IMAGE RECORDING APPARATUS

Abstract

An image recording apparatus includes; a recording unit which records on sheet-like recorded media; a cassette housing provided at a lower end of an apparatus casing and which houses a paper feeding cassette which accommodates the recorded media; a bottom plate provided on the lower surface of the cassette housing and which supports at least a part of a lower surface of the paper feeding cassette; an arm body which turns upward and downward according to a stacking amount of the recorded media in the paper feeding cassette; feed rollers arranged at an tip end of the arm body and which rotate while pressing the uppermost surface of the recorded media; and a restricting unit provided on the bottom plate in the apparatus casing and which avoids contact of the feed rollers with the bottom plate when the paper feeding cassette is pulled out of the apparatus casing.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an entire perspective view of an image recording apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of an apparatus casing from which an upper case is removed;

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of a left and right central portion of a recording unit;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the recording unit;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of an engine frame and the apparatus casing;

FIG. 6 is a sectional plan view of a lower side of the apparatus casing;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a paper feeding cassette;

FIG. 8 is a lower surface perspective view of the paper feeding cassette;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a feed roller unit and a spacing actuating unit viewed from the lower surface side;

FIG. 10 is a partially cut-away perspective view of the feed roller unit and the spacing actuating unit viewed from the upper surface side;

FIG. 11 is a sectional view on the arrow XI-XI of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a main portion enlarged side sectional view showing a state that the number of sheets P stacked on the paper feeding cassette is one;

FIG. 13 is a main portion enlarged side sectional view showing a feed roller spaced from the surface of a bottom flat plate of the apparatus casing in a state that the paper feeding cassette is pulled out;

FIG. 14 is a partially cut-away main portion enlarged perspective view of the same; and

FIG. 15 is a side sectional view showing the conventional technique in which a feed roller is spaced from a bottom plate.

Claims

1. An image recording apparatus comprising: a recording unit which records on sheet-like recorded media;a cassette housing which houses a paper feeding cassette which accommodates the recorded media in a stacked manner so that the cassette can be inserted into and extracted from the cassette housing substantially in a horizontal direction, the cassette housing provided at a lower end of an apparatus casing;a bottom plate which supports at least a part of a lower surface of the cassette, the bottom plate provided on a lower surface of the cassette housing;an arm body which turns upward and downward according to a stacking amount of the recorded media in the cassette, the arm body arranged inside the apparatus casing;feed rollers which rotate while pressing an uppermost surface of the recorded media, the feed rollers arranged at a tip end of the arm body; anda restricting unit which avoids contact of the feed rollers with the bottom plate when the cassette is pulled out of the apparatus casing, the restricting unit provided on the bottom plate in the apparatus casing.

2. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the restricting unit is a convex portion which comes into contact with a part of a lower surface of the arm body turning downward to avoid contact of the feed rollers with the bottom plate.

3. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the restricting unit is a concave portion or hole which makes the feed rollers noncontact with the bottom plate when a part of a lower surface of the arm body turning downward comes into contact with the bottom plate.

4. An image recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a spacing actuating unit provided on the arm body, the spacing actuating unit fitting in an open portion formed in a bottom of the cassette and moves the arm body in a direction in which the feed rollers are spaced from the bottom of the cassette when the recorded media are absent, whereinwhen the paper feeding cassette is pulled out of the apparatus casing, the spacing actuating unit contacts the restricting unit so that the restricting unit avoids contact of the feed rollers with the bottom plate.

5. The image recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the spacing actuating unit includes: an actuator which is attached to the arm body so that a base end portion of the actuator turns upward and downward, the actuator extending to a further upstream side of a feed direction than the feed rollers;a detecting unit which is provided on a lower surface on the upstream side in the feed direction of the actuator and is in contact with the uppermost surface of the recorded media, the detecting unit fitting in an open portion formed in the bottom of the cassette when the recorded media are absent;an actuating unit which is provided on the actuator on a further downstream side of the feed direction than the detecting unit and comes into contact with the bottom of the cassette to space the feed rollers from the bottom of the cassette; andan urging unit which urges the feed rollers in a direction of spacing from the bottom so as to increase a contained angle between the arm body and the actuator when the detecting unit fits in the open portion.

6. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the arm body includes a transmission mechanism including a plurality of transmission gears which transmit power from a drive shaft positioned at a base end side of the arm body to the feed rollers.