JP3387728B2 - Portable inkjet printer - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a portable inkjet printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, it has been known to provide a casing with a gripping member for making an ink jet printer portable. As such, for example, as described in JP-A-63-299962,
In an inkjet recording apparatus including a recording head having a plurality of nozzles for ejecting ink in a predetermined direction, a grip member having a grip portion extending in parallel with the predetermined direction is provided.

[0003]

However, in such a case, when the power is turned off during printing, the casing is housed in the casing, and the grasping member is grasped for carrying, the moving direction of the recording head becomes substantially horizontal. Therefore, the recording head may move and rattle due to a change in state during carrying. Therefore, in order to prohibit the free movement of the recording head which causes such rattling, a lock mechanism is required for fixing the recording head in a predetermined state when carrying it.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a portable ink jet printer which does not require a lock mechanism for preventing the head from freely moving during carrying.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a print head for ejecting ink droplets from nozzles, a carriage on which the print head is mounted, and a carriage moving means for reciprocating the carriage in a predetermined direction. And a protective cap unit having a protective cap provided on one side in the moving direction of the carriage and covering the printing surface of the print head, the portable ink jet printer housed in a casing, wherein the carriage moving means is provided. Is configured such that the carriage is in a free state when power supply is cut off, and a portable handle member is provided on a portion of the casing opposite to the side where the protective cap unit is disposed. It is assumed that it is configured.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the carriage on which the print head is mounted becomes free by cutting off the power supply. However, if the portable handle member is held for carrying, the print head can be held. As long as the carriage moves downward due to its own weight, the print surface (nozzle surface) of the print head is covered by the protective cap of the protective cap unit located below, and the handle member is gripped. That state is maintained.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the portable ink jet printer of the first aspect, a stand leg is provided on a portion of the casing on the same side as the protective cap unit.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the portable handle member is grasped and carried, but even if it is lowered at any place in the middle of carrying it, the ink jet printer is It is stably supported by the stand leg located on the side, and the state that the print surface (nozzle surface) of the print head is covered with the protective cap of the protective cap unit is maintained.

[0009]

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

FIG. 1 showing the appearance of an inkjet printer.
2 showing the basic structure, the inkjet printer 1 has a casing 3 in which a handle member 2 for carrying is provided, and a printer frame (not shown) arranged in the casing 3, A cylindrical platen roller 4 is rotatably supported by a rotary shaft extending in the left-right direction. The platen roller 4 conveys the print paper 5 supplied from the paper feed cassette or the manual paper feed unit while facing the ink jet print head 6 and constitutes a part of the paper feeding device. The printing paper 5 is supplied in the direction of arrow A from a paper supply port (not shown) on the rear side, and arrow C is supplied by rotation B of the platen roller 4.
It will be sent in the direction of.

On the right side of the printing area corresponding to the platen roller 4, there is formed a recovery area in which a recovery device RM for recovering the non-ejection or defective ejection of the print head 6 is arranged. Such a recovery device RM is provided because the ink jet type print head 6 is ejected due to, for example, bubbles being generated inside the ink jet head or ink droplets adhering to the ejection surface during use. This is because a defect is caused, so that this is recovered to a good ejection state.

As the recovery device RM, as shown in detail in FIGS. 3 to 5, a wiping device 2 having a wiping member 21 for wiping the nozzle surface of the print head 6.
2. A purging device 23 that sucks residual ink in the print head 6, and a protective cap device 24 that covers the nozzle surface of the print head 6 when printing is not performed to prevent ink evaporation and prevent the nozzle surface from drying. A protective cap unit) is provided.

The portable handle member 2 is provided on a portion of the casing 3 opposite to the side where the protective cap device 24 is provided. Also, of the casing 3,
Stand legs 8, 8 are provided on the same side as the protective cap device 24.

A carriage 7 is provided in front of the platen roller 4 so as to be movable in the direction of arrow D along the axis of the platen roller 4. The carriage 7 includes, in addition to the print head 6, an ink cartridge 9 that contains ink to be supplied to the print head 6 (four colors in this example).
Each is detachably mounted. Further, the carriage 7 is slidably inserted into a carriage shaft 10 provided in parallel with the axis of the platen roller 4, so that the print head 6 mounted on the carriage 7 moves along the axis of the platen roller 4. It is possible to reciprocate by sliding.

The carriage moving means for reciprocating the carriage 7 is driven by a carriage driving motor 11.
The carriage 7 is configured to be driven via a belt drive mechanism having a belt 12 and pulleys 13 and 14. The carriage drive motor 11 is in a free state when the power is turned off and the power supply is cut off.
As a result, the carriage 7 on which the print head 6 is mounted also becomes free.

The purging device 23 is movable between a projecting position projecting in the moving path of the print head 6 and a standby position retracted from the moving path of the print head 6, and has a suction cap 25 covering the print head 6. When the print head 6 is connected to the cap 25 of the cap device and the print head 6 is covered with the suction cap 25 at the protruding position, a negative pressure is generated by the suction pump 26 to suck the residual ink in the print head 6. In this way, a good ejection state is recovered.

The suction cap 25 is supported by a front end portion of a cap holder 27, a suction passage is formed in the cap holder 27, and one end portion of a suction tube 28 extending to the suction pump 26 is connected to the suction passage. There is. A rear end portion of the cap holder 27 is engaged with a cam portion of the cam member 31, and the cam member 31 causes the purging device 23 to operate.
The drive of is controlled.

The suction pump 26 has a suction cap 25.
A waste ink tank in which one end of a discharge tube 29 is connected to the suction pump 26 and the other end of the discharge tube 29 accommodates an adsorbent 30a. It is connected to 30. Therefore, the residual ink in the nozzle of the print head 6 sucked through the suction tube 28 by the suction pump 26 is discharged through the discharge tube 29 to the waste ink tank 30, and then sucked by the adsorbent 30 a in the waste ink tank 30. It is like this.

The wiping member 21 of the wiping device 22 is moved forward and backward, the suction cap 25 is moved forward and backward, and the suction pump 2 is moved.
The driving of 6 is controlled by rotating a rotatably supported cam member 31. That is, the rear end portion of the wiper holder 41 that holds the wiping member 21,
By engaging the rear end of the cap holder 27 that supports the suction cap 25 and the rear ends of the drive shafts 44 and 45 of the pair of pistons 42 and 43 of the suction pump 26 with the cam grooves of the cam member 31, respectively. Each is controlled, and a series of recovery operations are performed by controlling in this way. The wiper holder 41 is slidably supported by the frame member together with the cap holder 27. The cam member 31 is rotatably driven by a drive unit such as a drive motor of the paper feeding device when necessary.

Further, a guide rod 51 is provided in the waste ink tank 30 so as to be parallel to the moving direction of the carriage 6, and the protective cap device 2 is attached to the guide rod 51.
4 is slidably and rotatably supported.

The protective cap device 24 is provided with a movable housing 52, and the movable housing 52 is engaged with an engaged portion 7a formed on the carriage 7 in a disengageable manner.
When the engaging portion 52a is engaged with the engaged portion 7a of the carriage 7, the moving housing 52 follows the movement of the carriage 7 (protective cap device 2).
4) slides along the guide rod 51. At the same time, the movable housing 52
Has a guide convex portion 52b that projects rearward at approximately the center of the rear side in the left-right direction, and when the movable housing 52 slides, a guide portion 53 that is positioned rearward and is integrally formed with the waste ink tank 30 is provided. Due to the engagement with the guide inclined surface 53a, the guide rod 51 is rotated toward the print head 6 side about the rotation center.

By rotating in this manner, the protective cap device 24 can move between the protruding position protruding into the moving path of the print head 6 and the standby position retracted from the moving path of the print head 6. And a protective cap 54 that covers the nozzle surface of the print head 6 at the protruding position.

With the above construction, the carriage drive motor 1 is turned off by turning off the power supply and cutting off the power supply.
1 is in a free state, and the carriage 7 is also in a free state. Therefore, if the casing 3 is closed to store the handle member 2 and the handle member 2 is held for carrying, the carriage 7 including the print head 6 is self-weighted. The carriage 7 automatically moves to the side of the protective cap device 24, which is located below, that is, on the lower side.

At this time, as in the case of being moved to the recovery device RM side by the carriage moving means (carriage drive motor 11) at the normal time, the carriage 7 is attached to the engaging portion 52a of the movable housing 52 of the protective cap device 24. The movable housing 52 (protective cap device 24) slides along the guide rod 51 following the movement of the carriage 7 as a result of engaging with the engaged portion 7a in a disengageable manner. Guide convex portion 52b and guide portion 5
3 is engaged with the guide inclined surface 53a, the guide rod 51
Is rotated to the print head 6 side. By this rotation, the print head 6 is covered with the protective cap 54 and the evaporation of ink from the nozzle surface is prevented.

As described above, the state in which the print surface (nozzle surface) of the print head 6 is covered with the protective cap 54 of the protective cap device 24 is maintained as long as the handle member 2 is held.

Further, although the handle member 2 is grasped and carried, and even if the handle member 2 is lowered and placed at any place in the middle of the carrying, the ink jet printer 1 is supported by the stand leg 8 located on the lower side. It is stably supported, and the state in which the print surface (nozzle surface) of the print head 6 is covered with the protective cap 54 of the protective cap device 24 is maintained.

[0027]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the carriage is brought into a free state by cutting off the power supply, and a portable handle is provided on a portion of the casing opposite to the side where the protective cap unit is disposed. Since a member is provided, if you hold the portable handle member for carrying, the carriage moves downward due to the weight of the carriage including the print head, and the print surface of the print head is protected by the protective cap of the protective cap unit. It becomes possible to cover, and it is possible to eliminate the risk of the carriage moving carelessly when carrying it.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the ink jet printer is provided with a stand leg located on the lower side even when the portable handle member is grasped and carried and is put down at any place. Can be stably supported.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a portable inkjet printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the internal structure of a portable inkjet printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a horizontal sectional view of a recovery mechanism of the portable inkjet printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a state protected by a protective cap.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 inkjet printer 2 Handle member 3 casing 6 print head 8 stand legs 11 Carriage drive motor 24 Protective cap device (protective cap unit) 54 Protective cap

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued Front Page (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 29/00 B41J 2/01 B41J 3/36 B41J 29/54 B41J 29/13

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A print head for ejecting ink droplets from nozzles, a carriage on which the print head is mounted, carriage moving means for reciprocating the carriage in a predetermined direction, and one side of the moving direction of the carriage. In a portable ink jet printer provided with a protective cap unit having a protective cap provided to cover the print surface of the print head, the carriage moving means is configured to cut off the power supply to the carriage. Is configured to be in a free state, and a portable handle member is provided on a portion of the casing opposite to the side on which the protective cap unit is disposed, the portable ink jet printer characterized by the above-mentioned. Printer. 2. The portable ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein a stand leg is provided on a portion of the casing on the same side as the protective cap unit.