JP5488788B2 - Recording device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording medium detection apparatus that is provided in a conveyance path for conveying a recording medium and detects the passage of the recording medium, and a recording apparatus including the recording medium detection apparatus.

  In a recording apparatus typified by a facsimile or a printer, a paper detection device that detects passage of the leading edge and the trailing edge of a sheet is provided at a predetermined position in a sheet conveyance path for conveying a sheet as an example of a recording medium. Necessary paper feed control is performed by detecting passage of the leading edge or trailing edge.

  As a typical paper detection device, as shown in Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2, a lever-like member (swinging member) that is swingably provided in a paper transport path and swinging of the lever-like member is used. Some have a sensor to detect. In a non-contact state with the paper, the lever-like member projects to the paper transport path under the biasing force of the biasing means, and swings and retreats from the paper transport path when it contacts the paper as the paper passes.

JP 2001-270633 A JP 2006-273486 A

  The lever-like member is often provided in the vicinity of the upstream side of the conveyance roller that precisely feeds the recording sheet to the recording head side in the sheet conveyance path. This is to provide a lever-like member as close as possible to the transport roller, thereby preventing variations in the cueing position of the recording paper and improving recording accuracy.

  However, the conventional lever-shaped member is provided so as to be able to swing when viewed from the side of the paper transport path, and therefore it is difficult to install the lever-shaped member in the vicinity of the transport roller in order to secure a swing area.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and an object of the present invention is to arrange a lever-like member at a position closer to the transport roller, thereby suppressing variations in the cueing position.

One aspect of the present invention for solving the above problems is a recording head for recording on a recording medium, and the recording medium provided on the upstream side of the recording head in a conveyance path of the recording medium. And a swinging member provided in the vicinity of the upstream side of the transporting unit in the transporting path and provided with a contact portion that contacts the recording medium and swingable about a swinging shaft Detecting means for detecting the swing of the swing member, an upper guide member for forming the transport path, provided above the position where the recording medium contacts the contact portion, and the recording medium And a lower guide member that forms the transport path provided below the position where the contact portion contacts the contact portion, and the swing shaft is arranged in parallel to the transport direction of the recording medium The contact portion is connected to the transport path. A first slope contacting the leading end of the recording medium transported from the upstream side toward the downstream side; a second slope contacting the recording medium transported from the downstream side toward the upstream side of the transport path; At least one of the first inclined surface and the second inclined surface is connected to the conveying path without a step when the conveying path is viewed from the side, and the contact portion is formed on the lower guide member. And the upper end portion of the contact portion enters the window hole formed in the upper guide member in a non-contact state where the contact portion does not contact the recording medium, and the contact portion The recording apparatus is characterized in that a transport path of the recording medium is narrowed toward the contact portion by the upper guide member and the lower guide member on the upstream side.
The recording medium detection device according to the first aspect of the present invention includes a contact portion that contacts the recording medium in a transport path of the recording medium, and is provided with a swing that is swingable about a swing shaft. A recording medium detection apparatus comprising a moving member and detection means for detecting the swing of the detection member, wherein the swing shaft is arranged in parallel to the transport direction of the recording medium. It is characterized by that.

  According to this aspect, the rocking shaft of the rocking member (the axis center line of the rocking shaft) is arranged in parallel with the recording medium conveyance direction. The contact portion that comes into contact is hardly displaced in the recording medium conveyance direction when the swinging member swings. Therefore, the contact portion can be arranged at a desired position in the recording medium conveyance direction, and for example, can be arranged at a position closer to the conveyance roller for conveying the recording medium.

  In the present invention, “arranged in parallel” does not mean that the swing axis is precisely arranged in parallel with the recording medium conveyance direction without deviation in a strict sense. This means that the rocking shaft is arranged along the recording medium conveyance direction (that is, substantially parallel) with some deviation due to an attachment error or the like.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the contact portion includes a first slope contacting the leading end of a recording medium transported from the upstream side to the downstream side of the transport path, and the transport path. And a second inclined surface in contact with the recording medium transported from the downstream side toward the upstream side.

  According to this aspect, the contact portion includes slopes (first slope and second slope) corresponding to both the recording medium transported from upstream to downstream and the recording medium transported from downstream to upstream. ), It is possible to handle bidirectional transport.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect, at least one of the first inclined surface and the second inclined surface is viewed as viewed from a conveying path of the recording medium. It is characterized in that it is connected to the route without any step.

  According to this aspect, since at least one of the first inclined surface and the second inclined surface is connected to the recording medium conveyance path without any step, the leading end of the recording medium is not caught and the contact portion is conveyed to the conveyance path. You can push away and proceed.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording apparatus for recording on a recording medium, comprising the recording medium detection apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects in a recording medium conveyance path. It is characterized by being. According to this aspect, in the recording apparatus, it is possible to obtain the same effect as any of the first to third aspects.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing a paper conveyance path of the printer according to the invention. FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing a paper conveyance path of the printer according to the invention. The perspective view which shows a mode that a contact part protrudes from a paper guide member (guide surface). 1 is a perspective view of a paper detection device according to the present invention. The side view of the paper detection apparatus which concerns on this invention. 1 is a front view of a paper detection device according to the present invention.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Here, FIGS. 1 and 2 are side sectional views showing a sheet conveyance path of the ink jet printer 1 as an example of the recording apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 shows a contact portion 26a protruding from the sheet guide member 45 (guide surface 45d). FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a sheet detection device 28 as a recording medium detection device according to the present invention, FIG. 5 is a side view thereof, and FIG. 6 is a front view thereof.

  1, 2, and 5, in the paper conveyance path from the intermediate roller 24 to the discharge drive roller 47, the left direction of the figure is referred to as “downstream side” of the paper conveyance path, and the right direction of the figure is conveyed. It will be called “upstream” of the route. 1 to 6 show an xyz coordinate system, and directions between the drawings are associated with each other by this coordinate system. Note that the y direction indicates the paper conveyance direction, the x direction indicates the direction orthogonal to the paper conveyance direction (paper width direction), and the z direction indicates the apparatus height direction (gravity direction).

  In FIG. 1, the ink jet printer 1 includes a paper feeding unit 2 at the bottom of the apparatus. The paper P is fed from the paper feeding unit 2 and is bent and reversed by the paper feeding roller unit 3 to be fed toward the recording head 37. It has a configuration for sending and recording. In FIG. 1, a broken line R1 indicates the transport route (passage trajectory) of the paper P at this time.

  The ink jet printer 1 records on the first surface (front surface) of the paper P, then back feeds it, feeds it to the paper feed roller unit 3 and reverses it, with the second surface (back surface) facing up. Thus, it can be conveyed again to the recording head 37 side. That is, both sides recording is possible, and the broken line R2 in FIG. 2 indicates the transport route (passage trajectory) of the paper P at this time. In FIG. 5, a broken line R1 in FIG. 1 and a broken line R2 in FIG. 2 are drawn at the same time.

  Reference numeral 4 denotes a scanner unit provided in the upper part of the printer mechanism unit, and the ink jet printer 1 is configured as a so-called multi-function machine that can print out a document image read by the scanner unit 4 by the lower printer mechanism unit. Has been.

  Hereinafter, the configuration of the sheet conveyance path will be described in detail. The paper feeding unit 2 includes a paper cassette 11 and a feeding roller 18. The paper cassette 11 that can be attached to and detached from the printer apparatus body is provided with an edge guide (not shown), and the edge guide regulates the side edge position and the rear edge position of the paper P stored in the paper cassette 11. It has become so.

  A separation slope 12 is provided at a position facing the leading edge of the paper P accommodated in the paper cassette 11, and the leading edge of the paper P sent out by the feeding roller 18 is fed to the downstream side while being in sliding contact with the separation slope 12. By doing so, preliminary separation is performed between the uppermost sheet P to be fed and the next and subsequent sheets P to be double-fed.

  The feed roller 18 is pivotally supported by a swing member 19 that can swing clockwise and counterclockwise in FIGS. 1 and 2 around a swing shaft 20, and a drive motor (not shown). It is provided so as to be rotationally driven by the power of The paper feeding roller 18 feeds the uppermost paper P from the paper cassette 11 by rotating in contact with the uppermost paper P stored in the paper cassette 11 when the paper is fed.

  Note that a friction pad 13 is provided at a position facing the feeding roller 18 in the sheet cassette 11, and when the feeding roller 18 is pressed against the sheet bundle from above, the lowermost sheet P contacts the friction pad 13. By pressing toward the sheet, the sheet bundle is held so that the sheet bundle is not sent out.

  The paper P fed upward from the paper cassette 11 enters the paper feed roller unit 3. The paper feed roller unit 3 includes a reverse roller 22, a retard roller 23, an intermediate roller 24, and a guide member 25.

  The reversing roller 22 is a large-diameter roller that forms the inside of the path for reversing the curvature of the paper P. In this embodiment, the reversing roller 22 is centered in the paper width direction (the front and back sides of the paper surface in FIGS. One ink jet printer 1 is disposed at the feeding reference position. The reverse roller 22 is provided so as to be rotationally driven by the power of a drive motor (not shown), and conveys the paper P downstream by rotating in the clockwise direction in FIGS. 1 and 2.

  The retard roller 23 is provided so as to be capable of being pressed against the reversing roller 22 in a state where a predetermined rotational frictional resistance is applied. The upper sheet P is separated from the next and subsequent sheets P which are to be double fed along with the upper sheet P.

  Note that a paper return lever (not shown) is provided in the paper feeding path in the vicinity of this, and the next and subsequent papers P whose progress has been stopped by the retard roller 23 are transferred to the paper cassette 11 by the paper return lever. It is configured to be returned.

  The intermediate roller 24 is a freely rotatable roller, and assists the paper feeding by the reversing roller 22 by nipping the paper P with the reversing roller 22. The guide member 25 is located between the reversing roller 22 and the conveyance driving roller 40, and forms an upper path and a lower path through which the paper P on which recording has been performed on the first surface is fed back. To do.

  Next, on the downstream side of the intermediate roller 24, a conveyance unit configured to include a conveyance driving roller 40 and a conveyance driven roller 41 is provided. In the present embodiment, the conveyance drive roller 40 is formed by attaching wear-resistant particles to the surface of a metal shaft that is long in the paper width direction, and is driven to rotate by a drive motor (not shown). In the present embodiment, the transport driven roller 41 is formed of a resin material, and a plurality of the transport driven rollers 41 are arranged at appropriate intervals along the longitudinal direction of the transport driving roller 40 as shown in FIG.

  The transport driven roller 41 is pivotally supported by a paper guide member 30 serving as a roller support so as to be freely rotatable, and is provided so as to be in pressure contact with the transport driving roller 40. Nip.

  The paper guide member 30 that supports the transport driven roller 41 is swingably supported by the frame 33 via the swing shaft 30 a and also exerts a biasing force between the frame 33 and the paper guide member 30. 31, the conveyance driven roller 41 is provided in a state of being urged in a direction in which the conveyance driven roller 41 is pressed against the conveyance driving roller 40.

  In the present embodiment, a plurality (three in this embodiment) of the paper guide members 30 are arranged along the axial direction of the transport driving roller 41. The paper guide member 30 supports the transport driven roller 41 and also transports the paper P fed from the upstream side of the transport drive roller 40 and the paper P fed from the downstream side to the transport drive roller 40. The function of guiding to the nip point with the driven roller 41 is achieved.

  A guide surface 45d is provided at a position facing the paper guide member 30, and the guide surface 45d and the paper guide member 30 convey and drive the paper P fed from the upstream side of the conveyance drive roller 40. A paper path that guides to the nip point between the roller 40 and the transport driven roller 41 is formed. A paper detection device 28 for detecting the passage of the paper P is provided in the vicinity of the upstream side of the transport driving roller 40, which will be described in detail later.

  Next, an ink jet recording head 37 and a paper guide member 45 are vertically opposed to each other on the downstream side of the transport driving roller 40. The ink jet recording head 37 is provided at the bottom of the carriage 36, and the carriage 36 is guided by the frames 33 and 34 disposed in the front and rear, and receives the power of a driving motor (not shown) to receive the power of the driving motor (not shown). 2 in the direction of the front and back of the paper). The carriage 36 houses a cartridge not shown.

  Ribs 45a, 45b, 45c extending in the paper transport direction are arranged on the surface of the paper guide member 45 facing the ink jet recording head 37 at predetermined intervals in this order from the upstream side to the downstream side in the paper transport direction. A plurality of ribs are provided at appropriate intervals in the main scanning direction (arrangement in the main scanning direction is not shown). The paper P is supported by these ribs, and the distance from the ink jet recording head 37 is defined.

  Next, an auxiliary roller 46 for preventing sheet floating is provided on the downstream side of the region where the ink jet recording head 37 and the paper guide member 45 face each other, and further on the downstream side, a discharge driving roller that constitutes a second transport unit. 47 and a discharge driven roller 48 are provided. The discharge drive roller 47 is composed of a rubber roller and is rotationally driven by a drive motor (not shown). The discharge driven roller 48 is a spur provided so as to be lightly elastically contacted with the discharge drive roller 47, and nips the paper P with the discharge drive roller 47. The paper P on which recording has been performed by these rollers is discharged toward a stacker (not shown).

  In addition, the conveyance drive roller 40 is configured to be able to rotate forward and backward, that is, reverse to the first direction (left direction: downstream direction in FIGS. 1 and 2) in which the paper P is conveyed to the inkjet recording head 37 side. The sheet P can be transported in both directions in the second direction (right direction: upstream direction in FIGS. 1 and 2) transported to the sheet feed roller unit 3 side having the path. Similarly, the discharge drive roller 47 is configured to be able to rotate forward and reverse, and the paper P can be conveyed in either the first direction or the second direction.

  The above is the configuration of the paper conveyance path of the inkjet printer 1, and the paper detection device 28 will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. Note that FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view in which the cross-sectional position (in the x direction) is slightly different from that in FIGS. 1 and 2, and the paper detection device 28 is cut at a convenient position for convenience of explanation.

  As shown in FIGS. 4 to 6, the sheet detection device 28 includes a contact member 26a that comes into contact with the sheet in the sheet transport path and a swing member 26 that is swingable about a swing shaft 26g. And an optical sensor 27 as detection means for detecting the swinging motion (posture) of the moving member 26.

  The swing member 26 includes an arm portion 26d extending from the swing shaft 26g, a contact portion 26a formed at the tip thereof, an arm portion 26e extending on the opposite side of the arm portion 26d, and a detection target formed at the tip thereof. These portions 26f are integrally formed by resin molding.

  The swing shaft 26g is pivotally supported by a bearing portion (not shown), and the shaft center line is provided so as to be parallel to the paper transport direction (y direction). A coil portion of a coil spring 29 is inserted into the swing shaft 26g, and the swing member 26 is biased by the coil spring 29 in a direction in which the contact portion 26a protrudes into the paper transport path. .

  The detected portion 26f provided at the tip of the arm portion 26e enters the optical sensor 27 and blocks the optical axis of the sensor 27 by the swinging motion of the swinging member 26 (a state indicated by a virtual line in FIG. 6). And a position (indicated by a solid line in FIG. 6) where the optical axis is released from the optical sensor 27 can be displaced. As a result, the control unit (not shown) of the inkjet printer 1 connected to the optical sensor 27 can detect the passage of paper (passage of the front end of the paper or passage of the rear end of the paper).

  As shown in FIG. 5, the contact portion 26a that contacts the paper has a first slope 26b on the upstream side (the right side in the drawing) and a second slope 26c on the downstream side (the left side in the drawing). It has a mountain shape. On the other hand, a window hole 45e is formed on the guide surface 45d of the paper guide member 45 as shown in FIG. 3, and the contact portion 26a is provided so as to protrude upward from below the window hole 45e. It has been. The upper paper guide member 30 is also provided with a window hole 30b so that the upper end of the contact portion 26b can enter the inside of the window hole 30b.

  The contact portion 26a protrudes on the guide surface 45d (to the paper conveyance path) as shown by the solid line in FIGS. 5 and 6 in a non-contact state with the paper, but is conveyed from the upstream side toward the downstream side. When the leading edge of the sheet comes into contact with the first inclined surface 26b and pushes it away, or the leading edge of the sheet conveyed from the downstream side to the upstream side contacts with the second inclined surface 26c and pushes it away, the sheet is retracted from the sheet conveying path. This is possible (indicated by reference numeral 26a ′ and phantom lines in FIGS. 5 and 6).

  As described above, the rocking shaft 26g of the rocking member 26 in the paper detection device 28 is provided so that its axis center line is parallel to the paper transport direction (y direction). When the swinging member 26 swings, it hardly displaces in the paper transport direction (y direction) (FIG. 5). Therefore, it is not necessary to consider the displacement area of the contact portion 26 a in the paper transport direction, and the contact portion 26 a can be disposed at a position closer to the transport drive roller 40. As a result, variations in the cueing position of the paper can be prevented and recording accuracy can be improved.

  In the present embodiment, the contact portion 26 has inclined surfaces (first inclined surface 26b and second inclined surface 26c) corresponding to both the sheet conveyed from upstream to downstream and the sheet conveyed from downstream to upstream. Since it is equipped with, it can respond to bidirectional | two-way conveyance.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the first inclined surface 26b is connected to the upstream guide surface 45d without a step, so that the front end of the paper can be pushed away from the transport path without being caught.

Note that the rotation center position of the conveyance driven roller 41 is arranged slightly downstream of the rotation center position of the conveyance drive roller 40. As a result, when the sheet is conveyed from the downstream side toward the upstream side (from the left side to the right side in FIG. 5), the leading edge of the sheet is directed slightly upward to the right in FIG. 5 from the nip point of both rollers. ing. Since the second inclined surface 26c is arranged at a position where it abuts against the leading edge of the sheet to be conveyed in this way, the leading edge of the sheet reaches the second inclined surface 26c without being caught, and moves forward by pushing the contact portion 26 away from the conveying path. Can do.
Although this embodiment is as above, it cannot be overemphasized that this invention is not restricted to the said embodiment, A various embodiment is employable.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Inkjet printer, 2 Paper feed part, 3 Paper feed roller unit, 4 Scanner unit, 11 Paper cassette, 12 Separation slope, 13 Friction pad, 18 Feed roller, 19 Swing member, 20 Swing shaft, 22 Reversing roller, 23 retard roller, 24 intermediate roller, 25 guide member, 26 swing member, 26a contact portion, 26b first slope, 26c second slope, 26d, 26e arm portion, 26f detected portion, 26g swing shaft, 27 optical sensor 28, paper detection device, 29 coil spring, 30 paper guide member, 31 tension spring, 33, 34 frame, 36 carriage, 37 inkjet recording head, 40 transport drive roller, 41 transport driven roller, 45 paper guide member, 45a to 45c Rib, 45d guide surface, 4 e window hole, 46 auxiliary roller, 47 discharge drive roller, 48 the discharge driven roller, P recording paper

Claims (1)

A recording head for recording on a recording medium;
A conveying means for conveying the recording medium provided on the upstream side of the recording head in the conveying path of the recording medium;
A swing member provided in the vicinity of the upstream side of the transport means in the transport path, provided with a contact portion that contacts the recording medium and swingable about a swing shaft;
Detecting means for detecting swinging of the swinging member;
An upper guide member provided on the upper side of the position where the recording medium comes into contact with the contact portion;
A lower guide member that is provided on the lower side of the position where the recording medium comes into contact with the contact portion and forms the transport path ,
The swing shaft, disposed parallel to the conveying direction of the recording medium,
The contact portion is in contact with the leading edge of the recording medium transported from the upstream side to the downstream side of the transport path, and the transport target transported from the downstream side to the upstream side of the transport path. A second slope in contact with the recording medium,
At least one of the first slope and the second slope is connected to the transport path without a step when the transport path is viewed from the side.
The contact portion protrudes from the window hole formed in the lower guide member into the transport path, and the upper end portion of the contact portion is formed in the upper guide member in a non-contact state where the contact portion does not contact the recording medium. Entered the window hole,
A transport path of the recording medium is narrowed toward the contact portion by the upper guide member and the lower guide member on the upstream side of the contact portion.
A recording apparatus.

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