JP3162536B2 - Recording device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a <br/> shall relates to a recording equipment having a drive transmission means for transmitting a drive force to drive the driven mechanism.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a small-sized serial type recording apparatus that performs recording by reciprocating a recording head in parallel with a recording medium (sheet), the reciprocating operation of the recording head and the recording sheet conveying operation are performed by the same drive. As a typical configuration implemented by a motor, for example,
As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 88264, a long rotating metal shaft is driven by a DC motor via a worm gear and a wheel gear to thereby rotate the first rotating member,
To transmit the rotational force to the second rotating member and the third rotating member, and to reciprocate the recording unit from the DC motor rotatable in one direction as a driving source along the transport path of the recording medium,
2. Description of the Related Art There is known a recording apparatus which is realized by rotating a rotating body provided with a spiral groove engaged with a pin provided on a carriage in forward and reverse directions.

FIG. 18 is a perspective view showing an example of a conventional carriage drive system of this type. 11 is a main gear, 12 is a long metal shaft for driving, 13 is a screw, 13a is a screw gear, 14 is a reversing gear, 15 is a drive motor, 17 is a wheel gear (worm wheel), and 21 is a worm gear. In the figure, reference numerals other than the above denote the same (corresponding) components as those in the embodiment of the present invention described later.

[0004]

However, FIG.
1) Since the wheel gear as the driving unit and the main gear (the first rotating member) as the driven unit are connected by the long metal shaft 12, the warping of the metal shaft 12 occurs. When there is a torsional deformation, the wheel gear 17 and the main gear 11 cause large eccentricity,
Normal gear meshing was hindered. 2) The driving motor 15 is moved outside the moving range of the carriage (not shown).
, The width of the entire device is increased.

3) Further, since the reduction ratio in the drive unit is realized by a single stage of the worm gear 21 and the wheel gear 17, it is difficult to change to a large reduction ratio. That is, for example, when it is necessary to change the reduction ratio to twice,
If the worm gear 21 is left as it is, the number of teeth of the wheel gear 17 is doubled, so that the diameter of the wheel gear 17 is also doubled. It was practically extremely difficult to incorporate this into a recording device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and has a drive source and a driving force transmitting means.
The degree of freedom in the positional relationship with the driven mechanism is increased, the meshing of this type of drive gear is always performed accurately, and the size of the recording device can be reduced. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus having a large size.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a recording medium used for recording on a recording medium.
And a driving mechanism for driving the driven mechanism from a driving source.
And a driving force transmitting means for transmitting the driving force.
The driving force transmitting means includes: a first worm gear;
The first worm gear meshes with the first worm gear;
First wheel gear having a rotation axis orthogonal to the rotation axis of the gear
Gear, a second worm gear, and the second worm gear
And orthogonal to the rotation axis of the second worm gear
A second wheel gear having a rotation axis;
The above object is achieved by changing the direction of transmission of the second direction twice in the direction perpendicular to the direction .

[0008]

According to the structure of the present invention as described above, the length of each power transmission system can be shortened, and the influence of the eccentricity of the drive shaft can be reduced. It can be taken inside. This makes it possible to greatly reduce the width of the entire device as compared with a case where a DC motor is protrudingly provided on the device side as shown in FIG. 18, for example. In addition, in the case of a design change that increases the reduction ratio of the gear system, the increase in the number of teeth of each of the two-stage wheel gears is small, so that it can be easily incorporated into the original device.

[0009]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 1 is an explanatory plan view of an embodiment of a recording apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a right side view of FIG.
FIG. 3 is a left side view thereof (viewed from arrow B), FIG. 4 is a rear view thereof (viewed from arrow C), FIG. 5 is a front view thereof (viewed from arrow D), and FIG.
Shows an EE cross-sectional view of the same.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a base frame which forms an apparatus main body. A carriage 3 having a recording head 2 constituting recording means is mounted on the frame 1 so as to be movable in the directions of arrows P and Q. ing. The recording head 2 uses an ink jet recording method in which ink is ejected from an ink ejection port by applying energy according to a recording signal, and among them, heat energy is generated as energy used for ejecting ink. For example, an electrothermal converter, a laser beam, or the like is provided as a means for performing this operation, and the thermal energy causes a change in the state of the ink. According to this method, it is possible to achieve higher density and higher definition of recording.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a set lever rotatably mounted around a hole formed in the carriage 3 and presses against a flexible cable 6 for connecting the recording head 2 to a drive circuit board (not shown). It is a member for fixing.

The carriage 3 is mounted on the base frame 1.
The frame 1 is supported by a sliding shaft 5 (see FIGS. 2 and 3) and a carriage support 1c (see FIGS. 5 and 6) of the frame 1, and is slidable in the directions of arrows P and Q in FIG. I have. The carriage 3 enters a single lead groove 13b (see FIG. 5 and FIG. 7 described later) formed in a screw 13 which is a rotating body described later, and the rotational movement of the screw 13 is changed in the directions of arrows P and Q in FIG. A protruding pin 3a (see FIG. 6) for converting into a linear motion is formed integrally with the carriage 3.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a platen, which has a function as a guide for a recording sheet as a recording medium. The feed roller 8 for conveying the recording sheet is provided on the base frame 1.
And a right side plate 10 so as to be rotatable, and a gear portion 8a is formed at a predetermined position. A rubber ring 9 is attached to the center of the feed roller 8.
A pinch roller 23 is disposed opposite to the bottom, and applies pressure to the rubber ring 9 via the pinch roller 23 by a shaft (not shown) having spring elasticity. The recording sheet is inserted between the rubber ring 9 and the pinch roller 23, and is conveyed according to the rotation amount of the feed roller 8.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a DC motor as a drive source.
By adopting a mechanism such as a combination of a first worm gear and a first wheel gear described later and a combination of a second worm gear and a second wheel gear, a recording (printing) range (carriage) in FIG. 3 (moving range 3), but in the present embodiment, as shown by the dotted line, it is taken into the recording apparatus.

Clips 50a and 50b for fixing the flexible cable 6 are provided.
The flexible cable 6 press-fixed to the clip 5
After being fixed by being sandwiched between the carriage 3 at 0a and having a certain slack, the clip 50b is guided to the base frame 1 from the front of the fixed recording device by the clip 50b. 5 is
This is a slit plate holder for holding a slit plate for generating a discharge position detection signal (details will be described later).

FIG. 2 shows a right side view (a view in the direction of arrow A) of FIG. 1 from which the above-mentioned right side plate 10 is removed. In FIG.
Reference numeral 11 denotes a main gear, which is a first rotating member. The main gear 11 is rotatable by receiving a shaft 11a integral with the main gear 11 and a shaft 11c at the other end (FIG. 7 described later) by the right side plate 10 and the hole of the base frame 1, respectively. Has been supported. Reference numeral 14 denotes a reversing gear as a second rotating member, which is rotatably supported by a shaft protruding from the base frame 1. 13 is a screw and a gear member 1 as a third rotating member at the right end thereof.
3a is integrally formed.

The reversing gear 14 and the screw gear 13a are always in mesh with each other, but the main gear 11 and the reversing gear 14a
Alternatively, the screw gear 13a is configured to transmit power intermittently by a mechanism described later. 1b is
A hole formed in the base frame 1
The flexible cable 16 is prevented from flexing when it moves to the right end by letting the hole 1b avoid contact with the base frame 1.

FIG. 3 is a front view of FIG.
FIG. 4 is a rear view of FIG. In FIG. 4, the lower part of the recording apparatus is drawn upward in the figure, and the upper part of the recording apparatus is drawn downward because of the triangular display. Reference numeral 15 denotes a DC motor as a drive source, and a first worm gear 21 is press-fitted and fixed to the motor shaft. The first worm gear 21 is integrally formed with a disk-shaped encoder slit 21a at a tip end thereof, and enters into a concave groove of a transmission type photo detector 55 which is a motor stop signal generator. Reference numeral 53 denotes a substrate for soldering the photodetector 55, which is fixed to the base frame 1 with small screws. 54
Is a lead wire for connecting the board 53 to a circuit board (not shown).

Reference numeral 56a denotes a first wheel gear, which is always meshed with the first worm gear 21, and its rotation axis is orthogonal to the rotation axis of the first worm gear 21 (perpendicular to the paper). I have. Reference numeral 16 denotes a motor mounting plate made of a metal plate, which is fixed to the base frame 1 with small screws and bent in an L-shape to fix the DC motor 15 with small screws. Furthermore, the motor mounting plate 16
Accordingly, it also has a role of rotatably holding the shaft 56C of the first wheel gear 56. Reference numeral 20 denotes a lead wire for connecting a rotating board (not shown) and the DC motor 15, and supplies power to the DC motor 15 by this.

FIG. 5 is a front view of FIG.
Reference numeral 52 denotes a metal plate of stainless steel or the like having a thickness of about 0.1 to 0.2 mm, which is a slit plate provided with a grid-like slit formed by etching or pressing. Reference numeral 51 denotes a slit plate holder for holding the slit plate 52 with a small screw or the like,
It is fixed to the boss 1a of the base frame 1 together with the slit plate 52 with a small screw. An ejection position detection signal is detected by the slit plate 52 by a photo detector 59 described later.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line EE in FIG. 56a is the first wheel gear described above,
Of the worm gear 21. Reference numeral 56b denotes second worm gears, each of which is a rotary shaft 56b.
c, 56d and the first wheel gear 56a. The rotating shaft 56c is supported by being fitted into a hole 16a of the motor mounting plate 16 via a bearing 57, and one rotating shaft 56d is passed through a hole of a bearing portion 1d formed integrally with the base frame 1. , The first wheel gear 56a and the second worm gear 5
6b becomes rotatable.

A second wheel gear 11b is formed integrally with the main gear 11, and is rotatable by passing one end through a right plate 10 and the other end through a hole formed integrally with the base frame 1 (not shown). Becomes The second wheel gear 11b meshes with the second worm gear 56b. Therefore, the driving force of the DC motor 15 is
5 → first worm gear 21 → first wheel gear 56
a → second worm gear 56b → second wheel gear 1
1b → the transmission is performed as indicated by an arrow indicating the path of the main gear 11.

Reference numeral 3a denotes a projecting pin formed integrally with the carriage 3, which enters a single lead groove 13b (see FIG. 7) formed on the screw 13 and
3 can be converted into a linear motion in the directions of arrows P and Q in FIG. Reference numeral 3c denotes a hook part integral with the carriage 3, which is engaged with a carriage support part 1c integral with the base frame 1. Since the other end of the carriage 3 is supported by the sliding shaft 5, the carriage 3 can be moved in the vertical direction in FIG. 6 (the directions of arrows P and Q in FIG. 1).

Reference numeral 58 denotes a printed circuit board (PCB).
And the photodetector 59 is soldered,
CB58 is a boss 3c of the carriage 3 by a small screw.
, The photodetector 59 is fixed to the carriage 3. The moving state of the carriage 3 is detected by a photo detector 59 fixed to the carriage 3 detecting a slit of the slit plate 52 of the slit plate holder 51 fixed to the base frame 1. The ejection position detection signal detected by the photodetector 59 is sent to a drive circuit board (not shown) through the flexible cable 6 from the flexible cable 6 branched from the flexible cable 6 connected to the PCB 58 by soldering.
Controlled.

Next, a power transmission system for reciprocating the carriage 3 will be described. FIG. 7 is a perspective view schematically showing a power transmission system relating to the reciprocating motion of the carriage 3,
The DC motor 15 always rotates in one direction when energized. As a result, in FIG. 7, as described in FIG.
Motor 15 → first worm gear 21 → first wheel gear 56a → second worm gear 56b (integrated with first wheel gear 56a) → second wheel gear 11b
→ Main gear 11 (integrated with second wheel gear 11b)
Power is transmitted along the path. And the main gear 1
DC motor 15 in a direction in which 1 is constantly rotated in the direction of arrow J.
Has determined the direction of rotation.

With the above-described mechanism, the DC motor 15
Can be arranged immediately after the screw 13,
As shown in the conventional example in FIG.
When the C motor 15 was provided, the entire width of the entire apparatus was large because it was outside the left movement range of the carriage 3, but since the screw 13 in this embodiment was originally an empty space, the CD motor was originally used. Even if 15 is moved to this position, another space is required for the reduced overall width, and the entire apparatus does not become large.

Further, in this embodiment, since each power transmission path is constituted by a combination of extremely short paths without using the long shaft 12 as shown in FIG. 18, the eccentricity of each gear and the like can be reduced. There are few adverse effects, not only gear combinations,
This is also advantageous for the engagement of the missing tooth with the force 4 in the power transmission system of the carriage reciprocating motion described later. On the contrary,
In the case of a long metal shaft 12 as in the conventional example, it is extremely difficult to minimize the deflection of the shaft at both ends, and a considerable eccentricity is likely to occur at both ends. Further, the mechanism according to the present embodiment has an effect of facilitating the change to the large reduction ratio as described above.

From the main gear 11, the screw gear 13,
In the power transmission path to the reversing gear 14, the speed increases and the load increases. Therefore, in practice, a relatively large reduction ratio is required in the motor drive unit in order to reduce the load on the DC motor 15. In the conventional example shown in FIG.
The number of teeth of the groove and the hole gear 17 is 49 and the reduction ratio is about 1/49. For example, if it is desired to greatly reduce the DC motor load by driving the recording apparatus with a battery, the reduction ratio in the motor drive unit must be reduced to about 1/81. In this case, when the module of the wheel gear 17 is 0.4, when the number of teeth is increased from 49 to 81, the pitch circle of the wheel gear 17 is changed from φ19.6 mm to φ32.4,
The diameter becomes as large as +12.8 mm (1.65 times), so that the recording apparatus of the above-mentioned cited conventional example (JP-A-4-288264) cannot be incorporated.

On the other hand, in this embodiment, since a two-stage worm and wheel gear system is employed, when each worm has two leads, each wheel gear has one tooth.
Would increase from 4 to 18. (Reduction ratio 2/14
(1st stage) x 2/14 (2nd stage) = 1/49 to 2/1
8 (first stage) × 2/18 (second stage) = 1/81). When the module is 0.4 and the worm gear is constant, the pitch circle diameter of each wheel gear is φ
From 5.6mm to φ7.2mm, an increase of + 1.6mm is enough.
Therefore, it becomes easy to incorporate the gear inside the device even after the change.

The first worm gear 21, the first wheel gear 56a, the second worm gear, and the second wheel gear 1
1b is used for the speed reduction mechanism of the motor drive unit, and the first wheel gear 56a and the second worm gear 56b are integrally formed, so that a compact driving force transmission path can be realized, and a space that was conventionally an empty space DC motor 1
5, the size of the entire apparatus can be reduced, and the eccentricity and the like of the gear can be minimized to prevent the gear and cam missing teeth from being disturbed.

Furthermore, since the large reduction ratio of the driving unit is realized in two stages, the reduction ratio of each stage can be small even when the large reduction ratio is changed. In this embodiment, it is necessary to newly design the entire device, whereas in the present embodiment, only minimal changes in parts are required. However, a small change in the pitch between the shafts of the motor mounting plate or the like is required for changing the shaft between the worm gear and the wheel gear.

As described above, the power of the main gear 11, which is always rotationally driven in the direction of arrow J in FIG. 7, is directly transmitted from the main gear 11 to the screw gear 13a by a mechanism described later.
Is transmitted, the screw 13 rotates in the direction of arrow K in FIG. 7, and at this time, the carriage 3 moves in the direction of arrow P.

On the other hand, when power is transmitted from the main gear 11 to the reversing gear 14, the reversing gear 14 and the screw gear 13a always mesh with each other as described above.
Is rotated in the direction of arrow L in FIG.
Rotates in the direction of arrow M. At this time, the carriage 3 moves in the direction of arrow Q.
Move in the direction.

Next, the shapes of the main gear 11, the reversing gear 14, and the screw gear 13a will be specifically described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing a small front view (a) and a side view (b) of the main gear 11, wherein the main gear 11 is opposed to the reverse gear 14, opposed to the screw gear 13a, and opposed to the feed roller gear 8a. Each of the parts is divided into three opposing parts.

First, the portion facing the screw gear 13a
It comprises a gear portion 31 and cam portions 30 and 32 at both ends thereof. The number of teeth of the gear portion 31 is set to 18 in this embodiment.
The number is determined by the number of teeth a and the number of rotations of the screw 13.

Next, the opposite portion to the reversing gear 14 similarly comprises a gear portion 34 and cam portions 33 and 35 at both ends thereof.
It is set to have the same shape as the portion facing the screw gear 13a, with the difference that the cams 33 and 35 are provided at each end, that is, the toothless portion of the reversing gear 14 or the screw gear 13a described later. (40 in FIGS. 9 and 10)
Or 42).
The portion facing the feed roller gear 8a will be described later.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view showing a side view (a) and a front view (b) of the reversing gear 14, respectively. It has a toothed portion 39 having the same. As described above, the missing tooth portion 40 is located at a position facing the cam portions 33 and 35 of the main gear 11. Further, the teeth of the entire peripheral tooth portion 38 and the teeth of the toothed portion 39 are set to be out of phase with each other by half a tooth α in the rotation direction.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory view of the screw gear 13a. (A) is a side view, and (b) is (a).
It is AA sectional drawing of a figure. Like the reversing gear 14, it is constituted by a toothed portion 41 having a partially missing tooth (three teeth) 42. The toothless portion 42 is the cam portion 3 of the main gear 11.
It is arranged at a position facing 2 and 31.

Next, the specific operation of the main gear 11 will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. FIGS. 11A to 11D are explanatory diagrams which limit the movement of the reversing gear opposing portion of the main gear 11 and the movement of the reversing gear 14 in order to facilitate understanding of the operation.
The figure shows a state in which the cam portion 35 of the main gear 11 has entered the toothless portion 40 of the reversing gear 14, at this time no rotational force has yet been transmitted to the reversing gear 14, and
The reversing gear 14 is stopped even if it rotates in the direction. Next, when the main gear 11 further rotates in the arrow J direction,
As shown in (b), the teeth 3 provided on the main gear 11
4a meshes with the tooth portion 14a of the reversing gear 14,
4 is driven to rotate in the direction of arrow L in the figure.

(C) In FIG.
It is driven to rotate in the direction. As described above, if the meshing of the tooth portions 34b has passed due to the setting of the teeth of the main gear 11, the cam portion 33 enters the toothless portion 40 after one rotation of the reversing gear 14, as shown in FIG. Stop rotation and lock. The same operation is performed also in the mutual transmission operation between the screw gear facing portion of the main gear 11 and the screw gear 13a.

Since the toothed portion 38 (see FIG. 9) of the reversing gear 14 and the screw gear 13a are always in mesh with each other, one rotation of the reversing gear 14 is performed by the screw gear 13a.
and the screw 13 makes one rotation.

Here, the portion of the main gear 11 facing the reversing gear 14 and the portion facing the screw gear 13a are set in a state where their phases are substantially shifted by 180 ° as shown in FIG. Is 180 °
The angle θ between the position of the reversing gear 14 and the screw gear 13a to the center of the main gear 11 as shown in the meshing diagram in FIG.
In the state of FIG. 10D, the positional relationship between the portion facing the screw gear and the screw gear 13a is in the state of FIG. 11A.

However, in FIG. 7, (1) when the main gear 11 rotates 0 ° to 180 °, the reversing gear 14
Makes one rotation in the direction of arrow L, and the screw gear 13a makes one rotation in the direction of arrow M via the reversing gear 14. Also,
(2) When the main gear 11 rotates by 180 ° to 360 °, the screw gear 13a makes one rotation in the direction of the arrow K, and the reversing gear 14 turns to the arrow N via the screw gear 13a.
One rotation in the direction.

When the state is switched from (1) to (2), (2) to (1), each of the cam portions 32 and 35 is accurately fitted to each of the reversing gear 14 and each of the toothless portions of the screw gear 13a. The cam portions 30 and 33 are inserted into the missing tooth portions to fix the respective gears.

(Recording Sheet Conveyance Transmission System) Next, the recording sheet conveyance transmission system will be described. The recording sheet conveying operation is performed in such a manner that the teeth 36 and 37 formed integrally with the main gear 11 in FIG.
This is performed by intermittently driving the gear portion 8a of the feed roller 8 to rotate. The teeth 36 and 37 are 180 ° out of phase with each other, and
Are set in the vicinity near the both sides and in an area that does not affect the recording operation of the recording head 2.

Next, the recording operation in this embodiment will be described. FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a peripheral portion of the printing apparatus according to the present embodiment. It consists of. The signals input to the CPU 50 from the recording device 56 include a discharge position detection signal output from the discharge signal detector 59 (photo detector in FIG. 6) and a motor stop signal output device 55 (photo detector in FIG. 5). There are two types of motor stop signals output from the controller. DC motor 15
, A motor stop signal is generated by the encode slit disk 21 a formed integrally with the worm gear 21.

Next, the carriage 3 starts moving in the direction of arrow P from the right end in FIG. 1, for example, by the mutual operation of the reversing gear 14 and the screw gear 13a. When the carriage 3 starts moving and the ejection position detector 59 fixed to the carriage 3 starts passing through the slit 52 of the slit plate 52, an ejection signal detection signal corresponding to the slit 52 is generated. This signal is set so as to correspond to each dot row in the dot matrix in a predetermined manner.

The CPU 50 receives the ejection position detection signal, and selectively outputs a recording signal in synchronization with the signal to perform recording in the direction of arrow P in FIG. When the recording in the P direction is completed, the CPU 50 counts the number of pulses of the motor stop signal, and turns off the CD motor 15 after N pulses. At this time, as described above, the recording sheet conveyance operation has already been completed, and the carriage 3 stops at the left end in FIG. FIG. 14 shows a timing chart of the above-described arrow P direction recording operation sequence.

Next, when the motor 15 is started again, the screw 13 is rotated reversely by the reversing mechanism of the screw 13, and the carriage 3 starts to move in the direction of arrow Q from the left end in FIG. Also, a motor stop signal is generated simultaneously with the start of the motor 15. Further, the discharge position detector 59
Is passed through the slit 52a of the slit plate 52 to generate a discharge position detection signal.
By selectively outputting the recording signal from 0, the arrow Q
A record in the direction is made.

When the recording in the direction of arrow Q is completed as described above, the CPU 50 counts the number of pulses of the motor stop signal and turns off the motor 15 after M pulses. At this time, as described above, the recording sheet conveyance operation has also been completed, and the carriage 3 stops at the right end in FIG. FIG. 1 is a timing chart of the above-described arrow Q direction recording operation sequence.
It is shown in FIG.

By repeating the above operations, recording on the recording sheet is performed. Further, the CPU 50 needs to determine in advance whether the carriage 3 is located at the left or right end in FIG. 1. As a method, for example, when the system is turned on, or when the all clear key When a specific key such as is pressed, the DC motor 15 is energized. When the discharge position detector 59 passes through the wall 52b of the slit plate 52, the discharge position detection signal continues to be in a "low" state X for a certain period of time.
Is determined to be moving in the direction of arrow P from the right end of FIG. Further, the ejection detector 59 is connected to the hole 52 of the slit plate 52.
When passing through c, the ejection position detection signal continues to be in the "high" state Y for a certain period of time, and it is determined that the passage through the slit is in the direction of arrow Q from the reference left end.

The determination of the hole 52c, the wall 52b, and the slit 52a is based on whether the state of "high" and "low" continues for a certain time or more, or whether "high" and "low" are switched within a certain time, respectively. Do. After judging the direction in the direction of the arrow R or Q, after passing through the slit, N, M
If the energization of the motor 15 is turned off by counting the number of pulses of the emission and motor stop signals, the initial operation can be completed.

The number of pulses from the end of recording in the directions of the arrows P and Q to the stop of the driving of the DC motor 15 is set to N and M, respectively. The number of pulses is basically set to the same value. I do. However, a difference may be made due to a difference in load or the like.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 16 is an explanatory perspective view of a second embodiment according to the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 60 denotes a first wheel gear corresponding to 56a in the first embodiment, and has two rotating shafts 60a and 60c. 6
0b is a coupling axis having a D-shaped cross section. 61 is a second worm gear corresponding to 56b of the first embodiment,
0b has a hole 61a having the same D-shaped cross-section as described above, which can be press-fitted into the first wheel gear 60 and the second wheel gear 60 in FIG.
7 shows a state where the worm gear 61 and the worm gear 61 are connected.

In the first embodiment, the integral gear of the first wheel gear 56b and the second worm gear 56b (hereinafter simply referred to as integral gear) is a gear in which the two gears are integrated, but the torsion angles are substantially orthogonal. Are integrated, the mold structure for molding it is likely to be complicated.
There is almost no problem if only one integrated gear is made, but even if the reduction ratio is slightly changed, the mold for the entire integrated gear must be newly manufactured. Have difficulty.

Therefore, as in the second embodiment, the second worm gear 61 has a structure that can be divided and connected to the first wheel gear 60, so that, for example, the first wheel gear 60 It is possible to change the reduction ratio of the entire device just by changing the number of teeth. Compared to the cost of the mold for the integrated gear, only 60 minutes for the wheel gear, the mold cost is only about 1/3, and the speed is reduced. This is an effective means when the change of the ratio is predicted in advance.

(Embodiment 3) For example, the worm gear has two
When the number of teeth of the wheel gear is 18, the reduction ratio becomes 1/9, and the wheel gear becomes 1 after the worm gear turns 9 times.
Rotate. The greater the reduction ratio, the greater the number of rotations of the worm gear per one rotation of the wheel gear. This indicates that the worm gear is very disadvantageous to the conditions such as wear as compared with the wheel gear, and especially when both are made of the same material, the tendency is further strengthened.

Therefore, in the case where durability is required for the worm gear, the first wheel gear 6 shown in FIG.
Both gears are made of different materials, for example, the second worm gear 61 is made of a material having higher wear resistance than 0.
At the same time, the first worm gear 21 is made of the same material as that of the second worm gear, and the second wheel gear 11b is made of the same material of the first wheel gear 60. The durability of the gear system can be improved by using two kinds of materials such as a wheel gear and first and second worm gears made of a material having relatively high wear resistance. For example, for the first and second wheel gears, RO which is generally used for this type of gear is used.
For the M, first and second worm gears, PBT or the like having excellent wear resistance in combination with POM is effective.

Here, when an integral gear structure is used instead of the two-gear coupling structure as in this embodiment, if the second worm gear is made of a wear-resistant material with respect to the second wheel gear, the integral structure is formed. Therefore, the first wheel gear is made of the same material. As a result, the first worm gear requires a more wear-resistant material than the integral gear,
Since a combination of three types of materials is required, the candidates for the material of the first worm gear are extremely limited and expensive. In addition, since there is no candidate for the resin material, the first worm gear is made of a metal processed product or the like. Cost will increase significantly.

Therefore, this embodiment is extremely effective when the worm gear is required to have particularly high durability and wear resistance.

(Embodiment 4) Fig. 17 is an explanatory perspective view of a fourth embodiment according to the present invention: (a) In Fig. 17, 62 is an integral gear, 62a is a first wheel gear, 62b is a second worm gear;
c indicates a through hole. Reference numeral 63 denotes a metal shaft, which has a press-fit relationship with the through hole 62c. (B) FIG.
5 shows a state in which the metal shaft 63 is press-fitted into the metal gear 63 and the metal shaft 63 protrudes from both sides of the integrated gear 62 by a predetermined dimension.

In general, this kind of integral gear rotates at a high speed of several thousand rpm, and when the load sometimes becomes large,
In some cases, a heavy load is also applied to the rotating shaft. When the rotating shaft is integrated with the integral gear in the same material as in the first embodiment, the rotating shaft cannot withstand a large load, and may be broken.

Therefore, as in the present embodiment, the rotation shaft 63 is made of a material different from that of metal, so that the rotation shaft can be specially strengthened and the reliability of the entire apparatus can be improved. Become. Although the above embodiment has been described in connection with the example of the combination of the two-stage worm gear and the wheel gear, the present invention has a possibility of further progressing to a combination of three stages, four stages, and the like.

[0064] Although the above described case of the ink jet recording method as a recording means in each embodiment described above by energizing the electrothermal transducer in accordance with the recording signal, the bubble generated by the pressurized heat Ru good to said electrothermal transducers It is more preferable that the recording is performed by discharging the ink from the discharge port by the growth.

The typical configuration and principle are described in, for example, US Pat. Nos. 4,723,129 and 47407.
It is preferable to use the basic principle disclosed in the specification of Japanese Patent No. 96. This method can be applied to both the so-called on-demand type and the continuous type. In particular, in the case of the on-demand type, it is arranged corresponding to a sheet or a liquid path holding a liquid (ink). By applying at least one drive signal corresponding to the recording information and providing a rapid temperature rise exceeding nucleate boiling to the electrothermal transducer, heat energy is generated in the electrothermal transducer, and the recording head is driven. This is effective because film boiling occurs on the heat-acting surface, and as a result bubbles in the liquid can be formed in one-to-one correspondence with the drive signal. The growth and shrinkage of the bubbles allow the liquid to flow through the discharge opening. When the driving signal for forming at least one droplet by discharging is formed into a pulse shape, the growth and shrinkage of the bubble are immediately and appropriately performed, so that particularly excellent liquid discharging can be achieved, which is more preferable.

As the pulse-shaped drive signal, those described in US Pat. Nos. 4,463,359 and 4,345,262 are suitable.

Further, if the conditions described in US Pat. No. 4,313,124 of the invention relating to the temperature rise rate of the heat acting surface are adopted, more excellent recording can be performed.

As the configuration of the recording head, in addition to the combination of a discharge port, a liquid path, and an electrothermal converter (a linear liquid flow path or a right-angled liquid flow path) as disclosed in the above-mentioned respective specifications, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,558,333 and 445,960 which disclose a configuration in which a heat acting portion is arranged in a bending region.
The configuration using the specification No. 0 is also included in the present invention.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 59-123670 discloses a configuration in which a common slit is used as a discharge portion of an electrothermal converter for a plurality of electrothermal converters, or an aperture for absorbing pressure waves of thermal energy The effect of the present invention is also effective when the configuration is based on JP-A-59-138461, which discloses a configuration in which is configured to correspond to a discharge unit. That is, according to the present invention, the recording can be performed reliably and efficiently regardless of the form of the recording head.

In addition, even in the case of the serial type described above, when the recording head is fixed to the carriage or mounted on the carriage, electrical connection with the apparatus main body and supply of ink from the apparatus main body become possible. A replaceable chip type recording head or a cartridge type recording head in which an ink tank is provided integrally with the recording head itself may be used.

It is preferable to add recording head recovery means, preliminary auxiliary means, and the like provided as components of the recording apparatus of the present invention since the effects of the present invention can be further stabilized. If these are specifically mentioned, capping means for the recording head, cleaning means, pressurization or suction means, an electrothermal conversion type or a preheating means by another heating element or a combination thereof,
Performing a preliminary ejection mode in which ejection is performed separately from printing is also effective for performing stable printing.

Regarding the type and number of recording heads mounted on the carriage, for example, only one recording head is provided corresponding to a single color ink, and a plurality of inks having different recording colors and densities are supported. Alternatively, a plurality may be provided. That is, for example, the printing mode of the printing apparatus is not limited to a printing mode of only a mainstream color such as black, and may be a combination of a plurality of print heads integrally formed. The present invention can also be applied to an apparatus provided with at least one of the full colors.

In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the ink is described as a liquid. However, an ink which solidifies at room temperature or lower and which softens or liquefies at room temperature, or an ink jet recording system Ink 3
Generally, the temperature is controlled within a range of 0 ° C. or more and 70 ° C. or less to control the temperature so that the viscosity of the ink is in a stable ejection range. Good. In addition, positively prevent the temperature rise due to heat energy by using it as energy for changing the state of the ink from the solid state to the liquid state, or use ink that solidifies in a standing state to prevent evaporation of the ink. In any case, the ink is liquefied by the application according to the recording signal of the thermal energy in any case,
The present invention is also applicable to a case in which an ink that is liquefied for the first time by thermal energy, such as an ink that is ejected by a liquid ink or an ink that starts solidifying when it reaches a recording sheet, is used.

The ink in such a case is disclosed in
As described in JP-A-56847 or JP-A-60-71260, in a state in which a liquid or solid substance is held in a concave portion or through hole of a porous sheet and opposed to an electrothermal converter, Is also good. The most effective one for each of the above-mentioned inks is one that practically uses the above-described film boiling method.

Further, as the form of the above-mentioned ink jet recording apparatus, in addition to those used as image output terminals of information processing equipment such as computers, copying apparatuses combined with readers and the like, and facsimile apparatuses having a transmission / reception function can be used. And the like.

The recording means does not necessarily need to be limited to the above-described ink jet recording method, and various recording methods such as a wire dot recording method and a thermal recording method can be used.

[0077]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Has two sets of worm and wheel gears
Therefore, the driving force is transmitted in the direction where the rotation axis of the gear is orthogonal.
Of the driving source, the driving force transmitting means, and the driven mechanism.
It has an excellent effect that the degree of freedom of the positional relationship is widened.
In addition, the combination of worm gear and wheel gear
It has the advantage of being able to take a large amount.
And the recording device is small.
And the freedom to change the design of the reduction ratio
It is possible to provide a recording device with a high degree of effect.
You.

[0078]

[0079]

[0080]

[0081]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view taken in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view taken in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a view taken in the direction of arrow C in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a view taken in the direction of arrow D in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line EE of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a carriage drive system.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view of a main gear.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view of a reversing gear.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory view of a screw gear.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of a main gear.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the relationship between a main gear, a screw gear, and a reversing gear.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a configuration around a recording apparatus.

FIG. 14 is a timing chart of a unidirectional recording operation sequence.

FIG. 15 is a timing chart of another direction recording operation sequence.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory view of a second embodiment.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory view of a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a perspective view of an example of a conventional carriage drive system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 2 recording head 3 carriage 8 transport roller 11 main gear (first rotating member) 11b second wheel gear 13 screw 13a screw gear (third rotating member) 14 reversing gear (second rotating member) 15 DC motor 21 first worm gear 56a, 60, 62a First wheel gear 56b, 61, 62b Second worm gear

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-63-254254 (JP, A) JP-A-4-31073 (JP, A) JP-A-4-288264 (JP, A) 127451 (JP, U) Fully open 1986-32845 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 19/20 B41J 19/00 B41J 23/02

Claims (11)

(57) [Claims] A driven mechanism to be used when 1. A performs recording on a recording medium, a recording apparatus having a driving force transmission means for transmitting a driving force for driving the driven mechanism from a drive source, front listen The power transmission means includes: a first worm gear ;
The first worm gear meshes with the first worm gear.
First wheel gear having a rotation axis orthogonal to the rotation axis
And a second worm gear, and the second worm gear
The second worm gear meshes with a rotation orthogonal to the rotation axis of the second worm gear.
And a second wheel gear having a rotation axis, a driving force
A recording apparatus wherein a transmission direction is changed twice in a direction orthogonal to the transmission direction . 2. The first worm gear is connected to the first worm gear.
2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a driving force is transmitted from the gear. 3. The recording apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein a rotation axis of the first wheel gear and a rotation axis of the second worm gear are coaxial . Claim 3, characterized by being configured integrally wherein the first wheel gear the second worm gear
The recording device according to claim 1. 5. The first worm gear is connected to the first worm gear.
The recording apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the recording apparatus has a structure that can be divided and connected to an eel gear. 6. A recording apparatus according to any one of the driven mechanism to the claims 1, characterized in that a carriage for mounting the record means 5. 7. A rotating body rotatable in forward and reverse directions for reciprocating the carriage along a conveyance path of the recording medium, a driving source rotatable in one direction, and driving from the driving source. the first rotary member and said first second rotary member can take a state of not receiving a transmission state and the driving force receiving a transmission of the driving force from the rotating member for transmitting force
If a path has a third rotary member, for transmitting a driving force from the first rotary member as a rotational force of the rotating parts forward direction through said second rotary member, said first wherein a driving force from the first rotary member that and a path for transmitting a rotational force in the reverse direction to the rotating member via the second rotating member and the third <br/> rotary member The recording device according to claim 6, wherein: 8. The carriage is disposed on the rotating body.
The recording apparatus according to claim 7 , further comprising a pin that engages with the groove, and that reciprocates according to forward / reverse rotation of the rotating body . 9. The recording apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the recording apparatus is an ink jet recording system in which the recording unit performs recording by ejecting ink according to a signal. 10. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording unit supplies a current to the electrothermal converter in accordance with a signal, and performs recording by discharging ink using thermal energy of the electrothermal converter. The recording apparatus according to claim 9, wherein: 11. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording means supplies a current to the electrothermal transducer in response to a signal, and ejects ink from an ejection port to perform recording by growing bubbles generated by heating by the electrothermal transducer. The recording apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the recording apparatus is an inkjet recording method.