JPH11164063A - Image reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow one fixing screw to fix a carriage or the like to be used for reading when conveying an image reader to protect an optical system so as not to disorder its positional relation. SOLUTION: On two carriages 4 and 6 arranged on an image reader, respective flanges are provided while being protruded and a fixing screw 35 is inserted in a hole 21a provided on a side plate 21 of a device frame 20, and are mutually positioned and fixed through holes 31 and screw holes 26 provided on the respective flanges. The fixing screw 35 is provided with a head part 36, large diameter part 37 and screw part 39 at a top end part, and the fixing screw can be fastened while being inserted into the hole through plural members.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus such as a flatbed type scanner, and a moving member such as a carriage equipped with a mirror and a light source is fixed to an apparatus frame when the apparatus is transported. About what you do.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a flatbed scanner,
In order to read the image of the original set on the platen,
As a reading member that reciprocates along the lower surface of the platen, a full-rate carriage combining a ramp and a mirror and a half-rate carriage that moves in conjunction with the full-rate carriage are provided in combination. Then, light applied to the image surface of the document is reflected by a plurality of mirrors to form an image on a CCD through a lens, and is output as an electrical signal from the CCD to an image forming apparatus to which image information is connected. For example, when the apparatus to which the scanner is connected is a facsimile apparatus, the image information is transmitted through a telephone line. In a copying machine or the like, recording paper is created based on a signal output from the scanner.

In the above-mentioned scanner, it is necessary for the carriage reciprocating along the lower surface of the platen to accurately adjust the distance between mirrors and the distance between mirrors and lenses. Therefore, when the image reading apparatus is shipped from the factory, it is necessary to prevent a shock at the time of transportation from being applied, and to damage the components arranged on the carriage and its peripheral portion and to prevent the positional relationship from being disrupted. The carriage is fixed to the apparatus frame. For the fixing, each carriage is fixed to the apparatus frame by using fixing means such as screws or binding with a cushion member or the like interposed.

[0004]

When the above fixing method is used, since it is necessary to remove the platen and the fixing member, a maintenance professional goes to the user and removes the image reading apparatus from the package. After taking out the fixing member, the fixing member is removed, the positional relationship of the carriage and the like is adjusted, and then the user is delivered to the user. For this reason, the image reading apparatus cannot be used immediately after being received by the user, and there is a problem that the adjustment specialist must always travel to the user in the manufacturer.
In addition, a cushion material may be used in combination with a fixing member for fixing the carriage or the like, which causes an increase in waste.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus which simplifies a fixing means such as a conventional carriage as described above, and which can easily perform fixing and releasing operations without removing a platen.

[0006]

The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus provided with a carriage that moves along the lower surface of a platen on which an original is set. The invention according to claim 1 of the present invention is characterized in that holes are provided at both ends of the carriage and the device frame, screw holes are provided in other members corresponding to the holes of the carriage, and holes in the frame and the carriage are provided from outside the device. The carriage can be fixed by inserting a fixing screw and screwing the screw into the screw hole. The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the other member is a guide member fixed to the apparatus frame and guiding the movement of the carriage. The invention of claim 3 is
It has a second reading carriage that moves in conjunction with the carriage, and the other member is a second carriage.

With the above-described configuration, the carriage can be fixed to the frame with the screws when the image reading apparatus is transported, so that the carriage can be easily fixed and opened. Since the fixing and release can be performed from the outside of the frame using only the fixing screw member, after the user receives the image reading apparatus, the fixing screw can be simply removed and the user can be immediately used. In addition, since the carriage is transported in a fixed state using screws, the carriage may be damaged during transportation,
A shift does not occur in the mounting position, and it is possible to prevent the positional relationship between the components of the optical system from being out of order.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An image reading apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the illustrated example. The image reading apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 is configured as an apparatus that can be used as a document reading section of a facsimile apparatus, a reading section of a copying machine, or a scanner for a personal computer. Then, image information as a digital signal is transmitted from the CCD. In the image reading apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1, a platen 3 is arranged on the upper part of the main body frame, and the document is set with the image side of the document facing downward. For the original set on the platen 3,
The elastic body 9a of the platen cover 9 located on the upper surface is pressed, and the image surface of the document is brought into close contact with the platen to enable reading.

A lamp 5 and a mirror m1, a full-rate carriage 4 as a sub-scanning carriage, and two mirrors m2 and m3 are disposed inside a frame on which the platen is disposed on the upper surface, similarly to a general image reading apparatus. And the half-rate carriage 6 on which is disposed.
The two carriages 4 and 6 are driven via wires 12 and 13 wound around pulleys 10 and 11 provided on one shaft.
Is formed at a ratio of 2: 1 so that the speed of the half-rate carriage 6 is set to half the speed of the full-rate carriage 4. In the reading device 2, the full-rate carriage 4 that moves at a constant speed in the length direction of the document and the half-rate carriage 6 that moves at half the speed of the full-rate carriage 4 are reciprocally moved in conjunction with each other, and The image of the original set in the printer is illuminated by a lamp. Then, the reflected light is reflected via mirrors m1, m2, and m3 provided on the two carriages respectively, the reflected light from the mirror m3 is imaged on the CCD 8 by the lens 7, and the optical information is converted into an electric signal. , And output as a digital signal to the connected device.

A driving device for driving the two carriages 4 and 6 is configured to drive the coaxial pulleys 10 and 11 using a stepping motor, and a pulse corresponding to the number of rotations of the motor is provided. Is applied from the motor driver to the motor. Then, the full-rate carriage is moved by a distance corresponding to the length of the document, and the reading speed of the full-rate carriage can be set arbitrarily. The half-rate carriage 6 is moved by half the distance at half the speed of the full-rate carriage 4. Let it. After the full-rate carriage has moved by a distance corresponding to the length of the document, the motors are driven in the reverse direction by the number of pulses applied at the time of reading to return the two carriages to their original positions.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the image reading apparatus, a fixing means as shown in FIGS. The example shown in FIG. 2 shows a configuration example of the fixing means of the present invention.
5 shows a case where the carriage 5 is mounted by mounting the carriage 5a through the hole 22a of the upper plate 22 of the apparatus frame 20. In this embodiment, a sliding member 28 is provided on the lower surface of the flange 25 of the carriage 4, and the sliding member 28 slides on the upper surface of a guide member 23 such as a guide rail fixed to an apparatus frame, and The carriage is guided.

In the example shown in FIG. 3, a small-diameter hole 27 is arranged in the flange 25 of the full-rate carriage 4,
The guide member 2 of the apparatus frame is
3, a screw hole 24 (shown in FIG. 2) is provided. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the fixing screw 35a is connected to the large-diameter head 36.
The large diameter portion 37 is formed to a predetermined length from
A small-diameter portion 38 is arranged at the tip end of the device, and a screw portion 39 is provided. Then, the fixing screw 35
When the carriage 4 is fixed using a, the fixing screw 35a is inserted from the hole 22a of the upper plate 22 of the apparatus frame 20, and the end of the large diameter portion 37 is pressed against the upper surface of the flange 25. Then, the small diameter portion is passed through the hole of the flange, and the screw portion 39 is fixed to the screw hole 24 of the guide member 23. Therefore, when this fixing screw 35a is used, the flange 25 and the guide member are positioned by the large diameter portion and the screw portion of the fixing screw, respectively, and the carriage is immovably fixed to the apparatus frame. Can be.

Apart from the above embodiment, in the present invention,
4 and 5, in order to fix the carriage during transport of the apparatus.
The fixing means shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, each of the full-rate carriage 4 and the half-rate carriage 6 is provided with a flange 25, 30 protruding from a side in the moving direction. In the examples shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the flange of the carriage 4 can be configured in the same manner as the flange of FIG. 4. In this case, a sliding member is provided on the lower surface of the horizontal member of the flange. be able to. In this embodiment, since the two carriages 4 and 6 are moved along a guide member such as a guide rail disposed inside the apparatus frame, a flange provided on each of the carriages is attached to the guide rail. A part of the guided member that moves along can be formed and used as a fixing member. The mirror m1
When the two carriages, a full rate carriage 4 for disposing the mirror and a half rate carriage 6 for disposing the mirror m2, are moved to one end of the apparatus frame at the origin position of the image reading operation, as shown in FIG. You will be very close to.

Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, at the position where the two carriages come closest to each other, the two flanges 25 and 30 are provided so as to protrude so as to overlap each other. The two flanges 25 and 30 and the side plate 21 of the apparatus frame 20 are provided with holes for linearly penetrating them, and can be fixed with one fixing screw 35. The fixing screw 3
In order to fix using 5, large-diameter holes 21 a and 31 are provided in the side plate 21 and the flange 30 of the device frame 20,
A screw hole 26 is formed in the flange 25. Further, the fixing screw 35 is configured such that a head portion 36 located outside the side plate 21 has a large diameter and a screw portion 39 at a tip portion matches a screw hole of the flange 25. Part 3
9 is defined as a large diameter portion 37 and the hole 31 of the flange 30 is formed.
And the hole 21a of the side plate 21 of the apparatus frame, and the fixed members are fixed to each other without play with respect to the fixing screw.

As shown in FIG. 5, an apparatus frame includes:
When using the means for fixing the flange 25 of the full-rate carriage 4 and the flange 30 of the half-rate carriage 6, the fixing screws 35 are moved after the two carriages 4, 6 are moved to the closest position. By attaching it, it can be easily fixed. In the case of transporting in the state shown in FIG. 5, since each carriage is set at the origin position, the mutual position of each carriage is adjusted by removing the fixing screw after unpacking. Can be used immediately without any.

In each of the above embodiments of the present invention, a member that slides on a guide rail or the like can be used for the flange provided to protrude from the side of the carriage. It is also possible to configure by integrally attaching. The upper and lower relations of the flanges of the two carriages fixed inside the apparatus frame can be arbitrarily set. By providing a hole in the flange on the side closer to the device frame and a screw hole in the flange on the far side, the two flanges can be fixed and held using one fixing screw. Also,
Since the fixing screw can be used again when the device is to be transported or moved next time, it is not thrown away as waste and can be stored in any place of the device. .

[0017]

The apparatus according to the present invention is constructed as described above.
The carriage can be fixed to the frame with screws, and the carriage can be easily fixed and opened. Since the fixing and release can be performed from the outside of the frame using only the fixing screw member, after the user receives the image reading apparatus, the fixing screw can be simply removed and the user can be immediately used. In addition, since the carriage is transported in a state where the carriage is fixed using screws, the carriage is not damaged during transportation, and the mounting position is not shifted, and the positional relationship of the components of the optical system is incorrect. Can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of an image reading apparatus to which a fixing unit of the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of an example of fixing a carriage according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a flange provided on a carriage.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration of a flange provided on a carriage.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of a state where the apparatus frame and the carriage are fixed.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 image reading device, 2 reading device, 3 platen, 4 full rate carriage, 6 half rate carriage, 7 lens, 8 CCD, 2
0 device frame, 21 side plate, 21a / 22
a, 24 holes, 22 upper plate, 23 guide member, 25/30 flange, 26 screw hole, 2
7 small diameter hole, 28 sliding member, 32 screw hole, 35 fixing screw, 37 large diameter part, 39
Screw part.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image reading apparatus provided with a carriage that moves along the lower surface of a platen on which a document is set, wherein holes are provided at both ends of the carriage and an apparatus frame, and other holes corresponding to the holes of the carriage are provided. An image characterized in that a screw hole is provided in a member, a fixing screw is inserted into a hole of the frame and the carriage from outside the apparatus, and a screw is screwed into the screw hole to fix the carriage. Reader. 2. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the other member is a guide member fixed to an apparatus frame and guiding movement of the carriage. 3. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a second reading carriage that moves in conjunction with the carriage, wherein the other member is a second carriage.