JP2011235986A - Medium support and recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a medium support taking the thickness in the thickness direction of a supporting surface of the medium support into consideration.SOLUTION: The medium support (8) includes the supporting surface (10) formed in an area supporting a medium (P), and rail fitting parts 9, 9 which are arranged on both of width-directional sides of the medium and outer than the supporting surface (10). A base-end-side support (11) and a free-end-side support (16) are engaged with each other, and the rail fitting parts 9, 9 relatively guide the base-end-side support and the free-end-side support in the direction of extension. The supporting surface (12(10)) of the base-end-side support (11) is lower than a piling-directional upper surface (9a) of the rail fitting parts (9) of the base-end side support (11) in the direction (Z) of piling the medium.

Description

The present invention relates to an extendable medium support having a base end side support and a free end side support portion that can extend from the base end side support to the free end side, and a recording apparatus including the medium support.
In the present application, the recording apparatus includes types such as an ink jet printer, a wire dot printer, a laser printer, a line printer, a copying machine, and a facsimile.

Conventionally, as shown in Patent Document 1, a recording apparatus has a discharge stacker as a medium support.
6 (A) and 6 (B) are diagrams showing an outline of a discharge stacker in the prior art. Among these, FIG. 6A is a plan view. On the other hand, FIG. 6B is a side view. 6A and 6B show a state where the discharge stacker is extended.
As shown in FIGS. 6 (A) and 6 (B), the discharge stacker 30 in the prior art is provided so as to be swingable about the swing shaft 34 with respect to the apparatus main body 36. Furthermore, it was configured to be extendable in the direction connecting the base end side and the free end side.

  Specifically, the discharge stacker 30 has a first member 31, a second member 32, and a third member 33. And the 3rd member 33 was provided in the inside of the 2nd member 32 so that accommodation was possible. Further, the second member 32 in which the third member 33 is housed is provided inside the first member 31 so as to be housed. It was a so-called bag-like structure. Here, the second member 32 was configured to slide relative to the first member 31. Similarly, the third member 33 is configured to slide with respect to the second member 32. Therefore, the discharge stacker 30 can be switched between the extended state and the contracted state.

JP 2003-073007 A

However, when the bag-like structure is adopted, the thickness, which is the length in the stacking direction of the paper in the discharge stacker 30, is increased. Thereby, there is a possibility that the height of the stacker support surface 35 of the discharge stacker 30 becomes higher than the height of the main body side support surface 37 that guides the sheet fed in the apparatus main body 36. As a result, a step is formed that becomes higher on the downstream side in the paper feeding direction, and the leading edge that is the downstream end in the paper feeding direction may be caught.
It is conceivable that the stacker support surface 35 is relatively provided below the position of the swing shaft 34. However, when the discharge stacker 30 is set to the standing posture, it is very difficult to align the outer surface of the apparatus main body 36 with the discharge stacker 30. That is, the degree of freedom of the position of the swing shaft 34 is narrowed.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides a medium support in consideration of the thickness in the thickness direction of the support surface of the medium support and a recording apparatus including the medium support. is there.

  In order to achieve the above object, a medium support according to the first aspect of the present invention is a stretchable medium having a base end side support and a free end side support that can extend from the base end side support to the free end side. The medium support is provided on both a support surface formed in an area for supporting the medium and on the outer side in the width direction of the medium from the support surface, and the base end support and the free end support And a rail fitting portion that guides the base end side support and the free end side support relatively in a telescopic direction, and the support surface of the base end support is In the direction in which the medium is stacked, the structure is lower than the upper surface of the rail fitting portion in the stacking direction of the base end side support.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the thickness in the thickness direction of the support surface of the medium support can be reduced as compared with the conventional structure described above. This can reduce the possibility that the support surface on the medium support side becomes higher than the guide surface on the apparatus main body side in a state where the medium support can support the medium (a state where the medium support is not in the standing posture). . That is, it is possible to reduce the possibility of a step that becomes higher on the downstream side in the feed direction.
In addition, even when the medium support is configured to swing from the stored state (standing position) to the state where it can be supported, a shaft is provided on the outer side of the rail fitting portion so that the center of swinging is provided. It can be. That is, the degree of freedom of the axis position can be widened.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the free end side support includes a first free end side support member fitted to the base end side support, and the first free end side support member. And a second free end side support member that can extend from the first free end side support member to the free end side, and a first rail is formed on the base end side support. The first free end side support member is formed with a second rail and a third rail that fit into the first rail, and the second free end side support member has the third rail. A fourth rail that fits with the rail is formed, and the positional relationship between the second rail and the third rail is a configuration that is an internal / external relationship in the width direction.

According to the 2nd aspect of this invention, in addition to the effect similar to a 1st aspect, the width | variety can be substantially uniform in the said whole medium support.
Here, in the above-described conventional structure, the width gradually decreases toward the downstream side in the medium feeding direction, which is the free end side. When a medium having a large size is supported, there is a possibility that the downstream side of the medium may protrude outward in the width direction, and the entire medium may not be properly supported.
Therefore, in this aspect, since the width of the entire medium support can be made substantially uniform, when a large-sized medium is supported, it can be properly supported even on the downstream side. That is, there is no possibility that the downstream side of the medium protrudes outside in the width direction.

A recording apparatus according to a third aspect of the present invention includes a medium feeding unit that feeds a recording medium in a feeding direction, a recording unit that records the recording medium sent by the medium feeding unit by a recording head, and the recording A discharge stacker on which the recording medium recorded by the unit is placed, wherein the discharge stacker includes the medium support according to the first or second aspect, and the recording medium is , The medium.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, the discharge stacker includes the medium support according to the first or second aspect. Therefore, in the recording apparatus, the same operational effects as those of the first or second aspect can be obtained.

1 is a front perspective view showing a printer according to the present invention. (A) (B) is a perspective view which shows the discharge | emission stacker based on this invention. (A) (B) is sectional drawing which shows the discharge | emission stacker based on this invention. (A) (B) is a plane perspective view which shows the discharge | emission stacker based on this invention. 1 is a schematic sectional side view showing a printer according to the present invention. (A) (B) is a figure which shows the outline of the discharge stacker in a prior art.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a front perspective view showing an inkjet printer (hereinafter referred to as “printer”) 1 as an example of a “recording apparatus” or a “liquid ejecting apparatus” according to the present invention.
Here, the liquid ejecting apparatus refers to an ink jet recording apparatus, a copying machine, a facsimile, or the like that performs recording on a recording material by ejecting ink from a recording head as a liquid ejecting head to a recording material such as recording paper. In addition to the recording apparatus, instead of ink, a liquid corresponding to a specific application is ejected from the liquid ejecting head corresponding to the recording head to the ejected material corresponding to the recording material, and the liquid is ejected to the ejected material. A device to be attached.

  Further, as the liquid ejecting head, in addition to the recording head described above, a color material ejecting head used for manufacturing a color filter such as a liquid crystal display, an electrode material used for forming an electrode such as an organic EL display or a surface emitting display (FED). (Conductive paste) A jet head, a bioorganic matter jet head used for biochip manufacturing, a sample jet head for jetting a sample as a precision pipette, and the like.

2A and 2B are perspective views showing the discharge stacker according to the present invention. Among these, FIG. 2 (A) shows a state where the discharge stacker is contracted. On the other hand, FIG. 2B shows a state in which the discharge stacker is extended.
3A and 3B are cross-sectional views showing the discharge stacker according to the present invention. 3A is a cross-sectional view of the entire discharge stacker as viewed from the upstream side toward the downstream side in the paper feeding direction. On the other hand, FIG. 3B is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part of FIG.
4A and 4B are perspective plan views showing the discharge stacker according to the present invention. Among these, FIG. 4A shows a state in which the discharge stacker is contracted. On the other hand, FIG. 4B shows a state where the discharge stacker is extended.
FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional side view showing the printer according to the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the printer 1 has an apparatus housing 2 as a case. A discharge stacker 8 (also referred to as a discharge tray), which is an example of a medium support, is provided in front of the printer 1 so as to be extendable and contractible. FIG. 1 shows the extended state. Further, a medium feeding means 3 and a recording unit 4 are provided inside the apparatus housing (see FIG. 5). The medium feeding means 3 is configured so that, for example, a sheet P that is an example of a medium can be fed to the downstream side in the feeding direction by a roller pair. The recording unit 4 includes a recording head 5 and is configured to perform recording on the paper P that is sent.

Then, in a state where the discharge stacker 8 is extended, the recorded paper P is sent to the downstream side in the feed direction by the roller pair 6 (see FIG. 5) as the medium feeding means 3 and is placed on the discharge stacker 8. It is configured. That is, when the discharge stacker 8 is extended, the discharge stacker 8 is provided so that the paper P can be placed and stacked.
On the other hand, in a state where the discharge stacker 8 is contracted (see FIG. 2A), the free end side swings upward about the swing shaft 15, and the discharge stacker 8 assumes a standing posture (see FIG. 5). Then, it becomes a part of the outer surface of the apparatus housing 2. In other words, it is so-called flush with the outer surface of the apparatus housing 2. This state is the storage state of the discharge stacker 8.
The X-axis direction is the width direction of the paper P. The arrow direction of the Y axis is the feeding direction in which the paper P is fed. Furthermore, the Z-axis direction is the stacking direction (vertical direction).

Next, the structure of the discharge stacker 8 will be described in more detail.
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the discharge stacker 8 includes a first stack member 11, a second stack member 16, a third stack member 22, and a fourth stack member 26. In the extended state, the first stack member 11, the second stack member 16, the third stack member 22, and the fourth stack member 26 are provided in this order from the base end side toward the free end side. .

Further, the discharge stacker 8 includes a placement support surface 10 on which the paper P is placed, and rail fitting portions 9 and 9 provided on both outer sides of the placement support surface 10 in the width direction of the paper P. I have.
Here, the first stack member 11 is formed with a first support surface 12, a first rail 13, and a swing shaft 15. The second stack member 16 is formed with a second support surface 17, a second rail 18, and a third rail 20. Furthermore, a third support surface 23 and a fourth rail 24 are formed on the third stack member 22.
In addition, since the rail fitting parts 9 and 9 of both sides are left-right symmetric, only one side is demonstrated and description about the other is abbreviate | omitted.

The mounting support surface 10 includes the first support surface 12 of the first stack member 11, the second support surface 17 of the second stack member 16, and the third support surface 23 of the third stack member 22. Has been.
Further, the rail fitting portion 9 is provided so that the second stack member 16 can expand and contract with respect to the first stack member 11. Further, the third stack member 22 is provided so as to be able to expand and contract with respect to the second stack member 16. Specifically, the rail fitting portion 9 includes the first rail 13 of the first stack member 11, the second rail 18 and the third rail 20 of the second stack member 16, and the fourth rail 24 of the third stack member 22. And is composed of.

  Here, the 1st rail 13 is the shape which becomes convex toward the width direction outer side, and is extended toward the free end side from the base end side. Moreover, the 2nd rail 18 is the shape which becomes concave toward the width direction inner side, and is extended toward the free end side from the base end side. Still further, the third rail 20 has a shape that becomes concave outward in the width direction outside of the second rail 18, and extends from the base end side toward the free end side. Moreover, the 4th rail 24 is the shape which becomes convex toward the width direction inner side, and is extended toward the free end side from the base end side.

3A and 3B, the first rail 13 of the first stack member 11 and the second rail 18 of the second stack member 16 are configured to be fitted. Here, the reason why one side is concave is that the first stack member 11 on the base end side supports the second stack member 16 on the free end side from the first stack member 11 in the extended state. It is.
Further, the third rail 20 of the second stack member 16 and the fourth rail 24 of the third stack member 22 are configured to be fitted.

Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the second stack member 16 and the third stack member 22 can be expanded and contracted with respect to the first stack member 11.
In addition, about the combination of the unevenness | corrugation of the 1st rail 13 and the 2nd rail 18, and the combination of the unevenness | corrugation of the 3rd rail 20 and the 4th rail 24, an uneven | corrugated structure may be sufficient. Alternatively, one concave or convex shape that contacts each other may be extended from the base end side toward the free end side, and the other may be a plurality of protrusions. This is because it can expand and contract while maintaining the relative posture.

In addition, the fourth stack member 26 is provided on the free end side of the third stack member 22 so as to be swingable about an axis (not shown). Then, in the contracted state shown in FIG. 2A, the fourth stack member 26 is folded toward the third support surface 23 of the third stack member 22. On the other hand, in the extended state shown in FIG. 2 (B), it is opened to the free end side.
Further, the second stack member 16 is configured not to fall out of the first stack member 11 when the discharge stacker 8 is switched from the contracted state to the extended state. Similarly, the third stack member 22 is configured not to fall out of the second stack member 16.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4A, a first contact portion 14 is formed on the free end side of the first rail 13. A second contact portion 19 is formed on the base end side of the second rail 18. Similarly, a third contact portion 21 is formed on the free end side of the third rail 20. A fourth contact portion 25 is formed on the base end side of the fourth rail 24.

  Then, when switching to the extended state shown in FIG. 4B, the first contact portion 14 and the second contact portion 19 come into contact with each other, so that the second stack member 16 is in contact with the first stack member 11. Thus, it is configured not to move further to the free end side. Therefore, there is no possibility that the second stack member 16 falls off from the first stack member 11. Similarly, the third contact member 21 and the fourth contact member 25 are in contact with each other, so that the third stack member 22 does not move further toward the free end side with respect to the second stack member 16. ing. Therefore, there is no possibility that the third stack member 22 falls out of the second stack member 16.

On the other hand, when switching from the extended state to the contracted state, the second contact portion 19 is separated from the first contact portion 14 as shown in FIG. Similarly, the fourth contact portion 25 is separated from the third contact portion 21.
As described above, by disposing the rail fitting portions 9 and 9 on the outer sides on both sides in the width direction from the placement support surface 10, the position of the placement support surface 10 in the stacking direction Z is changed to the rail fitting portion. 9 and 9 can be made lower than the positions of the upper surfaces 9a and 9a. Further, the thickness of the mounting support surface 10 can be reduced as compared with the discharge stacker 30 (see FIG. 6) in the prior art.

Thereby, as shown in FIG. 5, the height of the placement support surface 10 on the upstream side in the feed direction can be made lower than the height of the apparatus main body side guide surface 7 on the downstream side in the feed direction. That is, a step is formed that becomes lower on the downstream side in the feed direction, but there is no possibility that a step that becomes higher on the downstream side in the feed direction is formed. As a result, when the paper P is discharged, there is no possibility that the leading end, which is the downstream end in the feeding direction of the paper P, is caught by the joint between the apparatus main body side guide surface 7 and the discharge stacker 8.
Further, a configuration is considered in which the posture of the discharge stacker 8 can be switched between a standing posture in which it is not used and a lying posture in which it is used. In such a case, the paper P can be smoothly discharged without providing the swing shaft 15 above the placement support surface 10. That is, the degree of freedom of the position of the swing shaft 15 can be widened.

In addition, in the said Example, although the discharge stacker 8 (discharge tray) was demonstrated as an example of a support member, it is not restricted to this. The feeding tray that is upstream in the feeding direction may have the same configuration.
In the width direction X, the position at which the first rail 13 and the second rail 18 are fitted is set to the inner side from the position at which the third rail 20 and the fourth rail 24 are fitted. In such a case as well, the width of the discharge stacker 8 can be made substantially uniform.

  Moreover, in the said Example, although the 3rd stack member 22 and the 4th stack member 26 were provided, it is not restricted to this. The discharge stacker 8 may include only the first stack member 11 and the second stack member 16. Similarly, in this case, the first support surface 12 can be made lower than the upper surface 9a of the rail fitting portion 9, and further, the first support surface 12 can be made lower than the apparatus main body side guide surface 7. It is.

  Furthermore, instead of the fourth stack member 26, a fifth stack member (not shown) having a rail similar in configuration to the second stack member 16 may be fitted to the third stack member 22. Further, a sixth stack member (not shown) having a rail similar in configuration to the first stack member 11 may be fitted to the fifth stack member. By adopting such a configuration, the discharge stacker 8 can be elongated in the extending direction (feeding direction) while the width is substantially uniform.

  The discharge stacker 8 as a medium support of the present embodiment includes a first stack member 11 as a base end side support, and a second stack member 16 as a free end side support that can extend from the first stack member 11 to the free end side. The stackable discharge stacker 8 includes a mounting support surface 10 that is a support surface formed in a region that supports a sheet P that is an example of a medium, and the mounting support surface 10. The first stack member 11 and the second stack member 16 are fitted to each other on the outer side in the width direction of the paper P, and the first stack member 11 and the second stack member 16 are relatively expanded and contracted. Rail fitting portions 9 and 9 for guiding the first stack member, and the first support surface 12 of the placement support surface 10 of the first stack member 11 is the first stack member in the direction Z in which the sheets P are stacked. 1 Characterized in that it is a top 9a, lower 9a constituting a said face of the upward stacked rail engaging portion 9,9 in.

  In the present embodiment, the free end side support is fitted with the second stack member 16 as the first free end side support member fitted with the first stack member 11, the second stack member 16, and the second stack member 16. And a third stack member 22 as a second free end side support member that can extend from the two stack members 16 to the free end side, and the first rails 13 and 13 are formed on the first stack member 11. The second stack member 16 is formed with second rails 18 and 18 that fit into the first rails 13 and 13, and third rails 20 and 20. Are formed with fourth rails 24, 24 that fit into the third rails 20, 20, and the positional relationship between the second rails 18, 18 and the third rails 20, 20 is an internal / external relationship in the width direction X. That the configuration And butterflies.

  A printer 1 as a recording apparatus of the present embodiment includes a medium feeding unit 3 that feeds a sheet P, which is an example of a recording medium, in a feeding direction Y, and a recording head 5 that feeds the sheet P fed by the medium feeding unit 3. A recording unit 4 for recording and a discharge stacker 8 provided on the downstream side in the feeding direction from the recording unit 4 and on which the recorded paper P is placed are provided.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the invention described in the claims, and these are also included in the scope of the present invention. Needless to say.

1 printer, 2 device housing, 3 medium feeding means, 4 recording unit, 5 recording head,
6 Roller pair, 7 Main body side guide surface, 8 Discharge stacker, 9 Rail fitting part,
9a upper surface, 10 mounting support surface, 11 first stack member, 12 first support surface,
13 first rail, 14 first contact portion, 15 swing shaft, 16 second stack member,
17 2nd support surface, 18 2nd rail, 19 2nd contact part, 20 3rd rail,
21 3rd contact part, 22 3rd stack member, 23 3rd support surface, 24 4th rail,
25 4th contact portion, 26 4th stack member, 30 prior art discharge stacker,
31 First member, 32 Second member, 33 Third member, 34 Oscillating shaft,
35 Stacker support surface, 36 Main body, 37 Main body side support surface, P paper,
X width direction, Y feed direction, Z stacking direction (vertical direction)

Claims (3)

With proximal support,
A stretchable medium support having a free end side support that can extend from the base end side support to the free end side,
The media support is
A support surface formed in a region supporting the medium;
Provided both on the outer side in the width direction of the medium from the support surface, the base end side support and the free end side support are fitted, and the base end side support and the free end side support are relatively A rail fitting portion that guides in the telescopic direction,
The medium support having a configuration in which the support surface of the base end side support is lower than a surface of the rail fitting portion of the base end side support in the stacking direction in the stacking direction. The media support according to claim 1, wherein the free end side support is:
A first free end side support member fitted to the base end side support;
A second free end side support member that fits with the first free end side support member and can extend from the first free end side support member to the free end side,
A first rail is formed on the base end side support,
The first free end side support member is formed with a second rail that fits with the first rail, and a third rail,
The second free end side support member is formed with a fourth rail that fits with the third rail,
The medium support is configured such that a positional relationship between the second rail and the third rail is an internal / external relationship in the width direction. Medium feeding means for feeding the recording medium in the feeding direction;
A recording section for recording by a recording head on a recording medium sent by the medium feeding means;
A recording apparatus provided with a discharge stacker provided downstream of the recording unit in a feeding direction and on which a recorded recording medium is placed;
The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the discharge stacker includes the medium support according to claim 1, and the recording medium is the medium.

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