JP6260774B2 - Recording device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording apparatus represented by a facsimile, a printer, and the like.

  There is a so-called serial type printer that completes recording by alternately executing a predetermined amount of paper conveying operation and a recording operation accompanying movement of a carriage provided with a recording head in the paper width direction. . The carriage slides on these guide members while being supported by a guide member (first guide member) provided near the front of the apparatus with respect to the carriage and a guide member (second guide member) provided near the rear of the apparatus. , And guided in the moving direction (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2008-238689 A

  By the way, in a printer, for example, impact resistance may be required as one of required performances so that it can withstand an impact when the apparatus is dropped. In particular, impact resistance is an important factor for small mobile printers that are not portable and are portable.

  Since the carriage is supported by the guide member, the carriage is tilted by the impact of the drop (hereinafter referred to as “tilting”), and the carriage collides with the guide member. There is a possibility that the supported part supported by the may be damaged. However, when the rigidity of the carriage is increased in order to solve such a problem, the carriage becomes large or increases in weight, and portability is impaired.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and an object thereof is to improve the impact resistance of the carriage while suppressing an increase in size and weight of the carriage.

  In order to solve the above problems, a recording apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a recording head for recording on a medium, and is movable in a first direction and a second direction which is the opposite direction. A carriage, and a support means for supporting the carriage, the support means being provided at a predetermined distance in a direction intersecting the moving direction of the carriage with respect to the first support member and the first support means. A second support member, wherein the carriage is supported by at least one first supported portion supported by the first support member and in the movement direction of the carriage supported by the second support member. Outside the triangular region formed by at least two second supported portions provided at a predetermined interval, the first supported portion, and the two second supported portions, and Support means and Provided in a position toward, and characterized in that it comprises a suppressing inclined suppressing portion the inclination of said carriage.

  According to this aspect, the carriage is positioned outside the triangular area formed by at least one first supported portion and at least two second supported portions, and faces the support means. In addition, since the inclination suppressing portion that suppresses the inclination of the carriage is provided, when the impact is applied to the recording apparatus, the inclination suppressing portion abuts on the support means before the carriage is largely inclined. That is, a significant tilting of the carriage can be prevented, whereby the carriage can be prevented from being damaged or the degree of the damage can be reduced when an impact is applied to the recording apparatus. Further, when the weight of the carriage increases (for example, when an ink cartridge is mounted), the inclination of the carriage can be suppressed.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the position of the first supported portion in the movement direction of the carriage is an intermediate position between the two second supported portions.

  According to this aspect, since the position of the first supported portion in the movement direction of the carriage is an intermediate position between the two second supported portions, the carriage is supported in a balanced manner in the movement direction, and the carriage is stable. A good recording result can be obtained by the operation.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, the carriage includes a protruding portion that protrudes in the second direction, and the moving direction with respect to the center of the supported region supported by the supporting means. It has an asymmetric shape.
According to this aspect, since the carriage includes the protruding portion protruding in the second direction, the volume of the carriage can be secured by the protruding portion.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect, the inclination suppressing portion is provided at a position facing the first support member in the protruding portion.
When the protrusion is provided on the carriage, the carriage tends to tilt toward the protrusion when an impact is applied to the recording apparatus. However, in this aspect, since the inclination suppressing portion is provided at a position facing the first support member in the protruding portion, it is possible to effectively suppress the inclination of the carriage when an impact is applied to the recording apparatus.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the third or fourth aspect, the power transmission mechanism includes a power transmission mechanism that transmits power of a driving source to a transport unit that transports the medium, and the power transmission mechanism includes the second power transmission mechanism. The carriage is located below the protrusion of the carriage in a state where the carriage is located at the end in the direction.

  According to this aspect, since the power transmission mechanism is located at least part of the power transmission mechanism below the protrusion of the carriage in a state where the power transmission mechanism is moved to the end portion in the second direction, The increase in the width dimension of can be suppressed.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the third to fifth aspects, the carriage is detachably provided with an ink cartridge that stores ink, and the ink cartridge includes a space including the protruding portion in the carriage. It is characterized by occupying.

  According to this aspect, since the ink cartridge that accommodates the ink occupies the space including the protruding portion in the carriage, the ink capacity in the ink cartridge can be ensured.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to sixth aspects, an interval between the support means and the inclination suppressing portion is set to 0.2 mm to 0.6 mm. And

  A recording apparatus according to an eighth aspect of the present invention includes a recording head that performs recording on a medium, supports a carriage that is movable in a first direction and a second direction that is the opposite direction, and the carriage. Supporting means, wherein the supporting means is a first supporting member and a second supporting member provided at a predetermined distance in a direction intersecting the moving direction of the carriage with respect to the first supporting means, The carriage is supported by the first support member, and the carriage is supported by the second support member at a predetermined interval in the movement direction of the carriage. At least two second supported portions provided in a position, wherein the support means has a shape projecting toward the bottom portion at a position facing the bottom portion of the carriage, Characterized in that it comprises a suppressing inclined suppressing portion the inclination of the carriage.

  According to this aspect, the carriage includes an outside of a triangular region formed by at least one first supported portion supported by the support means in the carriage and at least two second supported portions. In addition, an inclination suppressing portion for suppressing the inclination of the carriage is provided at a position facing the support means. Therefore, when an impact is applied to the recording apparatus, the tilt suppression unit comes into contact with the support means before the carriage tilts greatly. That is, a significant tilting of the carriage can be prevented, whereby the carriage can be prevented from being damaged or the degree of the damage can be reduced when an impact is applied to the recording apparatus.

1 is an external perspective view of a printer according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the apparatus main body of the printer according to the invention. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the apparatus main body 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 elements on larger scale of FIG. The elements on larger scale of FIG. The top view which looked at the carriage from the upper side. The top view which looked at the carriage from the lower side. The perspective view which looked at the carriage from the apparatus front diagonally upward. The perspective view which looked at the carriage from the apparatus front diagonally downward. The perspective view which looked at the carriage from the apparatus back diagonally upward. The perspective view which shows the state in which a carriage is located in a left side edge part. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a state where the carriage is positioned slightly on the home position side from the left end portion. The perspective view which shows a gear group and a rotary scale. The front view of a gear group. The top view which looked at the gear group and the carriage from the lower side. It is a schematic diagram which shows the grade of the inclination of a carriage, (A) is a prior art, (B) is a figure which shows this invention. The figure which shows other embodiment which provided the inclination suppression part in the guide frame.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the invention is not limited to the embodiment described below, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention described in the claims. Assuming that these are also included in the scope of the present invention, one embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

  FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an ink jet printer (hereinafter referred to as “printer”) 1 which is an embodiment of a “recording apparatus” according to the present invention, and FIGS. 4 is a side sectional view showing a paper conveyance path of the printer 1, and FIGS. 5 and 6 are partially enlarged views of FIG.

  7 is a plan view of the carriage 17 as viewed from above, FIG. 8 is a plan view of the carriage 17 as viewed from below, FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the carriage 17 as viewed from diagonally above the apparatus, and FIG. FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the carriage 17 as viewed obliquely from the upper rear of the apparatus, FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the carriage 17 positioned at the left end, and FIG. It is a perspective view in the state where is located in the home position side a little from the left end part. 14 is a perspective view showing the gear group 33 and the rotary scale 45, FIG. 15 is a front view of the gear group 33, and FIG. 16 is a plan view of the gear group 33 and the carriage 17 as viewed from below. FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram showing the degree of tilting of the carriage, FIG. 17 (A) is a prior art, and FIG. 17 (B) is a diagram showing the present invention.

  In the xyz orthogonal coordinate system shown in each drawing, the x direction and the y direction are horizontal directions, of which the x direction is a direction (paper width direction) orthogonal to the paper transport direction, It is also the direction of movement of the carriage 17 (main scanning direction). In addition, the y direction is the paper transport direction and is also the apparatus depth direction. Furthermore, the z direction is the direction of gravity and is also the device height direction.

  Hereinafter, the overall configuration of the printer 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. The printer 1 is a so-called serial type ink jet printer that completes recording by alternately performing a recording operation and a sheet conveying operation, and is configured in a small size in consideration of portability. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 28 denotes a housing made of a resin material that constitutes the appearance of the apparatus, reference numeral 29 denotes an upper cover that is also formed from a resin material, and reference numeral 30 denotes a front cover that is also formed from a resin material. Show. The upper cover 29 and the front cover 30 are integrally formed, and when opened, an operation panel (not shown) and a paper feed port (not shown) appear on the upper surface of the apparatus, and a paper discharge port appears on the front surface of the apparatus. It has become. Reference numeral 30 a is an operation lever that unlocks the front cover 30.

  The apparatus main body 2 shown in FIG.2 and FIG.3 comprises the inner side of the housing | casing 28 mentioned above. The apparatus main body 2 has a skeleton composed of a plurality of frames. Specifically, the main frame 8, the side frame 9, the side frame 10, the sub frame 11, the guide frame 12, and the guide frame 13 are configured (details will be described later).

  At the rear of the apparatus, there is a paper feed port 3 on which recording paper (mainly cut sheet paper: hereinafter referred to as “paper P”) as an example of a medium can be set, and a plurality of sheets set in the paper feed port 3 are provided. The paper P is supported in an inclined posture by the hopper 4 and a paper support (not shown) located above the hopper 4.

  In FIG. 4, the hopper 4 swings around a swing fulcrum (not shown) to move the supported paper P forward and backward with respect to the feeding roller 5. The uppermost one of the set sheets P is brought into contact with the feeding roller 5 as the hopper 4 moves up, and is fed downstream by the rotation of the feeding roller 5.

  Downstream of the feeding roller 5, a sheet conveying unit including a conveyance driving roller 16 and a conveyance driven roller 15 is provided, and the sheet P is conveyed below the inkjet recording head 21 by these rollers.

  The ink jet recording head 21 is provided on the carriage 17. The carriage 17 is mounted with the ink cartridge 20 and reciprocates in the paper width direction (x direction) by receiving power from the motor 47 (FIGS. 2 and 3). . In the present embodiment, the right end of FIGS. 2 and 3 is the home position of the carriage 17 in the movement region (movement range) of the carriage 17. Here, the home position means a standby position of the carriage 17 when not printing or when the power is turned off.

  Hereinafter, the movement direction of the carriage 17 when the carriage 17 moves from the right end (home position) to the left end is referred to as the second direction, and the movement direction of the carriage 17 when the carriage 17 moves from the left end to the right end is the first direction. The direction.

Subsequently, the carriage 17 has a box-shaped carriage main body 18 and a casing, and the ink cartridges 20 </ b> A and 20 </ b> B are mounted inside the carriage main body 18. Ink cartridges 20A and 20B
Then, ink is supplied to the inkjet recording head 21. The ink cartridges 20A and 20B are detachable with respect to the carriage main body 18. In FIGS. 7 and 9 to 11, reference numerals 19A and 19B denote levers for releasing the lock of the ink cartridges 20A and 20B with respect to the carriage main body 18, respectively. Show.

  In this embodiment, the carriage 17 is a so-called on-carriage type in which the ink cartridges 20A and 20B are mounted. However, the ink cartridges 20A and 20B are provided independently from the carriage 17, and the ink cartridges 20A and 20B and the recording head 21 are provided. The so-called off-carriage type may be connected to each other by an ink tube.

  In FIG. 4, the carriage main body 18 has a supported portion 18a on the front side of the apparatus and a supported portion 18b on the rear side of the apparatus. The supported portion 18a as the “first supported portion” is supported by the guide frame 13 as the “first support member”, and the supported portion 18b is supported by the guide frame 12 as the “second support member”. The That is, the carriage 17 is supported by the guide frame 13 and the guide frame 12. The supported portion 18 a is supported by the guide frame 13 and slides on the guide frame 13. That is, the guide frames 12 and 13 constitute support means for supporting the carriage 17.

  Similarly, the supported portion 18 b is supported by the guide frame 12 and slides on the guide frame 12. Further, the guide frame 12 defines the position of the carriage 17 in the y direction. That is, the guide frame 12 guides the carriage 17 in the main scanning direction. The supported portion 18a, the supported portion 18b, and the guide frames 12 and 13 will be described in detail later.

  Subsequently, a paper support member 22 that supports the paper P is provided at a position facing the ink jet recording head 21, and the recorded paper P is discharged downstream of the ink jet recording head 21 and the paper support member 22. A discharge driving roller 25 and a discharge driven roller 26 are provided. Reference numeral 25a denotes a rotation shaft of the discharge drive roller 25, and a plurality of discharge drive rollers 25 are provided at appropriate intervals along the axial direction of the rotation shaft 25a (see FIGS. 2 and 3). Reference numeral 24 denotes a regulating roller that regulates sheet floating.

  Next, the frame constituting the skeleton of the apparatus main body 2 will be described. 2 and 3, the main frame 8, the sub frame 11, and the guide frames 12, 13 have a shape extending in the paper width direction, and the side frames 9, 10 have a shape extending in the paper transport direction. FIG. 3 shows a state in which the guide frame 13 is exposed by removing the sub-frame 11 from the state of FIG.

  The main frame 8 extends in the vertical direction as shown in FIG. 4 in a cross-sectional view, has an upper portion bent in an L shape on the rear side of the apparatus, and a lower portion bent in an L shape on the front side of the apparatus. The shape is different. The main frame 8 is provided with a sheet feeding means including the hopper 4 and the feeding roller 5, and various types such as a motor 47 for driving the carriage 17 and a roller support member 14 for supporting the transport driven roller 15. The components are assembled.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the guide frame 12 extends in the vertical direction in a cross-sectional view and has a lower portion bent at the front side of the apparatus, then bent upward, and then bent toward the rear side of the apparatus. It is made. More specifically, in FIG. 5, reference numeral 12 a indicates a portion extending in the vertical direction in the sectional view of the guide frame 12 (hereinafter “vertical portion 12 a”), and reference symbol 12 b indicates a portion extending in the horizontal direction (hereinafter “horizontal portion 12 b”). ), 12c indicates a portion extending in the vertical direction (hereinafter, “second vertical portion 12c”), and 12d indicates a portion extending in the horizontal direction (hereinafter, “second horizontal portion 12d”). By thus forming a shape like a ridge in a cross-sectional view, the rigidity of the guide frame 12 in the longitudinal direction (paper width direction) is improved.

  Here, the upper surface 12e of the horizontal portion 12b in the guide frame 12 is a sliding surface on which a slider 18c (also see FIGS. 8 and 10) provided as a “second supported portion” provided on the carriage body 18 slides. Become. The carriage body 18 is provided with sliders 18d and 18e. Of these, the slider 18d is provided so as to be able to advance and retreat relative to the slider 18e and is urged toward the slider 18e. Thus, the second vertical portion 12c is sandwiched between the slider 18d and the slider 18e. As the carriage 17 moves, the sliders 18d and 18e slide with the second vertical portion 12c. Reference numeral 12f indicates a sliding surface on which the slider 18d slides, and reference numeral 12g indicates a sliding surface on which the slider 18e slides. Therefore, it is preferable that these surfaces of the sliding surfaces 12e, 12f, and 12g are formed smoothly.

  On the other hand, the guide frame 13 provided on the front side of the apparatus extends in the horizontal direction as shown in FIG. 4 in a cross-sectional view, and the end part on the front side of the apparatus is bent upward, and then bent horizontally on the rear side of the apparatus. It is shaped like a cocoon. More specifically, in FIG. 6, reference numeral 13 a indicates a portion extending in the horizontal direction in the sectional view of the guide frame 13 (hereinafter “horizontal portion 13 a”), and reference numeral 13 b indicates a portion extending in the vertical direction (hereinafter “vertical portion 13 b”). ), Reference numeral 13c indicates a portion extending in the horizontal direction (hereinafter, “second horizontal portion 13c”). Thus, by forming a shape like a ridge in a cross-sectional view, the rigidity of the guide frame 13 in the longitudinal direction (paper width direction) is improved.

  The upper surface (reference numeral 13d) of the horizontal portion 13a in the guide frame 13 becomes a sliding surface on which a supported portion (slider) 18a (see also FIGS. 8 and 10) provided on the carriage 17 slides. Accordingly, the sliding surface 13d is preferably formed smoothly.

  Next, returning to FIGS. 2 and 3, the side frames 9, 10 are joined to the end portions of the guide frames 12, 13, respectively, and the conveyance driving roller 10, the discharge driving roller 25, and the paper described with reference to FIG. Various elements constituting the sheet conveyance path such as the support member 22 are assembled.

  Next, the carriage 17 (carriage body 18) according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. As described above, the carriage 17 has a box-like carriage body 18 that forms a casing. In FIG. 9, reference numeral 18h is a side surface on the second direction side among the side surfaces constituting the periphery of the carriage body 18 (hereinafter referred to as “left side surface”), and in FIG. 10, reference numeral 18g is a side surface on the first direction side. Yes (hereinafter referred to as “right side”).

  Further, in FIGS. 7 to 9 and 11, reference numeral 18 f denotes a protruding portion that protrudes in the second direction (the direction opposite to the home position of the carriage 17). The protruding portion 18f is a portion of the area A shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 in the carriage body 18, and in the present embodiment, means a portion protruding from the supported portion 18b in the second direction.

  More specifically, in FIG. 8, a straight line Cu is a line parallel to the y direction passing through an intermediate position between two sliders 18c and 18c arranged at a predetermined interval in the carriage movement direction, and the range Ws is a support means. The supported region where the supported portion 18b is supported by the guide frame 12 is shown. The carriage body 18 has an asymmetric shape in the carriage movement direction (x direction) with respect to the straight line Cu passing through the center position of the supported region Ws by forming the protrusion 18f.

The symbol At is a triangular area surrounded by a straight line passing through the two sliders 18c, 18c and the supported portion (slider) 18a. The center of gravity of the carriage 17 is the inner side of this area At in plan view. Is located.
Reference numeral 18m denotes an inclination suppressing portion provided outside the region At, which will be described later.

  Next, a belt clamp portion 18k is provided on the rear side of the carriage body 18 as shown in FIG. The belt clamp portion 18 k is a portion that clamps (grips) the endless belt 48, and the belt clamp portion 18 k receives driving force from the endless belt 48. The endless belt 48 is stretched over the entire carriage movement region, operates by receiving the power of the motor 47 (FIGS. 2 and 3), and moves the carriage 17.

  Next, the gear group 33 as a power transmission mechanism that transmits the power of the motor 32 (FIGS. 15 and 16) to the transport drive roller 16 and the discharge drive roller 25 that constitute the transport means for transporting the paper P will be described. . The motor 32 is provided on the rear side in the apparatus front-rear direction, and the gear group 33 includes a transport drive roller 16 located in the center in the apparatus front-rear direction and a discharge drive roller 25 (rotation thereof) located on the front side in the apparatus front-rear direction. A plurality of gears are provided to transmit power to the shaft 25a).

  Each gear constituting the gear group 33 is provided on the side frame 10, and more specifically, provided on the outside of the side frame 10 (outside of the apparatus). The gear group 33 includes gears 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, and 41 in order from the motor 32 side as shown in FIGS. The gear 34 is a gear provided on the rotating shaft of the motor 32, and the gear 37 is a gear (first roller driving gear) provided on the shaft end of the transport driving roller 16 as the first roller. Is a gear (second roller driving gear) provided at the shaft end of the discharge driving roller 25 (its rotating shaft 25a) as the second roller. The gear group 33 transmits power to the discharge drive roller 25 (its rotation shaft 25a) via the gear 37.

  In addition to the gear 37, a rotary scale 45 is provided at the shaft end of the transport driving roller 16 (FIGS. 13 and 14). The rotary scale 45 constitutes rotation detection means 43 that detects the rotation of the transport drive roller 16, and the detection unit 44 (FIG. 16) that detects the rotation of the rotary scale 45 sandwiches the outer peripheral portion of the rotary scale 45. Is provided. The rotary scale 45 and the detection unit 44 constitute a rotation detection unit 43, and a control unit (not shown) of the printer 1 rotates the conveyance drive roller 16 and the discharge drive roller 25 based on a detection signal from the rotation detection unit 43. The amount and direction of rotation can be grasped.

12 and 16 show the state where the carriage 17 is located at the end portion in the second direction. As shown in the drawing, among the gears constituting the gear group 33, in the present embodiment, the gears 38 and 39 are entirely located on the lower side of the carriage 17, and some of the gears 37 and 40 are located on the lower side of the carriage 17. Located in.
In this way, at least a part of the gear group 33 is located under the carriage 17 in the state of moving to the end portion in the second direction, so that the gear group 33 enters the area necessary for the movement of the carriage 17. It becomes a form and can suppress the width dimension of an apparatus by this. In addition, since the width of the apparatus can be suppressed even if the width of the carriage 17 is secured, the volume of the carriage 17, that is, the volumes of the ink cartridges 20A and 20B can be secured.

In the present embodiment, the carriage 17 includes the protruding portion 18f protruding in the second direction, so that the volume of the carriage 17 can be secured by the protruding portion 18f and the carriage 17 is moved to the end portion in the second direction. Since at least a part of the gear group 33 is positioned below the protrusion 18f of the carriage 17, an increase in the lateral width of the apparatus can be suppressed. Further, since the carriage volume can be secured without increasing the carriage body 18 in the height direction, an increase in the height of the apparatus can also be suppressed.
Since the ink cartridge 20B occupies the space including the protruding portion 18f in the carriage 17, the ink capacity in the ink cartridge 20B can be ensured.

  Incidentally, the rotary scale 45 constituting the rotation detecting means 43 for detecting the rotation of the transport driving roller 16 as the first roller is weak in strength, the detection accuracy is easily lowered by a slight distortion, and the recording quality is lowered. It is easy to be connected to. However, in the present embodiment, the rotary scale 45 is provided on the side in the first direction (side of the side frame 10) with respect to the gear 37 as the first roller driving gear, so that the rotary scale 45 is rotated from the external pressure from the side of the apparatus. The scale 45 can be protected.

  In addition, the side frame 10 that supports the transport driving roller 16 is formed with a convex portion 10a that forms an arc shape having a diameter larger than the diameter of the rotary scale 45 as shown in FIG. Therefore, the convex portion 10 a functions as a shielding wall with respect to the rotary scale 45, and the ink mist can be prevented from adhering to the rotary scale 45.

  The carriage body 18 is formed with a recess 18j that avoids the protrusion 10a when the carriage 17 is positioned at the end in the second direction (FIG. 11). That is, when the carriage 17 is positioned at the end in the second direction (the state shown in FIG. 12), the convex portion 10a enters the concave portion 18j. Accordingly, it is not necessary to set the position of the side frame 10 to the outside in order to secure a moving area of the carriage 17 (in order to prevent interference between the carriage body 18 and the side frame 10), and an increase in the lateral width of the apparatus is suppressed. be able to.

  Next, the inclination suppressing portion 18m provided at a position facing the guide frame 13 in the protruding portion 18f of the carriage body 18 will be described. As described above, the printer 1 includes a guide frame 13 as a first support member that constitutes a support unit that supports the carriage 17, and a predetermined distance in the y direction (direction intersecting the carriage movement direction) with respect to the guide frame 13. , And a guide frame 12 as a second support member provided. On the other hand, the carriage 17 is provided at a predetermined interval in the carriage movement direction supported by the guide frame 12 and at least one supported portion (slider) 18 a as a first supported portion supported by the guide frame 13. And at least two sliders 18c and 18c as second supported parts.

  And as shown in FIG. 8, the inclination suppression part 18m is formed in the outer side of the triangular area | region At formed by the supported part (slider) 18a and the two sliders 18c and 18c. As shown in FIG. 6, the inclination suppressing portion 18 m is spaced from the guide frame 13 when the supported portion (slider) 18 a is in contact with the guide frame 13 and the two sliders 18 c and 18 c are in contact with the guide frame 12. This is an interval forming part for forming d. The distance d is set to about 0.2 to 0.6 mm as an example in consideration of component crossing and assembly variation.

  Thereby, there exist the following effects. That is, when a drop impact is applied to the printer 1, the carriage 17 tilts and the carriage 17 collides with the guide frames 12 and 13, so that the carriage 17 is supported by the guide frames 12 and 13. There is a possibility that the portion (for example, the supported portion 18b) may be damaged. However, if the rigidity of the carriage body 18 is increased in order to solve such a problem, the carriage body 18 becomes larger or increases in weight, and the portability is impaired.

  However, when an impact is applied to the printer 1 by the tilt suppression portion 18m, the tilt suppression portion 18m contacts the guide frame 13 before the carriage 17 tilts greatly. FIG. 17B shows this state, and the inclination suppressing portion 18m stops the inclination of the carriage body 18 with the supported portion (slider) 18a as a fulcrum. The angle α2 in FIG. 17B indicates the tilt angle of the carriage body 18 with the supported portion (slider) 18a as a fulcrum. An arrow A indicates the tilt direction of the carriage body 18.

  FIG. 17A shows a carriage main body (indicated by reference numeral 18 ′) that does not include the inclination suppressing portion 18m for comparison, and an angle α1 in FIG. 17A is a carriage having a supported portion (slider) 18a as a fulcrum. The tilt angle of the main body 18 'is shown. As is clear from the comparison between FIGS. 17A and 17B, the angle α2 <α1, and the inclination suppressing portion 18m prevents the carriage 17 from remarkably tilting. Thereby, the carriage 17 can be prevented from being damaged when an impact is applied to the printer 1, or the degree of damage can be reduced. When the carriage 17 tilts as shown in FIGS. 17A and 17B, the left slider 18c in FIG. 8 of the two sliders 18c and 18c is in a state of being separated from the guide frame 12.

  As is clear from FIG. 8, the position of the supported portion 18a in the carriage movement direction (x direction) is an intermediate position between the two sliders 18c and 18c. Therefore, the carriage 17 is supported in a balanced manner in the moving direction, and a good recording result can be obtained by a stable carriage operation.

  In addition, particularly in the present embodiment, the inclination suppressing portion 18m is provided at a position facing the guide frame 13 in the protruding portion 18f. That is, when the protrusion 18f is provided on the carriage body 18, when the impact is applied to the printer 1, the carriage body 18 tends to tilt toward the protrusion 18f. Since 18m is provided in the position which opposes the guide frame 13 in the protrusion part 18f, the tilting of the carriage main body 18 when an impact is added to the printer 1 can be suppressed effectively.

  Further, when the ink cartridges 20A and 20B are mounted on the carriage 17, especially when the center of gravity of the carriage 17 is shifted from the position Cu in FIG. 8, the carriage 17 tends to tilt. Such a tilt can be suppressed.

  The embodiment described above is an example, and it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the above embodiment, the inclination suppressing portion 18m is formed on the carriage main body 18, but it may be provided on the guide frame 13 side instead. FIG. 18 shows such an embodiment, and is a view showing an embodiment in which an inclination suppressing portion is provided on the guide frame 13 side. In FIG. 18, an inclination suppression portion 13e is formed on the horizontal portion 13a of the guide frame 13 so as to protrude toward the carriage side. The inclination suppressing portion 13e is provided with a position shifted in the y direction with respect to the supported portion 18a so as not to interfere with the supported portion 18a during the movement operation of the carriage 17, and the movement region (x Direction) formed continuously along the whole. The inclination suppressing part 13e forms a gap d with the bottom of the carriage. The distance d is set to about 0.2 to 0.6 mm as an example in consideration of component crossing and assembly variation.

As a result, when an impact is applied to the printer 1, the bottom of the carriage comes into contact with the inclination suppressing portion 13e before the carriage main body 18 tilts greatly. That is, the significant tilting of the carriage 17 can be prevented, thereby preventing the carriage 17 from being damaged or reducing the degree of the damage when an impact is applied to the printer 1.
In the above-described embodiment, the inclination suppressing portion 13e is continuously formed along the entire movement region (x direction) of the carriage 17, but the carriage 17 is, for example, on a side opposite to a predetermined position, for example, the home position. It may be provided so as to be positioned below the protrusion 18f of the carriage body 18 only when positioned at the end. At this time, the y-direction position of the inclination suppressing portion 13e may overlap with the supported portion 18a.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Inkjet printer, 2 apparatus main body, 3 paper feed port, 4 hopper, 5 feeding roller, 8 main frame, 9 side frame, 10 side frame, 11 sub frame, 12 guide frame (2nd support member), 12a vertical Part, 12b horizontal part, 12c second vertical part, 12d second horizontal part, 12e sliding surface, 12f sliding surface, 12g sliding surface, 13 guide frame (first support member), 13a horizontal part, 13b vertical part , 13c Second horizontal portion, 13d sliding surface, 14 roller support member, 15 transport driven roller, 16 transport drive roller, 17 carriage, 18 carriage body, 18a supported portion (slider), 18b supported portion, 18c slider ( Second supported part), 18d, 18e Slider, 18f Protruding part, 18g Right side 18h Left side, 18j Concave part, 18k Belt clamp part, 18m Tilt suppression part, 19A, 19B Unlock lever, 20A, 20B Ink cartridge, 21 Recording head, 22 Paper support member, 24 Guide roller, 25 Discharge drive roller, 25a Rotation Axis, 26 discharge driven roller, 28 housing, 29 upper cover, 30 front cover, 32 motor (conveyance means), 33 gear group, 34 to 41 gears, 43 rotation detection means, 44 detection section, 45 rotary scale, 47 Motor (carriage drive), 48 endless belt, P recording paper

Claims (8)

A carriage having a recording head for recording on a medium and movable in a first direction and a second direction which is the opposite direction;
Supporting means for supporting the carriage,
The support means includes a first support member,
A second support member provided at a predetermined distance in a direction intersecting the moving direction of the carriage with respect to the first support means,
The carriage includes at least one first supported portion supported by the first support member;
At least two second supported parts that are supported by the second support member and that are provided at predetermined intervals in the movement direction of the carriage;
Inclination that suppresses the inclination of the carriage, provided outside the triangular region formed by the first supported portion and the two second supported portions, at a position facing the support means. A suppressor, and
A recording apparatus. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the position of the first supported portion in the movement direction of the carriage is an intermediate position between the two second supported portions.
A recording apparatus. 3. The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the carriage includes a projecting portion projecting in the second direction and has an asymmetric shape in the moving direction with respect to a center of a supported region supported by the supporting means. ,
A recording apparatus. The recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the inclination suppressing portion is provided at a position facing the first support member in the protruding portion.
A recording apparatus. The recording apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a power transmission mechanism that transmits power of a drive source to a transport unit that transports the medium.
The power transmission mechanism is located below the protrusion of the carriage in a state of being located at an end in the second direction;
A recording apparatus. The recording apparatus according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the carriage is detachably provided with an ink cartridge that stores ink.
The ink cartridge occupies a space including the protrusion in the carriage;
A recording apparatus. The recording apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein an interval between the support means and the inclination suppression unit is set to 0.2 mm to 0.6 mm.
A recording apparatus. A carriage having a recording head for recording on a medium and movable in a first direction and a second direction which is the opposite direction;
Supporting means for supporting the carriage,
The support means includes a first support member,
A second support member provided at a predetermined distance in a direction intersecting the moving direction of the carriage with respect to the first support means,
The carriage includes at least one first supported portion supported by the first support member;
The carriage includes at least two second supported parts that are supported by the second support member and that are provided at a predetermined interval in the movement direction of the carriage.
The support means has a shape that protrudes toward the bottom portion at a position facing the bottom portion of the carriage, and includes an inclination suppressing portion that suppresses the inclination of the carriage.
A recording apparatus.

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