JP3391977B2 - Recording device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention mounts a replaceable or detachable print member such as an ink holding member, a recording head or a recording head integrated with an ink holding member, which is used in a recording apparatus, on a movable carriage. Recording device In particular, the present invention is the replacement of the printing member, or
The present invention relates to a practically effective configuration for attachment and detachment.

The present invention can be used as various types of terminals or as a printer independently, and its application is flexible.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art A replaceable or removable ink ribbon cassette, ink tank, and
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-255473 filed by the applicant of the present application as an invention that improves the operability of a user who can replace or attach a printing member such as a recording head on a serial moving type carriage. In the publication, an invention is disclosed in which, in the carriage scanning direction, the printing member from the carriage is not replaced at the end portion, but is replaced within an inner region apart from the end portion.

On the other hand, the operation panel of a general recording apparatus is
Usually, it is attached to the exterior of the main body of the device to allow the recording device to be operated from the outside. This operation panel is provided with a power supply key and a recovery processing key for operating a printing member, for example, in an inkjet printer as one of recording devices, for performing suction of an inkjet head and discharging of ink by driving, for centralized processing. Possibly each key is placed adjacent.

[0005]

It is conceivable to provide the operation panel of the conventional recording apparatus with operation keys for exchanging the above publications, but this setting causes a new problem. For example, when an inkjet printer is taken as an example, the frequency of the normal power-on / off and the above recovery processing is relatively high compared to the frequency of replacement or attachment / detachment of the inkjet print member with respect to the carriage. The frequency of operating the key is quite high. At this time, there is a new problem that the operation keys for exchanging the keys are inadvertently operated when the other keys are operated because the keys are densely present.

As described above, if the exchange key of the ink jet print member is operated in addition to the necessary operation,
Not only the effect of the key that should be operated originally cannot be obtained, but also waste of time due to the unnecessary movement of the carriage and waste of ink consumption (partial small recovery) when the carriage returns to the end are caused. As a result, the inkjet printing itself will be delayed. Therefore, solving this new problem is important.

Further, in general, when a plurality of electrical connection elements are attached to an electric circuit board or the like, it is usual to attach each of the plurality of elements in the same direction. When trying to transmit the pressing force from the switch buttons arranged on the parts of different surfaces to the element, the transmission mechanism has become complicated.

On the other hand, since the ink jet printer is required to be downsized, there is almost no extra space for the mechanism other than the carriage movement area. Collecting the operation keys on the operation panel is an effective configuration from this viewpoint. However, in consideration of the occurrence of the above new problem, there has been a demand for solving the above problem and further solving the above problem while achieving miniaturization of the printer.

The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the above-described conventional techniques, and a switching mechanism and a switching mechanism capable of preventing malfunction, waste of ink, and waste of time. It is an object of the present invention to realize a recording device and an inkjet printer that use the.

[0010]

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording apparatus for recording using a recording head, a casing, a carriage for detachably mounting the recording head, and a reciprocating movement of the recording head, and the casing. An accommodation space that is disposed inside the body and accommodates a reciprocating region of the carriage, a cover member that opens and closes at least a part of the accommodation space with respect to the outside of the housing, and a relative position of the cover member with respect to the housing. And an operation section for moving the carriage to a replacement area for allowing the recording head to be attached to and detached from the carriage, the opening section communicating with the outside of the housing and at least a part of the accommodation space formed by the mechanical displacement. And, wherein the operation unit can be manually operated from outside the housing through the opening.

In this case, the recording head may be an ink jet recording head which ejects ink from an ink ejection port.

Further, the recording head may be provided with an electrothermal converter that generates thermal energy used for ejecting ink. Further, a capping position for capping the recording head may be set on the movement path of the carriage.

Further, the operation section may be arranged outside a moving range of the carriage from the capping position to the exchange area.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The inventors of the present invention have previously achieved the miniaturization of an apparatus by installing a recording medium ejecting means in the vicinity of a carriage when replacing an inkjet print member from a carriage. The present invention provides an invention that solves the problem of contact between the head and the transport system that occurs when performing. First,
Since this configuration includes the embodiment of the present invention,
This point will be briefly described.

A schematic configuration of a printer as an embodiment according to the present invention will be described first with reference to FIGS. Figure 1
2 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of the printer 1, FIG. 2 is a front view of the printer 1, and FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of the printer 1.

The printer 1 having an automatic feeding device is composed of a paper feeding unit 2, a paper feeding unit 3, a paper discharging unit 4, a carriage unit 15, and a cleaning unit 6. Therefore, these are divided into items and the outline is described sequentially. (A) Paper Feeding Unit The paper feeding unit 2 is configured such that the pressure plate 21 on which the recording sheets P are stacked and the feeding rotating body 22 that feeds the sheet material P are attached to the base 20. A movable side guide 23 is movably provided on the pressure plate 21 to regulate the stacking position of the recording paper P. The pressure plate 21 is rotatable about an axis coupled to the base 20, and the pressure plate spring 24 causes the feeding rotary member 2 to rotate.
It is urged to 2. A separation pad 25 made of a material having a large friction coefficient, such as an artificial leather, which prevents double feeding of the recording paper P is provided at a portion of the pressure plate 21 that faces the feeding rotating body 22. Further, the base 20 covers a corner in one direction of the recording paper P, and a separation claw (not shown) for separating the recording papers P one by one, and for separating a thick paper or the like that cannot use the separation claw. A bank portion (not shown) integrally formed on the base 20, a switching lever 28 for switching so that the separation claw operates at the plain paper position and does not operate at the thick paper position, the pressure plate 21, and the feeding rotary member 22. A release cam 29 that releases the contact is provided.

In the above structure, the release cam 29 pushes down the pressure plate 21 to a predetermined position in the standby state. As a result, the contact between the pressure plate 21 and the feeding rotary body 22 is released. Then, in this state, the driving force of the conveying roller 36 is changed by the gear or the like to the feeding rotating body 22 and the release cam 29.
Release cam 29 separates from the pressure plate 21, the pressure plate 21 rises, the feeding rotating body 22 and the recording sheet P come into contact with each other, and the recording sheet P is picked up as the feeding rotating body 22 rotates. The paper is started, separated one by one by the separating claw, and sent to the paper feeding unit 3. The feeding rotating body 22 and the release cam 29 rotate until the recording sheet P is fed into the sheet feeding unit 3, and the contact state between the recording sheet P and the feeding rotating body 22 is released again, and the conveyance roller 36 is set. The driving force from is cut off. (B) Paper Feeding Section The paper feeding section 3 has a carrying roller 36 for carrying the recording paper P and a PE sensor (not shown). A pinch roller 37 that is driven is provided in contact with the transport roller 36. The pinch roller 37 is held by the pinch roller guide 30,
By biasing the pinch roller spring 31, the pinch roller 37 is brought into pressure contact with the transport roller 36 to generate a transport force of the recording paper P. Further, an upper guide 3 for guiding the recording paper P is provided at the entrance of the paper feeding unit 3 to which the recording paper P is conveyed.
3 and a platen (not shown) are provided. Further, the upper guide 33 is provided with a PE sensor lever (not shown) that transmits the detection of the leading edge and the trailing edge of the recording paper P to the PE sensor. Further, a head cartridge 7 that forms an image based on image information is provided on the downstream side of the conveying roller 36 in the recording sheet conveying direction.

In the above structure, the recording paper P sent to the paper feeding unit 3 is guided by the platen, the pinch roller guide 30 and the upper guide 33, and is conveyed by the conveying roller 36 and the pinch roller 3.
7 is sent to the roller pair. At this time, the PE sensor lever detects the leading edge of the conveyed recording paper P, and thereby obtains the printing position of the recording paper P. In addition, the recording paper P
Is conveyed on the platen by rotating the roller pairs 36 and 37 by an LF motor (not shown).

The head cartridge 7 uses an easily replaceable ink jet recording head integrally formed with the ink tank. This recording head can apply heat to the ink by an electrothermal converter such as a heater. Then, the heat causes the ink to film-boil, and the pressure change caused by the growth or contraction of the bubbles due to the film-boiling causes the ink to be ejected from the nozzle 70 of the recording head as shown in FIG. An image is formed on. (C) Carriage Section The carriage section 15 has a carriage 50 to which the head cartridge 7 is attached. And the carriage 50
Is a guide shaft (not shown) for reciprocating the recording paper P in the direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the recording paper P, and the carriage 50.
Holding the upper rear end of the head cartridge 7 and the recording paper P
It is supported by a guide rail 82 that maintains a gap with the. The guide shaft and the guide rail 82 are attached to the chassis 8. Also, the carriage 5
0 is driven via a timing belt 83 by a carriage motor (not shown) attached to the chassis 8. This timing belt 83 is provided with an idle pulley 84.
It is stretched and supported by. In addition, the carriage 5
0 is provided with a flexible substrate 56 as shown in FIG. 5 for transmitting a head signal from the electric substrate 9 to the head cartridge 7. In the above configuration, when an image is formed on the recording paper P, the roller pair 36, 37 conveys the recording paper P to the line position (the position in the conveyance direction of the recording paper P) for image formation, and at the same time, the carriage 50 is driven by the carriage motor. Position for forming images on the paper (position perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the recording paper P)
To move the head cartridge 7 to the image forming position. After that, the head cartridge 7 ejects ink toward the recording paper P in response to a signal from the electric substrate 9 to form an image. (D) Paper Discharging Section In the paper discharging section 4, the transmission roller 40 is in contact with the conveying roller 36, and the transmission roller 40 is in contact with a paper discharging roller (not shown). Therefore, the transport roller 36
Driving force is transmitted to the paper discharge roller via the transmission roller 40. Further, a spur 42 is in contact with the paper discharge roller so as to be rotatable following the paper discharge roller. With the above-described configuration, the recording paper P on which an image is formed by the carriage unit 15 is sandwiched by the nip between the paper discharge roller and the spur 42, conveyed, and discharged to a paper discharge tray or the like (not shown). (E) Cleaning Section The cleaning section 6 includes a pump 60 for cleaning the head cartridge 7, a cap 61 for suppressing the drying of the head cartridge 7, and the transport roller 36.
And a drive switching arm 62 for switching the driving force from the sheet feeding unit 2 and the pump 60. When the drive switching arm 62 is not for feeding and cleaning, the planetary gear (not shown) that rotates around the shaft center of the transport roller 36 is fixed at a predetermined position.
No driving force is transmitted to. When the drive switching arm 62 is moved in the direction of arrow A by moving the carriage 50, the planetary gear becomes free, so that the planetary gear moves in accordance with the forward rotation and the reverse rotation of the transport roller 36, and the transport roller 36 moves forward. The driving force is transmitted to the sheet feeding section 2 when the sheet is rotated, and the driving force is transmitted to the pump 60 when the sheet is rotated reversely.

Next, details of main parts of the discharge roller corresponding to the discharge means of the carriage portion 15 and the discharge portion 4 according to the present embodiment will be described.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the carriage portion 15 (a).
Before the head cartridge 7 is completely installed, (b)
Indicates the state of being completely attached. FIG. 6 shows the carriage unit 1.
5 is a plan view of FIG. FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of the contact portion 503 (see FIG. 5A) of the carriage portion 15 and the like. FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of the main part of the head cartridge 7 attachment / detachment mechanism, FIG.
(B) is a front view. 9A and 9B are views for explaining the configuration of the head cartridge 7 fitting pin 505 of the carriage 50, and FIGS. 9A and 9B show fitting pins provided at different positions. 10A and 10B are views for explaining the assembled state of the tip portion 562 of the flexible substrate 56, FIG. 10A is a state in which the tip portion 562 is assembled, and FIG.
(C) is for explaining the tip insertion process.

As shown in FIG. 5, the head cartridge 7
The attachment / detachment part includes a carriage 50, a head holder 51, a base cover 52, a hook lever 53, and a contact spring 5.
4, hook cover 55, flexible substrate 56, FIG.
As shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 5, the head holder 51 is a guide 501 provided on the carriage 50 (see FIG. 7).
The head cartridge 7 is mounted along the above so as to slide to the left and right. Head holder 51
Includes a guide portion 51 for guiding the head cartridge 7.
1, and a side plate 502 that is vertically set on the carriage 50.
A pressing portion (see FIG. 8) 512 for pressing the head cartridge 7 is provided on the contact surface 503 and the positioning surface 504. There are three positioning surfaces on the side plate 502 of the carriage. Two points are arranged on the base plate 72 near the nozzle 70 of the head cartridge 7, and one point is arranged above the ink tank 73 of the head cartridge 7. The contact surface 503 of the head cartridge 7 and the carriage 50 is configured to be located inside the triangle formed by the three points of the positioning surface 504. The pressing position of the pressing portion 512 of the head holder 51 is inside this triangle. In addition, the pressing portion 51 of the head holder 51
A guide arm 513 is provided at a position facing each other,
The guide arm 513 acts on the head 7 when the head cartridge 7 is separated from the contact surface 503. The side plate 502 of the carriage 50 is provided with a rib 509 which also serves as a guide when the head cartridge 7 is attached / detached, and protects a contact surface 561 and the like of a flexible substrate 56, which will be described later, and blinds them (see FIG. 7).

In the head cartridge 7 of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, a guide 74 is provided on the side surface of the ink tank 73 and is mounted along the upper surface of the guide arm 513. Then, at a predetermined position where the head cartridge 7 is mounted, the guide 7 of the head cartridge 7
4, a concave portion 75 is provided, and a convex portion 514 as a restricting means is provided at a corresponding position of the head holder 51. Further, the bottom surface of the head cartridge 7 is provided with a convex portion 76, and the corresponding receiving portion of the head holder 51 is provided with a concave portion 515 corresponding to the convex portion 76. Accordingly, when the head cartridge 7 is mounted, the nozzle surface 70 does not hit the platen or the like, and the head cartridge 7 is not damaged. Then, a click feeling at the time of wearing is obtained, and the wearing feeling is improved. In addition, the protrusion of the head holder 51 causes the head cartridge 7 to be caught.
When the head cartridge 7 is attached or detached,
It is possible to eliminate the feeling of instability such as misalignment after mounting.

As shown in FIG. 5, the hook lever 53 is rotatably attached to the side plate 502 of the carriage 50. A contact spring 54 is provided at the center of rotation of the hook lever 53, and the hook lever 53 is moved in the direction of arrow A.
(See FIG. 3). The hook cover 55 is attached so as to cover the hook lever 53, and holds the hook lever 53 so as not to come off from the carriage 50. As shown in FIG. 8, the hook lever 53 and the head holder 51 respectively have cams 516 and 531 that abut against each other, and the head holder 51 is configured to move in the arrow B direction by the rotation of the hook lever 53. There is. The biasing force of the contact spring 54 acts as a pressing force on the head cartridge 7 of the head holder 51 via the hook lever 53.

A fitting pin 505 for positioning the head cartridge 7 is provided on the side plate 502 of the carriage 50.
a and b are provided. As shown in FIGS. 7 and 9, two fitting pins 505a and 505 are provided corresponding to the fitting holes 77a and 77b of the base plate 72 of the head cartridge 7. The base plate 72 of the head cartridge 7 shown in FIG. 4 is configured to be inclined from the driving of the head cartridge 7 by about 1 ° to 4 ° with respect to the scanning direction of the carriage unit 15. In order to correspond to the inclined fitting hole 77, one of the fitting holes 77 of the base plate 72 of the head cartridge 7 is made into a square hole 77a, and a corresponding fitting pin 505a on the carriage 50 side is partially cylindrical. It was a square pin having. Further, the fitting pin 5 on the carriage side corresponding to the round hole 77b
The portion of 05b which is an undercut due to the mold configuration of the carriage is removed so that the head cartridge 7 can be fitted to the positioning surface 504 of the carriage. By doing so, the head cartridge 7 can be accurately and smoothly positioned with respect to the inclined base plate 72 without requiring a complicated mold structure.

As shown in FIG. 7, the side plate 5 of the carriage 50.
The contact surface 503 (FIG. 5) provided on the No. 02 has a rubber pad 57 made of an elastic body such as silicon rubber having a rubber hardness of 30 ° to 50 ° (JIS standard) for making electrical contact with the head cartridge 7. . Then, the contact portion 561 of the flexible substrate 56 is provided thereon. Rubber pad 57, flexible substrate 56
Are positioned by a positioning pin 506 provided on the side plate 502 of the carriage 50. A slit 563 is provided on the opposite side of the contact portion 561 of the positioning portion of the flexible board 56,
The contact portion 561 is not affected by deformation or the like in assembly of No. 6. The tip 562 of the contact portion 561 of the flexible substrate 56 is thin according to the shape of the base plate 72 of the head cartridge, and the hook portion 562 is provided at the end portion (see FIG. 10). As described above, by forming the contact portion 561 into a triangular shape and reducing the number of contact pads toward the tip, the forming of the signal line is facilitated and the density can be increased. further,
Processing of the tip portion 562 of the flexible substrate 56 is facilitated. The side plate 502 of the carriage 50 is provided with a slit hole 507 into which the tip portion 562 of the flexible substrate 56 is inserted. As shown in FIG. 10B, the tip portion 562 is bent and inserted into the slit hole 507. After passing through the slit hole 507, as shown in (c) of FIG. 10, the tip portion becomes straight and is not caught because it is caught. With this configuration, the tip portion is free and the contact surface 561 of the flexible substrate 56 does not have rigidity, so good contact can be made with the contact surface of the head cartridge 7. When the head cartridge 7 is mounted, the contact surface 503 of the carriage 50 enters the cutout portion 79 of the base plate 72 of the head cartridge 7, and contacts the contact surface 78 on the substrate formed inside the cutout portion 79.

As shown in FIG. 5, the flexible substrate 56.
Is drawn along the side plate 502 of the carriage 50, folded vertically and fixed to the carriage 50 by the base cover 52. At this time, the flexible substrate 56 is provided with the temporary fixing convex portion 563, and the flexible substrate 56 can be fixed by fixing the convex portion 563 to the carriage 50. Therefore, when the base cover 52 is attached, the assembly is efficiently performed. It can be performed. Further, the base cover 52 is provided with positioning holes for the rubber pad 57 and the flexible substrate 56, and a holding portion 521 for preventing the fitting portions from coming out from the pins 506 on the carriage 50. Further, the head cartridge 7 of the present invention is provided with a recess 731 for escaping the protrusion of the positioning pin 506 and the pressing portion 521 of the base cover 52. Therefore, since the length of the positioning pin 506 and the thickness of the pressing portion 502 of the base cover 52 can be increased, the rubber pad 57 and the flexible substrate 56 can be positioned and prevented from coming off securely. Flexible board 5
6 is fixed to the chassis 8 by a flexible fixing plate 85, its curvature is changed according to the position of the carriage portion 15,
A head drive signal from the electric board 9 is transmitted to the head cartridge 7 in response to the movement of the carriage portion 15 (see FIGS. 2 and 3).

With the above structure, the head cartridge 7 can be easily attached to and detached from the carriage portion 15, held, positioned, and electrically contacted.

Next, the operation of replacing the head cartridge 7 will be described. When the ink in the head cartridge is exhausted, or when the color recording head cartridge or the like needs to be replaced when used, the operator presses a predetermined head cartridge replacement key switch. Normally, the head cartridge is retracted at the capping position, but this causes the carriage to move to the head cartridge replacement position.

FIG. 5 shows a front view of the carriage portion 15 at the time of attachment / detachment. When mounting the head cartridge 7, by rotating the hook lever 53 upward as shown in the drawing, the head holder 51 is moved to the left side in the figure (that is, the left side of the printer main body) so that the head cartridge 7 can be mounted. (FIG. 5 (a)). In this state, the head cartridge 7 is attached to the head holder 51, and the hook lever 53
When is rotated downward, the head holder 51 moves to the right side together with the head cartridge 7, and the head cartridge 7 is positioned and electrically contacted (see FIG. 5).
(B)). In this state, an image can be formed on the recording paper P. Further, the head cartridge 7 is attached to the carriage portion 15
To remove the head holder 51, the hook lever 53 is rotated upward as shown in FIG. 5A to move the head holder 51 to the left. As a result, the guide arm 513 of the head holder 51 pushes the head cartridge 7 to the left, so that the head cartridge 7 is removed from the contact portion of the carriage portion 15. In this state, the operator can take out the head cartridge 7 perpendicularly to the sliding direction of the head holder 51. At this time, at the head cartridge replacement position, a recess 41a as shown in FIG. 1 is provided on the circumference of the paper discharge roller at a position facing the face surface of the head cartridge 7. The depth is 0.5 mm, and the width is larger than the sum of the width of the face surface of the head cartridge 7 and the amount of slide required for removing the fitting of the head cartridge 7. Therefore, it is possible to further reduce the risk of the operator rubbing the face surface of the head cartridge 7 against the paper discharge roller, and to prevent the deterioration of the recording quality due to the damage to the face surface of the head cartridge. Further, as described above, even when the operator mounts the new head cartridge 7, there is little risk of rubbing the face surface of the head cartridge 7. Then, when the hook lever 53 is rotated downward as shown in FIG. 5A, the head holder 51 moves to the right side together with the head cartridge 7, and the head cartridge 7 is positioned and electrically contacted. After the replacement of the head cartridge 7,
When the operator presses the key switch for replacing the head cartridge again, the carriage returns to the capping position and capping is performed.

An upper portion of the carriage 50 is provided for adjusting a gap between the head cartridge 7 and the recording sheet P.
A paper interval adjusting unit 58 is provided (see FIG. 6). The paper interval adjusting unit includes an adjusting lever 581, a pressure contact lever 582, a pressure contact spring 583, and a top cover 584.

The adjusting lever 581 has a pin inserted into a hole provided in the carriage 50 and is rotatable. The adjusting lever 581 has a polygonal sliding surface 585 having a different distance from the rotation center of the adjusting lever according to the number of positions between sheets. The pressing lever 582 is the carriage 5
It is possible to rotate around the pin provided on the
The sliding surface 585 of the adjusting lever 581 is urged to the guide rail 82 by 3. Sliding surface 58 of adjusting lever 581
By changing the number 5, the carriage 50 rotates about the guide shaft, so that the distance between sheets can be changed. The top cover 584 is fixed to the carriage 50 with claws on both sides, and holds an adjustment lever 581, a pressure contact lever 582, and the like. Further, the lever tip portion of the adjusting lever 581 has elasticity, and the adjusting lever 581 is fixed in correspondence with the groove 586 of the top cover 584 to form a predetermined sheet interval.

The carriage portion 15 has a guide shaft mounted on the chassis 8 and bearings of the carriage 50, and a guide rail 82 also mounted on the chassis 8.
The adjustment lever 581 and the pressure contact lever 582 can be slid to reciprocally scan. A timing belt 83 is attached to the back surface of the carriage 50. The timing belt 83 is suspended on a pulley (not shown) mounted on the shaft of a carriage motor mounted on the chassis 8 and an idle pulley 84 which is mounted on the chassis 8 and stretches the timing belt 83 (FIG. 2). reference).

Here, the positional relationship will be briefly described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4 described above.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the ink jet printer. The front cover 105 as an opening / closing member is in a closed state of covering the printer, and what can be visually judged is the power key 101 which is the first pressing portion, The reset key 102 for resetting the inkjet print member forms the exterior operation area with the LED lamps 103, 104 for displaying each. Reference numeral 112 denotes a drawer type tray that receives a recorded recording medium. The structure that can be further confirmed in FIG. 4 is a discharging unit composed of a discharging roller which is a discharging region of the recording medium. In FIG. 2, which should be compared with FIG. 4, the front cover 105 is in an open state, and the carriage 15 and an end region of the moving area of the carriage are provided in a replacement area where the inkjet print member can be attached to and detached from the carriage. (This is an area in which the carriage is covered with the shielding member 106 and the inkjet print member is substantially prohibited from being taken out from the carriage.) To a replacement area where the inkjet print member can be attached to and detached from the carriage. The operation key 100 (second pressing portion) for moving the carriage is released. The operation key 100 has a moss-green bright color different from the peripheral portions of gray and white, and is larger than the operation keys 101 and 102. The operation key 100 is located above the moving range of the carriage and is about 50 mm from the end of the carriage 15 in the exchange area in the figure (30 mm from the exchange area in the moving direction of the carriage.
It is sufficient if the positions are apart from each other. ) It is located far away, improving operability.

In summary of this constitution, a scanning type carriage carrying an ink jet print member and moving,
At least the moving means for moving the carriage from the end area of the moving area of the carriage to the exchange area where the inkjet print member can be attached to and detached from the carriage, and at least the opening / closing member for opening / closing the exchange area. In the inkjet printer, the moving means is manually operated only when the opening / closing member is opened by an operation key provided at a position where the opening / closing member is housed in the printer in a closed state and can be operated in the opened state. It is an inkjet printer characterized by the above. With this configuration, it is possible to prevent the carriage from being moved to the replacement area unnecessarily, and it is possible to assume that the opening / closing cover is opened when the replacement or the attachment / detachment is performed.
Operability can be further improved.

Next, referring to FIG. 3 and FIGS. 11 to 14,
In contrast to the keys 101 and 102 of the operation unit that are always exposed to the outside, the operation key 100 is the exposure key 10 of the operation unit.
A lever portion (121, 110) that is operated in a direction (arrows 115, 120) different from that of 1, 1 and 102 and is displaced by the operation of the key 100 and the exposure keys 101, 102.
The elastic deformation region (124,
117) is provided and the lever portion itself is provided as an integrated unit (FIG. 14A) so that it can be individually displaced.

The switching mechanism described below has three members shown in (a), (b) and (c) of FIG. 14 for performing the pressing operation of the respective switches 111A and 111B122 in the apparatus housing. is there.

FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the apparatus including a plane perpendicular to the plane of the drawing including the line AA of FIG. 8 (a). Note that FIG.
The schematic diagram of the apparatus cross section including the plane perpendicular to the plane of the drawing including the line BB in (a) is also the same as FIG.

6 and 7 are schematic sectional views of the apparatus including a plane including the line CC of FIG. 8A and perpendicular to the paper surface.

In FIG. 11, the protrusion 105A of the printer body
Elastic deformation region 117 of the lever 110 that is always in contact with
Is the key 10 with respect to the rotation center axis 109 of the lever 110.
When 1 is pushed in the direction of arrow 115, the lever 110 is deformed when it rotates, and the switch 11A or the switch 1
Press 11B. After that, the lever is returned to the state of FIG. 3 by the elastic force generated by the deformation. Switch 11
1 generates a signal by one operation of this lever and sends the signal to a control means (not shown). The key 101 can rotate about a rotation center 107A supported by a shaft 107 of the printer body, and transmits a force to a receiving portion 108 of a lever 110 through a protrusion 106 as a pressure receiving portion.

In FIGS. 12 and 13, the replacement operation key 100 of the inkjet print member is such that the elastic deformation region 124 of the lever 121, which is always in contact with the protrusion 125 of the printer body, is the key 10 with respect to the rotation center axis 123 of the lever.
When 0 is pushed in the direction of arrow 120, the lever 121 is deformed when it is rotated and pushes the switch 122. After that, the lever is returned to the state of FIG. 12 by the elastic force generated by the deformation. The switch 122 generates a signal by one operation of this lever and sends the signal to a control means (not shown). The key 100 can rotate about a rotation center shaft 127 supported by a shaft holding portion of the printer body.
00A is transmitted to the receiving portion 121B of the lever 121. This receiving portion has a protrusion 121A serving as a pressure receiving portion which also serves as a stopper, and prevents it from coming off.

As shown in FIGS. 14 (a), 14 (b) and 14 (c), the lever configurations corresponding to the respective three switches are integrated to perform the same displacement. The example achieves downsizing of the device by simplifying the configuration.

Specifically, the mechanical portion for transmitting the operation of the key 101 to the switch 110A and the mechanical portion for transmitting the operation of the key 102 to the switch 110B are connected by a connecting portion 128, and these are connected to the key 100. The mechanical portion that transmits the operation to the switch 122 is connected by a connecting portion 129. Since each mechanical part including each connecting part is configured so that the key operation is not transmitted to the adjacent mechanical part,
One key operation will not be transmitted to switches other than the corresponding switch and will not be operated erroneously.

FIG. 15 is a flow chart using the above operation keys, and shows an example in which the printer is controlled according to this flow without any explanation. What should be noted in this flowchart is that when the power is turned on, the key operated first has priority.
Obviously, it is particularly effective in such a case.

[0047]

According to the present invention, the carriage is moved to an ink jet print member exchange or exchange area provided at a position where the opening / closing member is stored in the printer and can be operated in the open state. By the operation key, the above-mentioned opening / closing member is manually operated only in the open state,
It is possible to eliminate wasteful malfunction, waste of ink, and waste of time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of the overall configuration of a printer as an embodiment to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a printer as an embodiment to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of a printer as an embodiment to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a printer as an embodiment to which the present invention is applied.

5A and 5B are front views of the carriage portion of the printer according to the embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 5A shows a state before the head cartridge 7 is completely attached, and FIG. 5B shows a state in which the head cartridge 7 is completely attached.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the carriage unit of the printer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of a contact portion or the like of the carriage portion of the printer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of a main part of a head attaching / detaching mechanism of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which (a) is a plan view,
(B) is a front view.

9A and 9B are views for explaining the configuration of the head fitting pin of the printer of the embodiment according to the present invention, and FIGS. 9A and 9B are enlarged views of the fitting pin provided at different positions. .

FIG. 10 is a view for explaining a built-in state of a flexible substrate tip portion of the printer of the embodiment according to the present invention,
(A) is a state where the tip portion 562 is incorporated, and (b) and (c) are explanatory views of the tip portion insertion process.

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of the key according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of the key in the example of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of the key in the example of the present invention.

14 (a) to (c) are top views showing a key link structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing an operation performed by operation keys according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 printer 2 paper feeder 3 paper feed section 4 Paper output section 6 Cleaning section 7 head cartridge 8 chassis 9 Electric board 15 Carriage part 36 Conveyor rollers 37 pinch rollers

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued Front Page (72) Inventor Tetsuo Suzuki 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (56) Reference JP-A-60-19577 (JP, A) JP-A-6 −15832 (JP, A) (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 2/01 B41J 2/175 B41J 29/38

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A recording apparatus for recording using a recording head, a housing, a carriage for removably mounting the recording head and reciprocating the carriage, and a reciprocating carriage arranged inside the housing. An accommodating space that accommodates a moving region, a cover member that opens and closes at least a part of the accommodating space with respect to the outside of the casing, and the outside of the casing formed by relative displacement of the cover member with respect to the casing An opening communicating with at least a part of the accommodation space, and an operation unit for moving the carriage to an exchange area that allows the recording head to be attached to and detached from the carriage. A recording apparatus, which can be manually operated from outside the housing through an opening. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording head is an inkjet recording head that ejects ink from an ink ejection port. 3. The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the recording head includes an electrothermal converter that generates thermal energy used for ejecting ink. 4. The recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a capping position for capping the recording head is set on a movement path of the carriage. 5. The recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the operation unit is arranged outside a moving range of the carriage from the capping position to the exchange area.