JPH0970981A - Cap device of ink jet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily attach a cap member to a cap support member by arranging a plurality of the lip parts on the cap member so as to accurately correspond to respective recording heads in a cap device covering a plurality of recording heads with the cap member at the same time. SOLUTION: A cap member 26 is constituted by integrally molding four lip parts 61 individually coming into contact with four recording heads, four thick-walled lip support parts individually supporting the respective lip parts 61 and the thin-walled connection parts 75 connecting the mutually adjacent lip support parts from an elastic material such as rubber. Further, engaging parts consisting of bottomed holes 71 and projections 81 are provided to the opposed surfaces of the cap member 26 and the rigid cap support plate 67 supporting the cap member 26 at every respective lip support parts 73. By fitting the projections 81 in the bottomed holes 71 while expanding and contracting the thin-walled connection parts 75, the cap member is easily attached to the cap support plate 67 and four lip parts 61 are arranged so as to accurately correspond to the respective recording heads.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cap device for an ink jet printer which is used in an ink jet printer having a plurality of print heads arranged in parallel and which simultaneously covers the above print heads.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an ink jet printer, a recording head is airtightly covered to prevent the residual ink in the ink jet nozzles of the recording head from being dried and solidified, or the recording head is covered and the surface of the recording head is covered. It is considered that the negative pressure is applied to suck the residual ink in the ink jet nozzle. As described above, as the cap device for covering the recording head, a cap member formed by integrally molding a covering portion including a lip portion contacting the recording head and a lip supporting portion supporting the lip portion with an elastic material, A cap supporting member that supports the cap member on the inkjet printer main body is considered.

Further, in an ink jet printer having a plurality of recording heads arranged in parallel, such as an ink jet printer for color printing, a cap member formed by integrally forming a plurality of covering portions in contact with each recording head in parallel. It is considered to use.

[0004]

However, in the case where a plurality of covering portions are formed in parallel on the cap member as described above, since the cap member is formed of an elastic member such as rubber, a forming error or forming If there is a subsequent deformation or the like, it is difficult for the covering portion to simultaneously cover the recording heads at the same time, but the covering portion on the cap member expands and contracts when the cap member is fixed on the cap supporting member, and the covering portion on the cap member is not covered. It is difficult to accurately position and secure each recording head on the cap support member so as to cover it simultaneously. It is conceivable to provide a plurality of sets of engaging portions for engaging the cap member and the cap support member on the opposing surfaces, but in this case as well, if there is a dimensional error in the cap member, one set of engagement parts is engaged. Even if the parts are engaged, the other engaging parts may not be easily engaged, which requires time and effort for assembly.

Therefore, the present invention is to provide a cap device in which a plurality of coating portions can be arranged in correspondence with the respective recording heads and the cap member can be easily attached to the cap support member. To aim.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is used in an ink jet printer provided with a plurality of recording heads in parallel, and the respective recording heads are simultaneously provided. In a cap device of an inkjet printer for coating, a plurality of coating portions for individually coating the respective recording heads and a thin portion thinner than the coating portion for connecting the respective coating portions adjacent to each other are elastically provided. A cap member integrally formed of a material, a rigid cap support member that supports the cap member to the inkjet printer body, and a cap member and a cap support member, which are provided on opposing surfaces of the cap member and engage each other. And a plurality of engaging portions that allow the engagement.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, each of the coating portions is
A lip portion that comes into contact with each of the recording heads, and a lip support portion that supports the lip portion and that is thicker than the thin portion,
The cap device for an ink jet printer according to claim 1 is characterized in that each is provided.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the engaging portion has a bottomed hole provided in each of the covering portions on one of the facing surfaces of the cap member and the cap supporting member, and the other is the engaging hole. 3. A projection provided to face each of the bottomed holes so as to be fittable therein, respectively.
The gist is the cap device of the described inkjet printer.

A fourth aspect of the present invention is a moisturizing cap device for individually airtightly coating the recording heads with the coating portions. The gist is the cap device of an inkjet printer. In the invention according to claim 1 configured as described above, the plurality of covering portions are connected to each other through the thin connecting portion. Therefore, the distance between the coated parts is
It can be easily changed by expanding and contracting the connecting portion. Therefore, it is possible to easily change the interval between the plurality of engaging portions provided on the surface of the cap member facing the cap supporting member, and to extend each engaging portion to the engaging of the cap supporting member. Can be easily engaged with the part.

As described above, according to the present invention, the plurality of engaging portions provided on the facing surfaces of the cap member and the cap supporting member can be easily engaged with each other, so that the cap member is mounted on the cap supporting member. The work efficiency can be improved satisfactorily. The engaging portion may be provided for each covering portion, or may be provided every predetermined number of covering portions, or may be provided at a predetermined distance from one end of the cap member regardless of the covering portion. In any of these cases, by expanding and contracting the connecting portion, the interval between the engaging portions changes, and the efficiency of the mounting work can be improved.

Thus, the respective covering portions on the cap member can be arranged so as to correspond exactly to the respective recording heads, and the plural recording heads can be surely covered. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the first aspect, a lip portion in which the covering portion is in contact with each of the recording heads and a lip support which supports the lip portion and is thicker than the thin portion is supported. It is characterized by having a section and a section respectively. By the contact between the lip and the recording head,
Each recording head can be reliably sealed and covered.

The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2.
In addition to the configuration described above, the engaging portion has a bottomed hole provided for each of the covering portions on one of the facing surfaces of the cap member and the cap supporting member, and the other bottomed hole on the other side. It is characterized in that each of the projections is provided so as to be capable of fitting so as to face each other. In this way, when the cap member is fixed to the cap support member by fitting the bottomed hole and the protrusion, the cap member can be fixed very reliably. However, if the positional relationship between the bottomed hole and the protrusion is deviated, the work of fitting them together becomes extremely difficult.

According to the present invention, the work of fitting such a bottomed hole and the projection can be extremely facilitated, so that the effect of the invention according to claim 1 becomes more remarkable, and the cap member is capped. The effect that it can be more securely fixed to the support member is produced. Further, since the engaging portion is provided for each covering portion, each covering portion is more accurately arranged with respect to each recording head.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration according to any one of the first to third aspects, a cap device for moisturizing is provided in which the recording heads are individually and airtightly covered by the respective coating portions. Is characterized by. In a so-called suction cap device that performs a suction operation with a negative pressure on the recording head surface, it can be used by sequentially performing a suction operation on each recording head even if only one covering portion is provided. In the moisturizing cap device as in the present invention, it is necessary to simultaneously cover the recording heads. For this reason, in the present invention, the necessity of providing a plurality of coating portions is increased.
Alternatively, the effect of the invention described in 2 becomes more remarkable.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 shows a main part of an inkjet printer 2 to which the present invention is applied. The inkjet printer 2 is an inkjet printer for color printing that forms an image with four colors of black, cyan, magenta, and yellow.

The platen 4 has a cylindrical shape extending in the axial direction, and is attached to the frame 6 via a shaft (not shown) so as to be rotatable in the arrow H direction. A recording head 8 is provided so as to face the platen 4. The recording heads 8 are provided for the respective colors, and each recording head 8 is mounted on one carriage 10.

The carriage 10 is slidably supported by a guide rod 12 provided parallel to the axis of the platen 4, and is engaged with a timing belt 18 wound around a pair of pulleys 14 and 16. When one of the pulleys 14 is rotated by the carriage drive motor 20 and the timing belt 18 is sent, the carriage 10 is moved in the arrow K direction along the platen 4. The recording head 8 is reciprocated within a predetermined recording range during recording.

Each recording head 8 includes a large number of ink channels (not shown), and a plurality of nozzles 9, for example, four nozzles 9 having a plurality of ejection ports provided corresponding to the ink channels. The ink channel is fixed to the frame 6,
Alternatively, ink is supplied from an ink supply device (not shown) mounted on the carriage 10. The wall of the ink flow path is formed by a vibrating plate, and when the vibrating plate is deformed by a drive circuit (not shown) based on a command from a controller (not shown), ink is ejected from the nozzle 9 due to a pressure change caused by the deformation. It The ink is applied to the recording paper 22 supplied between the platen 4 and the recording head 8 on the carriage 1
It is ejected with the movement of 0, thereby forming an image for one line. When the image formation for one line is completed, the platen 4 is rotated to feed the recording paper 22 for one line, and the image for one line is formed again. By repeating this,
An image is formed on the entire recording paper 22.

The recording paper 22 is supplied from a paper supply port (not shown) behind the frame 6 in the direction of arrow L, is fed in the direction of arrow M by the rotation of the platen 4, and is discharged from a paper discharge port (not shown). A cap device 24 is provided at a position facing the recording head 8 at the non-recording position. The cap device 24 is provided on the side of the platen 4 and has a cap member 2 made of an elastic material such as rubber on its surface.
6 is provided. When the carriage 10 moves to the position of the cap device 24 when the printing operation is stopped, a part of the carriage 10 is engaged with the protruding engagement portion 30 of the cap device 24 to move the cap device 24 together with the carriage 10. Let In response to this movement, the cap member 26 moves to the nozzle 9 side of the recording head 8 by a known mechanism (not shown) to cover the nozzle 9 of the recording head 8 in an airtight state.
Therefore, it is possible to prevent the residual ink in the nozzle 9 from drying and solidifying. The configuration of the cap device 24 will be described in more detail later.

A wiper device 32 is provided adjacent to the platen 4 at a position outside the recording range, and the wiper device 32 is provided.
The wiper blade 34 made of rubber is moved forward in the N direction in response to the movement of the ink, and wipes the ink remaining on the tip surface of the nozzle 9 of each recording head 8. The ink suction device 50 advances in the direction of the arrow P, and the suction portion 52 that comes into close contact with one of the nozzles 9 that are arranged opposite to each other, and the suction portion 5.
It is provided with a pump 56 for making the surface of the nozzle 9 with which the two closely contact each other have a negative pressure in accordance with the rotation of the cam 54, and a waste liquid home 58 for containing the ink discharged from the pump 56. Therefore, in the ink suction device 50, the residual ink in the ink ejection port of the nozzle 9 is sucked by the pump 56, and the waste liquid home 5 is discharged.
The suction operation of discharging to 8 can be sequentially executed for each nozzle 9.

Next, FIG. 3 is a top view showing the structure of the cap device 24, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view thereof. 3 shows a state in which the cap device 24 covers the nozzle 9 of each recording head 8, and FIG. 4 is drawn with the recording head 8 omitted. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the cap device 24
Is a cap member 26 having four covering portions 62 corresponding to the number of nozzles 9, and a cap configured to be swingable about a rotation shaft 63 (FIG. 2) and movable along the rotation shaft 63. A holder 65 and a cap support plate 67 as a rigid cap support member that supports the cap member 26 on the cap holder 65 are provided.

As shown in FIG. 4, each covering portion 62 has a rectangular lip portion 61 surrounding all the injection ports of each nozzle 9, and a lip portion 61 for maintaining the rectangular shape of the lip portion 61. A thick-walled lip support 7 that supports the
3 and a recess 28 is formed inside the lip portion 61. Further, on the back side of the covering portion 62, there is a small-diameter bottomed hole 7
1 are respectively formed and are adjacent to each other, lip supporting portions 7
3 are connected by an elastically deformable thin connecting portion 75. That is, the cap member 26 is configured by integrally molding the concave portion 28, the lip portion 61, the bottomed hole 71, the lip support portion 73, and the connecting portion 75 with an elastic material such as rubber.

On the surface of the cap support plate 67 facing the cap member 26, the projections 81 fitted into the bottomed holes 71 are formed.
Is provided, and an edge portion 83 that projects from the opposing surface and surrounds the periphery of the cap member 26 is provided. Further, a hook-like engagement protrusion 87 capable of engaging with the engagement portion 85 provided on the cap holder 65 is projectingly provided from a surface of the cap support plate 67 opposite to the facing surface, and the cap holder 65 and the cap are supported. A plurality of springs 89 are elastically mounted between the support plate 67 and the support plate 67. When the cap member 26 moves toward the recording head 8 along with the movement of the carriage 10 as described above, the cap holder 65 moves more than the movement amount of the cap member 26, and the spring 8 moves.
9 is compressed and the spring member 89 presses the cap member 26 against each recording head 8 substantially evenly. In this state, the lip portion 61 on the cap member 26 elastically deforms and comes into close contact with the surface of the nozzle 9, and prevents the ink in the nozzle 9 from drying and solidifying.

FIG. 1 is an exploded cross-sectional view of the cap member 26 and the cap support plate 67. In the cap device 24, the cap member 26 and the cap support plate 67, which are separately manufactured as described above, are combined with each other, and subsequently, the engagement protrusion 87 is provided with the spring 89 interposed between the cap support plate 67 and the cap holder 65. The engaging part 8
Manufactured by engaging 5. Further, the work of combining the cap member 26 and the cap support plate 67 is performed by fitting the projection 81 into the bottomed hole 71 and fitting the periphery of the cap member 26 inside the edge portion 83.

Here, in the cap member 26, the lip supporting portions 73 for individually supporting the lip portions 61 are connected to each other via the thin connecting portions 75. Therefore, the interval between the lip support portions 73 can be easily changed by expanding and contracting the connecting portion 75. Therefore, the interval between the bottomed holes 71 can be easily changed, and by extension, the respective projections 81 of the cap support plate 67 can be easily fitted into the respective bottomed holes 71.

As described above, in the cap device 24, all of the bottomed holes 71 and the projections 81 can be easily fitted together, so that the cap member 26 and the cap support plate 6 are provided.
The work of combining with 7 can be extremely simplified, and the work efficiency, and in turn, the work efficiency of the manufacturing process of the cap device 24 can be favorably improved.

Further, like the cap device 24, the bottomed hole 7
When the cap member 26 is fixed to the cap support plate 67 by the fitting of 1 and the projection 81, it can be fixed very reliably. However, the bottomed hole 71 and the projection 81
If the positional relationship between and is not adjusted and the position cannot be adjusted, it is extremely difficult to fit the two. On the other hand, in the cap device 24, as described above, the bottomed hole 71
Is easy to adjust, and the work of fitting the bottomed hole 71 and the protrusion 81 can be extremely facilitated. Therefore, in the cap device 24, the cap member 26 can be fixed to the cap support plate 67 very easily and reliably.

Even if the cap member 26 is easily expanded and contracted or deformed, the cap member 26 is fitted with the bottomed hole 71 and the protrusion 81 of the cap support plate 67, which is a rigid body, so that the cap member 26 can be easily fitted. 26 on the lip 6
1 can be arranged so as to correspond exactly to the surface of the nozzle 9 of the recording head 8. Even if the cap member 26 has a molding error or a distortion after molding, the lip portion 61 can easily correspond to the nozzle opening surface of the recording head 8 by expanding and contracting the thin connecting portion 75. This can prevent the ink in the nozzles 9 of the plurality of recording heads 8 from drying and solidifying.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and can be implemented in various modes without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the bottomed hole 71 and the protrusion 81 are covered with the covering portion 62.
One is provided for each, but there is a bottomed hole 71 and a projection 81.
May be provided for each covering portion 62, every other covering portion 62, or independently of the covering portion 62, at a predetermined interval from one end of the cap member 26. In any of these cases, the same effect as in the above embodiment can be obtained by expanding and contracting the connecting portion 75. Further, a projection may be formed on the cap member 26 and a bottomed hole may be formed on the cap support plate 67, and in this case, substantially the same effect as that of the above-described embodiment can be obtained.

The present invention can also be applied to a so-called suction cap device for sucking ink by the pump 56 or the like. However, the suction cap device can be used by sequentially performing the suction operation on each nozzle 9 even if the suction cap device is provided with only one covering portion like the suction portion 52 of the above-described embodiment. In the moisturizing cap device, each nozzle 9 needs to be coated at the same time.
Therefore, when the present invention is applied to the moisturizing cap device as in the above-described embodiment, the necessity of providing a plurality of covering portions 62 increases, and the effect of the present invention becomes more remarkable.

Further, the present invention can be applied not only to the one having four recording heads 8 but also to an arbitrary number of recording heads by providing the cap member 26 with the same number of covering portions 62 as the number of recording heads.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a cap member and a cap support plate to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a main part of an inkjet printer using the cap member and the like.

FIG. 3 is a top view showing a configuration of a cap device of the inkjet printer.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the cap device.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... Inkjet printer 8 ... Recording head
9 ... Nozzle 24 ... Cap device 26 ... Cap member
61 ... Lip part 65 ... Cap holder 67 ... Cap support plate 71 ... Bottom hole 73 ... Lip support part 75 ... Connection part 81 ... Projection 83 ... Edge part

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A cap device for an ink jet printer, which is used in an ink jet printer having a plurality of recording heads arranged in parallel and simultaneously covers the respective recording heads, wherein a plurality of coating portions individually cover the respective recording heads. And a cap member formed by integrally molding, with an elastic material, a thin portion thinner than the covering portion, which connects the covering portions adjacent to each other, and a rigid body for supporting the cap member on the inkjet printer main body. 2. A cap device for an ink jet printer, comprising: a cap supporting member; and a plurality of engaging portions that are provided on opposing surfaces of the cap member and the cap supporting member and engage with each other. 2. Each of the coating portions has a lip portion that comes into contact with the recording head, and a lip support portion that supports the lip portion and that is thicker than the thin portion.
The cap device for an ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein each cap device is provided. 3. The engaging portion is fitted with a bottomed hole provided for each of the covering portions on one of the facing surfaces of the cap member and the cap supporting member, and on the other with the bottomed hole. The projections provided so as to be able to fit each other are provided, respectively.
A cap device for the inkjet printer described. 4. A cap device for an ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein the cap device is a moisturizing cap device for individually airtightly covering the recording heads with the covering portions.