JP2010168221A - Edge guide inclination correcting device, recording device, and liquid spraying device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an edge guide inclination correcting device capable of smoothly moving a movable edge guide, automatically preventing any careless movement of the movable edge guide, automatically correcting the inclination of the movable edge guide, and being used stably for a long time. <P>SOLUTION: The edge guide inclination correcting device is constituted by stretching an urging means 33 between a slide locking unit 30 which is horizontally provided on an upper part of a movable edge guide 15 over the predetermined width and a slide member 32 which is moved in an approaching/moving away direction together with the movable edge guide 15 via an intermediate member 31 in a center positioning mechanism 7. The inclination of the movable edge guide 15 is corrected by constantly pressing the slide locking unit 30 against an upper edge 42 of a hopper 16 by the urging force of the urging means 33. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to two movable edge guides that contact the left and right side edges of the recording material, and a central position for aligning the recording material in the center by moving the two movable edge guides in the approaching and separating directions. An alignment mechanism and a hopper that supports a plurality of recording materials in a stacked state and moves up and down over a predetermined angle while holding the two movable edge guides and the center alignment mechanism movably. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an edge guide tilt correcting device provided in an automatic feeding device and a recording apparatus including the edge guide tilt correcting device.
Furthermore, the present invention relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus such as an ink jet recording apparatus that ejects (ejects) a liquid such as ink from a head thereof and performs recording (adhering liquid) on a recording material (liquid ejecting material). The present invention relates to an edge guide inclination correcting device provided in a liquid ejecting apparatus.

  Here, the liquid ejecting apparatus uses an ink jet recording head, and is not limited to a recording apparatus such as a printer, a plotter, a copying machine, and a facsimile machine that ejects ink from the recording head to perform recording on a recording material. Instead, it includes a device for ejecting a liquid corresponding to the application from a liquid ejecting head corresponding to the recording head to a liquid ejecting material corresponding to a recording material and attaching the liquid to the liquid ejecting material. Use.

  In addition to the recording head, as a liquid ejecting head, a color material ejecting head used for manufacturing a color filter such as a liquid crystal display, and an electrode material (conductive paste) used for forming an electrode such as an organic EL display or a surface emitting display (FED) Examples thereof include an ejection head, a bioorganic matter ejection head used for biochip production, and a sample ejection head as a precision pipette.

  Hereinafter, an ink jet printer will be described as an example of a recording apparatus. The automatic feeding device of the inkjet printer includes a side edge alignment type automatic feeding device that aligns one side edge of the paper with the fixed edge guide by contacting the side edge with the fixed edge guide, and the left and right sides of the paper. There is an automatic feeding device or the like of a center alignment type in which two movable edge guides that co-operate with the edge are brought into contact with each other to align a sheet in the center.

  Among these, in the latter center alignment type automatic feeding device, the left and right side edges of the paper are held by two movable edge guides, so that the paper is conveyed in parallel along the paper conveyance direction without being inclined. In some cases, an edge guide tilt correcting device for correcting the tilt of the movable edge guide is provided. Patent Documents 1 and 2 below disclose an edge guide inclination correcting device applicable to such a movable edge guide.

  In the edge guide inclination correcting device disclosed in Patent Document 1, a friction member is attached to the opposing surface of the lever portion of the movable edge guide that opposes the support surface of the hopper, and is formed of a plastic molding material. The frictional member is pressed against the bearing surface of the hopper by the elastic deformation of the movable edge guide and the pressing force of the coil spring that urges the lever portion toward the bearing surface of the hopper, and the movable edge guide is slid and fixed. The inclination of the edge guide is corrected.

  However, the movable edge guide is locked to the hopper by the upper gripping portion and the lower claw portion, and is slidable in the paper width direction. There is necessarily a clearance between the claw and the lower edge of the hopper. When the clearance is clogged, that is, when the movable edge guide is held in an inclined state with respect to the paper transport direction, a so-called skew of the paper that is inclined and fed is generated. .

  On the other hand, the edge guide inclination correcting device disclosed in Patent Document 2 includes a spring body having a claw portion formed at the tip so as to project to the left and right in the paper width direction with respect to the hook portion at the top of the movable edge guide. The movable edge guide is slidably fixed and the inclination of the movable edge guide is corrected by being provided and engaged with a positioning recess formed on the flat upper edge of the hopper.

  However, since the upper edge of the hopper is flat, there is a problem that when the movable edge guide is moved, the frictional resistance between the upper hook portion and the upper edge of the hopper increases, and the movement of the movable edge guide becomes heavy. It was. Further, since the movable edge guide is slidably fixed and the inclination of the movable edge guide is corrected only by the spring body, the pressure contact force of the spring body against the upper edge of the hopper can be stably maintained for a long time. It was considered difficult.

JP 2001-335160 A Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-40240

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the background technology and the problems that the background technology has, and the movable edge guide can be moved smoothly and moved to a predetermined position. After that, an inadvertent movement of the movable edge guide is automatically prevented, the inclination of the movable edge guide is automatically corrected, and an edge guide inclination correction device that can be used stably over a long period of time, and It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording apparatus or the like provided with the edge guide inclination correcting device.

  In order to solve the above problems, an edge guide inclination correcting apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention includes two movable edge guides that contact the left and right side edges of a recording material, and the two movable edge guides approaching each other. A central alignment mechanism that aligns the recording material in the center by co-operating in the separating direction, and supports the plurality of recording materials in a stacked state, and the two movable edge guides and the central alignment mechanism. An edge guide inclination correcting device provided in an automatic feeding device including a hopper that moves up and down over a predetermined angle in a state in which the edge guide is held movably, wherein the edge guide inclination correcting device is the movable edge. A slide locking part provided horizontally over a predetermined width at the upper part of the guide, together with a movable edge guide via an intermediary medium in the central alignment mechanism The urging means is stretched between the slide member that moves in the near and away directions, and the slidable locking portion of the movable edge guide is always horizontally provided by the urging force of the urging means. The inclination of the movable edge guide is corrected by pressing against the upper edge of the hopper.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the slide locking portion having a predetermined width is brought into close contact with the upper edge of the hopper by the biasing force of the biasing means, the inclination of the movable edge guide integrated with the slide locking portion is corrected. Thus, the movable edge guide is held at a position where the guide surface of the movable edge guide is aimed along the recording material conveyance direction. Further, since the urging means is provided separately from the sliding contact portion between the movable edge guide and the hopper, the tilt correcting action of the movable edge guide can be exerted stably over a long period of time.

An edge guide inclination correcting device according to a second aspect of the present invention is the first aspect of the present invention, wherein the central alignment mechanism includes two racks functioning as the slide member, and a space between the two racks. And a rack and pinion mechanism that includes a pinion gear that functions as an intermediary medium that moves the two racks in opposite directions.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, the configuration of the center alignment mechanism can be made relatively simple, and a separate body is provided by providing the engaging means between the rack functioning as a slide member and the movable edge guide. It becomes possible to move the two members provided on the. Moreover, the above arrangement of the urging means between the movable edge guide and the slide member is also possible.

  In the first or second aspect of the present invention, the edge guide inclination correcting device according to the third aspect of the present invention, between the slide locking portion in the movable edge guide and the upper edge of the hopper, It is characterized in that a parallelism improving structure is provided in which the two are always stably contacted at substantially the same site.

  In the edge guide inclination correcting device according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the present invention, the parallelism improving structure is such that the slide locking portion is always at the uppermost portion of the upper edge of the hopper. The radius of curvature of the engaging concave surface of the slide engaging portion is set to be smaller than the radius of curvature of the outer peripheral surface of the upper edge of the hopper so as to be in sliding contact with the hopper.

  According to the third or fourth aspect of the present invention, the sliding contact position between the slide locking portion and the hopper is determined at the uppermost portion of the upper edge of the hopper that is most stable. The parallelism with is improved. Therefore, it is possible to execute the correction of the inclination of the movable edge guide with high accuracy stably over a long period of time. In addition, when the parallelism improving structure is configured only by setting the curvature radius of the member, an inexpensive parallelism improving structure can be constructed with a very simple structure.

  An edge guide inclination correcting device according to a fifth aspect of the present invention is the edge guide inclination correcting device according to the third aspect of the present invention, wherein the parallelism improving structure is such that the locking action concave surface in the slide locking portion is always the upper edge of the hopper. The shape of the locking action concave surface is set so that it can be slidably contacted with two fixed positions on the front side and the rear side.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, as in the fourth aspect of the present invention, the parallelism between the slide locking portion and the upper edge of the hopper is improved, and the tilt of the movable edge guide can be stably maintained over a long period of time. Can be executed with high accuracy. In addition, since the sliding contact position between the slide locking portion and the upper edge of the hopper is provided at two places before and after the uppermost portion of the upper edge of the hopper, it is in a direction orthogonal to the bearing surface of the hopper. The inclination of the movable edge guide having the component is also corrected at the same time.

An edge guide inclination correcting device according to a sixth aspect of the present invention is the friction guide according to any one of the first to fifth aspects of the present invention, wherein the slide locking portion of the movable edge guide and the upper edge of the hopper are frictional. It is characterized by being formed of a plastic molding material of a different material that has a low resistance.
According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the frictional resistance can be reduced from the material side in addition to the structural side of reducing the contact area, and therefore the movable edge guide can be moved more smoothly. It becomes possible.

An edge guide inclination correcting device according to a seventh aspect of the present invention is the edge guide tilt correcting device according to any one of the first to sixth aspects of the present invention, wherein the friction applying member is pressed against the mediating medium in the central alignment mechanism. It is provided in a state where a predetermined load resistance is applied to the mediating medium by the pressing force of the friction applying member to prevent inadvertent movement of the movable edge guide. is there.
According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, it is possible to stably apply a predetermined braking force over a long period of time to the two movable edge guides that move in the approaching and separating directions.

The edge guide inclination correcting device according to an eighth aspect of the present invention is the seventh aspect of the present invention, wherein the friction applying member functions as a drop-off preventing member for preventing the mediation medium from falling off the hopper. It is characterized by that.
According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, since it is not necessary to provide a separate member for preventing the intermediary mediation, the number of parts can be reduced through effective use of the parts.

  According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording apparatus comprising: two movable edge guides that are in contact with the left and right side edges of the recording material; and the two movable edge guides that are moved toward and away from each other. A central alignment mechanism that aligns the material in the center, and a plurality of recording materials are supported in a stacked state, and the two movable edge guides and the central alignment mechanism are movably held at a predetermined angle. A recording apparatus provided with an automatic feeding device including a hopper that moves up and down over the distance and an edge guide inclination correcting device that corrects the inclination of the movable edge guide, The edge guide inclination correcting device according to any one of the first to eighth aspects of the invention is applied.

  According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, the movable edge guide can be smoothly moved, and after the movable edge guide is moved to a predetermined position, the inadvertent movement of the movable edge guide is automatically prevented. It is possible to provide a recording apparatus including an edge guide tilt correcting device that automatically corrects the tilt of the edge guide and can be used safely over a long period of time. Accordingly, since the recording material is conveyed in parallel along the conveying direction without being inclined, it is possible to perform highly accurate recording that can cope with borderless printing or the like.

  A liquid ejecting apparatus according to a tenth aspect of the present invention includes two movable edge guides that are in contact with the left and right side edges of the liquid ejecting material, and the two movable edge guides that move closer and away from each other. A central alignment mechanism that aligns the liquid injection material in the center, and a state in which a plurality of liquid injection materials are supported in a stacked state and the two movable edge guides and the central alignment mechanism are held movably A liquid ejecting apparatus provided with an automatic feeding device including a hopper that moves up and down over a predetermined angle and an edge guide inclination correcting device that corrects the inclination of the movable edge guide, The tilt correcting device includes a slide locking portion provided horizontally over a predetermined width at the upper portion of the movable edge guide, and an intermediate agent in the central alignment mechanism. The urging means is stretched between the moving edge guide and a slide member that moves in the approaching and separating direction. Similarly, the inclination of the movable edge guide is corrected by pressing against the upper edge of the hopper provided horizontally.

The perspective view which shows the external appearance of the inkjet printer of the state which removed the casing. FIG. 2 is a side sectional view showing an outline of the internal structure of the ink jet printer. The perspective view which shows the external appearance of an automatic feeding apparatus. The front view which shows the inclination correction apparatus of an edge guide. AA sectional view (a) in FIG. 4, BB sectional view (b), and C arrow view (c) in (b). The perspective view from diagonally backward which shows the inclination correction apparatus of the edge guide of the state which moved the movable edge guide apart. The perspective view which shows the state which made the movable edge guide approach as above. Side sectional drawing which shows the other various aspects (a)-(d) of a parallelism improvement structure.

  Hereinafter, an edge guide tilt correcting device according to the present invention and a recording apparatus which is an example of a liquid ejecting apparatus including the edge guide tilt correcting device will be described. First, an ink jet printer 100 is taken up as the best mode for carrying out a liquid ejecting apparatus of the present invention and a recording apparatus as an example thereof, and an outline of the entire configuration will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external appearance of an ink jet printer with a casing removed, and FIG. 2 is a side sectional view showing an outline of the internal structure of the ink jet printer.
The ink jet printer 100 described here is an ink jet printer having an extremely compact and simple structure for a recording material P (hereinafter also simply referred to as paper P) which is an example of a liquid ejecting material having a postcard size or less. is there. The automatic feeding device 2 mounted on the ink jet printer 100 feeds the sheet P by bringing two movable edge guides 15 in contact with the left and right side edges E (also referred to as edges) of the paper P into contact with each other. This is a central alignment type automatic feeding device that aligns the paper P placed on the tray 5 in a stacked state in the center.

  The automatic feeding device 2 is a device that can automatically feed the paper P continuously, and is provided at the upper part on the back side of the printer main body 3. The automatic feeding device 2 is directed to a feeding tray 5 which is an example of a liquid injection material stacking section capable of stacking a plurality of sheets of paper P, and the paper P on the feeding tray 5 is directed to a feeding roller 14. The hopper 16 that is pushed up, the feeding roller 14 that picks up the upper sheet P on the feeding tray 5 by the clamping pressure feeding action with the hopper 16, and the uppermost sheet P so that only the uppermost sheet P is fed. A separation pad or a retard roller (not shown), which is an example of a separation operation unit that separates the succeeding sheet P sent from the uppermost sheet P, and returns the separated succeeding sheet P back to the feeding tray 5. Lever 6.

  The automatic feeding device 2 also includes two movable edge guides 15 that abut on the left and right side edges E of the paper P, and the two movable edge guides 15 are moved toward and away from each other to move the paper P. A center aligning mechanism 7 for aligning with the center is provided. The two movable edge guides 15 and the center alignment mechanism 7 are held in a movable state with respect to the hopper 16.

  Next, an outline of the internal structure of the inkjet printer 100 will be described according to the conveyance path of the paper P. The sheet P placed on the feeding tray 5 and whose left and right side edges E are regulated by the movable edge guide 15 is moved by the hopper 16 at a predetermined timing as the rotation shaft 17 of the feeding roller 14 rotates. Ascended and pushed up toward the feeding roller 14. Then, in order from the sheet P positioned on the uppermost surface with the rotation of the feeding roller 14, a separation pad or a retard roller (not shown) which is an example of a separation action unit provided in the vicinity of the feeding roller 14. The number of units is picked up with the help of the force, and the side edge E is guided by the movable edge guide 15 and conveyed downstream in the conveying direction.

  A recording material detection means (hereinafter simply referred to as a detection lever) 8, which is an example of a liquid injection material detection means for detecting the passage of the paper P, is provided downstream of the feeding roller 14. A conveying roller 19 composed of a conveying driving roller 19a and a conveying driven roller 19b is provided downstream of the conveying roller 19a. Of these, the driven roller 19b for conveyance is pivotally supported on the downstream side of the roller holder 18 for the driven roller for carry-out, and the roller holder 18 is provided so as to be rotatable about the rotation shaft, and a torsion coil spring (not shown). By the urging force, the driven roller 19b is urged to rotate so as to be in a nip state in which the driven roller 19b is always in pressure contact with the driving roller 19a.

  Further, an auxiliary presser roller 18c is provided as an example downstream of the roller holder 18 in the conveying direction, and the auxiliary presser roller 18c is pivotally supported so as to be driven to rotate with respect to the roller holder for the auxiliary presser roller. . The auxiliary presser roller 18c is provided for the purpose of preventing head rubbing caused by lifting of the end of the paper P. Then, the sheet P conveyed while being pinched by the conveying roller 19 is guided to the recording position 26 through the lower side of the auxiliary pressing roller 18c.

  The recording position 26 travels reciprocally in the main scanning direction X (corresponding to the width direction of the paper P) as a main component of the recording execution means which is an example of the liquid jet execution means for executing recording on the paper P. A carriage 10 supported by a carriage guide shaft (not shown) is provided. A recording head 13, which is an example of a liquid ejecting head that performs recording by ejecting (ejecting) ink, which is an example of liquid, onto the paper P is mounted on the lower surface of the carriage 10. Further, the carriage 10 is connected to the other end of an ink tube 9 having one end connected to an ink cartridge (not shown) which is an example of a liquid cartridge housed in the lower portion of the printer body 3.

  Below the recording head 13, a platen 28 that faces the recording head 13 and defines a platen gap PG between the nozzle opening surface on the lower surface of the recording head 13 is provided. An operation of conveying the sheet P between the recording head 13 and the platen 28 in a sub-scanning direction Y (which coincides with the conveying direction of the sheet P) perpendicular to the main scanning direction X by a predetermined conveyance amount, and the recording head 13 By reciprocally repeating the operation of ejecting ink from a nozzle opening (not shown) on the bottom surface of the recording head 13 toward the paper P while reciprocating in the main scanning direction X. Recording is performed. Note that the platen gap PG is an extremely important element in executing high-precision recording, and is appropriately adjusted according to a change in the thickness of the paper P or the like.

  A discharge roller 20, which is an example of a liquid ejecting material discharge unit configured by a discharge drive roller 20 a and a discharge driven roller 20 b, is provided downstream of the recording head 13. A discharge auxiliary driven roller 22b is provided upstream of the discharge driven roller 20b in the transport direction, and a discharge auxiliary drive roller 22a is provided below the discharge auxiliary driven roller 22b. The discharge auxiliary driven roller 22b and the discharge auxiliary drive roller 22a constitute a discharge auxiliary roller 22. The paper P discharged by the discharge roller 20 is further discharged onto a mounting surface of a discharge stacker (not shown) that is an example of the liquid injection material receiving portion located downstream in the transport direction. .

  The discharge driven roller 20b and the discharge auxiliary driven roller 22b are toothed rollers having a plurality of teeth on the outer periphery thereof, and are rotatably supported by a roller holder that holds each of them. The transport driven roller 19b is disposed such that its axial center is located somewhat downstream in the transport direction with respect to the transport drive roller 19a. On the other hand, the discharge driven roller 20b and the discharge auxiliary driven are provided. Each of the rollers 22b is disposed such that the axial center position is located somewhat upstream in the transport direction from the discharge driving roller 20a and the discharge auxiliary drive roller 22a. By taking such an arrangement, the sheet P is slightly curved downward between the transport roller 19 and the discharge roller 20 or the discharge auxiliary roller 22 and is commonly referred to as “back-slip”. A state is formed. When the sheet P has such a shape, the sheet P at the position facing the recording head 13 is pressed onto the platen 28, and the sheet P is prevented from being lifted, and recording is executed normally. It has become so.

[Example]
Next, the edge guide inclination correcting device 1 of the present invention provided for the automatic feeding device 2 of the ink jet printer 100 will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an automatic feeding device to which the edge guide tilt correcting device of the present invention is applied, and FIG. 4 is an enlarged front view showing the vicinity of an application site of the edge guide tilt correcting device of the present invention. FIG. 5 is an AA cross-sectional view (a), a BB cross-sectional view (b) in FIG. 4, and an enlarged cross-sectional view (c) of an arrow C portion in (b). FIG. 6 is a perspective view from an obliquely rear view showing an area around the application portion of the edge guide inclination correcting device in a state in which the movable edge guide is most separated, and FIG. 7 is an edge in a state in which the movable edge guide is closest. It is the perspective view from diagonally backward which expands and shows the application site | part periphery of the inclination correction apparatus of a guide.

  The edge guide inclination correcting apparatus 1 according to the present invention includes two movable edge guides 15 that are in contact with the left and right side edges E of the paper P, and the two movable edge guides 15 are moved toward and away from each other. A center alignment mechanism 7 that aligns the sheet P with the substantially central portion in the width direction of the printer main body 3, and supports a plurality of sheets P in a stacked state, and the two movable edge guides 15 and the center alignment mechanism 7. Are movably held and are provided for an automatic feeding device 2 that includes a hopper 16 that rotates and moves up and down over a predetermined angle range. The edge guide inclination correcting device 1 according to the present invention includes a slide latching portion 30 provided horizontally over a predetermined width above the movable edge guide 15 and a mediating agent in the central alignment mechanism 7. A tension coil spring 33 as an urging means is stretched between two racks 32 as slide members that move in the approach and separation directions together with the movable edge guide 15 via a pinion gear 31 as Yes.

  The movable edge guide 15 includes a horizontal guide portion 35 provided on the front side in parallel with the support surface 34 of the hopper 16, and a vertical guide portion 36 formed by vertically raising an outer side edge of the horizontal guide portion 35. And. The horizontal guide portion 35 is a flat plate-like member that supports the lower surface of the loaded paper P near the side edge E, and a guide member for moving the movable edge guide 15 in the paper width direction according to the size of the paper P. Function as.

  The upper edge of the horizontal guide portion 35 is curved in a hook shape so as to wrap around to the rear, and the portion curved in the hook shape is engaged with the slide locking portion 30 locked from above with respect to the upper edge 42 of the hopper 16. It has become. On the other hand, the vertical guide portion 36 is a flat plate member that contacts the side edge E of the loaded paper P and aligns the paper P in the paper width direction. An operation unit 40 is provided at the upper part of the vertical guide part 36 so as to project obliquely forward and upward, and a locking claw 41 extending rearward is provided at the lower part of the vertical guide part 36. The locking claw 41 is locked from below with respect to the lower edge 43 of the hopper 16.

  The center alignment mechanism 7 includes two racks 32 that function as slide members, and a pinion gear that is disposed between the two racks 32 and functions as an intermediary that moves the two racks 32 in opposite directions. And a rack-and-pinion mechanism provided with 31 as an example. Two racks 32 are arranged in parallel so that the teeth are located on the inside, and the other rack 32 side opposite to the rack guide 38 having a rectangular frame shape is disposed at the outer base end of each rack 32. It protrudes toward The rack guide 38 is provided with a square hole-shaped engagement hole 53, and the rack guide 38 is engaged with the engagement convex portion 54 protruding from the back surface of the horizontal guide portion 35 of the movable edge guide 15. The rack 32 is integrally movable in the main scanning direction X. Note that the height dimension of the engagement hole 53 is set to be slightly larger than the thickness dimension of the engagement convex portion 54, and the rack 32 conveys the paper P within the range of the clearance formed therebetween. It can be moved in the direction.

  Further, an engaging claw 39 that engages with the upper edge of a rectangular hole-shaped engaging window portion 37 that extends in the main scanning direction X and that is formed on the support surface 34 of the hopper 16 protrudes from the front surface of the rack guide 38. It is provided to do. Further, the above-described tension coil spring 33 is stretched between the rack guide 38 and the slide locking portion 30, and in the present embodiment, one each near the center of the rack guide 38 and the slide locking portion 30. A tension coil spring 33 is provided. The tension coil spring 33 exerts an urging force that presses the slide locking portion 30 against the upper edge 42 of the hopper 16, and acts to correct the inclination of the movable edge guide 15 by the urging force.

  In addition, a parallelism improving structure 44 is provided between the slide locking portion 30 in the movable edge guide 15 and the upper edge 42 of the hopper 16 so that the two are always stably contacted at substantially the same site. In this embodiment, the radius of curvature of the latching concave surface 45 of the slide latching portion 30 is such that the latching concave surface 45 of the slide latching portion 30 can come into sliding contact with the uppermost portion Q of the upper edge 42 of the hopper 16. A parallelism improving structure 44 in which r is set to be smaller than the radius of curvature R of the outer peripheral surface of the upper edge 42 of the hopper 16 is employed.

  Further, the slide engaging portion 30 of the movable edge guide 15 and the upper edge 42 of the hopper 16 are formed of different plastic molding materials that reduce frictional resistance, and the movable edge guide 15 approaches the hopper 16 smoothly. , And move away. Specifically, the slide locking portion 30 of the movable edge guide 15 is made of polyacetal resin, and the upper edge 42 of the hopper 16 is made of ABS resin. Further, a leaf spring 46 as a friction imparting member is provided on the pinion gear 31 as an intermediary medium so as to be pressed against the outer end surface of the pinion gear 31. A predetermined load resistance is applied to the pinion gear 31 by the pressing force of the leaf spring 46 to prevent inadvertent movement of the movable edge guide 15.

  The leaf spring 46 is a vertically long rectangular flat plate member whose upper part is in contact with the outer end surface of the pinion gear 31, and whose lower part is a latch holding part 49 that is latched to the hopper 16, An intermediate portion is an elastic action portion 50 that exerts an elastic action. In addition, a friction pad 47 made of synthetic rubber, for example, is attached to the front surface of the pressing action portion 48. Further, in this embodiment, the pinion gear 31 has a cylindrical socket portion 52 that is only fitted on the fitting convex portion 51 that protrudes toward the rear surface side of the hopper 16 as shown in FIG. Since the plate spring 46 is attached with a simple configuration, the leaf spring 46 has a function as a drop-off preventing member for preventing the pinion gear 31 from falling off the hopper 16.

  Next, the operation mode of the edge guide tilt correcting device 1 of the present invention will be described separately for (1) when moving and (2) when stopped.

(1) During movement When the movable edge guide 15 is moved in accordance with the size of the paper P, the movable edge guide 15 is moved inwardly or outwardly by holding the operation unit 40 of either the left or right movable edge guide 15. Let At this time, the frictional resistance between the locking concave surface 45 in the slide locking portion 30 of the movable edge guide 15 and the upper edge 42 of the hopper 16 is extremely small due to the selection of the material and the setting of the curvature radii R and r described above. Therefore, the movable edge guide 15 is moved smoothly. Further, when either the left or right movable edge guide 15 is moved, the rack 32 having the engagement hole 53 engaged with the engagement convex portion 54 of the movable edge guide 15 is also moved integrally.

  Then, as the rack 32 moves, the pinion gear 31 rotates to move the other rack 32 in the opposite position in the opposite direction. Accordingly, the left and right movable edge guides 15 move together in the approaching and separating directions, and the loaded paper P is positioned in the center with the left and right side edges E sandwiched between the vertical guide portions 36 of the movable edge guide 15. To be combined.

(2) When stopped When the vertical guide portion 36 of the movable edge guide 15 abuts on the side edge E of the paper P and the movement of the movable edge guide 15 is stopped, the movable edge guide 15 receives the tensile force from the tension coil spring 33. The inclination is instantaneously corrected by the parallelism improving action of the parallelism improving structure 44, and the target position is moved along the paper transport direction. Further, since the pressing force of the leaf spring 46 acts on the end surface of the pinion gear 31, the movable edge guide 15 does not move carelessly even if the hand is released from the operation portion 40 of the movable edge guide 15, and the hopper The pinion gear 31 is also prevented from falling off from the 16.

[Other embodiments]
The edge guide tilt correcting apparatus 1 and the recording apparatus 100 including the edge guide tilt correcting apparatus 1 according to the present invention are basically configured as described above, but depart from the gist of the present invention. It is of course possible to change or omit the partial configuration within the range not to be performed. For example, the center alignment mechanism 7 is not limited to the rack and pinion mechanism, and other mechanisms such as a link mechanism can be employed. Further, the tension coil spring 33 stretched between the slide locking portion 30 and the rack guide 38 is not limited to one, and a plurality of tension coil springs 33 can be provided. It is also possible to adopt the biasing means.

  In addition, the friction applying member is not limited to the leaf spring 46, and various friction applying members such as a compression coil spring and a rubber-like elastic body can be employed. Further, as the parallelism improving structure 44, it is possible to adopt a parallelism improving structure 44 having a configuration as shown in FIG. In the parallelism improving structure 44 shown in FIG. 8, the locking action concave surface 45 in the slide locking portion 30 can always slide in contact with the two fixed positions A and B on the front side and the rear side of the upper edge 42 of the hopper 16. In this way, the shape of the locking action concave surface 45 is modified. In this case, as the shape of the locking action concave surface 45, an inverted V shape as shown in FIG. 8A, a trapezoidal shape as shown in FIG. 8B, and a shape as shown in FIG. Various shapes such as a parabolic shape or a shape provided with a protrusion 55 as shown in FIG. 8D can be adopted.

  Incidentally, when the parallelism improving structure 44 shown in FIG. 8 is adopted, the parallelism between the slide locking portion 30 and the upper edge 42 of the hopper 16 is improved as in the parallelism improving structure 44 adopted in the above embodiment. In addition, the inclination of the movable edge guide 15 can be corrected with high accuracy stably over a long period of time. In addition, fixed positions A and B, which are slidable contact positions between the slide locking portion 30 and the upper edge 42 of the hopper 16, are provided at two positions before and after the uppermost portion Q of the upper edge 42 of the hopper 16. Therefore, the inclination of the movable edge guide 15 having a component in a direction orthogonal to the bearing surface 34 of the hopper 16 is also corrected at the same time.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Edge guide inclination correction apparatus, 2 Automatic feeding apparatus, 3 Printer main body, 5 Feeding tray, 6 Return lever, 7 Center alignment mechanism, 8 Detection lever, 9 Ink tube, 10 Carriage, 13 Recording head, 14 Feed roller, 15 Movable edge guide, 16 Hopper, 17 Rotating shaft (for feed roller), 18 Roller holder (for transport driven roller), 18c Auxiliary presser roller, 19 Transport roller, 19a Transport drive Roller, 19b Conveyance driven roller, 20 Discharge roller, 20a Discharge drive roller, 20b Discharge driven roller, 22 Discharge auxiliary roller, 22a Discharge auxiliary drive roller, 22b Discharge auxiliary driven roller, 26 Recording position, 28 Platen, 30 slide locking part, 31 pinion gear (mediation medium), 32 (Slide member), 33 tension coil spring (biasing means), 34 bearing surface, 35 horizontal guide portion, 36 vertical guide portion, 37 engagement window portion, 38 rack guide, 39 engagement claw, 40 operation portion, 41 Locking claw, 42 Upper edge (of hopper), 43 Lower edge (of hopper), 44 Parallelism improving structure, 45 Locking action concave surface, 46 Leaf spring (friction imparting member), 47 Friction pad, 48 Pressing action part, 49 Locking holding part, 50 Elastic action part, 51 Fitting convex part, 52 Socket part, 53 Engaging hole, 54 Engaging convex part, 55 Protrusion, 100 Inkjet printer (recording device), P paper (recording material) , X main scanning direction, Y sub-scanning direction, PG platen gap, E side edge, Q top, r radius of curvature (locking concave surface), R radius of curvature (outer peripheral surface of upper edge of hopper), A (front surface) Side) Position, B (the rear side) position.

Claims (7)

A recording material bearing portion having a bearing surface for supporting the recording material;
Two movable edge guides that are provided in the recording material support and abut against the left and right side edges of the recording material;
A central alignment mechanism for aligning the recording material in the center by moving the two movable edge guides in the approaching and separating directions;
An edge guide inclination correcting device provided in an automatic feeding device comprising:
A slide locking portion provided horizontally over a predetermined width at an upper portion of the movable edge guide;
In the central alignment mechanism, a slide that is provided separately from the slide locking portion and moves in a direction toward and away from each other together with the two movable edge guides by engaging with the slide locking portion. Members,
Urging means stretched between the slide locking portion and the slide member,
It has a configuration for correcting the inclination of the movable edge guide by pressing the slide locking portion against the upper edge portion of the recording material support portion by the urging force of the urging means,
The slide locking portion has a locking action concave surface into which the upper edge portion enters,
The locking action concave surface has a first concave surface facing the support surface side of the upper edge portion, and a second concave surface facing the opposite side of the upper edge portion to the support surface side,
The first and second concave surfaces are located on the side opposite to the bearing surface and the bearing surface on the latching concave surface and the upper edge in a state where the upper edge portion enters the latching concave surface. The shape is set so that it can slide against two fixed positions.
An edge guide inclination correcting device characterized by the above.   2. The edge guide tilt correcting device according to claim 1, wherein the center alignment mechanism is provided between the two racks functioning as the slide member and the two racks, and the two racks are mutually connected. An edge guide inclination correcting device comprising a rack and pinion mechanism including a pinion gear functioning as an intermediary for moving in the reverse direction.   3. The edge guide tilt correcting device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the slide engaging portion of the movable edge guide and the upper edge of the recording material support portion are formed of different plastic molding materials having low frictional resistance. An edge guide inclination correcting device characterized in that:   4. The edge guide inclination correcting device according to claim 2, wherein the mediating medium in the center alignment mechanism is provided in a state in which the friction applying member is pressed, and the pressing force of the friction applying member is set. An edge guide inclination correcting device comprising a configuration in which a predetermined load resistance is applied to the mediator.   5. The edge guide inclination correcting device according to claim 4, wherein the friction imparting member also has a function as a drop-off preventing member for preventing the mediation medium from dropping off from the recording material support portion. Edge guide tilt correction device. A recording material bearing portion having a bearing surface for supporting the recording material;
Two movable edge guides that are provided in the recording material support and abut against the left and right side edges of the recording material;
A central alignment mechanism for aligning the recording material in the center by moving the two movable edge guides in the approaching and separating directions;
A recording apparatus provided with an automatic feeding device comprising an edge guide inclination correcting device for correcting the inclination of the movable edge guide;
6. A recording apparatus, wherein the edge guide inclination correcting apparatus according to claim 1 is applied as the edge guide inclination correcting apparatus. A liquid injection material support portion having a support surface for supporting the liquid injection material;
Two movable edge guides that are provided in the liquid injection material support portion and abut on the left and right side edges of the liquid injection material;
A central alignment mechanism that aligns the liquid ejecting material in the center by moving the two movable edge guides in the approaching and separating directions;
A liquid ejecting apparatus provided with an automatic feeding device comprising an edge guide tilt correcting device for correcting the tilt of the movable edge guide;
The edge guide inclination correcting device includes a slide locking portion provided horizontally over a predetermined width at an upper portion of the movable edge guide,
In the central alignment mechanism, a slide that is provided separately from the slide locking portion and moves in a direction toward and away from each other together with the two movable edge guides by engaging with the slide locking portion. Members,
Urging means stretched between the slide locking portion and the slide member,
It has a configuration for correcting the inclination of the movable edge guide by pressing the slide locking portion against the upper edge portion of the liquid injection material support portion by the urging force of the urging means,
The slide locking portion has a locking action concave surface into which the upper edge portion enters,
The locking action concave surface has a first concave surface facing the support surface side of the upper edge portion, and a second concave surface facing the opposite side of the upper edge portion to the support surface side,
The first and second concave surfaces are located on the side opposite to the bearing surface and the bearing surface on the latching concave surface and the upper edge in a state where the upper edge portion enters the latching concave surface. The shape is set so that it can slide against two fixed positions.
A liquid ejecting apparatus.

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