JP3781115B2 - Recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To achieve more appropriate printing quality by adequately adjusting a PG without a user's operation in a printer that adjusts the PG in multiple stages. <P>SOLUTION: A carriage guide shaft 5 is pivotally supported on a position eccentric from a rotational center of a lever-like member 21, and then the PG is varied by the rotation of the lever-like member 21. A first rotating means for rotating the lever-like member 21 has a link rod 23 operating by cooperating with a paper discharge stacker 11 and rotates in a large angle by the reciprocating operation of the link rod 23. A slot hole 23a is formed on the tip portion of the link rod 23 and a projection 22 is inserted into the slot hole 23a with a play. A second rotating means for rotating the lever-like member 21 has a cam gear 25 and can rotate in a small angle in the range of relative movement of the projection 22 in the slot hole 23a by the rotation of the cam gear 25. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus that performs recording on a recording material, typified by a FAX, a printer, or the like.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Hereinafter, an ink jet printer (hereinafter referred to as “printer”) as one of the recording apparatuses will be described as an example. The printer includes a recording head for ejecting ink at the bottom of the carriage. The carriage reciprocates in the main scanning direction while being guided by a carriage guide shaft provided in parallel with the main scanning direction.
[0003]
Here, since the distance between the nozzle surface of the recording head and the printing surface (paper gap: hereinafter referred to as “PG”) varies depending on the thickness of the recording material, PG is set according to the type of recording material. It is desirable that the configuration is adjustable. Therefore, in general, the printer is provided with a gap adjusting means for adjusting PG.
[0004]
The gap adjusting means adjusts PG by displacing the carriage guide shaft up and down. More specifically, bush members are mounted on both ends of the carriage guide shaft, and the bush members are rotatably provided on a frame member that supports the carriage guide shaft. Here, the center of rotation of the bush member is set at a position deviated from the axis of the carriage guide shaft, so that when the bush member rotates, the carriage guide shaft is displaced vertically.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, as the types of recording materials, there are, for example, plain paper, plain paper that is slightly thicker than the plain paper, board paper or optical disc that is thicker than these plain paper, and all of these. In a conventional printer capable of printing, the PG is configured to be manually switched by a user operation. That is, there is an operation lever, and the bush member is rotated stepwise by switching the operation lever stepwise, thereby adjusting PG. Therefore, in such a conventional printer, the PG switching operation is troublesome, and there is a possibility that an appropriate PG is not set for the recording material to be printed. In particular, in plain paper and plain paper that is slightly thicker than the plain paper, there may be a lack of recognition of the necessity of switching PG, and the user can appropriately specify the paper type on the printer driver side, but the printer body On the side, an appropriate PG adjustment operation is not performed, and an appropriate print quality may not be obtained.
[0006]
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of such problems, and the problem is that a printer that adjusts the PG in multiple stages can be appropriately adjusted by adjusting the PG appropriately without the user's operation. It is to obtain print quality.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problem, a first embodiment of the present invention provides a guide shaft provided in parallel to the main scanning direction, a frame member that supports the guide shaft, and the guide shaft in the main scanning direction. A carriage that is guided and includes a recording head that performs recording on the recording material; and a gap adjustment unit that adjusts a gap between the recording head and the recording material by displacing the guide shaft in the vertical direction. In the recording apparatus, the gap adjusting means is attached to the shaft end portion of the guide shaft, and the frame member is centered on a rotation center provided at a position deviated from the axis of the guide shaft. A lever-like member that is rotatably provided, a first turning means for turning the lever-like member at a large angle, a second turning means for turning the lever-like member at a small angle, With the front A first rotating means is provided in the lever-like member so as to engage with the protruding portion provided at a position away from the turning center of the lever-like member, and at the tip portion, and is operated by a piston operation. A link rod for rotating the lever-like member, and the engaging portion of the link rod with the protrusion is formed by a long hole for loosely inserting the protrusion, whereby the lever-like member However, it is characterized in that it can be turned by the second turning means within a range in which the protrusion moves relatively in the elongated hole.
[0008]
According to the first embodiment, the gap between the recording head and the recording material (hereinafter referred to as “PG”) can be adjusted with a large amount of displacement, and the long hole formed in the link rod. Thus, it is possible to further finely adjust the PG automatically after the PG has been largely adjusted, and accordingly, appropriate recording quality can be obtained by appropriately adjusting the PG without depending on the user's operation.
[0009]
That is, for example, in a recording apparatus capable of recording on a thin recording material such as plain paper and a thick recording material such as board paper, it is necessary to largely adjust the PG between the plain paper and the board paper. Yes, in this case, the PG can be adjusted by the first rotating means for rotating the lever-like member at a large angle. The first rotating means is configured to rotate the lever-like member by causing the link rod to perform a piston operation, and the engaging portion between the link rod and the lever-like member is the lever. And a long hole formed in the link rod for loosely inserting the protrusion.
[0010]
And after adjusting PG largely by the said 1st rotation means, since the said projection part is loosely inserted in the said long hole, the said protrusion part carries out relative movement in the said long hole. Thus, the PG can be adjusted to be small by another rotating means, that is, the second rotating means.
[0011]
In other words, two rotating means can be provided for one lever-like member, and when one rotating means (second rotating means) is operated, the long hole is used. Does not affect the other rotation means (the first rotation means), so that the configuration is not complicated, and means for easily rotating the lever-like member at a large angle, Means for rotating at an angle can be provided.
[0012]
As described above, after the PG is largely adjusted by the first rotating means, the PG can be automatically and finely adjusted further by the long hole and the second rotating means. Regardless, appropriate recording quality can be obtained by adjusting PG appropriately.
[0013]
According to a second embodiment of the present invention, in the first embodiment described above, the second follower is provided at a position separated from the turning center of the lever-like member, and the cam follower. A rotating cam that rotates the lever-like member by engaging with and rotating, a cam rotating means that rotates the rotating cam, and a direction in which the cam follower is in pressure contact with the rotating cam. And an urging means for urging and urging the lever-like member.
[0014]
According to the second embodiment, the second rotating means is engaged with the cam follower portion provided at a position separated from the rotation center of the lever-like member, and rotates with the cam follower portion. As a result, a rotating cam for rotating the lever-shaped member, a cam rotating means for rotating the rotating cam, and a biasing force of the lever-shaped member in a direction in which the cam follower portion is in pressure contact with the rotating cam. Since it is a structure provided with the urging means, the second rotating means can be configured with a simple structure at a low cost by such a cam structure.
[0015]
According to a third embodiment of the present invention, in the second embodiment, the rotating cam includes a cam gear provided with a first gear portion and a second gear portion provided in two stages in the axial direction. The cam rotation means is provided integrally, the first planetary gear meshing with the first gear portion, the second planetary gear meshing with the second gear portion, the first and first planetary gears. A planetary gear unit provided between the two planetary gears and meshed with the first and second planetary gears, the planetary gear unit being the entire unit around the sun gear. And the meshing state between the first gear part and the first planetary gear and the meshing state between the second gear part and the second planetary gear can be switched. The planetary gear unit includes the sun gear slidably on the shaft end of the shaft body, In addition, by sliding in the axial direction as a whole unit, the whole unit can be switched between a non-restricted state in which the unit is rotatable and a restricted state in which the rotation of the unit as a whole is restricted. And a switching operation between the constrained state, a shaft urging means for urging the planetary gear unit in the axial direction, and a carriage for sliding the planetary gear unit against the urging force of the shaft urging means; It is characterized by being realized by.
[0016]
According to the third embodiment, the second rotating means is configured to rotate the lever-like member by meshing the planetary gear unit and the cam gear, and the planetary gear unit is Since the planetary gear unit provided so as to be slidable in the axial direction is configured to switch between the meshing state and the non-meshing state with the cam gear when the carriage slides, the existing configuration is thus configured. By operating the second rotation means using a carriage as an element, the cost of the recording apparatus can be reduced without increasing the number of components.
[0017]
According to a fourth embodiment of the present invention, in the third embodiment, the shaft body is a shaft of a discharge roller that discharges a recording material.
According to the fourth embodiment, since the shaft body is a shaft of a paper discharge roller that discharges the recording material, the shaft of the paper discharge roller as an existing component is used in this way. Thus, the cost of the recording apparatus can be reduced without increasing the number of components.
[0018]
According to a fifth embodiment of the present invention, in any one of the first to fourth embodiments, a discharge stacker that stacks recording materials that have been recorded and discharged is rotated. Accordingly, the inclination angle of the stack surface can be changed, and the link rod is configured to perform a piston operation in conjunction with the rotation operation of the paper discharge stacker.
[0019]
According to the fifth embodiment, the link rod constituting the first turning means is configured to perform a piston operation in conjunction with the turning operation of the paper discharge stacker for stacking the recording materials. Therefore, the user can be surely set to an appropriate state in association with the inclination angle of the stack surface without the user being aware of the PG, and an appropriate recording result can be obtained.
[0020]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First, the configuration of the printer 100 will be outlined with reference to FIG. Here, FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an apparatus main body of an ink jet printer (hereinafter abbreviated as “printer”) 100 as a “recording apparatus” according to the present invention.
[0021]
The base of the printer 100 is constituted by the center frame 2 and the side frames 3 and 4. The center frame 2 is erected in parallel with the main scanning direction, and the side frames 3 and 4 are erected so as to be orthogonal to the center frame 2 at both ends of the center frame 2.
[0022]
The printer 100 feeds the recording material from the rear of the apparatus (upper left of FIG. 1) to the front of the apparatus (lower right of FIG. 1), and discharges the printed recording material from the front of the apparatus (FIG. 1). The sheet feeding device (not shown) is attached to the rear side of the center frame 2. A conveyance driving roller 8 extending in parallel with the main scanning direction is provided on the front side of the center frame 2 so as to be rotationally driven, and a conveyance driven roller (following rotation is pressed against the conveyance driving roller 8 from above). The recording material is conveyed at a constant pitch to the lower part of the carriage 1 by the rotation of the conveyance driving roller 8 while the recording material is sandwiched between the recording material and the recording medium.
[0023]
Next, the carriage 1 is disposed on the front side of the center frame 2. The carriage 1 has a substantially box shape and accommodates an ink cartridge (not shown) therein. An ink jet recording head (not shown) is provided below the carriage 1, ink is supplied from the ink cartridge to the recording head, and printing is performed by ejecting ink droplets from the recording head.
[0024]
Subsequently, the carriage 1 is reciprocated in the main scanning direction during the printing operation. The carriage 1 is provided so as to pass through a carriage guide shaft 5 extending between the side frames 3 and 4 and extending in the main scanning direction, and reciprocates in the main scanning direction while being guided by the carriage guide shaft 5. A carriage motor (not shown) is attached to the side of the side frame 3 on the back side of the center frame 2, a drive pulley (not shown) attached to the rotation shaft of the carriage motor, and the side frame 4. A drive belt 6 is wound around a driven pulley (not shown) provided on the side. The carriage 1 is fixed to a part of the drive belt 6, whereby the rotation operation of the carriage motor is converted into a reciprocating operation of the carriage 1 in the main scanning direction.
[0025]
A platen 9 is provided at the lower part of the carriage 1, and the recording material conveyed is supported from below by the platen 9. The distance (paper gap: hereinafter referred to as “PG”) between the recording material supported from below by the platen 9 and the recording head provided at the bottom of the carriage 1 depends on the thickness of the conveyed recording material. Therefore, in order to obtain an appropriate recording result, it is necessary to adjust the PG according to the thickness of the recording material to be conveyed. In FIG. 1, the gap adjusting means indicated by reference numeral 20 is for adjusting the PG, and the PG is adjusted by displacing the carriage guide shaft 5 in the vertical direction. The detailed configuration of the gap adjusting means 20 will be described later.
[0026]
Next, on the front side of the carriage 1, a paper discharge stacker 11 for stacking recording materials that have been printed and discharged is provided. The paper discharge stacker 11 includes a stacker base portion 11a and a drawer portion 11b accommodated in the stacker base portion 11a, and the drawer portion 11b is pulled out from the stacker base portion 11a so that a wide stack surface 11e is formed. Yes. On the other hand, the stacker base portion 11a is rotatable (openable and closable) about the rotation fulcrums 11c and 11d. The drawer portion 11b rotates with the stacker base portion 11a accommodated therein and stands substantially vertically. In this state, the storage state can be taken.
[0027]
Here, the paper discharge stacker 11 in the printer 100 is a “first state” in which thin flexible recording materials such as plain paper and OHP sheets (hereinafter collectively referred to as “plain paper”) are stacked. (The state shown in FIG. 1) and a thick non-flexible recording material represented by a tray or the like on which board paper or an optical disk is set (a curved feeding path is used) Recording materials that cannot be recorded: These are collectively referred to as “board paper”, and the “second state” in which the sheets are stacked or fed, can be in two states. .
[0028]
More specifically, the paper discharge stacker 11 stacks plain paper or the like in a first state (see FIG. 5B) in which the stack surface 11e forms a slightly inclined surface (upward state in the paper discharge direction). Next, the rotation fulcrums 11c and 11d are slidable upward, and after the discharge stacker 11 is rotated so as to stand substantially vertically around the rotation fulcrums 11c and 11d, the discharge stacker 11 is moved. When it is slid upward and rotated in the opening direction again, as shown in FIG. 5A, the paper discharge stacker 11 is displaced upward, and the stack surface 11e becomes substantially horizontal (second state). ). Accordingly, this makes it possible to feed board paper or the like from the stack surface 11e.
[0029]
That is, the paper discharge stacker 11 can exhibit two functions: a function as a paper discharge stacker for stacking discharged normal paper and the like, and a function as a paper feed tray for manually feeding board paper and the like. It is configured like this.
[0030]
The above is the outline of the printer 100. Hereinafter, the configuration of the gap adjusting unit 20 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 is an external perspective view of the gap adjusting means 20, FIGS. 3 and 4 are external perspective views of the main part of the gap adjusting means 20, and FIG. 5 is a front view (operation explanatory diagram) of the gap adjusting means 20. 6 is a plan view of the cam gear 25. FIGS. 7 to 10 are front views for explaining the operation of the gap adjusting means 20. FIG.
[0031]
First, the configuration of the gap adjusting means 20 will be outlined. As shown in FIG. 2, the gap adjusting means 20 is provided with a lever-like member 21 so as to be rotatable along a vertical plane formed by the side frame 4. The shaft end 5a of the carriage guide shaft 5 is inserted at a position deviated from the rotation center 21a of the lever-like member 21 (see FIG. 7). That is, the axis of the carriage guide shaft 5 and the rotation center 21a of the lever-shaped member 21 do not coincide with each other. Therefore, when the lever-shaped member 21 rotates, the height position of the carriage guide shaft 5 is displaced, Therefore, PG can be adjusted.
[0032]
Next, the gap adjusting means 20 is a “first turning means” for turning the lever-like member 21 at a large angle, and a “second turning means” for turning the lever-like member 21 at a small angle. The two rotating means are provided. The first rotating means rotates the lever-like member 21 at a large angle, so that PG changes greatly. Therefore, the first rotating means is used to switch between printing on plain paper or the like and printing on board paper or the like. The “second rotating means” rotates the lever-like member 21 at a small angle, so that the PG changes small, and therefore the printing of two recording materials having slightly different thicknesses on plain paper or the like is switched. This is used for fine adjustment of PG when the print quality is not good.
[0033]
Hereinafter, the first rotating means will be described. In FIG. 2, the first rotating means rotates the lever-like member 21 via the link rod 23. More specifically, a protrusion 22 is provided at a position away from the rotation center 21 a in the lever-like member 21. The link rod 23 has a long hole 23a at its tip, and is provided so as to allow the protrusion 22 to be loosely inserted into the long hole 23a. 21 rotates.
[0034]
The other tip of the link rod 23 is attached to the tip of a lever 14 constituting a stacker rotation transmission part 13 (described later) via a shaft 14b. Here, the stacker rotation transmission unit 13 performs the switching operation from the first state to the second state (or from the second state to the first state) of the paper discharge stacker 11 described above. The lever 14 is rotated about the shaft 14 a in accordance with the switching operation of the paper discharge stacker 11. Then, since the tip end portion of the link rod 23 is attached to the lever 14, the link rod 23 operates as a piston to rotate the lever-like member 21 at a large angle.
[0035]
FIGS. 5A and 5B show the relationship between the lever-like member 21, the link rod 23, and the paper discharge stacker 11 at this time. As shown in FIG. When in the first state, the cam surface 21 b as the “cam follower portion” of the lever-like member 21 is in a state of being in pressure contact with the cam surface 27 a formed on the cam 27. When the switching operation of the paper discharge stacker 11 is performed from this state, the stacker rotation transmission unit 13 operates, the link rod 23 operates to rotate the lever-shaped member 21 counterclockwise in FIG. The state shown in FIG. 5A (the second state of the paper discharge stacker 11) is obtained. In the state of FIG. 5A, the lever-like member 21 receives the spring force of the torsion coil spring 39 shown in FIG. 2 and is urged to rotate counterclockwise in FIG. Yes. Similarly, in the state shown in FIG. 5B, the cam surface 21b of the lever-like member 21 is pressed against the cam 27 by receiving the spring force of the torsion coil spring 39 (clockwise in FIG. 5). It is in a state of being urged to rotate.
[0036]
Therefore, as described above, the PG is greatly changed by performing an operation of switching the paper discharge stacker 11 from the first state to the second state or from the second state to the first state. Accordingly, the user can automatically switch to an appropriate PG for both plain paper and board paper without being particularly conscious of PG adjustment, and thus can reliably obtain good print quality.
[0037]
Next, returning to FIG. 2, the second rotating means for rotating the lever-like member 21 at a small angle will be described. The second rotating means rotates the lever-like member 21 via the cam gear 25. The cam gear 25 is rotated by receiving power from the planetary gear unit 31 as “cam rotating means”.
[0038]
First, the configuration of the cam gear 25 will be described. The cam gear 25 is formed by integrally forming a cam 27 on a gear having teeth on the outer periphery as shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, and freely rotates on the side frame 4 around the rotation shaft 26. It is provided as possible.
[0039]
The cam 27 is formed by providing notches at two locations on the disk. That is, the cam surfaces 27a and 27b are formed as flat surfaces, and the cam surfaces 27a and 27b are a distance a from the rotation center to the cam surface 27a and a distance from the rotation center to the cam surface 27b. b is formed so as to satisfy a <b (the reason will be described later).
[0040]
As shown in FIG. 6, the first gear portion 25 a and the second gear portion 25 b are formed on the outer periphery of the cam gear 25 in a two-stage shape in the direction of the rotation axis of the cam gear 25 (the front and back direction in FIG. 6). Has been. The first gear portion 25a is formed on the back side of the cam gear 25 (the back side when the gap adjusting device 20 is viewed from the front), and the second gear portion 25b is formed on the near side, and the first gear portion 25a. Both the second gear portion 25b and the second gear portion 25b are in a partially geared state in which teeth are not formed over the entire circumference. As shown in FIG. 6, the first gear portion 25a and the second gear portion 25b are formed in a state having a predetermined phase difference.
[0041]
On the other hand, a cam surface 21 b that can be engaged with the cam 27 is formed on the lever-like member 21 side. As described above, since the cam surface 21b is in pressure contact with the cam 27, the cam surface 21b switches between an engaged state with the cam surface 27a and an engaged state with the cam surface 27b as the cam gear 25 rotates.
[0042]
Here, since the cam surface 27a and the cam surface 27b have different distances from the rotation center of the cam gear 25 as described above, the lever-like member 21 is in a state where the cam surface 21b is engaged with the cam surface 27a. By switching between the state where the cam surface 21b is engaged with the cam surface 21b, the cam surface 21b rotates at a small angle, so that PG changes slightly.
[0043]
Next, the configuration of the planetary gear unit 31 will be described with reference mainly to FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state where unnecessary components are removed from FIG. 2 in order to make the configuration of the planetary gear unit 31 easy to understand.
The planetary gear unit 31 has three gears: a sun gear 33 and a first planetary gear 34 and a second planetary gear 35 that mesh with the sun gear 33 and the planetary gear 33 around the sun gear 33. is doing. The sun gear 33 is slidably attached to the shaft end of the paper discharge roller shaft 32 as a “shaft”, and is rotated by the rotation of the paper discharge roller shaft 32 and slides in the axial direction of the paper discharge roller shaft 32. You can do that. The paper discharge roller shaft 32 is rotationally driven by a common drive motor with the transport drive roller 8 (see FIG. 1).
[0044]
Next, in the casing 31a, the first planetary gear 34 is disposed slightly on the back side when the gap adjusting means 20 is viewed from the front, and the second planetary gear 35 is disposed on the near side. This is arranged corresponding to the positional relationship between the first gear portion 25a and the second gear portion 25b which are formed in the cam gear 25 so as to have two stages in the axial direction, and accordingly, the planetary gear unit. As the entire unit 31 rotates about the paper discharge roller shaft 32, the first planetary gear 34 can mesh with the first gear portion 25a, and the second planetary gear 35 can mesh with the second gear portion 25b. It is like.
[0045]
More specifically, in the planetary gear unit 31, when the paper discharge roller shaft 32 rotates, the entire planetary gear unit 31 (housing 31a) rotates about the paper discharge roller shaft 32, for example, FIG. When the entire planetary gear unit 31 rotates in the counterclockwise direction, the first planetary gear 34 meshes with the first gear portion 25a. In FIG. 5A, when the entire planetary gear unit 31 rotates clockwise, the second planetary gear 35 meshes with the second gear portion 25b. When the paper discharge roller shaft 32 rotates in each meshing state, the cam gear 25 rotates through the sun gear 33 and the planetary gear 34 or 35.
[0046]
Next, since the sun gear 33 can slide in the axial direction of the paper discharge roller shaft 32, the planetary gear unit 31 as a whole can slide in the axial direction of the paper discharge roller shaft 32. The planetary gear unit 31 is normally biased to the back side (upper right direction in FIG. 3) by a biasing means (not shown). Further, the housing 31a is formed with a carriage engaging portion 36 as shown in the figure, and can be engaged with the carriage 1 when the carriage 1 shown in FIG. 1 moves to the gap adjusting means 20 side. It is like. That is, the carriage 1 can slide the planetary gear unit 31 to the near side (lower left direction in FIG. 3) against the urging means.
[0047]
Here, in a state where the discharge roller shaft 32 is urged to the back side by the urging means, the entire planetary gear unit 31 (housing 31a) is not rotated with respect to the cam gear 25 by a locking means (not shown). It is locked in a possible state (constrained state of the planetary gear unit 31). Conversely, when the carriage 1 is slid to the front side, the lock is released (unconstrained state of the planetary gear unit 31). The entire planetary gear unit 31 (housing 31a) is configured to be rotatable.
[0048]
Hereinafter, the operations of the planetary gear unit 31, the cam gear 25, and the lever-like member 21 will be described with reference to FIGS. First, FIG. 7 shows a state where the cam surface 21b and the cam surface 27a are engaged, that is, a state of “small PG”. From this state, as described above, the planetary gear unit 31 is slid to the front side in FIG. 7 by the carriage 1, and the planetary gear unit 31 is rotated in the clockwise direction in FIG. As shown in FIG. 8, the second planetary gear 35 is engaged with the second gear portion 25b.
[0049]
Then, the carriage 1 is retracted and the planetary gear unit 31 is slid in the reverse direction in FIG. 7 to lock in the state shown in FIG. 8 (the state where the second planetary gear 35 and the second gear portion 25 are engaged). Is done.
[0050]
Next, when the rotation of the cam gear 25 is started by the rotation of the paper discharge roller shaft 32, the lever-like member 21 is once pushed upward by the cam 27 as shown in FIG. In this state, the cam surface 21b is engaged with the cam surface 27b, that is, a state of “large PG”. Thereafter, the planetary gear unit 31 is slid again in the surface direction of FIG. 9 by the carriage 1, the paper discharge roller shaft 32 is rotated in the unlocked state, and the planetary gear 35 is moved from the second gear portion 25 b. It will be in a evacuated state.
[0051]
Next, when returning to the “PG small” state again, after the planetary gear unit 31 is unlocked by the carriage 1, the planetary gear unit 31 rotates counterclockwise, as shown in FIG. The first planetary gear 34 and the first gear portion 25a are engaged with each other. When the carriage 1 is retracted, the planetary gear unit 31 is locked in the state shown in FIG. 10, and the paper discharge roller shaft 32 is rotated in this state, so that the cam gear 25 is rotated in the clockwise direction. Thus, the cam surface 21b and the cam surface 27a are engaged again, that is, the “PG small” state shown in FIG.
[0052]
The micro switching operation of PG by the cam gear 25 as described above can be realized by the long hole 23 a formed in the link rod 23. That is, the lever-like member 21 is rotated at a large angle by the link rod 23, and thereby the PG is largely adjusted so that the optimum PG is obtained for each of the plain paper and the board paper. In a state where the protrusions 22 are not formed and are not loosely inserted, fine adjustment cannot be performed after switching the PG to one side. However, as shown in FIG. 7, since the protrusion 22 formed on the lever-like member 21 is loosely inserted into the long hole 23a, the lever-like member 21 is relatively movable within the long hole 23a. The lever-shaped member 21 can be rotated at a large angle by the first rotating means as described above, while the second rotating means can rotate the small angle. It is also possible to perform a rotating operation.
[0053]
In other words, it is possible to provide two rotation means, that is, the first rotation means and the second rotation means, with respect to one lever-like member 21 by the long hole 23a. When the means (second turning means) is operated, the other turning means (first turning means) is not affected at all. A first rotating means for rotating the lever-like member 21 at a large angle and a second rotating means for rotating at a small angle can be provided.
[0054]
And after adjusting PG largely by the 1st rotation means, it becomes possible to further finely adjust PG further automatically by the 2nd rotation means by the function which the long hole 23a plays, and this makes it possible for a user's operation. Regardless of this, it is possible to appropriately adjust the PG, and thus it is possible to always obtain an appropriate printing result.
[0055]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, the gap (PG) between the recording head and the recording material can be adjusted with a large displacement amount, and the PG is greatly adjusted by the long hole formed in the link rod. After that, the PG can be further finely adjusted automatically, whereby an appropriate recording quality can be obtained by appropriately adjusting the PG without depending on the user's operation.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an apparatus main body of a printer according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of a gap adjusting unit.
FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of a main part of a gap adjusting means.
FIG. 4 is an external perspective view of the main part of the gap adjusting means.
FIG. 5 is a front view (operation explanatory diagram) of gap adjusting means;
FIG. 6 is a plan view of a cam gear.
FIG. 7 is a front view of the gap adjusting means.
FIG. 8 is a front view of the gap adjusting means.
FIG. 9 is a front view of the gap adjusting means.
FIG. 10 is a front view of the gap adjusting means.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Carriage, 2 Center frame, 3, 4 Side frame, 5 Carriage guide shaft, 8 Conveyance drive roller, 9 Platen, 11 Paper discharge stacker, 13 Stacker rotation transmission part, 14 Link rod, 20 Gap adjustment apparatus, 21 Lever shape Member, 22 protrusion, 23 link rod, 23a long hole, 25 cam gear, 25a first gear, 25b second gear, 27 cam, 27a first cam surface, 27b second cam surface, 31 planetary gear unit, 31a Unit housing, 32 discharge roller shaft, 33 sun gear, 34 first planetary gear, 35 second planetary gear, 36 carriage engaging portion, 39 torsion coil spring, 100 inkjet printer

Claims (5)

A guide shaft provided parallel to the main scanning direction;
A frame member that pivotally supports the guide shaft;
A carriage that is guided in the main scanning direction by the guide shaft and includes a recording head for recording on a recording material;
A gap adjusting means for adjusting a gap between the recording head and the recording material by displacing the guide shaft in the vertical direction, and a recording apparatus comprising:
The gap adjusting means is attached to the shaft end portion of the guide shaft, and is provided to be rotatable on the frame member about a rotation center provided at a position deviated from the axis of the guide shaft. A lever-shaped member;
First rotating means for rotating the lever-like member at a large angle;
Second turning means for turning the lever-like member at a small angle,
A protrusion provided at a position in the lever-shaped member spaced from the rotation center of the lever-shaped member;
A link rod provided to engage with the projection at the tip, and rotating the lever-like member by a piston operation;
Since the engaging portion of the link rod with the protruding portion is formed by a long hole into which the protruding portion is loosely inserted, the lever-like member is within a range in which the protruding portion relatively moves within the long hole. The recording apparatus can be rotated by the second rotating means. The cam follower portion according to claim 1, wherein the second rotating means is provided at a position separated from the rotation center of the lever-shaped member;
A rotating cam for rotating the lever-like member by engaging with the cam follower and rotating;
Cam rotating means for rotating the rotating cam;
A biasing means for biasing the lever-like member in a direction in which the cam follower portion is in pressure contact with the rotating cam;
A recording apparatus comprising: In claim 2, the rotating cam is provided integrally with a cam gear in which the first gear portion and the second gear portion are provided in two stages in the axial direction,
A first planetary gear that meshes with the first gear portion;
A second planetary gear meshing with the second gear portion;
A planetary gear unit provided between the first and second planetary gears, and a sun gear meshing with the first and second planetary gears, the planetary gear unit comprising the sun gear By rotating as a whole unit around the gear, the meshing state of the first gear portion and the first planetary gear, and the meshing state of the second gear portion and the second planetary gear, Is configured to be switchable,
The planetary gear unit includes the sun gear slidably on the shaft end portion of the shaft body, and slides in the axial direction as the entire unit, so that the entire unit can rotate, and
It is configured to be switchable between a restrained state in which the rotation of the entire unit is restrained,
A shaft biasing means for biasing the planetary gear unit in the axial direction is a switching operation between the unconstrained state and the restrained state;
And a carriage that slides the planetary gear unit against an urging force of the shaft urging means. The recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the shaft body is a shaft of a paper discharge roller that discharges a recording material. In any one of Claims 1-4, the discharge stacker which stacks the recording material which was recorded and discharged is provided so that the inclination angle of a stack surface can be changed by rotating,
The link rod is configured to perform a piston operation in conjunction with a rotation operation of the discharge stacker.
A recording apparatus.

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