reset button 132, a paper discharge button 133, and the like, and is electrically connected to a dedicated controller board or the like of a control unit built in the housing 101. By operating the buttons 131 to 133 of the operation panel 130, the inkjet printer 100 can be started, printed, stopped, and the like.

  FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional top view showing an outline of the internal configuration of the ink jet printer 100 of FIG. In the housing 101, the above-described paper feed unit 110, paper discharge unit 120, transport unit 140, recording unit 150, and the like are arranged. The transport unit 140 is provided with a hopper 141 for feeding paper in the tray 111, a paper feed roller 142, a separation member 143, and the like. The hopper 141 is formed in a flat plate shape, and is arranged so that one end is located in the vicinity of the paper feed roller 142 and the separating member 143 and the other end is located in the vicinity of the bottom surface of the tray 111 on which the other end is mounted. ing. The hopper 141 has the other end of the compression spring 144 attached at one end to the bottom surface of the housing 101 on the back surface at one end side, and the one end side pivots around the other end side by expansion and contraction of the compression spring 144. It is arranged to do.

  The paper feed roller 142 is formed in a D-shape with a part of the cross-section cut away, and is configured to intermittently rotate and frictionally convey the paper pushed by the hopper 141. The separating member 143 has a rough upper surface, and is configured to frictionally separate the lower layer paper from the uppermost layer when the paper is fed by the paper feed roller 142. Here, the relationship between the paper pushed by the hopper 141 and the paper feed roller 142 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a contact state between the sheet pressed by the hopper 141 and the sheet feeding roller 142. FIG. 3A shows a case where there is a maximum number of sheets P. In this case, when the hopper 141 turns, the uppermost sheet P1 does not contact the notch portion of the sheet feed roller 142, and at least an arc. It is adjusted to contact the circumference after the starting point 142a. FIG. 3B shows a case where there is a minimum number (one) of sheets P1. In this case, when the hopper 141 turns, the sheet P1 rotates slightly from the arc start point 142a of the sheet feed roller 142. The contact point 142b is adjusted to be in contact. The contact point 142b has a circumferential length from the contact point 142b to the arc end point 142c equal to the distance a from the leading edge ps of the paper P1 to the contact point 145a between the sub roller 145 and its driven roller 146a. This is the point. By adjusting as described above, if the number of sheets P pushed by the hopper 141 is equal to or less than the maximum number of sheets, the sheets p1 until the leading edge ps of the uppermost sheet P1 reaches the contact point 145a between the sub roller 145 and the driven roller 146a. Since P1 is not released from the paper feed roller 142, the paper P1 can be reliably delivered to the sub-roller 145, and a paper feed error can be eliminated.

  Further, the transport unit 140 detects a sub-roller 145 and its driven rollers 146a, 146b, and 146c, a paper feed roller 147 and its driven roller 147a, a paper discharge roller 148 and its driven roller 148a, and paper. Detection sensors 149a and 149b are arranged. The sub-roller 145 sandwiches the paper together with the driven rollers 146a, 146b, and 146c and conveys it in a U-shape in order to discharge the paper fed from the tray 111 to the stacker 121.

  The paper feed roller 147 sandwiches the reversely conveyed paper together with the driven roller 147a and feeds it to the platen 153. The paper discharge roller 148 sandwiches the paper passing through the platen 153 together with the driven roller 148a and discharges the paper to the stacker 121. The detection sensor 149a is configured to detect the transport amount when skewing the fed paper. The detection sensor 149b detects the amount of conveyance when cueing the reversely conveyed paper.

  In the recording unit 150, a carriage 151, a recording head 152, a platen 153, and the like are disposed. The carriage 151 is connected to the carriage belt 154. When the carriage belt 154 is actuated by the carriage motor 155, the carriage 151 is entrained in the movement of the carriage belt 154, guided by the carriage guide shaft 156, and perpendicular to the conveyance direction, that is, vertical. It is designed to reciprocate in the direction. Further, the carriage 151 is mounted with a recording head 152 capable of ejecting ink droplets toward a horizontal sheet.

  The recording head 152 includes, for example, a black ink recording head that discharges black ink droplets, and a color ink recording head that discharges ink droplets of five colors of yellow, cyan, light cyan, magenta, and light magenta, respectively. . The recording head 152 is provided with a pressure generation chamber and a nozzle opening connected to the pressure generation chamber. The ink is stored in the pressure generation chamber and pressurized at a predetermined pressure, so that the recording head 152 is controlled from the nozzle opening toward the sheet on the platen 153. Ink droplets of a specified size are ejected. The platen 153 supports and guides the paper conveyed from the paper feed roller 147 and the driven roller 147a toward the paper discharge roller 148 and the driven roller 148a.

  FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a main mechanism inside the paper discharge unit 120 including a characteristic portion of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a side view thereof. In the paper discharge unit 120, the above-described stacker 121 is formed, and at the back of the stacker 121 and downstream of the paper discharge roller 148 in the conveyance, a paper discharge holding unit (characteristic part of the present invention). A medium pressing portion 123 is provided. The paper discharge pressing portion 123 has a function of pressing the paper discharged to the stacker 121 against the paper surface holding portion 121a of the stacker 121.

  The paper discharge pressing portion 123 includes a pressing lever 31, a lever shaft 32 that supports the pressing lever 31, and a friction clutch mechanism 33 that transmits a rotational force to the lever shaft 32. The pressing lever 31 is formed in a wedge shape, and is axially supported by the lever shaft 32 at a predetermined interval in the axial direction so that the tip protrudes from the lever shaft 32 in the radial direction. The lever shaft 32 is rotatably supported so as to be substantially parallel to the paper discharge roller 148. The friction clutch mechanism 33 is disposed at one end of the lever shaft 32 and will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  6 is a sectional view of the friction clutch mechanism 33, and FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view thereof. The friction clutch mechanism 33 includes a transmission gear 34, a friction plate 35, a coil spring 36, an E ring 37, and a transmission plate 38. The transmission gear 34 and the friction plate 35 are in contact with each other and inserted into the lever shaft 32. The coil spring 36 is inserted between the friction plate 35 and the E ring 37 fitted to the lever shaft 32 so as to press the friction plate 35 against the transmission gear 34. The transmission plate 38 covers the coil spring 36 and the E-ring 37, and the lever shaft 32 so that the projecting play mechanisms 38 a and 35 a provided on the opposing surfaces of the transmission plate 38 and the friction plate 35 act. Is inserted.

  A driving force is transmitted to the transmission gear 34 of the friction clutch mechanism 33 from the driving mechanism 40 of the transport unit 140 shown in FIGS. That is, the driving force of the paper feed motor 41 is transmitted by the belt mechanism 42 disposed between the paper feed motor 41 and the paper feed roller 147, and further between the paper feed roller 147 and the paper discharge roller 148. It is transmitted to the belt mechanism 43 provided. Then, the driving force of the paper feed motor 41 is transmitted through a transmission gear 44 fitted into a paper discharge roller 148 that meshes with the transmission gear 34 of the friction clutch mechanism 33. In the above-described embodiment, the pressing lever 31 is configured to be driven by the friction clutch mechanism 33, the paper feed motor 41, the belt mechanisms 42 and 43, and the transmission gear 44. A solenoid or the like may be provided.

  As described above, the pressing lever 31 is rotated together with the lever shaft 32 by the driving force of the paper feeding motor 41. However, the rotation direction of the pressing lever 31 is reversed when the paper feeding motor 41 reverses, that is, when the paper is fed in the reverse conveyance direction. In the direction of pressing the paper, that is, in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. 5, the paper feed motor 41 rotates in the forward direction, that is, in the direction of releasing the paper pressing when the paper is fed in the transport direction, that is, in FIG. It is designed to rotate around.

  The holding lever 31 normally stands by at a position rotated by a predetermined angle (for example, about 90 degrees) in a direction to release the pressing of the paper, that is, at a position spaced apart from the paper by a predetermined distance. Then, when the recording of the paper is started, for example, when the leading edge of the paper reaches the recording head 152, the paper is rotated in the pressing direction to press the paper discharged to the stacker 121, and the paper is discharged. At the start, for example, when the leading edge of the paper reaches the paper discharge roller 148, the paper is rotated in a direction to release the pressing of the paper and returned to the standby position. The timing of rotation of the pressing lever 31 in the paper pressing direction and the rotation of the paper pressing release direction is controlled using a detection signal from the detection sensor 149b, the number of paper feeding steps of the paper feeding motor 41, and the like.

  The timing from the start of rotation of the pressing lever 31 in the sheet pressing direction to the start of rotation in the sheet pressing release direction is a projecting play mechanism 38a provided on the opposing surface of the transmission plate 38 and the friction plate 35, respectively. It is adjusted by 35a. That is, when the pressing lever 31 is in the standby position, the paper feed motor 41 is stopped or rotated forward, but the pressing lever 31 is not rotated by a stopper (not shown), and the friction plate 35 is not rotated. Although the transmission gear 34 receives the friction torque from the friction plate 35, it slides and rotates with the friction plate 35.

  When the pressing lever 31 rotates in the direction of pressing the paper from the standby position, the paper feed motor 41 is once reversed, and the friction plate 35 is rotated by the frictional driving force from the transmission gear 34. 35a presses the play mechanism 38a of the transmission plate 38 to rotate the lever shaft 32, and the pressing lever 31 is rotated in the direction of pressing the sheet from the standby position.

  When the pressing lever 31 is positioned at the sheet pressing position, that is, from when the sheet is pressed until the rotation starts in the direction of releasing the sheet pressing, the sheet feed motor 41 rotates in the forward direction, and the friction plate 35 Due to the friction torque generated between the transmission gear 34 and the transmission gear 34, the play mechanism 35 a of the friction plate 35 rotates in a direction away from the play mechanism 38 a of the transmission plate 38. Therefore, the pressing lever 31 is maintained in the state of being positioned at the sheet pressing position.

  When the pressing lever 31 rotates from the paper pressing position in a direction to release the paper pressing, the paper feed motor 41 continues to rotate forward, and the friction torque generated between the friction plate 35 and the transmission gear 34. Thus, the play mechanism 35a of the friction plate 35 rotating together with the transmission gear 34 contacts and presses the play mechanism 38a of the transmission plate 38 to rotate the lever shaft 32, and the press lever 31 is pressed against the paper from the paper pressing position. Rotate in the direction to release the sticking. Finally, although the transmission gear 34 receives the friction torque from the friction plate 35, it slides and idles, and the pressing lever 31 is maintained in the standby position positioned by a stopper (not shown).

  In such a configuration, an operation when recording on a sheet by the ink jet printer 100 will be described with reference to FIGS. The paper P stacked and stored in the tray 111 is pressed against the paper feed roller 142 by the rotation of the hopper 141 by the restoration of the compression spring 144 in which the paper bundle is mechanically synchronized with the rotation of the paper feed roller 142, and is the uppermost paper. Only P is separated by the separating member 143 and fed to the sub-roller 145. At this time, as shown in FIG. 10A, the pressing lever 31 is positioned at the standby position.

  As shown in FIG. 8A, when the paper P to be fed reaches the contact point 145a between the sub roller 145 and the driven roller 146a, the paper P is skewed. This skew removing method is different depending on the sheet thickness. That is, in the case of a thin sheet of plain paper or less, the leading edge of the sheet is slightly bitten between the sub roller 145 and the driven roller 146a, and then the rollers 145 and 146a are reversed to bend the sheet. A method of removing skew by aligning the leading ends of the paper is employed.

  On the other hand, in the case of paper thicker than plain paper, the front end of the paper is abutted against the contact point 145a between the sub roller 145 and the driven roller 146a, and the paper feed roller 142 is slipped to align the front end of the paper and remove skew. The method is taken. The amount of biting and the amount of butting are detected by the detection sensor 149a, and skew removal is controlled according to the detection amount. In this way, the skew removal method varies depending on the paper thickness because the thin paper is not stiff and the paper feed roller 142 may send out the paper without slipping on the paper. This is because the thick paper has a structure in which the thin paper is bonded, and may peel off when the rollers 145 and 146a are reversed.

  The paper P for which the skew removal has been completed is sandwiched between the sub roller 145 driven by the paper feed motor 41 and its driven rollers 146a, 146b, and 146c, and is reversed in the U-shaped path, that is, conveyed to the front side of the apparatus. Then, as shown in FIG. 8B, when the leading edge of the paper P reaches the detection position DP of the detection sensor 149b, cueing that is the recording start positioning of the paper P is performed. That is, the transport amount is detected by the detection sensor 149b until the leading edge of the paper P reaches the cue position HP shown in FIG. 9A from the detection position DP through the paper feed roller 147 and the driven roller 147a. The cueing is controlled according to the detected amount. The conventional cueing is performed by the detection sensor 149a disposed on the upstream side of the sub-roller 145, but this cueing is performed by the detection sensor 149b disposed on the downstream side of the sub-roller 145. The amount can be reduced, and particularly the cueing error due to the paper thickness can be eliminated and the cueing accuracy can be improved.

  Thereafter, the paper P for which the cueing has been completed is nipped by the paper feed roller 147 driven by the paper feed motor 41 and its driven roller 147a and conveyed to the recording unit 150. Therefore, the holding of the paper P by the sub roller 145 and its driven rollers 146a, 146b, and 146c causes the conveyance accuracy to deteriorate, and therefore, each of the driven rollers 146a, 146b, and 146c has the sub roller 145 as shown in FIG. Release from. Then, as shown in FIG. 10B, when the leading edge of the paper P reaches the recording head 152, the paper feed motor 41 temporarily stops and then reverses. Accordingly, the pressing lever 31 rotates in the sheet pressing direction from the standby position, and presses the sheet PP discharged and stacked on the stacker 121 to the sheet surface holding portion 121a of the stacker 121. Then, the paper feed motor 41 starts normal rotation again.

  The conveyed paper P is sucked and flattened on a platen 153 by a suction pump (not shown), and is recorded by a recording head 152 mounted on a carriage 151 scanned by a carriage motor 155 and a carriage belt 154. At this time, the control unit of the ink jet printer 100 supplies each color ink from a total of six ink cartridges, for example, yellow, magenta, light magenta, cyan, light cyan, and black, to the recording head 152, and discharge timing and carriage of each color ink. 151 and the drive of the paper feed roller 147 are controlled to execute highly accurate ink dot control, halftone processing, and the like.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 10C, when the leading edge of the recorded paper P is sandwiched between the paper discharge roller 148 and the driven roller 148a driven by the paper feed motor 41, the pressing lever 31 is As shown in FIG. 4D, the sheet rotates from the sheet pressing position in the sheet pressing release direction, and is separated from the surface of the sheet PP discharged to the stacker 121 and held in a stacked manner. Thereby, the pressing lever 31 presses the paper PP, which is discharged and stacked on the stacker 121 until the paper P to be discharged later, approaches the paper surface holding portion 121a of the stacker 121, and the rear The paper P is retreated from the conveyance path of the paper P to be discharged. For this reason, the sheet P discharged later can be prevented from interfering with the sheet PP discharged to the stacker 121 and stacked and held, and the pressing lever 31. Therefore, the paper P discharged later is smoothly discharged and stacked and held on the paper PP discharged and stacked on the stacker 121 without lowering the recording accuracy.

  According to the ink jet printer 100 described above, the movable presser lever 31 that presses the paper discharged and stacked on the stacker 121 to the paper surface holding portion 121a of the stacker 121 is provided. Can be made substantially upright in the stacker 121, and interference between the discharged paper and the paper discharged from now on can be prevented. Further, since the pressing lever 31 operates in the pressing direction at the start of recording of a sheet, the sheet held in the stacker 121 is not always pressed and the sheet is not damaged. In addition, since the pressing lever 31 operates in the pressing release direction at the start of paper discharge, the presser lever 31 does not interfere with the paper being sent to the stacker 121 and can discharge the paper smoothly.

  Any recording apparatus that can be installed vertically can be applied to a recording apparatus such as a facsimile apparatus or a copying apparatus.

1 is a perspective view of a configuration example of an ink jet printer, which is one of recording apparatuses according to an embodiment of the present invention, viewed obliquely from the front. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional top view illustrating an outline of an internal configuration of the printer in FIG. 1. It is a figure which shows the contact state of the paper pressed by the hopper of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the main mechanisms inside the paper discharge part of FIG. FIG. 5 is a side view of FIG. 4. It is sectional drawing of the friction clutch mechanism of FIG. FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of FIG. 6. FIG. 2 is a first diagram illustrating the operation of the ink jet printer of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a second diagram illustrating the operation of the ink jet printer of FIG. 1. FIG. 6 is a third diagram illustrating the operation of the ink jet printer of FIG. 1.

Explanation of symbols

31 Pressing lever, 32 Lever shaft, 33 Friction clutch, 41 Paper feed motor,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Inkjet printer, 101 housing | casing, 110 paper feed part, 111 tray, 120 paper discharge part, 121 stacker, 121a paper surface holding part, 122 opening part, 123 paper discharge press part, 130 operation part, 140 conveyance part, 141 Hopper, 142 Paper feed roller, 143 Separating member, 144 Compression spring, 145 Sub roller, 147 Paper feed roller, 148 Paper discharge roller, 150 Recording unit, 151 Carriage, 152 Recording head, 153 Platen, 154 Carriage belt, 155 Carriage motor, 156 Carriage guide shaft

Claims (7)

A recording apparatus including a discharge unit capable of stacking and holding a recording medium to be discharged in a standing state,
A recording apparatus comprising: a movable medium pressing portion that presses the discharged recording medium against a medium surface holding portion of the discharging portion. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the medium pressing unit operates in a pressing direction at the start of recording on the recording medium. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the medium pressing portion operates in a pressing release direction at the start of discharging of the recording medium. 4. The medium pressing portion according to claim 1, wherein the medium pressing portion is operated by a feeding motor of the recording medium, is operated in a pressing direction by reverse rotation of feeding, and is operated in a pressing releasing direction by forward rotation of feeding. The recording apparatus according to any one of the above. The medium pressing portion includes a play mechanism for adjusting a timing from an operation in a pressing direction at the start of recording of the recording medium to an operation in a pressing release direction at the start of discharging of the recording medium. The recording apparatus according to claim 4. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the medium pressing unit is operated by a dedicated motor. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the medium pressing portion is operated by a dedicated solenoid.

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