1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus represented by a facsimile or a printer.
2. Related Art
In an ink jet printer as an example of a recording apparatus, a pair of transport rollers which transport a recording paper sheet as an example of a medium is provided on an upstream side of a recording head. Generally, the pair of transport rollers is constituted of a driving roller driven by a motor and a driven roller pressed to the driving roller.
There is a so-called serial-type printer in which a carriage including a recording head can move in a scanning direction of the recording head. In such a serial-type printer, the carriage is supported by a support member (in other words, a guide member) and is guided in the scanning direction of the recording head. An example of such a serial-type recording apparatus is disclosed in JP-A-2006-247932.
Examples of the support member supporting the carriage include a shaft-shaped member and a plate-shaped member as disclosed in JP-A-2006-247932. In this specification, the support member includes, in addition to the shaft-shaped member and the plate-shaped member disclosed in JP-A-2006-247932, members of every types which extend in a carriage movement direction, regardless of the shape thereof, and support the carriage.
Meanwhile, it is necessary to further reduce the size of a printer. Particularly, in a case of a mobile-type printer which may be carried by a user, it is necessary to further reduce the size thereof.
In a case of a printer of the related art disclosed in JP-A-2006-247932, in other words, a printer including a support member which supports a carriage and guides the carriage in a scanning direction of a recording head and a pair of transport rollers, particularly, a reduction in the size of an apparatus in a depth direction is not necessarily considered in view of such a size reduction request.
An advantage of some aspects of the invention is to further reduce the size of a recording apparatus including a support member and a pair of transport rollers.
According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a recording apparatus including: a carriage which includes a recording head performing recording on a medium and can move in a predetermined direction; a support member which extends in a carriage movement direction and supports the carriage; a driving roller which transports the medium to the recording head side and is driven by a driving source; and a driven roller which is pressed to the driving roller and is rotationally driven in contact with the medium, in which the driving roller is located below the support member and located in an area of the support member in a medium transport direction.
In this case, the driving roller which transports the medium to the recording head side and is driven by the driving source is located below the support member supporting the carriage and is located, in the medium transport direction, in the area of the support member. Thus, the size of the driving roller and the size of the support member are not separately added in terms of the size of the apparatus in the medium transport direction. As a result, the size of the apparatus in the medium transport direction can be reduced.
Furthermore, the recording head and the components in the vicinity of the recording head can be located close to the upstream side in the medium transport direction, and thus the size of the apparatus in the medium transport direction can be reduced.
In the recording apparatus, it is preferable that a diameter of the driven roller is larger than that of the driving roller.
In this case, the diameter of the driven roller is larger than that of the driving roller, and thus the following effects can be obtained. In other words, in a case where the medium is transported by the driving roller and the driven roller, when the following edge of the medium is discharged from the rollers, the following edge is forcefully sent out. As a result, in some cases, a transport accuracy reduction phenomenon, in other words, a so-called kick-off phenomenon, occurs.
In this case, the following edge of the medium is pushed out from the portion between the driven roller and the driving roller. However, in this case, a pushing force in accordance with pressing of the driven roller is set as follows. A pushing force by the driving roller having a relatively small diameter is larger than a pushing force by the driven roller having a relatively large diameter.
In this case, when the following edge of the medium is pushed out from the portion between the driven roller and the driving roller, the driven roller can freely rotate. Thus, rotation of the driven roller acts on the following edge of the medium so that the rotation causes the following edge of the medium to be forcefully pushed out. However, the driving roller is connected to a power source and cannot freely rotate. Thus, upon comparison with the driven roller, the driving roller does not operate in such a way that the driving roller causes the following edge of the medium to be forcefully pushed out.
In this case, the property described above is used. Accordingly, in a case of the driven roller which is operated so that the driven roller forcefully pushes out the following edge of the medium, the driven roller has a diameter larger than that of the driving roller so that the pushing force in accordance with pressing is relatively small. As a result, a kick-off phenomenon can be appropriately prevented with a simple configuration.
In the recording apparatus, it is preferable that the driven roller is located below the support member and is located in the area of the support member in the medium transport direction. Furthermore, it is preferable that the driving roller is located below the driven roller and is located in the area of the driven roller in the medium transport direction.
In this case, the driven roller is located below the support member and is located in the area of the support member in the medium transport direction. Furthermore, the driving roller is located below the driven roller and is located in the area of the driven roller in the medium transport direction. As a result, the size of the driving roller, the size of the driven roller, and the size of the support member are not separately added in terms of the size of the apparatus in the medium transport direction, and thus the size of the apparatus in the medium transport direction can be more favorably reduced.
In the recording apparatus, it is preferable that a roller shaft support member which pivotally supports the driven roller is provided and at least a part of the support member and at least a part of the roller shaft support member are located at the same vertical position.
In this case, a roller shaft support member which pivotally supports the driven roller is provided and at least a part of the support member and at least a part of the roller shaft support member are located at the same vertical position. As a result, the size of the roller shaft support member and the size of the support member are not separately added in terms of the size of the apparatus in the height direction, and thus the size of the apparatus in the height direction can be reduced.
In the recording apparatus, it is preferable that a medium support member supporting the medium is provided at a position capable of facing the recording head. Furthermore, it is preferable that the medium sent from the portion between the driving roller and the driven roller is pressed to the medium support member.
In this case, the medium support member supporting the medium is provided at the position capable of facing the recording head and the medium sent from the portion between the driving roller and the driven roller is pressed to the medium support member. As a result, floating of the medium is effectively prevented at a position facing the recording head.
In the recording apparatus, it is preferable that the driving roller is formed by attaching particles to the outer circumferential surface of a solid shaft or a hollow shaft. Furthermore, it is preferable that the driven roller is formed of a resin material.
In the recording apparatus, it is preferable that a rotation detection unit for detecting rotation of the driving roller is provided. Furthermore, it is preferable that the rotation detection unit includes a rotary scale and a detector for detecting rotation of the rotary scale. In addition, it is preferable that the rotary scale is attached to the driving roller.
In the recording apparatus, it is preferable that the support member is constituted of a frame material.
When it is assumed that the support member is constituted of a shaft body, it is necessary to provide a bearing to receive the shaft body. Thus, the size of the apparatus in the carriage movement direction is increased by the size of the bearing. However, in this case, the support member is constituted of a frame material, and thus an increase in the size of the apparatus in the carriage movement direction can be prevented.
It is preferable that the recording apparatus further includes a discharge roller which is located downstream from the recording head in a medium transport direction and discharges the medium, in which the carriage has the support member used as a first frame material and is supported by the first frame material and a second frame material which is disposed downstream from the recording head in the medium transport direction, and the discharge roller is located below the second frame material.
In this case, the discharge roller is located below the second frame material. As a result, the size of the discharge roller and the size of the second frame material are not separately added in terms of the size of the apparatus in the medium transport direction, and thus the size of the apparatus in the medium transport direction can be reduced.
The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like numbers reference like elements.
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the invention is not limited to the embodiment described below. The embodiment can be modified in various ways as long as they are within the scope of the invention described in the claims. The embodiment of the invention will be described with a precondition that the modified embodiments are included in the scope of the invention.
Furthermore,
Furthermore, in an x-y-z rectangular coordinate system illustrated in each drawing, an x direction and a y direction are horizontal directions. The x direction is a direction (in other words, a paper width direction) perpendicular to a paper transport direction. The x direction is also a right-left direction of the apparatus. Also, the x direction is a movement direction (in other words, a main scanning direction) of the carriage 17. The y direction is the paper transport direction. Also, the y direction is a depth direction of the apparatus. Furthermore, a z direction is a gravity direction. Also, the z direction is a height direction of the apparatus.
Hereinafter, the entirety of the configuration of the printer 1 will be described with reference to
The apparatus main body 2 illustrated in
A feeding port 3 in which a recording paper sheet (which is mainly a cut paper sheet: hereinafter, referred to as a “paper sheet P”) as an example of a medium can be set is provided on the rear side of the apparatus. A plurality of paper sheets P sets in the feeding port 3 is supported in an inclined state, by a hopper 4 and a paper support (not illustrated) located above the hopper 4.
In
A paper transport unit including the transport driving roller 16 and the transport driven roller 15 is provided in an area downstream from the feeding roller 5. The paper sheet P is transported to an area below an ink jet recording head 21 by the rollers. The transport driving roller 16 is rotationally driven by a motor 32 (see
The ink jet recording head 21 is provided in the carriage 17. Ink cartridge 20 is mounted on the carriage 17. The carriage 17 receives power from a motor 47 (see
Hereinafter, a movement direction of the carriage 17 when the carriage 17 moves from the right end (in other words, the home position) to the left end is set to a second direction. Furthermore, a movement direction of the carriage 17 when the carriage 17 moves from the left end to the right end is set to a first direction.
Next, a casing body of the carriage 17 is constituted of a carriage main body 18 having a box shape. Ink cartridges 20A and 20B are mounted on the inner side of the carriage main body 18. Ink is supplied from the ink cartridges 20A and 20B to the ink jet recording head 21. The ink cartridges 20A and 20B can be mounted or removed to or from the carriage main body 18. In
Furthermore, in the embodiment, the carriage 17 is a so-called on-carriage type in which the ink cartridges 20A and 20B are mounted on the carriage 17. However, the carriage 17 may be a so-called off-carriage type in which the ink cartridges 20A and 20B are provided separated from the carriage and the ink cartridges 20A and 20B and the recording head 21 are connected through an ink tube.
In
Similarly, the second supported portion 18b is supported by the guide frame 12 and the second supported portion 18b slides on the guide frame 12. Furthermore, the guide frame 12 defines the y-direction position of the carriage 17. In other words, the guide frame 12 guides the carriage 17 in a main scanning direction. The details of the first supported portion 18a, the second supported portion 18b, and guide frames 12 and 13 will be described below.
Next, the paper support member 22 supporting the paper sheet P is provided at a position facing the ink jet recording head 21. A gap between the paper sheet P and the ink jet recording head 21 is defined by the paper support member 22. A discharge driving roller 25 and a discharge driven roller 26 which discharge the paper sheet P subjected to recording are provided in an area downstream from both the ink jet recording head 21 and the paper support member 22. The reference numeral and letter 25a indicates a rotation shaft of the discharge driving roller 25. A plurality of discharge driving rollers 25 is provided, at appropriately intervals, along an axial direction of the 25a (see
Next, frames constituting the framework of the apparatus main body 2 will be described. In
The main frame 8 extends in an up-down direction such that, in a cross-sectional view, the main frame 8 has a shape as illustrated in
In a cross-sectional view, the guide frame 12 extends in the up-down direction, as illustrated in
In this case, an upper surface 12e of the horizontal portion 12b of the guide frame 12 is a slide surface on which a slider 18c (see
In a cross-sectional view, the guide frame 13 provided on the front side of the apparatus extends in the horizontal direction, as illustrated in
An upper surface (to which the reference numeral and letter 13d is given) of the horizontal portion 13a of the guide frame 13 is a slide surface on which the first supported portion (that is, a slider) 18a (see
Next, returning to
In addition, in the paper support member 22, a center portion 22c located slightly closer to a center portion than the right end portion 22b is fixed to the main frame 8 by a screw 51. In other words, x-direction end portions of the paper support member 22 are supported by the side frames 9 and 10 and, further, a portion between the x-direction end portions is supported by the main frame 8. Accordingly, bending (drooping) of the paper support member 22 in the x direction can be effectively prevented. Furthermore, the function of the paper support member 22 will be described below.
Subsequently, the carriage 17 (in other words, the carriage main body 18) according to the embodiment will be described with reference to
Furthermore, in
More specifically, in
The reference letter At indicates a triangular area surrounded by straight lines passing through the two sliders 18c and 18c and the first supported portion (slider) 18a. In a cross-sectional view, the centroid of the carriage 17 is located in an area At.
Subsequently, a belt clamp portion 18k is provided on the rear side of the carriage main body 18, as illustrated in
Next, both the transport driving roller 16 constituting the transport unit for transporting the paper sheet P and the gear group 33 as a power transmission mechanism for transmitting power from the motor 32 (see
The respective gears constituting the gear group 33 are provided in the side frame 10. More specifically, the gears are provided outside (outside the apparatus) the side frame 10. The gear group 33 is constituted of gears 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, and 41 and the gears are arranged in order from the motor 32 side, as illustrated in
The rotary scale 45, in addition to the gear 37, is provided in the axial end of the transport driving roller 16 (see
In the configuration described above,
At least a part of the gear group 33 is located below the carriage 17 in a state where the carriage 17 is moved to the end portion in the second direction, as described above. Accordingly, it is configured so that the gear group 33 is disposed in an area necessary for the movement of the carriage 17. As a result, the size of the width of the apparatus can be reduced. In addition, the size of the width of the apparatus can be reduced even when the width of the carriage 17 is ensured. Thus, the volume of the carriage 17, in other words, the volume of the ink cartridges 20A and 20B can be ensured.
Furthermore, in the embodiment, the carriage 17 includes the protrusion portion 18f protruding in the second direction. Accordingly, the volume of the carriage 17 can be ensured by the protrusion portion 18f and at least a part of the gear group 33 is disposed below the protrusion portion 18f of the carriage 17 in a state where the carriage 17 is moved to the end portion in the second direction. As a result, an increase in the size of the width of the apparatus can be prevented. Furthermore, the volume of the carriage can be ensured without an increase of the size of the carriage main body 18 in the height direction, and thus an increase in the size of the apparatus in the height direction can be prevented.
In addition, in the carriage 17, the ink cartridge 20B occupies a space including the protrusion portion 18f, and thus the ink capacity of the ink cartridge 20B can be ensured.
In the embodiment, the diameter of the rotary scale 45 constituting the rotation detection unit 43 for detecting rotation of the transport driving roller 16 as the first roller is set to be smaller than that of the gear 37 as a first roller driving gear. Accordingly, the rotary scale 45 can be protected from an external pressure applied from, particularly, the upper side of the apparatus. Furthermore, the rotary scale 45 is provided on a first-direction side (in other words, a side frame 10 side) in relation to the gear 37. Accordingly, the detector 44 sensing the rotary scale 45 is also disposed in a portion between the gear group 33 and the side frame 10. As a result, the detector 44 can be prevented from being disposed in the outermost side (in other words, the outer side in the carriage movement direction) of the apparatus main body, and thus an increase in the size (in other words, the size in the carriage movement direction) of the apparatus main body can be prevented.
In addition, the rotary scale 45 is weak in terms of strength and, further, the detection accuracy thereof is easily reduced due to a small amount of distortion, and thus this leads to a reduction in recording quality. However, in the embodiment, the rotary scale 45 is provided on the first-direction side (in other words, the side frame 10 side) in relation to the gear 37 as the first roller driving gear. Thus, both the rotary scale 45 and the detector 44 can be protected from an external pressure applied from the lateral side of the apparatus.
Furthermore, a convex portion 10a which extends along the external appearance of the rotary scale 45 and is formed in an arc shape of which the diameter is larger than that of the rotary scale 45 is formed in the side frame 10 which supports the transport driving roller 16, as illustrated in
Furthermore, in the carriage main body 18, a concave portion 18j to which the convex portion 10a is disposed when the carriage 17 is located at the position of the end portion in the second direction (see
The embodiment described above is an example. Needless to say, the invention is not intended to be limited by the embodiment described above.
Furthermore, a carriage main body 18′ illustrated in
In addition, application examples as described below can also be applied. In the embodiment, the carriage 17 is supported by, for example, the guide frames 12 and 13 and is guided in the movement direction by the frames. However, the carriage 17 may be supported by a shaft and is guided in the movement direction by the shaft.
Subsequently, the details of the transport driving roller 16 and the transport driven roller 15 will be described with reference to
The high friction layer 16a is not formed in a center portion of the transport driving roller 16. The center portion is supported by the central support member 50, as illustrated by
The central support member 50 is provided in the paper support member 22. In
Accordingly, the relative positional relationship between the paper support member 22 and the transport driving roller 16 does not vary in the x direction (in other words, the paper width direction). In other words, the posture of a paper sheet is stabilized in the x direction (in other words, the paper width direction), and thus a reduction in recording quality can be prevented.
The paper support member 22 is in a state where the end portions of the paper support member 22 in the x direction are supported by the side frames 9 and 10 and the center portion 22c between the end portions is also supported by the main frame 8, as described with reference to
Next, the positional relationship between the transport driving roller 16, the transport driven roller 15, and the guide frame 12 will be described.
In
In the printer 1 according to the embodiment, the transport driving roller 16 is located below the guide frame 12 which is a support member supporting the carriage 17 and is located in the area of the guide frame 12 in the paper transport direction (in other words, the y direction), as can be understood from
Accordingly, the size of the transport driving roller 16 and the size of the guide frame 12 are not separately added in terms of the size of the apparatus in the paper transport direction (in other words, the y direction), and thus the size of the apparatus in the paper transport direction (in other words, the y direction) can be reduced.
Furthermore, the recording head 21 and the components in the vicinity of the recording head 21 can be located close to the upstream side (in other words, the right side in
In the embodiment, the transport driven roller 15 is located below the guide frame 12 and is located, in the paper transport direction (in other words, the y direction) in the area of the guide frame 12. The transport driving roller 16 is located below the transport driven roller 15 and is located, in the paper transport direction (in other words, the y direction), in the area of the transport driven roller 15. More specifically, the entirety of the occupancy range Y2 of the transport driven roller 15 in the paper transport direction (in other words, the y direction) is located in the occupancy range Y3 of the guide frame 12 in the paper transport direction (in other words, the y direction). Furthermore, the entirety of the occupancy range Y1 of the transport driving roller 16 in the paper transport direction (in other words the y direction) is located in the occupancy range Y2 of the transport driven roller 15 in the paper transport direction (in other words, the y direction).
Accordingly, the size of the transport driving roller 16, the size of the transport driven roller 15, and the size of the guide frame 12 are not separately added in terms of the size of the apparatus in the paper transport direction (in other words, the y direction), and thus the size of the apparatus in the paper transport direction (in other words, the y direction) can be more favorably reduced.
In the embodiment, at least a part of the guide frame 12 and at least a part of the roller shaft support member 14 which pivotally supports the transport driven roller 15 are located at the same vertical position. More specifically, in
Accordingly, the size of the roller shaft support member 14 and the size of the guide frame 12 are not separately added in terms of the size of the apparatus in the height direction, and thus the size of the apparatus in the height direction can be reduced.
In the embodiment, the guide frames 12 and 13 as the support member for supporting the carriage 17 are constituted of a frame material. Here, when it is assumed that the support member is constituted of a shaft body, it is necessary to provide a bearing to receive the shaft body. Thus, the size of the apparatus in the movement direction (in other words, the x direction) of the carriage 17 is increased by the size of the bearing. However, in the embodiment, the guide frames 12 and 13 as the support member are constituted of the frame material, and thus an increase in the size of the apparatus in the movement direction (in other words, the x direction) of the carriage 17 can be prevented.
In the embodiment, the carriage 17 is supported by the guide frames 12 and 13 and the discharge driving roller 25 as the discharge roller is located below the guide frame 13. Accordingly, the size of the discharge driving roller 25 and the size of the guide frame 13 are not separately added in terms of the size of the apparatus in the transport direction (in other words, the y direction) of a medium, and thus the size of the apparatus in the transport direction (in other words, the y direction) of the medium can be reduced.
Subsequently,
In the embodiment, a diameter d1 of the transport driven roller 15 is set to be larger than a diameter d2 of the transport driving roller 16. Furthermore, an angle α is set to a value of 0°<α<90°, and thus a feeding direction of the paper sheet P which is sent from a portion between the transport driving roller 16 and the transport driven roller 15 leads to a obliquely lower side, as illustrated by an arrow Df. Therefore, the paper sheet P sent from the portion between the transport driving roller 16 and the transport driven roller 15 is pressed to the paper support member 22 (see
Hereinafter, an operation effect obtained by the configuration in which the diameter d1 of the transport driven roller 15 is set to be larger than the diameter d2 of the transport driving roller 16 will be described with reference to
In
The transport driven roller 15 is pressed to the transport driving roller 16. In other words, the paper sheet P is pressed in a portion between the transport driven roller 15 and the transport driving roller 16. Accordingly, when the following edge of the paper sheet is discharged from both rollers, the following edge receives a pushing force from both rollers. The reference letter and numeral F1 indicates a pushing force applied from the transport driven roller 15 to a following edge corner portion Cu and the reference letter and numeral F2 indicates a pushing force applied from the transport driving roller 16 to a following edge corner portion Cd. In the embodiment, a pushing force F2 by the transport driving roller 16 having a relatively small diameter is larger than a pushing force F1 by the transport driven roller 15 having a relatively large diameter.
In this case, when the following edge of the paper sheet is pushed out from the portion between the transport driven roller 15 and the transport driving roller 16, rotation R2 of the transport driven roller 15 is free rotation and the rotation acts on the following edge of the paper sheet so that the rotation causes the following edge to be forcefully pushed out. However, the transport driving roller 16 is connected to a power source and cannot freely rotate. Thus, rotation R1 of the transport driving roller 16 acts on the following edge of the paper sheet so that the rotation R1 does not cause the following edge to be forcefully pushed out, compared to the rotation R2 of the transport driven roller 15.
In the embodiment, the property described above is used. Accordingly, the diameter of the transport driven roller 15 which is operated so that the transport driven roller 15 forcefully pushes out the following edge of the paper sheet is set to be larger than that of the transport driving roller 16 so that the amount of the pushing force F1 in accordance with pressing is relatively small (d1>d2). As a result, a kick-off phenomenon can be appropriately prevented with a simple configuration.
For a comparison between the embodiment and the related art,
Furthermore, the diameter d1 of the transport driven roller 15 is set to be larger than the diameter d2 of the transport driving roller 16, and thus an influence of a reduction in assembling accuracy of the apparatus can be reduced. In other words, as described with reference to
However, when the position of the transport driven roller 15 moves in the horizontal direction due to a reduction in the assembling accuracy of the transport driven roller 15, the angle α also changes. The smaller the diameter d1 of the transport driven roller 15 is, the larger the change rate of the angle α. However, in the embodiment, the diameter d1 of the transport driven roller 15 is set to a large value, and thus variation of the angle α in accordance with variation of the position of the transport driven roller 15 is suppressed. As a result, a favorable recording quality can be obtained.
Furthermore, the rotary scale 45 (see
The entire disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2014-130393, filed Jun. 25, 2014 is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2014-130393 | Jun 2014 | JP | national |