JP4400723B2 - Support leg, recording device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention is attached to the bottom surface of the device, the supporting leg device in contact with the installation surface to install supporting the apparatus and relates to a recording equipment having the same.

In various other devices including electronic devices, depending on the purpose of improving the sitting when the device is placed on the installation surface, the purpose of preventing slippage on the installation surface, or the purpose of absorbing vibration generated from the device, etc. In general, a support leg (what is called a “rubber foot”) is attached to the bottom of the apparatus.
The support legs have been conventionally devised in various ways in order to enhance the vibration absorption performance among the above-mentioned purposes (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 to 4).

  Among them, Patent Document 1 discloses a support leg (hereinafter referred to as “first support leg”) formed by integrating two types of rubbers having different hardnesses. This first support leg is hard on the grounding side, softens the side on which vibrations inside the equipment are applied, prevents the sag on the grounding side due to the weight of the device and supports the equipment stably, Anti-vibration performance is improved by softening the applied side.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a support leg (hereinafter referred to as “a bellows”) in which an attachment portion and a leg portion to the bottom wall of the apparatus are integrally formed by a hollow body having a bottom made of an elastic material. A second support leg ”). This second support leg is intended to further improve the vibration-proofing property, particularly by the bellows shape.

  Further, Patent Document 3 discloses a support leg having a mounting portion to the bottom of the device and a support portion, and a support leg (hereinafter referred to as “third support leg”) provided with a horizontally long hollow portion inside the support portion. Is disclosed). The third support leg has a spring property by the hollow portion, so that the height of the support leg can be changed, the apparatus can be stably installed on the installation surface without rattling, and vibration can be absorbed. It is a thing.

JP-A-5-131718 JP-A-6-26549 JP 2000-283388 A

  By the way, for example, in a small electronic device that is easy to carry, the electronic device is based on the premise that it is frequently used by changing the installation location rather than being continuously installed and used in a certain location. It is more appropriate to be designed. In particular, since the installation location may be changed while the electronic device is in operation, it is desirable that the support legs attached to the bottom of the device have further shock absorption. That is, for example, in a recording apparatus as an example of an electronic device, in particular, in an ink jet printer that performs recording by ejecting ink droplets onto printing paper as a recording medium, ink droplets are being ejected onto the printing paper. If a drop impact is applied, dot dropout or the like may occur and print quality may be significantly reduced.

  However, the conventional first to third support legs described above have been devised to further improve the absorbability of vibration generated from the device main body, but shock absorption when the device main body is placed on the installation surface. Sex is not considered. For example, in the first support leg, the rubber on the installation side interposed between the apparatus main body and the grounding surface is formed of a hard material to prevent sagging. When it is dropped, a strong impact is applied to the apparatus body. In addition, since the side to which the vibration inside the device is applied is formed of a soft material, the component supported by the soft material inside the device is protected from impact, but is not supported by the soft material. Is not protected from shock.

  In addition, it is assumed that the second support leg has a certain bellows shape, and the third support leg has the hollow portion, both of which are expected to obtain a certain level of shock absorption. If it is made of a soft material in order to obtain a further level of shock absorption, it tends to buckle when attached to the bottom of the equipment body, and the mounting workability is reduced. It becomes easy to come off from the mounting hole formed in the. Then, for example, when a force in a skid direction is applied to the device, the support leg is easily detached from the bottom of the device.

  Therefore, the present invention is to solve the problem that could not be achieved by the above-described prior art, that is, to obtain a support leg that can be firmly attached to the apparatus body while exhibiting excellent shock absorption. is there.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, a first aspect of the present invention is a support leg that is attached to the bottom surface of the apparatus and supports the apparatus in contact with the installation surface on which the apparatus is installed, and is in contact with the installation surface. A leg portion and a mounting portion that is coupled to the leg portion and projects toward the bottom surface of the device, and that fits into a mounting hole provided in the bottom surface of the device. The part is formed of a material harder than the leg part.

  According to the above aspect, the mounting portion provided on the bottom surface of the device has a leg portion in contact with the installation surface and a shape that is coupled to the leg portion and protrudes from the leg portion toward the bottom surface of the device. Since the mounting portion is formed of a material harder than the leg portion, the support leg configured to include the mounting portion to be inserted into the seat is provided when the mounting portion is inserted into the mounting hole. Since the bending portion or the like does not occur and the workability is easy, and the mounting state of the mounting portion with respect to the mounting hole can be strengthened, the support leg can be easily mounted even when a force in the side-sliding direction is applied to the device. It will not drop out. And on the other hand, since the said leg part can be formed with a soft material, it becomes possible to exhibit the outstanding impact absorption.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the attachment portion and the leg portion are integrally formed by two-color molding.
According to the said aspect, since the said attaching part and the said leg part are integrally formed by 2 color molding, the said support leg can be formed easily and at low cost.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect, the attachment portion and the leg portion are connected via a joint portion that forms an anchor shape capable of resisting a force in a direction in which the attachment portion and the leg portion are separated from each other. It is characterized by being connected.
According to the above aspect, each of the attachment portion and the leg portion is easily separated because the attachment portion and the leg portion are coupled via the coupling portion having an anchor shape capable of resisting the force in the direction of preventing the separation. Therefore, it is possible to improve the mechanical strength, in particular, the strength when a force in the skid direction is applied to the device.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to third aspects, the leg portion has a cylindrical shape so as to form a cavity with the grounding surface, The peripheral wall forming the cylindrical shape is configured to be elastically deformed when dropped on the installation surface.
According to the above aspect, the leg portion has a cylindrical shape so as to form a hollow portion with the grounding surface, and the peripheral wall forming the cylindrical shape is elastic when the device falls on the installation surface. Since it is configured to be deformed, the leg portion is easily deformed by the hollow portion, that is, the cylindrical shape, and more excellent shock absorption is exhibited and airtightness is maintained between the installation surface. Thereby, the said cavity part exhibits the function of an air cushion, and this can further improve a shock absorptivity.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a hollow portion extending in the axial direction of the cylindrical shape is formed in the peripheral wall forming the cylindrical shape so as to be localized in the circumferential direction of the cylindrical shape. Features.
According to the above aspect, since the hollow portion extending in the axial direction of the cylindrical shape is formed inside the peripheral wall forming the cylindrical shape so as to be localized in the circumferential direction of the cylindrical shape, an impact is generated. When added, the peripheral wall is more easily elastically deformed, and the shock absorption is further improved. On the other hand, since the hollow portion has a cylindrical shape extending in the axial direction, it is possible to minimize the sag when the device is supported.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to fifth aspects, the attachment portion has a Shore A hardness (according to ASTM D2240) of 70 to 90, and the leg portion has a Shore A hardness. (According to ASTM D2240) is 45 to 65.
According to the said aspect, the Shore A hardness of the said attachment part is 70-90, and the Shore A hardness of the said leg part is 45-65, and, thereby, the coupling | bonding state of the said attachment part with respect to the said attachment hole is strengthened. In addition, it is possible to exhibit excellent shock absorption by the soft leg portion.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording apparatus for recording on a recording medium, comprising the support leg described in any one of the first to sixth aspects at the bottom of the apparatus main body. It is characterized by.
According to the above aspect, the recording apparatus that performs recording on the recording medium includes the support leg described in any one of the first to sixth aspects on the bottom of the apparatus main body. To the sixth aspect, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of problems that cause a drop in recording quality such as missing dots even if the installation location is moved during recording. it can.

  According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects liquid onto a medium to be ejected. The support leg according to any one of the first to sixth aspects is provided at the bottom of the apparatus main body. It is characterized by being.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Here, FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an ink jet printer (hereinafter referred to as “printer”) 1 as an example of “recording apparatus” and “liquid ejecting apparatus” according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a housing member constituting the external appearance. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the lower housing 8 as viewed from below, FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the support leg 20, and FIG. 5A is a perspective view of the mounting portion 21 constituting the support leg 20. FIGS. 5A and 5B are perspective views of the leg portion 22 constituting the support leg 20, and FIGS. 6A and 6B are cross-sectional views of the support leg 20. 7A is a perspective view of the mounting portion 31 constituting the support leg 30 according to another embodiment, FIG. 7B is a perspective view of the leg portion 32 constituting the support leg 30, and FIG. ), (B) are cross-sectional views of the support legs 30, FIG. 9 is a graph showing the drop test results of the printer 1, and FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the support legs according to the prior art.

First, the configuration of the printer 1 will be outlined with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. The printer 1 is configured as a small size suitable for recording on a recording sheet such as a postcard having a relatively small size or an L size as an example of “recording medium” or “jetting medium”.
In the same way as an ink jet printer suitable for A4 size recording, this printer 1 reciprocates a feeding device (ASF) 2 capable of setting a plurality of recording sheets in an inclined posture at the rear of the device in the main scanning direction in the middle of the device. A carriage (not shown) provided with an ink jet recording head (not shown) provided movably is provided, and a stacker 13 for stacking recorded recording sheets is provided at the front of the apparatus. When not in use, the stacker 13 is in a stowed state in which it is erected substantially vertically as shown, and in use, the stacker 13 is opened to the front side of the printer and is in a use state in which recording sheets can be stacked (not shown).

  An operation unit 5 including a power button, a print setting button, and the like, and a display unit 4 for displaying print setting contents, current operation status, and the like are arranged at the center of the upper surface of the apparatus. Are provided with a card slot (not shown) in which a semiconductor memory medium (memory card) storing the above can be mounted, and an openable / closable cover 14 for covering the card slot. That is, the printer 1 not only connects to an external host computer and receives print data, but also reads image data directly from a memory card storing image data, generates print data, and executes printing by itself. It is configured to be possible.

  Next, the housing constituting the external appearance of the printer 1 is composed of a plurality of members as shown in FIG. The bottom of the apparatus body is constituted by the lower housing 8, and the upper part of the apparatus body is constituted by the upper housing 7. Then, a right housing 9 and a left housing 11 having a cap shape are mounted on the apparatus main body constituted by the lower housing 8 and the upper housing 7 so as to cap from the left and right sides, and the right decorative plate 10 and the left makeup are mounted on both sides. The plate 12 is fitted. In the lower housing 8, the stacker 13 is rotatably provided on the front side of the printer. Further, a handle 6 is rotatably attached to the right housing 9 and the left housing 11, so that the printer 1 can be easily transported by gripping the handle 6 during carrying. Even when the apparatus main body divided vertically by the lower housing 8 and the upper housing 7 is supported by the handle 6 in this way, the right housing 9 and the left housing 11 are configured to be capped from the left and right. The apparatus main body is not divided into upper and lower parts, and the safety during transportation (that is, the mechanical strength of the housing) is improved.

Next, the support legs 20 that support the printer 1 will be described in detail. As shown in FIG. 1, the support legs 20 are attached at four locations on the bottom surface of the printer 1 (lower housing 8), and support the printer 1 in contact with the installation surface F on which the printer 1 is installed.
As shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, the support leg 20 has a leg portion 22 that is in contact with the installation surface of the printer 1, and a shape that is coupled to the leg portion 22 and protrudes from the leg portion 22 toward the bottom surface of the printer 1. The mounting portion 21 is fitted into a mounting hole 8a (see FIG. 3) provided on the bottom surface of the printer 1 main body. Hereinafter, the shapes of the attachment portion 21 and the leg portion 22 will be described with reference to FIG. 5, but in this embodiment, each is integrally formed by two-color molding (details will be described later). Then, in order to illustrate the shape of each independently, each is drawn independently, and below, the shape and structure are demonstrated as each one component.

  In FIG. 5A, the attachment portion 21 includes a columnar portion 21b extending upward (bottom surface of the printer 1) from a pedestal portion 21c having a disk shape, and a locking member having a larger diameter than the columnar portion 21b formed at the upper end thereof. It has a portion 21a and an anchor portion 21d having a disk shape formed on the lower side of the pedestal portion 21b via connection portions 21e and 21e.

  The locking portion 21 a is formed to have a larger diameter than the inner diameter of the mounting hole 8 a formed on the bottom surface of the printer 1. Since the mounting portion 21 is formed to have a certain elasticity (details will be described later), when the locking portion 21a and the columnar portion 21b are fitted into the mounting hole 8a, the locking portion 21a and the columnar portion 21b are elastic. By being deformed, it fits into the mounting hole 8a, and the locking portion 21a returns to its original shape and locks to the peripheral edge of the mounting hole 8a, so that the support leg 20 does not fall off from the bottom surface of the printer 1. .

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 6, the leg portion 22 has a cylindrical shape (a cylindrical shape having a bottom portion, and a shape in which the bottom portion is turned down so that the bottom portion is on the upper side) so as to form a cavity portion 23 with the installation surface F. In the peripheral wall 22a, a cylindrical hollow portion 24 extending in the axial direction is formed so as to be localized in the circumferential direction as shown in FIGS. Further, holes 22b and 22b are formed in the upper part, and at the time of molding, the connecting portions 21e and 21e described above are formed in the portions of the holes 22b and 22b, and further, the anchor portion described above is formed in the hollow portion inside thereof. 21d is formed. Further, an anchor portion 22c is formed on the leg portion 22 side between the connection portions 21e and 21e.

  In the present embodiment, the attachment portion 21 and the leg portion 22 are integrally formed by two-color molding. When both are integrally formed by two-color molding, it is preferable to use the same material for each material from the viewpoint of bonding strength, but the material is not necessarily limited to this. In this embodiment, “Santoprene” (registered trademark name of Advanced Elastomer Systems) is used for both the attachment portion 21 and the leg portion 22.

  Here, since the support leg 20 is required to have excellent impact absorbability when the printer 1 is placed on the installation surface F or dropped, particularly the leg portion 22 in contact with the installation surface F exhibits rubber elasticity. A material is preferable, and a synthetic rubber (for example, EPDM (ethylene propylene rubber), silicon rubber, chloroprene rubber, etc.) is also suitable in addition to the thermoplastic elastomer such as santoprene in the present embodiment.

  On the other hand, the attachment portion 21 needs to maintain a strong attachment state to the attachment hole 8a formed on the bottom surface of the printer 1. That is, if a force in the side-sliding direction is applied to the printer 1, the support leg 20 may fall off from the mounting hole 8a. Therefore, it is appropriate to use a hard material for the mounting portion 21. Further, when fitting the attachment portion 21 into the attachment hole 8a, it is necessary to prevent the attachment portion 21 from easily buckling in order to ensure workability. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the hardness of the mounting portion 21 is made higher than the hardness of the leg portion 22 while the mounting portion 21 and the leg portion 22 are formed of the same material (Santoprene).

For each hardness selection, the applicant of the present invention attaches an acceleration sensor to the main body of the printer 1, changes the combination of the hardness of the attachment portion 21 and the leg portion 22, and the drop height, and actually applies an impact to the printer 1. The acceleration was measured. FIG. 9 shows this, and the vertical axis indicates the acceleration upon impact (m / sec ² ), and the horizontal axis indicates the drop height (m). Note that the mass of the printer 1 according to the present embodiment was 2.5 kg to 3 kg.

Here, the Shore A hardness (based on ASTM D2240) of samples ad (all santoprene) is as follows.
Sample a: Conventional product (support leg 50 having cavity 51 shown in FIG. 10 (simple structure by one-color molding)): Shore A hardness 73
Sample b: Product of the present invention: Shore A hardness 35 of the leg portion 22 / Shore A hardness 80 of the mounting portion 21
Sample c: Product of the present invention: Shore A hardness 40 of the leg portion 22 / Shore A hardness 80 of the mounting portion 21
Sample d: Product of the present invention: Shore A hardness 55 of the leg portion 22 / Shore A hardness 80 of the mounting portion 21
From the experimental results, it was found that the impact absorption of Sample b to Sample d according to the present invention was dramatically improved compared to the conventional product. It has also been found that the impact absorbability is improved as the hardness of the leg portion 22 is lowered.

  However, when the hardness of the leg portion 22 is lowered, the sag when the printer 1 is supported becomes remarkable, and when the lateral displacement force is applied to the printer 1, the leg portion 22 is torn or the leg portion 22 is broken. And the attachment portion 21 tend to be easily separated. Although this depends on the relationship with the mass of the printer 1, in this embodiment, the Shore A hardness of the mounting portion 21 is set to 70 to 90 in consideration of the impact acceleration that does not cause dot dropout during execution of printing by the printer 1. (Preferably 80), and the Shore A hardness of the leg portion 22 was set to 45 to 65 (preferably 55). As a result, it was possible to achieve both the resistance to the lateral displacement direction and the required shock absorbability, and obtain suitable results. According to the experiment, in the above combination (Shore A hardness 80 of the mounting portion 21 / Shore A hardness 55 of the leg portion 22), dot missing during ink jet recording did not occur.

  As described above, since the attachment portion 21 is formed of a material harder than the leg portion 22 in the support leg 20, the attachment state of the attachment portion 21 to the attachment hole 8a formed on the bottom surface of the apparatus can be strengthened. The support leg 20 does not easily fall off even when a force in the side-sliding direction is applied to the printer 1, and does not easily buckle when the mounting portion 21 is fitted into the mounting hole 8 a, thus reducing workability. Can be prevented. And on the other hand, since the leg part 22 can be formed with a soft material, it becomes possible to exhibit the outstanding impact absorption.

  Moreover, the attachment part 21 and the leg part 22 have a structure which couple | bonds via the anchor parts 21d and 22c as a "connection part." In other words, in addition to the strength of the joint surface between the mounting portion 21 and the leg portion 22 formed integrally by two-color molding (joint strength between molding materials), an anchor shape capable of resisting the force in the direction in which each is separated is formed. Since the bonding strength by the formed coupling portion (physical structure) is obtained, the resistance when the force in the side-sliding direction is applied to the printer 1 is further improved without being easily separated from each other.

  The connecting portion may be a structure that physically connects the two (a structure that can resist the force that separates the mounting portion 21 and the leg portion 22). For example, the shape as shown in FIGS. It may be. 7 and 8, reference numerals 31a to 31c indicating the respective components of the mounting portion 31 are the same constituent elements as the reference numerals 21a to 21c in the above-described embodiment described with reference to FIGS. The shape of 31d is different from the shape of the anchor portion 21d, and has a wedge shape. In the leg portion 32, a conical hole 32b is formed so as to be fitted to the wedge shape, and when a force in a skid direction is applied to the printer 1 by the connecting portion having such a shape. Resistance can be improved. Reference numeral 32a denotes a peripheral wall similar to reference numeral 22a in FIG. 6, reference numeral 33 denotes a hollow portion formed between the installation surface F and reference numeral 23 in FIG. 6, and reference numeral 34 denotes a cylinder similar to reference numeral 24 in FIG. The cavity part extended in the axial direction of a shape is shown.

  Returning to FIG. 6, the leg portion 22 has a cylindrical shape that forms a hollow portion 23 with the installation surface F, and the peripheral wall 22 a that forms the cylindrical shape is elastically deformed when the printer 1 is dropped. Since the leg portion 22 is easily deformed by the hollow portion 23 and exhibits a further excellent shock absorption, and the airtightness between the installation surface F is maintained, the hollow portion 23 is formed. Exerts the function of an air cushion, which can further improve shock absorption.

In addition, since the hollow portion 24 extending in the axial direction of the cylindrical shape is formed in the peripheral wall 22a so as to be localized in the circumferential direction of the cylindrical shape, the peripheral wall 22a is more formed when an impact is applied. It becomes easier to elastically deform, and the shock absorption is further improved. On the other hand, since the hollow portion 24 has a cylindrical shape extending in the axial direction, the sag when the printer 1 is supported can be minimized.
In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the support leg 20 is used in the printer has been described. However, it goes without saying that the support leg 20 can be used in other devices.

1 is an external perspective view of a printer according to the present invention. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a printer according to the present invention. The perspective view which looked at the lower housing from the lower part. The perspective view of the support leg which concerns on this invention. (A) is a perspective view of an attachment part, (B) is a perspective view of a leg part. Sectional drawing of the support leg which concerns on this invention. The perspective view of the attaching part and leg part concerning other embodiments, Sectional drawing of the support leg which concerns on other embodiment. The graph which shows the drop test result of a printer. It is sectional drawing of the support leg which concerns on a prior art.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Inkjet printer, 2 Feeding device, 4 Display part, 5 Operation part, 6 Handle, 7 Upper housing, 8 Lower housing, 9 Right housing, 10 Right decorative board, 11 Left housing, 12 Left decorative board, 13 Stacker, 14 Cover, 20 Support leg, 21 Attaching part, 21a Locking part, 21b Columnar part, 21c Base part, 21d Anchor part, 21e Connection part, 22 Leg part, 22a Peripheral wall, 22b Hole, 23 Cavity part, 24 Cavity part

Claims (3)

An elastic support leg attached to the bottom surface of the device and supporting the device in contact with an installation surface on which the device is installed,
A leg in contact with the installation surface;
Fitted into mounting holes provided on the bottom surface of the front Symbol devices together when combined with the leg portion, the mounting portion being formed of a material harder than the leg portion, but formed integrally from two-color molding Consisting of
The leg portion is formed in a cylindrical shape so as to form a hollow portion with the installation surface, and the peripheral wall forming the cylindrical shape is elastically deformed when the device is dropped onto the installation surface. ,
Inside the peripheral wall forming the cylindrical shape, a hollow portion extending in the axial direction of the cylindrical shape is formed so as to be localized in the circumferential direction of the cylindrical shape,
The mounting part is formed in a disk shape having a smaller diameter than the peripheral wall of the leg part, and a pedestal part facing the outer peripheral edge of the mounting hole;
A columnar portion extending from the pedestal portion toward the device;
The mounting hole is formed at the upper end of the columnar part, and is larger in diameter than the outer diameter of the columnar part and the inner diameter of the mounting hole, and returns to the original shape after being fitted into the mounting hole with elastic deformation. A locking portion for locking to the inner periphery of the
An anchor portion that is formed through a connection portion extending from the pedestal portion toward the installation surface, has a disk shape, and is embedded in the leg portion, and constitutes a coupling portion with the leg portion. Configured with,
Support legs characterized by that. The support leg according to claim 1 , wherein the mounting portion has a Shore A hardness (according to ASTM D2240) of 70 to 90, and a shore A hardness of the leg portion (according to ASTM D2240) of 45 to 65.
Support legs characterized by that. A recording apparatus for recording on a recording medium, comprising the support leg according to claim 1 or 2 at the bottom of the apparatus body.
A recording apparatus.

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