JP2003094740A - Inkjet recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a printer capable of recording on a rigid recording material in a small installation space, and to easily feed the recording material. The printer includes a transport roller, an inkjet recording head, and a paper discharge roller. A detector 40 for detecting the passage of a sheet is provided slightly upstream of the transport roller 12 so as to be obliquely downward from the upstream to the downstream. The transport driven roller 12b, the paper discharge driven roller 20b, the paper discharge auxiliary roller 21, and the detector 40 can be retracted upward by means for setting them in a release (retracted) state, thereby providing high rigidity. feed path for manual feeding of paper P _t not deflect from the front of the apparatus is formed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an inkjet recording apparatus capable of recording on a recording material having high rigidity and not easily bent.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, inkjet recording apparatuses (hereinafter referred to as "printers") are required to support various types of recording materials (printing media), and postcards and OHP sheets have been conventionally required. In addition to such print media as described above, it has been required to be able to perform recording on other special print media, for example, a label surface of a CD-R used as a data storage medium in a computer.

Since such a print medium, that is, a print medium which is rigid and does not easily bend, cannot be curved in the paper transport path, it is necessary to secure a linear transport path. . Therefore, a normal print medium (plain paper (single-cut paper)) is held in an inclined posture, the plain paper is fed obliquely downward, and then curved in the middle of the feeding path and discharged substantially horizontally. In a printer provided with a general paper feeding device, it is necessary to separately provide the above-described substantially linear transport path. Conventionally, such a printer has been dealt with by forming a substantially horizontal transport path from the rear side of the printer to the front side.

[0004]

However, in such a conventional printer in which the recording material is inserted substantially horizontally from the rear of the printer and discharged from the front of the printer, the area for feeding and discharging paper is provided on the front side and the rear side of the printer. Therefore, a large installation space must be secured, and it is not possible to meet the demand for space saving. Further, since the printer is usually installed with the front side of the apparatus as the front side, the work of inserting the recording material from the rear becomes complicated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to install a printer capable of recording on a recording material having high rigidity and not easily bent in a small installation space, and It is to facilitate the paper feeding work.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1 of the present application has a carriage provided with an ink jet recording head for recording on a recording material, and the carriage in the main scanning direction. A carriage guide shaft that guides the recording material, a conveyance driving roller that conveys the recording material under the ink jet recording head, and a recording driving material that nips the recording material between the conveyance driving roller and freely rotate. A conveyance roller that is a conveyance driven roller that is provided, a discharge-driving roller that is provided downstream from the inkjet recording head, that discharges the recording material on which recording has been performed, and that is rotationally driven, and the discharge-driving roller. A paper discharge roller which is a freely rotatably provided paper discharge driven roller for nipping a recording material between Above the recording material, a contact portion that is rotatably provided while looking at the conveyance path of the recording material and extends obliquely downward from the center of rotation toward the downstream side is recorded from the upstream side to the downstream side. The ink jet recording head and the recording target are adjusted by adjusting the height position of the paper guide and the paper detector that detects the passage of the recording target by rotating the recording medium so that it is pushed up by coming into contact with the recording medium. Gap adjusting means for adjusting the gap with the material, conveyance driven roller release means for separating the conveyance driven roller from the conveyance driving roller, and paper ejection driven roller release for separating the paper ejection driven roller from the paper ejection driving roller And a paper detector release means for rotating the paper detector in the retreat direction. By operating the driven roller release, the paper discharge driven roller release means, the gap adjusting means, and the paper detector release means, the recording material is inserted substantially horizontally from the paper discharge roller toward the upstream side. It is characterized in that it is configured to be able to form various feeding paths.

The ink jet recording apparatus is provided with a conveying roller, an ink jet recording head, and a paper discharging roller in this order from the upstream side to the downstream side of the recording material in the conveying direction. Further, on the upstream side of the transport roller, a paper detector having a contact portion that extends obliquely downward from upstream to downstream when the recording material transport direction is viewed from the side is provided. The recording material advancing toward (1) can smoothly proceed without being obstructed by the paper detector.

Here, in order to perform recording on a recording material that has high rigidity and does not bend, it is necessary to adopt a substantially horizontal feeding path. Further, considering the paper detector, it is substantially horizontal from the rear of the apparatus. It is necessary to adopt a feeding path that inserts the sheet into the device and discharges it substantially horizontally from the front of the device. However, in this case, a space for manual feeding is required at the rear of the apparatus, and thus it becomes necessary to take a large installation space for the inkjet recording apparatus. Also, in general, manual feeding from the rear of the device is
Workability may be poor. On the other hand, the paper detector interferes with manual feeding from the front of the apparatus.

However, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the conveyance driven roller release means for separating the conveyance driven roller from the conveyance driving roller and the paper ejection driven roller release for separating the paper ejection driven roller from the paper ejection driving roller. Means, a paper detector releasing means for retracting the paper detector upward, and a gap adjusting means for adjusting the gap between the recording material and the ink jet recording head. It is configured to be able to form a feeding path that is inserted substantially horizontally from the discharge roller toward the upstream side. Therefore, the recording material having high rigidity is inserted from the paper ejection roller side and the paper is ejected from the paper ejection roller side, so that the ink jet recording apparatus need only secure a space on the front side at the time of installation. Thus, the inkjet recording device can be installed in a small installation space, and by feeding from the front side of the inkjet recording device, the user can easily perform the paper feeding.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the ink jet recording apparatus according to the first aspect, the gap adjusting means, the transport driven roller release means, the paper discharge driven roller release means, and the detector release means are provided. It is characterized in that it is connected to one operation lever via a gear meshing mechanism, and is operable to operate all the means by operating the one operation lever.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the gap adjusting means, the conveyance driven roller release means, the paper discharge driven roller release means, and the detector release means are operated in one operation via the gear meshing mechanism. Since all of the means are connected to the lever and can be operated by operating the one operation lever, the operation of these means is simplified,
Thus, it is possible to easily form the feeding path for inserting the recording material from the front side of the apparatus with one touch.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink jet recording apparatus according to the second aspect, wherein the operation lever has a disk-shaped rotating disk portion having an outer periphery which can mesh with a gear, and an operation extending in a radial direction from the rotating disk portion. And a side frame that is erected on both shaft end sides of the carriage guide shaft so as to be orthogonal to the axial direction of the carriage guide shaft, and is rotatable around the center of rotation of the rotating plate portion. Mounted on the side frame, the gap adjusting means is rotatably provided on the side frame, and supports the carriage guide shaft at a position deviated from the rotation center. Is configured to adjust the gap between the ink jet recording head and the recording material, and the conveyance driven roller is rotatably provided by looking at the conveyance path of the recording material. A transport driven roller holder, and the transport driven roller release means includes a first cam portion that engages with a cam follower portion formed in the transport driven roller holder to rotate the transport driven roller holder. Further, the conveyance driven roller is configured to be separated from the conveyance driving roller by rotating a first cam shaft that is rotatably provided while laterally looking at the conveyance path of the recording material. The driven roller is pivotally supported by a long plate-shaped paper discharge frame that is long in the main scanning direction and is rotatably provided while viewing the recording material conveyance path from the side. Rotating a second cam shaft rotatably provided with a second cam portion that presses against the paper frame to rotate the paper discharge frame when looking at the conveyance path of the recording material. By said A paper driven roller is configured to be separated from the paper discharge driving roller, and the paper detector release means has a detector engaging portion that engages with the paper detector and rotates the paper detector. It is configured to rotate the paper detector in the retreating direction by rotating a detector release shaft that is pivotally supported by the side frame, and includes the first cam shaft and the second cam shaft, A power transmission gear is attached to one end of each of the detector release shafts, and the eccentric bush and the first
Of the camshaft, the second camshaft, and the detector release shaft are engaged with the rotary disc portion by a gear mechanism, and all the rotary members are linked by rotating the operation lever. It is characterized in that it is configured to rotate.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the eccentric bush forming the gap adjusting means, the first cam shaft forming the transport driven roller release means, and the second cam forming the paper discharge driven roller release means. Since the cam shaft and the detector release shaft that constitutes the detector release means are all configured to be interlocked and rotated by one operating lever, the invention according to claim 2 described above. Similarly, all the means can be operated with one touch, and thus it becomes possible to easily form the feeding path for inserting the recording material from the front side of the apparatus.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the ink jet recording apparatus according to the second or third aspect, the operation lever is
It is characterized in that the operation lever is mounted so as to be rotated in a stepwise manner by a switching position holding means for switching the rotation of the operation lever in stages and to be able to hold each position. Claim 4 of the present application
According to the invention described above, the operation lever is rotated so as to be switched to a plurality of positions stepwise by the switching position holding means for switching the rotation of the operation lever stepwise, and each position is attached so that it can be held. Therefore, the user can easily rotate the operation lever to the optimum position and hold the position, and the operability is improved.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the ink jet recording apparatus according to the fourth aspect, the switching position holding means switches the operation lever stepwise in the order of the first to fourth positions, and at the first position. The gap adjusting means forms a first gap between the inkjet recording head and the recording material, and the transport driven roller release means, the paper discharge driven roller release means, and the detector release means are all non-release. By taking the state, the recording operation is performed by the paper feeding from the upstream side of the conveying roller, and at the second position,
The gap adjusting means takes a second gap larger than the first gap, and the transport driven roller release means, the paper discharge driven roller release means, and the detector release means are all in a non-release state. By doing so, the recording operation is performed by feeding the paper from the upstream side of the conveying roller, and at the third position, the gap adjusting means takes the third gap larger than the second gap, and the conveying driven is performed. When the roller release means and the detector release means are in a non-release state and the paper discharge driven roller release means is in a release state, recording is performed on the recording material inserted from the paper discharge roller toward the upstream side. An operation is performed, and in the fourth position, the gap adjusting means maintains the third gap, When the transport driven roller release means, the discharge driven roller release means, and the detector release means are all in the release state, the recording material can be inserted substantially horizontally from the discharge roller toward the upstream side. It is characterized by

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the operating lever can be switched stepwise in the order of the first to fourth positions by the switching position holding means. Here, the first and second positions are positions where the recording operation is performed by feeding the paper from the upstream side of the transport roller, and these three of the transport driven roller release means, the paper discharge driven roller release means, and the detector release means are used. The release means is in a non-release state. The "non-release state" of the transport driven roller release means and the paper discharge driven roller release means means that each driven roller is in pressure contact with each drive roller, and the "release state" means that each driven roller is It means a state of being separated from each drive roller. Further, the “non-release state” of the detector release means means a state in which the detector is not rotated in the retracting direction, and the “release state” means a state in which the detector is rotated in the retracting direction. To do.

In the third position, only the paper discharge driven roller release means is in the release state, and in this state, the recording operation of the recording material inserted from the paper discharge roller toward the upstream side is performed, and the paper discharge driven. The roller prevents the recording surface from being scratched. In addition, at the fourth position, the recording material is inserted from the paper discharge roller toward the upstream side, so that the three release means are all in the release state. Further, the gap adjusting means for adjusting the gap between the inkjet recording head and the recording material is such that the gap increases in the order of the first to third positions. Therefore, as described above, since the thickness of the recording material that can be recorded increases in the order of the first to third positions, the operation of the operation lever can be intuitively understood by the user, which is user-friendly. ..

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the ink jet recording apparatus according to the fourth or fifth aspect, the switching position holding means is provided on the turntable so as to turn so as to face the side frame. A small gear part having a smaller diameter than the rotating plate part and having the same rotation center as that of the rotating plate part and having gear-like irregularities formed on the outer periphery; And a cylindrical body having a diameter smaller than that of the small gear portion, which is fixedly mounted on the side frame so as to be positioned inside the turning plate portion, and forms the gear-like unevenness. And / or elastically deforming the columnar body causes the columnar body to be pushed into a concave portion that forms the gear-shaped unevenness, thereby stepwise switching the operation levers to respective positions and holding the respective positions. Characterize.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to obtain a structure in which various means such as the transport driven roller release means can be operated by one operation lever without increasing the size of the ink jet recording apparatus. That is, the gap adjusting means has an operation lever, and by rotating the operation lever, the eccentric bush that pivotally supports the carriage guide shaft is rotated, and thus the gap between the inkjet recording head portion and the recording material is set. It is configured to adjust. here,
The gap adjusting means includes a switching position holding means for switching the operation lever to a plurality of positions stepwise and holding the switching lever at each position.

However, when the operation lever also serves as an operation lever for a plurality of other means such as a conveyance driven roller release means, a gear mechanism or the like for connecting the plurality of other means is arranged around the operation lever. Therefore, since the above-mentioned switching position holding means is further provided, the structure becomes complicated, and a space is required around the operation lever, resulting in an increase in size of the apparatus.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, however, the switching position holding means faces the side frame having a diameter smaller than that of the turntable and gear-like irregularities formed on the outer circumference. Since it is configured by the pinion gear portion that rotates with respect to each other and the columnar body that is provided so as to be positioned inside the rotating plate portion, the constituent elements of the switching position holding means are arranged inside the operation lever. As a result, it becomes possible to provide a switching position holding means for gradually switching and holding the position of the operation lever without increasing the size of the ink jet recording apparatus.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the ink jet recording apparatus according to the sixth aspect, a plurality of the cylinders are arranged,
The plurality of cylinders are all configured by a set of two cylinders, and the two cylinders that form the set of cylinders are point-symmetric with respect to the center of rotation of the pinion portion. It is characterized by being placed in a position. According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, since the plurality of columnar bodies are arranged, the holding force at each position of the operation lever can be more reliably obtained by the plurality of columnar bodies.

Further, since the columnar body is provided so as to come into pressure contact with the outer periphery of the pinion gear portion, the columnar body is therefore attached to the pinion gear portion.
An external force is applied so as to move toward the center of rotation of the small gear portion. Therefore, when the columnar body is not symmetrically arranged with respect to the rotation center of the pinion gear portion, the external force generates a moment force with respect to the rotating shaft of the pinion gear portion, which causes the rotation of the pinion gear portion. The movement may not be performed smoothly, and the rotation shaft or the bearing of the rotation shaft may be worn. However, according to the invention described in claim 7, a plurality of the columnar bodies arranged are all a set, and in each set of the columnar bodies, the two columnar bodies are located at the rotation center of the pinion portion. Since they are arranged point-symmetrically with respect to each other, the forces exerted by the two cylindrical bodies toward the center of rotation of the pinion gear portion cancel each other out and become a balanced state. It is possible to prevent the occurrence.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the ink jet recording apparatus according to the sixth or seventh aspect, a hollow portion is formed inside the small gear portion, and the gear-like unevenness is pressed against the cylindrical body in the hollow portion. It is characterized in that a biasing means is provided for causing it. According to the invention of claim 8 of the present application, since the hollow portion is formed inside the small gear portion, and the hollow portion is provided with the urging means for press-contacting the gear-shaped unevenness to the cylindrical body. As a result, the pressure contact state between the gear-shaped unevenness and the columnar body is maintained in an appropriate state without loosening for a long period of time, and accordingly, the stepwise switching operation of the operation lever is appropriately performed for a long period of time. Is possible.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the ink jet recording apparatus according to any one of the third to eighth aspects, the first cam shaft also serves as the detector release shaft, and the first cam portion has the same structure. The second cam portion for rotating the detector is provided. According to the invention of claim 9 of the present application, the first cam shaft also serves as the detector release shaft, and the second cam part is provided on the first cam part. Therefore, the first cam shaft is accordingly provided. Can rotate not only the transport driven roller holder but also the detector. Therefore, the structure can be simplified and the detector release means can be configured at low cost.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the ink jet recording apparatus according to any one of the third to ninth aspects, the cam follower portion with which the first cam portion formed on the first cam shaft engages. Further, the transport driven roller holder is rotated by contacting the transport driven roller holder from a far side of a rotation shaft.

According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, the transport driven roller holder can be rotated without difficulty with a small force. That is, the transport driven roller holder is configured to rotate when the first cam portion comes into contact with the cam follower portion, but the first cam portion is provided on the first cam shaft, and the first cam portion is provided. The cam shaft is configured to engage with the cam follower portion as the cam shaft rotates. Here, the first cam shaft is parallel to the rotation shaft of the conveyance driven roller holder (both of which are rotatably provided when looking at the conveyance path of the recording material). The portion can also come into contact with the cam follower portion of the transport driven roller holder from the side close to the rotation axis of the transport driven roller holder,
On the contrary, it is also possible to contact the rotary shaft of the transport driven roller holder from the far side. However, since the transport driven roller is configured to be in pressure contact with the transport drive roller, a certain force is required when the first cam shaft rotates the transport driven roller holder. Therefore, in the invention according to claim 10 of the present application, by making the first cam portion come into contact with the cam follower portion from the far side of the rotation shaft of the transport driven roller holder, the transport driven roller holder is made smaller by the so-called lever principle. It is possible to rotate with force.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, in the ink jet recording apparatus according to any one of the third to tenth aspects, the cam portion formed on the second cam shaft is attached to the paper discharge frame which is in pressure contact with the discharge frame. It is characterized in that the paper discharge frame is rotated by pressing the paper discharge frame from the far side of the rotation shaft.

According to the invention of claim 11 of the present application, it is possible to obtain the same effects as the effects of claim 10 of the present application. That is, the second cam portion can be contacted from the side closer to the rotation axis of the paper discharge frame, and conversely can be contacted from the far side, but in order to rotate the paper discharge frame. Since a constant force is required for this, the so-called lever principle causes the second cam portion to come into pressure contact from the far side of the rotation axis of the paper ejection frame,
The paper ejection frame can be rotated without difficulty with a small force.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in the ink jet recording apparatus according to any one of the fourth to eleventh aspects, a sensor engaging portion having a constant length is formed along the outer periphery of the rotating plate portion, and the sensor is provided. A sensor main body arranged at a predetermined distance from the engaging portion, and engaging and disengaging with the sensor engaging portion according to rotation of the operation lever, from the sensor main body portion to the sensor engaging portion. It is characterized in that it is provided with a position sensor consisting of a sensor detection portion protruding toward the front. According to the twelfth aspect of the present invention, since the switching state of the operation lever can be detected by the position sensor, it is possible to execute an appropriate recording operation according to the switching state of the operation lever.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, in the ink jet recording apparatus according to the twelfth aspect, the plurality of position sensors are provided, and a switching state of the operation lever that switches to three or more positions depending on a combination of detection signals of the plurality of position sensors. It is characterized in that it can be detected.

According to the thirteenth aspect of the present invention, by providing the plurality of position sensors, it is possible to detect the switching state of the operation lever that switches to three or more positions by the combination of the detection signals of the plurality of position sensors. Thus, it is possible to perform an appropriate recording operation according to each position.

[0033]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS <Structure of Inkjet Printer> An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, an inkjet printer according to the present invention (hereinafter referred to as “printer”)
The overall configuration of 200 will be described. Here, FIG.
(A) is an external perspective view of the printer 200, and (B) is an enlarged perspective view of an operation lever portion. 2 is a side sectional view of the printer 200, and FIG. 3 is a plan view of a main part of the printer 200.

In FIG. 1, a printer 200 is provided with a sheet feeding device 2 at the rear of the apparatus and a sheet discharging stacker 3 at the front of the apparatus, and a sheet P as a recording material fed by the sheet feeding apparatus 2 is provided.
(Plain paper (cut sheet): see Fig. 2) is behind the device (upstream side)
It is configured to be fed from the device and discharged toward the front (downstream side) of the device. The paper feeding device 2 is provided with a roll paper holder (not shown) for rotatably supporting a roll of rolled roll paper (mainly a photo paper slightly thicker than plain paper: not shown). It is attachable, and is also configured to be fed out from the rear of the printer 200 together with the paper P and discharged toward the front. Furthermore, the printer 200, high rigidity easily to the thick not such bend the print medium P _{t (e.g.,} cardboard, CD-R (optical disk) such as a printing medium:
(Not shown in FIGS. 1 to 3) is manually fed from the front side of the apparatus toward the rear side of the apparatus, and is discharged again toward the front side of the apparatus. The printer 2 to enable manual insertion feeding such a thick printing medium P _t from the front of the apparatus
The configuration of 00 will be described in detail later.

The external appearance of the printer 200 is constituted by the cover member 1. In the cover member 1, the operation lever 50 (rear side) is provided on the front left side of the apparatus (left side of FIG. 1A) as shown in FIG. 1B. Opening 1 for exposing (details) to the outside
By forming (a) and switching (rotating) the operation lever 50, the printer 200 can be set to an appropriate print setting according to the thickness of the paper on which printing is performed. Regarding the specific contents of the print settings of the printer 200 according to the thickness of the printing paper,
It will be described in detail later.

Next, the conveyance path of the paper P (plain paper (cut sheet)) in the printer 200 will be described with reference to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 as necessary. As described above, the printer 200 has the sheet feeding device 2 at the rear (on the left side in FIG. 2).
Is equipped with. The paper feeding device 2 is provided with a hopper 9, and the paper P as a cut sheet is accumulated and stored on the hopper 9 in an inclined posture. The hopper 9 is provided so as to be rotatable around a rotation fulcrum (not shown) located above the rear portion of the sheet feeding device 2, and its tip is pressed against and separated from the sheet feeding roller 8 which is driven to rotate. It is designed to work. The uppermost one of the accumulated sheets P is fed to the downstream side by the hopper 9 pressing the paper feed roller 8 and rotating the paper feed roller 8 in the pressed state. The paper feed roller 8 has a substantially D-shape when viewed from the side, and is controlled so that its flat portion faces the paper P during the printing operation (the state of FIG. 2), which causes the conveyance load of the paper P to occur. To prevent.

A paper guide 10 as a plate-like member is provided substantially horizontally below the paper feed roller 8 and the front end of the paper P fed from the paper feed device 2 obliquely contacts the paper guide 10. It touches and is smoothly guided to the downstream side. Downstream from the paper guide 10, there is provided a transport roller 12 including a transport drive roller 12a that is rotationally driven and a transport driven roller 12b that is in pressure contact with the transport drive roller 12a. It is nipped and conveyed downstream with a constant pitch. At this time, as shown in FIG. 2, the sheet P is in a curved state in which it is convex downward between the hopper 9 and the transport roller 12, and the traveling direction is changed from diagonally downward to substantially horizontal.

The transport driven roller 12b is rotatably supported on the downstream side of the transport driven roller holder 14, and the transport driven roller holder 14 rotates about the rotation shaft 14a in the clockwise and counterclockwise directions in FIG. The transport driven roller 12b is rotatably biased by a torsion coil spring 15 (see FIG. 3) in a direction in which the transport driven roller 12b is constantly in pressure contact with the transport driving roller 12a (clockwise direction in FIG. 2). Here, as shown in FIG. 3, the conveyance driving roller 12a is moved in the main scanning direction (see FIG.
In the front-and-back direction of the paper surface), the conveyance driven rollers 12b are short in the main scanning direction, and a plurality of conveyance driven rollers 12b are arranged at predetermined intervals in the main scanning direction. In the present embodiment, one transport driven roller holder 14 is attached to one transport driven roller holder 14.
Two 2b shafts are supported, and the transport driven roller holder 14
Are arranged side by side in the main scanning direction. The transport driven roller holder 14 is used for the printer 200 that is long in the main scanning direction.
It is attached to a main frame (not shown) that serves as a base body of.

Next, in the vicinity of the conveyance driven roller holder 14 located on the most one-digit side (right side in FIG. 3), a paper detector including a sensor body 41 and a detector 40 for detecting passage of the paper P. 42 are provided. As shown in FIG. 2, the detector 40 has a substantially V-shape when viewed from the side, and is rotatable in the clockwise direction and the counterclockwise direction in FIG. , A rotating shaft 40a as a "contact part"
The lower side of the sheet is arranged so as to smoothly contact the leading edge of the sheet P that advances from the downstream side to the upstream side at a gentle angle. That is,
The lower side of the rotary shaft 40a of the detector 40 is arranged so as to block the path of the sheet P obliquely downward from the downstream side toward the upstream side.

The sensor main body 41 located above the detector 40 includes a light emitting portion (not shown) and a light receiving portion (not shown) for receiving light from the light emitting portion, and the rotating shaft 40 of the detector 40.
The upper side from a is configured to block and pass the light traveling from the light emitting unit to the light receiving unit by the rotating operation. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, when the detector 40 is rotated so as to be pushed upward with the passage of the sheet P, the upper side of the detector 40 is disengaged from the sensor main body 41, whereby the light receiving portion is in the light receiving state. Therefore, the passage of the paper P is detected.

Next, the platen 11 and the ink jet recording head 5 are arranged downstream of the carrying roller 12 so as to face each other vertically. The platen 11 is long in the main scanning direction, and the sheet P conveyed below the inkjet recording head 5 by the conveying roller 12 is supported from below by the platen 11. The ink jet recording head 5 is provided at the bottom of a carriage 4 carrying an ink cartridge 6, and the carriage 4 reciprocates in the main scanning direction while being guided by a carriage guide shaft 7 extending in the main scanning direction. Further, the carriage guide shaft 7 is pivotally supported by side frames 18 and 19 (see FIG. 3) which are erected so as to be orthogonal to the axial direction of the carriage guide shaft 7 in the vicinity of both shaft ends thereof.

The distance between the platen 11 and the ink jet recording head 5 (gap: hereinafter referred to as "PG") is an important factor that influences printing accuracy, and therefore it is necessary to adjust PG according to the thickness of the printing medium. . Therefore, the printer 200 includes a gap adjusting device (gap adjusting means) that adjusts the PG by displacing the carriage guide shaft 7 in the vertical direction. The gap adjusting device can be operated by the operation lever 50 described with reference to FIG. 1. The detailed configuration of the gap adjusting device will be described later.

Next, a sheet discharge section of the printer 200 is provided downstream from the ink jet recording head 5, and is rotated by a sheet discharge drive roller 20a and the sheet discharge drive roller 20a.
A paper discharge roller 20 including a paper discharge driven roller 20b that is rotated by being lightly pressed against the paper P is provided, and the paper P printed by the inkjet recording head 5 is provided.
Is ejected from the ejection drive roller 2 while being nipped by the ejection roller 20.
It is discharged by rotating 0a. The paper discharge driven roller 20b is axially supported by the paper discharge driven roller holder 28, and the paper discharge driven roller holder 28 is attached to the paper discharge driven frame 23 as shown in FIG.
As shown in, a plurality of them are attached at a predetermined interval in the main scanning direction. The paper discharge sub-frame 23 is a plate-shaped body that is long in the main scanning direction, and the paper discharge sub-frame 23 is also a plate-shaped body that is long in the main scanning direction.
It is installed in such a manner that it is pressed from above.
The detailed configurations of the paper discharge main frame 22 and the paper discharge subframe 23 will be described later.

Next, a paper discharge auxiliary roller 21 is provided slightly upstream of the paper discharge driven roller 20b.
1 is configured to press the paper P slightly downward. Further, at the same time, the nip point between the transport driving roller 12a and the transport driven roller 12b is set on the slightly downstream side, so that the sheet P is projected downward between the transport roller 12 and the paper discharge roller 20. In this curved state, the sheet P is pressed against the platen 11, the sheet P is prevented from rising, and the PG is stabilized.

The paper ejection auxiliary roller 21 is axially supported by the paper ejection auxiliary roller holder 29, and the paper ejection auxiliary roller holder 29
As shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of are mounted alternately on the paper discharge subframe 23 along with the paper discharge driven roller holders 28 in the main scanning direction. The above is the overall configuration of the printer 200.

<Construction driven roller release means, paper discharge driven roller release means, detector release means and their respective effects> Next, the printer 200 separates the conveyance driven roller 12b from the conveyance driving roller 12a (conveyance). It is provided with "conveyance driven roller release means" for releasing (releasing) the pressure contact state between the driven roller 12b and the conveyance driving roller 12a. Further, the paper ejection driven roller 20b is separated from the paper ejection driving roller 20a (the paper ejection driven roller 20b). And "paper discharge driven roller release means" for releasing (releasing) the pressure contact state between the paper discharge drive roller 12a. Further, the printer 200 rotates the detector 40 so that the lower side of the rotation shaft 40a of the detector 40 is retracted upward so as not to obstruct the traveling path of the paper P (release state). Child release means ". In the following, the configurations and operational effects of these means will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 to 7. In the following, these three means will be collectively referred to as “each means” as appropriate. 4 and 5 are enlarged side sectional views of the printer 200, FIG. 6 is a side view of the paper ejection driven roller holder 14, and FIG. 7 is a paper ejection main frame 22.
FIG. 3 is an enlarged side cross-sectional view of a paper discharge subframe 23.

First, the "conveyance driven roller release means" will be described. 6, the upstream side of the rotary shaft 14a of the transport driven roller holder 14 has a substantially flat shape in a side view, and the surface thereof is formed smoothly (portion indicated by reference numeral 14b in FIG. 6). The flat part 1
A first cam shaft 16 (see also FIG. 3) that is long in the main scanning direction and that is parallel to the rotation axis of the transport driven roller holder 14a is disposed above 4b. One end of the first cam shaft 16 extends to the side frame 19 (see FIG. 3) and is configured to rotate by the operation of the operation lever 50 described later.
A power transmission device (gear device) that transmits power from the operation lever 50 to the first cam shaft 50 will be described later.

As shown in FIG. 3, the first cam shaft 16 has a first
First cams 17a, 1 which are operated by the rotation of the cam shaft 16
7b is provided. A plurality of first cams 17a (three in this embodiment) are attached to the first cam shaft 16, and one first cam 17b is located on the most one-digit side (right side in FIG. 3) of the first cam shaft 16. It is installed. Here, as shown in FIG. 3, the first cam 17b is positioned so as to be located above the paper discharge driven roller holder 14 provided on the most one-digit side.
“A” is arranged so as to be located above the other paper discharge driven roller holders 14.

The first cams 17a and 17b both serve to rotate the transport driven roller holder 14. That is, as shown in FIG. 6 (A), the normal transport driven roller holder 14
Is urged to rotate clockwise in FIG. 6 by a torsion coil spring 15 (see FIG. 3), whereby the transport driven roller 12b is placed in pressure contact with the transport drive roller 12a. However, if the first cam shaft 16 rotates in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 6A from this state, the first cam 17a,
17b contacts the flat portion 14b as the "cam follower portion", and rotates the transport driven roller holder 14 in the direction in which the transport driven roller 12b separates from the transport drive roller 12a against the biasing force of the torsion coil spring 15. (Fig. 6
(B) state). As described above, the first cam shaft 16 and the first cam shaft 16
The cam 17 constitutes “transport driven roller release means”.

Next, the "detector release means" will be described. In FIGS. 3 and 6, the detector 40 that constitutes the above-described sheet detector 42 is provided near the conveyance driven roller holder 14 located on the most one-digit side (the right side in FIG. 3). A projecting engaged portion 40b is formed slightly above the rotation shaft 40a so as to project in the axial direction of the first cam shaft 16 (the front side of the paper surface of FIG. 6). On the other hand, the first cam 17b attached to the most one-digit side
As shown in FIG. 6, an engaging portion 13 that protrudes in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction of the first cam shaft 16 is provided on the. The engagement portion 13 is not provided on the first cam 17a.

The engagement portion 13 has a function of rotating the detector 14 in the same direction as the direction in which the sheet P moving from the downstream side to the upstream side rotates the detector 14 (retracting state). That is,
The detector 14 is urged to rotate clockwise in FIG. 6A by a torsion coil spring (not shown),
As a result, as described above, the conveyance path of the sheet P is provided so as to be blocked obliquely downward from the downstream side toward the upstream side. However, when the first cam shaft 16 rotates in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 6A, the engaging portion 13 engages with the engaged portion 40b, and the detector 40 is resisted against the biasing force of the torsion coil spring. Is rotated in the same arrow direction, thereby retracting the lower part of the detector 40 from the rotating shaft 40a upward (state of FIG. 6B). As described above, the first cam shaft 16 and the engaging portion 13 constitute "detector release means". As described above, the first cam shaft 16
Since it also serves as a so-called "detector release shaft" for rotating the detector 40 in the retreat direction, the detector release means is configured at low cost by using common parts.

Next, the "paper discharge driven roller release means" will be described. In FIG. 4, as described above, the discharge sub-frame 23 is provided on the discharge main frame 22 so as to come into pressure contact with it from above. In FIG. 7, on the upstream side of the sheet discharge main frame 22 formed of a plate-like member that is provided substantially horizontally in a side cross-sectional view, there are two claw portions 22a that project slightly toward the upstream side and then bend vertically downward at two locations. Formed (see FIG. 3). On the other hand, similarly, the upstream side of the paper discharge sub-frame 23, which is also made of a substantially horizontal plate-shaped body in a side cross-sectional view, is uniformly bent vertically downward in the longitudinal direction (reference numeral 2 in FIG. 7).
3a), the bent portion 23a has two locations in the longitudinal direction,
As shown in FIG. 7 (A), a hole 23b for hooking the claw portion 22a is formed (see also FIG. 3). Therefore, on the downstream side of these frames, the claw portion 22a is provided with the hole portion 23.
By being inserted into b as shown in FIG. 7 (A), the secondary paper discharge frame 23 is prevented from rising upward.

Next, as shown in FIG. 4, a torsion coil spring 27 is provided downstream of the main discharge frame 22 and the secondary discharge frame 23 so that a spring force acts on the downstream end of each frame. The downstream side of the paper discharge sub-frame 23 is pressed against the downstream side of the paper discharge main frame 22 by the spring force of the torsion coil spring 27.

By the way, on the downstream side of the paper discharge main frame 22, as shown in FIG. 7, a U-shaped bearing groove 22b which is long in the longitudinal direction of the paper discharge main frame is formed. A second cam shaft 24 is arranged in 22b. One end of the second cam shaft 24 has a side frame 19 (see FIG. 3).
Like the first cam shaft 16 described above, it is configured to be rotated by the operation of an operation lever 50 described later. A power transmission device (gear device) that transmits power from the operation lever 50 to the second cam shaft 24 will be described later. Then, the second cam shaft 24 has
The second cam 25 which is operated by the rotation of the
A plurality of them are formed in the axial direction of 4.

The second cam 25 has a function of rotating the paper discharge sub-frame 23. That is, in FIG. 7A, as described above, the upstream side of the discharge subframe 23 is constrained from being displaced upward by the claw portion 22a, and the downstream side is constrained by the torsion coil spring 27. Therefore, the secondary paper ejection frame 23 has a fulcrum 26 on the upstream side as a rotation center.
It is possible to perform a pivoting operation such that the downstream side floats. Therefore, when the second cam shaft 24 rotates in the direction of the arrow in FIG.
Then, the paper discharge subframe 23 is rotated as shown in FIG. 7B against the urging force of the torsion coil spring 27.

Here, since the paper discharge driven roller 20b is attached to the paper discharge driven frame 23 via the paper discharge driven roller holder 28 as described above, the paper discharge driven frame 23 therefore rotates. The paper discharge driven roller 20b is separated from the paper discharge drive roller 20a (state of FIG. 7B). As described above, the second cam shaft 24 and the second cam 25
Constitutes "paper discharge driven roller release means".

The paper discharge driven roller release means is
Not only the paper ejection driven roller 20b but also the paper ejection driven roller 20
The discharge assisting roller 21 provided slightly upstream of b is also retracted upward at the same time. Therefore, in the following, the “release state” of the paper discharge driven roller release means means not only the paper discharge driven roller 20b but also the paper discharge auxiliary roller 2
It also means that 1 is retracted upward.

Next, with reference to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the operational effects of the above-described transport driven roller release means, paper discharge driven roller release means, and detector release means will be described. In FIG. 4, the print medium is plain paper (cut sheet)
As described above, the sheet P has a traveling path from the upstream side (rear side of the apparatus: left side in FIG. 4) to the downstream side (front side of the apparatus: right side in FIG. 4) as described above. The detector 40 arranged so as to block the traveling path is provided so as to extend obliquely downward from the upstream side to the downstream side as described above. Therefore, the paper P that advances from upstream to downstream
Can proceed smoothly without being obstructed by the detector 40.

On the other hand, a thick print medium P as shown in FIG.
_When printing on _t , since the thick print medium P _t has high rigidity, the paper P described with reference to FIG. 2 is used.
As described above, it is not possible to use the sheet feeding device 2, that is, the advancing path that curves from the obliquely inclined posture to be convex downward and becomes the horizontal posture and heads toward the front of the apparatus. Therefore, considering the arrangement state of the detector 40 (such as extending obliquely downward toward the upstream to downstream arrangement state), when printing on the thick print media P _t is the thick print medium P _t The thick print medium P is provided by adopting a feeding path in which the sheet is inserted substantially horizontally from the rear side of the apparatus (under the hopper 9) and passes through the transport roller 12 and the paper discharge roller 20 as it is and is discharged to the front side of the apparatus. Printing to _t is possible. In this case,
The transport driven roller release means and the paper discharge driven roller release means once With release state, respectively, can be fed without difficulty manual insertion feeding a thick printing medium P _t.

However, in the case of such manual feeding from the rear side of the apparatus, there is a drawback that a space for manual feeding is required at the rear side of the apparatus, so that it is necessary to take a large installation space for the printer 200. On the other hand, as described above, the detector 40 is arranged obliquely downward from the upstream side to the downstream side so as to block the feeding path. Therefore, in order to perform manual feeding from the front of the device, Get in the way. However, since the printer 200 is provided with the above-mentioned detector release means and the detector 40 is configured to be retracted upward by the detector release means, the transport driven roller release means and the paper discharge driven roller release are provided. By operating the means, it is possible to form a feeding path that enables manual feeding from the front of the apparatus as shown in FIG. As described above, the printer 200 can print the thick print medium P
_When feeding _t , by manually feeding from the front of the device, no space is required at the rear of the device, and it is possible to install in a small installation space. It will be easy.

[0061] <gap adjusting device, the operating lever, the configuration of the gear mechanism> Incidentally, when forming the feed path from the device in front of a thick printing medium P _t, generally by operating the gap adjusting device (described later) at the same time , PG needs to be increased. In the present embodiment, the printer 200 have become adjustable PG in three steps by the operation lever 50 described with reference to FIG. 1, to form a feed path from the device in front of a thick printing medium P _t In this case, the operation lever 5
By operating 0, PG can be maximized.

Here, the operation lever 50, which constitutes the gap adjusting device as described above, includes all of the above-mentioned conveyance driven roller release means, paper discharge driven roller release means, detector release means, and power transmission device (gear device). All the above-mentioned means can be operated in cooperation with each other by operating the one operation lever 50.
Hereinafter, configurations of the gap adjusting device and the operating lever 50, and a power transmission device (gear device) from the operating lever 50 to each means will be described with reference to FIGS. 8, 12, and 13. Here, FIG. 8 is a front view of the gap adjusting device, and FIGS. 12 and 13 are partially enlarged views of the operation lever 50. Note that FIG. 12 (B) is x of FIG. 12 (A).
It is a -x sectional view.

In FIG. 8, the operating lever 50 is a rotary shaft 5.
The rotary shaft 53 is attached to the side frame 19 by 3
It is attached so as to rotate in the clockwise direction and the counterclockwise direction in FIG.
The side frame 19 to which the operation lever 50 is attached is formed with an arcuate slot 60, and the operation lever 50 is formed with a locking projection 59 that projects toward the slot 60. When 50 is attached to the side frame 19, the locking projection 59 is loosely inserted in the slot 60. Therefore, in the operating lever 50, the locking projection 59 has the groove 60.
The rotation range is restricted within the range in which it can move. The operation lever 50 is provided so as to be switched stepwise in the order of the first to fourth positions within the rotation range and hold each position, but means for realizing the function, That is, the configuration of the "switching position holding means" of the operation lever 50 will be described later.

Next, the operation lever 50 is provided with a disc-shaped turning disc portion 51 which can be turned by a turning shaft 53, and the turning disc portion 5.
The operation portion 61 extends in the radial direction from 1, and the projection-like knob portions 62a to 62c formed on the tip side of the operation portion 61. As shown in FIG. 12, a gear tooth is formed on the outer periphery of the turntable portion 51, and a smooth non-gear portion 56 (section a) and a sensor engagement portion 58 (section c) that have no unevenness are formed, and gear meshing is possible. Gear portion 57 (section b) is formed, and the gear portion 57 meshes with the transmission gear 71 and the like shown in FIG. 8 so that power can be transmitted to the paper discharge driven roller release means and the like. There is. Here, all the operation levers 50 are integrally formed by resin molding, and are thereby inexpensively formed.

Next, gears arranged around the turntable 51 will be described. As shown in FIG. 8, various gears that are engaged with (gear mesh with) the rotating disc 51 and rotate are arranged around the rotating disc 51. As one of them,
Transmission gear 7 constituting the discharge driven roller release means
1, the transmission gear 71 meshes with the second cam shaft gear 70, and the second cam shaft gear 70 is connected to the second cam shaft 24 described above.
It is attached to one end of. Accordingly, the second cam shaft 24 is rotated by the switching operation of the operation lever 50, whereby the discharge driven roller release means can be switched between the released state and the non-released state.

A second eccentric bush 75 constituting the gap adjusting device is engaged with the turntable 51, and the eccentric bush 75 is a second eccentric bush rotatably attached to the side frame 19. It is rotatably attached to 77. The eccentric bush 75 pivotally supports the carriage guide shaft 7 (see FIG. 2) at a position deviated from the center of rotation of the eccentric bush 75.
Is formed, and the gear portion 75a is the gear portion 5 of the turntable 51.
It is possible to mesh with 7. Therefore, when the eccentric bush 75 is rotated by the switching operation of the operation lever 50,
The carriage guide shaft 7 rotatably supported at a position deviated from the center of rotation of the eccentric bush 75 is displaced in the vertical direction, so that the PG can be adjusted.

The second eccentric bush 77 is also attached to the side frame 1
9, the eccentric bush 75 is pivotally supported at a position deviated from the center of rotation, so that the PG is also adjusted by manually rotating the second eccentric bush 77. You can do it. As described above, the operation lever 50, the eccentric bush 75, the second
The eccentric bush 77 constitutes a gap adjusting device for adjusting the PG.

A third member which engages with the rotating plate portion 51 is a rotating member 72 which constitutes the transport driven roller releasing means and the detector releasing means, and the rotating member 72 rotates like a crankshaft. It is connected to one end of the link rod 73 at a position deviated from the moving shaft 76, and as shown in FIG.
A gear portion 72b is formed only around a certain range around the rotating shaft 76, and the gear portion 72b is capable of gear meshing with the gear portion 57 of the rotating disc portion 51. The other end of the link rod 73 is connected to a similar rotating member 74, and the rotating shaft of the rotating member 74 is the above-described first cam shaft 16 (see FIG. 6). That is, the rotating member 72, the link rod 73, and the rotating member 74 form a so-called cross link structure.

Therefore, when the operation lever 50 is switched while the rotating member 72 and the rotating plate portion 51 are gear-engaged with each other, the first cam shaft 16 is rotated by the cross link mechanism, so that the conveyance follower is driven. The roller release means and the detector release means can be switched between the release state and the non-release state. It should be noted that the rotating plate portion 51 is adapted to come into contact with the detection portion 45b of the position sensor 45 which detects whether the operation lever 50 is in the first to fourth positions. That is, the sensor main body portion 45a and the detection portion whose one end is rotatably provided on the sensor main body portion 45a and whose other end is in contact with the sensor engaging portion 58 (see FIG. 12A) of the rotating disc portion 51. Position sensor 4 consisting of 45b
Two 5 are attached to the side frame 19, and the position of the operation lever 50 is detected depending on whether or not the detecting portion 45b is disengaged from the sensor engaging portion 58. The position information of the operating lever 50 detected by the two position sensors 45, 45 is sent to a control unit of the printer 200 (not shown) so that appropriate printing control according to each position is performed. .

<Structure of operation lever switching position holding means> Subsequently, a structure of switching position holding means for switching the operation lever 50 stepwise in the order of the first to fourth positions and holding each of the positions. This will be described with reference to FIGS. 12 and 14. Here, FIG.
FIG. 13 is an enlarged view of a columnar body indicated by reference numeral 85 in FIG. In FIG. 12 (A), the turntable 51 has
Like the turntable 51, it turns about a turning shaft 53.
Small gear portions 52, 52 having a diameter smaller than that of the turntable portion 51 are formed. The small gear parts 52, 52 are fan-shaped, and irregular gear teeth 64 are formed on the outer periphery as shown in the drawing. Two
The two small gear parts 52, 52 are arranged at positions symmetrical with respect to the rotating shaft 53 (positions facing each other by 180 °), and face the side frame 19 as shown in FIG. It is designed to move. Incidentally, the small gear parts 52, 5
2 is also a component of the operating lever 50 and is integrally formed with the entire operating lever 50.

On the side of the turntable portion 51 facing the side frame 19, from the outer circumference of the small gear portions 52, 52 in the radial direction (see FIG. 1).
2 (B) is a cavity 51a (downward in FIG. 2 (B)). In the cavity 51a, cylindrical bodies 85, 85 having a diameter sufficiently smaller than that of the small gears 52, 52 are provided. ，
The outer frame 52 (gear teeth 64) is fixed to the side frame 19 so as to be in pressure contact with each other. That is, the cylindrical body 8
5,85 have two adjacent gear teeth 6 as shown in FIG.
It is arranged so that it can be pushed into between 4 and 64 (recess),
As a result, the operating lever 50 holds its position without easily rotating. In addition, since the position is held by the two columnar bodies 85, 85, the holding force can be more reliably obtained as compared with the case where one columnar body is used.

In this embodiment, the operating lever 50 is made of a material having a relatively low elasticity (for example, POM (polyoxymethylene)), and the columnar body 85 has a material having a higher elasticity than that of the operating lever 50. Is formed by. Therefore, as shown by the relationship between the virtual line and the solid line in FIG.
The gear teeth 64 are slightly elastically deformable, and when the small gear portion 52 rotates with respect to the columnar body 85 fixed to the side frame 19, the gear teeth 64 slightly elastically deform, The columnar body 85 pushes over the gear teeth 64 and is pushed into the next recess (between two adjacent gear teeth 64, 64), whereby the operating lever 50 is held at the next position. Here, since the four recesses are formed in the pinion portion 52, the operation lever 50 is thereby provided with the first to fourth recesses.
It is possible to switch stepwise in the order of the positions and hold each position.

As shown in FIGS. 12 (A) and 12 (B), inside the small gear portion 52, there is a winding shape for applying a pressing force to the inner peripheral surface 52a of the small gear portion 52 toward the outer periphery. The torsion coil spring 65 is provided, and the spring force of the torsion coil spring 65 maintains the pressure contact state between the small gear portion 52 and the columnar body 85 in an appropriate state without loosening for a long period of time. The stepwise switching operation of the lever 50 can be appropriately executed over a long period of time. In addition, the operating lever 50
Regarding the material of the cylinder body 85 and the cylinder body 85, the cylinder body 85 is formed of a low elastic material similar to the operation lever 50, and both are elastically deformed as shown by the relationship between the virtual line and the solid line in FIG. May be.

By the way, the cylindrical members 85 and 85 are shown in FIG.
As shown in (A), the recesses formed in the pinion portions 52, 52, which are arranged at positions symmetrical with respect to the rotating shaft 53,
In accordance with this, it is formed so as to have point symmetry. Here, since the columnar body 85 is arranged so as to be in pressure contact with the small gear portion 52, the rotating shaft 53 receives a moment force from the columnar body 85, but the columnar body 85 is pointed against the rotating shaft 53. Since they are arranged in symmetrical positions, the moment forces cancel each other out, so that the operation lever 50 can be smoothly rotated and the rotation shaft 53 can be prevented from being worn.

Further, the switching position holding means of the operation lever 50 described above does not use the outer periphery of the rotating plate portion 51, but has the small gear portion 52 and the columnar body 85 provided therein.
As a result, the operating lever 50 is switched stepwise and held at each position, so that it is possible to provide a switching position holding means without complicating the structure and in a space-saving manner. A large number of gear mechanisms are provided around the board portion 51, and when it is difficult to use the circumference of the rotating board portion 51, the action and effect thereof can be particularly exerted.

<Relationship between Operation Lever Switching Position, Gap Adjusting Device and Each Means> Next, regarding each switching position (first to fourth positions) of the operating lever 50 and the relationship between the gap adjusting device and each means. This will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 to 11 and FIGS. 12 to 15 as appropriate. Here, FIGS. 8 to 11 are front views of the gap adjusting device, FIG. 8 shows a state in which the operation lever 50 is in a first position, which will be described later, and FIG. 9 shows a state in which the operation lever 50 is in the second position. 10 shows a state in the third position, and FIG. 11 shows a state in the fourth position. Further, FIG. 15 is a chart showing the states of the gap adjusting device and each means at each switching position of the operation lever 50.

In FIG. 8, the operating lever 50 is in the first position (the most front side in FIG. 1A, the most clockwise direction in FIG. 8). In the first position, the eccentric bush 75 (gap adjusting device) and the transmission gear 71 (paper ejection driven roller release means).
Are engaged with the turntable 51, and the operating lever 50
When is switched to the second position (one-stage switching in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. 8), it is in a state of rotating with it. In this state, PG is set to the smallest "first gap".

Therefore, when the operation lever 50 is switched to the second position, the eccentric bush 75 rotates and the vertical position of the carriage guide shaft 7 is displaced, and thus the PG is displaced, but the transmission gear 71 With respect to the second cam shaft 24 that rotates by the rotation of the second cam shaft 24, the second cam 25 (see FIG. 7) does not engage with the paper discharge sub-frame 23 when the operation lever 50 is in the first and second positions. The phase is adjusted so that the state is achieved. Therefore, in the first and second positions, the paper delivery sub-frame 23 does not rotate, and
The state of (A) remains as it is, that is, the discharge driven roller release means is in the non-release state (see FIG. 15).

On the other hand, the rotating member 72 (conveyance driven roller release means, detector release means) is placed in the non-engagement state with the rotating plate portion 51 in the first to third positions, and does not rotate. It has become. Hereinafter, this will be described in detail. As shown in FIG. 13, the rotating member 72 has a rotating shaft 7
6 has a gear part 72b only around a part of
In the third position, as shown in FIG. 13 (A), the gear part 57 of the turntable 51 is not meshed.

Here, the rotating member 72 has an engaged portion 72a formed so as to project in the radial direction, and the rotating disc portion 51 has a projection capable of engaging with the engaged portion 72a. 59 is formed, the protrusion 59 engages with the engaged portion 72a at the time of switching from the third position to the fourth position, and the rotation member 7 is formed.
2 is rotated clockwise in FIG. Therefore, when the rotating member 72 is slightly rotated clockwise in FIG. 13, the gear portion 72b starts to mesh with the gear portion 57 of the rotating plate portion 51, whereby the third to fourth positions of the operation lever 50 are set. Only when switching to, the transport driven roller release means and the detector release means are in the release state.

The state of the gap adjusting device and each means in the first position is shown in the section of FIG. Further, at the first position, the two position sensors 4 for detecting the position of the operation lever 50.
As shown in FIG. 8, reference numerals 5 and 45 are ON and ON from the top (both are in an engagement state with the engagement portion 58), and it is detected that the combination is the first position.

Next, when the operation lever 50 is switched by one step, the second position shown in FIG. 9 is obtained. At the time of switching to the second position, the transmission gear 71 rotates, but as described above, the paper discharge driven roller release means remains in the non-release state, and the rotation member 72 does not rotate, so that the conveyance is performed. The driven roller release means and the detector release means also remain in the non-release state. On the other hand, since the eccentric bush 75 rotates and the vertical position of the carriage guide shaft 7 is displaced, PG is switched to the second gap larger than the first gap.

In the second position, the gap adjusting device and each means are in the state shown in the section of FIG. In addition, in the second position, the two position sensors 45, 45 for detecting the position of the operation lever 50 are O from the top as shown in FIG.
N, OFF (only the upper side is engaged with the engaging portion 58), and the second position or the third position (because of the same combination as the third position: described later) depending on the combination. It is detecting.

In the first and second positions described above, all the means are in the non-release state (the state shown in FIG. 4), so that the print medium is suitable for feeding from the rear side of the apparatus. State, that is, the printer 20 according to the present embodiment
At 0, the plain paper (cut sheet) described above by the paper feeding device 2 is used.
And a roll paper (photo paper: not shown) that is slightly thicker than the paper P as a position.

Next, when the operation lever 50 is switched by one step, the third position shown in FIG. 10 is obtained. At the time of switching to the third position, as described above, the transmission gear 71 further rotates and the second cam 25 causes the second sub-frame 25 to move.
Is pushed up (FIG. 7), the paper discharge driven roller release means enters the release state. On the other hand, the rotating member 72 has not yet rotated as described above, and the transport driven roller release means and the detector release means remain in the non-release state. When the eccentric bush 75 is rotated, the vertical position of the carriage guide shaft 7 is displaced, and the PG is switched to the third gap that is larger than the second gap.

In the third position, the gap adjusting device and each means are in the state shown in the section of FIG. In addition, in the third position, the two position sensors 45, 45 for detecting the position of the operation lever 50 are O from the top as shown in FIG.
N, OFF (only the upper side is in the engaged state with the engaging portion 58), and it is detected that the combination is the third position or the second position. Here, in the second position and the third position, the two position sensors are both in the same state,
It is not possible to distinguish which position the printer 200 according to the present embodiment has.
However, the control relating to printing is not distinguished between the second position and the third position.

By the way, in the third position, the gear portion 75a of the eccentric bush 75 and the turntable portion 51 are provided.
Of the eccentric bush 75 is released from the engagement with the gear portion 57 of the
As shown in the drawing, the protruding portion 75b formed on the upper end and the gear tooth at the end of the gear portion 75a come into contact with the peripheral surface of the non-gear portion 56 of the turntable portion 51, and the eccentric bush 75 moves in any direction. It is in a state where it does not rotate.

Therefore, the operating lever 50 is further moved from this state.
The eccentric bush 75 remains in the state of maintaining the third gap even when the position is switched to the fourth position as shown in FIG. On the other hand, when switching to the fourth position, the rotating member 72 rotates as described above (transition from FIG. 13 (A) to (B)), and the first cam shaft 16
Is rotated, whereby the transport driven roller release means and the detector release means are brought into the release state (state of FIG. 6B).

In the fourth position, the gap adjusting device and each means are in the state shown in the section of FIG. At the fourth position, the two position sensors 45, 45 for detecting the position of the operation lever 50 are both OFF (non-engagement state with the turntable 51) as shown in FIG. And
The fourth position is detected by the combination.

[0090] Here, the third and fourth positions described above, and has a position for performing printing on the printer 200 of the thick print media P _t according to the present embodiment. That, in the fourth position, each means all become release state (the state shown in FIG. 5), thus thereby, a sheet for manual feeding toward the upstream side of the thick print media P _t from the front of the apparatus A delivery path is formed. Then, the when the fourth position back to the third position, the transport driven roller release means and detectors release means is returned to the non-release state, thick print media P _t is the transport rollers which are manual feeding from the front of the apparatus It is nipped by 12, and printing can be performed on the thick print medium P _t .

That is, the operation lever 50 is moved to the first and second positions.
After passing through the third position to the fourth position, the position is changed to the fourth position, the manual feeding is performed from the front side of the apparatus at the fourth position, and then the third position is returned to.

[0092] Since discharge driven roller release means in the third position is release state, the printing surface of the printing was made thick print media P _t, discharging driven rollers 20
b and the discharge assisting roller 21 can obtain the action and effect without causing damage.

8 to 11, the imaginary line L indicates the position of the cover member 1 in the opening 1a shown in FIG. 1 (A). Since the operating lever 50 is formed with a plurality of knob portions 62a, 62b, 62c, as shown in FIGS.
Even if the knob is rotated, one of the knobs is always exposed from the opening 1a, whereby the operability of the operation lever 50 is ensured. Further, a cover portion 63 is formed on the operation lever 50 so as to cover the opening 1a even when the operation lever 50 is rotated most counterclockwise as shown in FIG. Dust and the like are prevented from entering the inside of the printer 200 from the portion 1a.

The gears arranged around the operation lever 50 are also arranged from the following viewpoints. That is, the transport driven roller release means adopts the cross link mechanism, so that the first cams 17a and 17b shown in FIG. It is set to abut from the side. Therefore, the so-called lever principle allows the transport driven roller holder 14 to rotate with a small force without difficulty. Similarly, the discharge driven roller release means is also set so that the second cam 25 shown in FIG. Therefore, it is possible to rotate the paper discharge subframe 23 with less force.

[0095]

As described above, according to the present invention, in the ink jet recording apparatus, the transport driven roller release, the paper discharge driven roller release means, the gap adjusting means, and the paper detector release means are operated. As a result, the feeding path for inserting the recording material from the paper discharge roller toward the upstream side can be formed. Therefore, the recording material having high rigidity and not easily bent can be formed on the paper discharge roller. By inserting from the side and ejecting from the side of the paper ejection roller, the inkjet recording device only needs to secure a space on the front side at the time of installation, so that the inkjet recording device can be installed in a small installation space. In addition, by feeding from the front side of the ink jet recording apparatus, it becomes possible for the user to easily perform the paper feeding.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A is an external perspective view of an inkjet printer according to the present invention, and FIG. 1B is an enlarged perspective view of an operation lever portion.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the inkjet printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a main part of the inkjet printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view (enlarged view) of the inkjet printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a side sectional view (enlarged view) of the inkjet printer according to the present invention.

6A and 6B are side views of a conveyance driven roller holder of the inkjet printer according to the present invention, FIG. 6A showing a non-release state and FIG. 6B showing a release state.

FIG. 7 is a side cross-sectional view (enlarged view) of a discharge main (sub) frame of the inkjet printer according to the present invention, in which (A) is a non-release state and (B) is a release state.

FIG. 8 is a front view of the gap adjusting device of the inkjet printer according to the present invention (the operation lever is in the first position).
Is.

FIG. 9 is a front view of the gap adjusting device of the inkjet printer according to the present invention (the operation lever is in the second position).
Is.

FIG. 10 is a front view of the gap adjusting device for an inkjet printer according to the present invention (the operation lever is in a third position).

FIG. 11 is a front view of the gap adjusting device for an inkjet printer according to the present invention (the operation lever is in a fourth position).

FIG. 12 is a partially enlarged view of the operation lever of the inkjet printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a partially enlarged view of the operation lever of the inkjet printer according to the present invention, in which (A) the operation lever is the third.
And FIG. 6B is a diagram located in the fourth position.

FIG. 14 is a partially enlarged view of the operation lever of the inkjet printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a chart showing the state of the gap adjusting device and the like at each position of the operation lever of the inkjet printer according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

4 carriage 5 inkjet recording head 7 Carriage guide shaft 11 Platen 12 Conveyor rollers 12a Transport drive roller 12b Transport driven roller 14 Transport driven roller holder 16 First cam shaft 17 First Cam 18, 19 side frame 20 Paper ejection roller 20a Paper ejection drive roller 20b Paper ejection driven roller 21 Paper ejection auxiliary roller 22 Paper ejection main frame 23 Paper output subframe 24 Second cam shaft 25 second cam 28 Paper ejection driven roller holder 29 Paper ejection auxiliary roller holder 40 detector 41 Sensor body 42 Paper detector 45 Position sensor 50 control lever 51 Turntable 52 Second rotating plate section 53 rotation axis 56 Non-gear part 57 Gear 58 sensor engaging part 61 Operation part 62a, 62b, 62c picking portion 63 Cover 64 gear teeth 70 Second camshaft gear 71 transmission gear 72 Rotating member 73 Link Rod 74 Rotating member 75 Eccentric bush 76 rotation axis 77 Second eccentric bush 85 cylinder 200 inkjet printer

Continued front page    F term (reference) 2C056 EB13 EB36 EB44 HA12 HA28                       HA29 HA60                 2C058 AB22 AC07 AE02 AE09 AF29                       BA20                 2C064 CC04 CC05 DD04 DD13 FF01                       FF03 FF10

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A carriage provided with an inkjet recording head for recording on a recording material, a carriage guide shaft for guiding the carriage in a main scanning direction, and a rotary drive for conveying the recording material under the inkjet recording head. A transport driving roller, and a transport roller that nips a recording material between the transport driving roller and a transport driven roller that is freely rotatably provided; and a transport roller that is provided downstream from the inkjet recording head. From a discharge-driving roller that is driven to rotate and discharges the recording material that has been performed, and a discharge-driven driven roller that nips the recording material with the discharge-driving roller and that is freely rotatable. And a discharge roller that is upstream of the transport roller and above the recording material, and is rotatably provided by looking at the transport path of the recording material. A contact portion that extends obliquely downward from the center toward the downstream side is rotated so as to be pushed up by coming into contact with the recording material that flows from the upstream side to the downstream side, and thereby a sheet detector that detects passage of the recording material, Gap adjusting means for adjusting the gap between the inkjet recording head and the recording material by adjusting the height position of the carriage guide shaft, and conveyance driven roller release means for separating the conveyance driven roller from the conveyance driving roller. And a paper discharge driven roller release means for separating the paper discharge driven roller from the paper discharge drive roller, wherein a paper detector release means for rotating the paper detector in the retreating direction. And a conveyance driven roller release, the discharge driven roller release means, and the gap adjusting means. The paper detector release means and by operating the ink jet recording apparatus characterized by being configured to form a feed path plug substantially horizontally toward the upstream side of the recording material from the sheet discharge rollers. 2. The operation according to claim 1, wherein the gap adjusting means, the conveyance driven roller release means, the paper discharge driven roller release means, and the detector release means are operated by a power transmission device. Connected to the lever,
An ink jet recording apparatus, characterized in that all of the means can be operated by operating the one operation lever. 3. The operating lever according to claim 2,
A disk-shaped turning disk part having an outer periphery capable of meshing with a gear, and an operating part extending in a radial direction from the turning disk part. The side frame erected on the end side is rotatably attached about the center of rotation of the turntable portion, and the gap adjusting means is rotatably provided on the side frame. It is configured to adjust the gap between the inkjet recording head and the recording material by rotating a disc-shaped eccentric bush whose outer periphery is gear-meshable and which pivotally supports the carriage guide shaft at a position deviated from the center. The transport driven roller is pivotally supported by a transport driven roller holder that is rotatably provided while looking at the transport path of the recording material, and the transport driven roller release means sets the transport driven roller. A first cam portion provided with a first cam portion that engages with a cam follower portion formed in the holder to rotate the transport driven roller holder, is rotatably provided when the recording material transport path is viewed from the side. It is configured to separate the transport driven roller from the transport drive roller by rotating a cam shaft, and the paper discharge driven roller is rotatably provided by viewing the transport path of the recording material from a side view. The sheet discharge driven roller release means is axially supported by a long plate-shaped sheet discharge frame that is long in the main scanning direction, and the sheet discharge driven roller release means includes a second cam portion that presses the sheet discharge frame and rotates the sheet discharge frame. The paper discharge driven roller is configured to be separated from the paper discharge drive roller by rotating a second cam shaft that is rotatably provided while viewing the recording material conveyance path from the side, Detector release means Retracting the paper detector by rotating a detector release shaft that is supported by the side frame and that has a detector engaging portion that engages with the paper detector and rotates the paper detector. A power transmission gear is attached to one end of each of the first cam shaft, the second cam shaft, and the detector release shaft, the eccentric bush, and The first cam shaft, the second cam shaft, and the detector release shaft are engaged with the rotating plate portion by a gear mechanism, and all the rotating members are rotated by rotating the operation lever. An ink jet recording apparatus characterized in that the ink jet recording apparatus is configured to rotate in association with each other. 4. The operation lever according to claim 2, wherein the operation lever is rotated so as to be switched stepwise to a plurality of positions by a switching position holding means for switching the rotation of the operation lever stepwise, and The inkjet recording device is characterized in that it is attached so as to be able to hold the position of. 5. The inkjet recording according to claim 4, wherein the switching position holding unit switches the operation lever stepwise in the order of first to fourth positions, and in the first position, the gap adjusting unit performs the inkjet recording. A first gap between the head and the recording material is provided, and the transport driven roller release means is provided.
When the discharge driven roller release means and the detector release means are all in the non-release state, the recording operation is performed by feeding from the upstream side of the transport roller, and the gap adjustment is performed at the second position. A second gap larger than the first gap, and the conveyance driven roller release means, the paper discharge driven roller release means, and the detector release means are all in a non-release state. A recording operation is performed by feeding paper from the upstream side of the transport roller, and at the third position, the gap adjusting means takes a third gap larger than the second gap, and the transport driven roller release means. And the detector release means are in a non-release state, and the paper discharge driven roller release means is released. In this state, the recording operation is performed on the recording material inserted from the paper discharge roller toward the upstream side, and the gap adjusting unit maintains the third gap at the fourth position, When the transport driven roller release means, the discharge driven roller release means, and the detector release means are all in the release state, the recording material can be inserted substantially horizontally from the discharge roller toward the upstream side. An ink jet recording apparatus characterized in that 6. The switching position holding means according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the switching position holding means is provided on the rotary disc portion so as to rotate so as to face the side frame, and has a smaller diameter than the rotary disc portion. And a small gear part having a gear-shaped concavo-convex formed on the outer periphery, which has the same center of rotation as the rotating plate part, and is fixedly mounted on the side frame so that the outer peripheral surface is in pressure contact with the small gear part. A cylindrical body having a diameter smaller than that of the small gear portion, and a convex portion that forms the gear-shaped unevenness and / or a concave portion that forms the gear-shaped unevenness by the elastic deformation of the cylindrical body. An ink jet recording apparatus characterized in that the operation lever is stepwise switched to each position and held at each position by being pushed in. 7. The cylindrical body according to claim 6, wherein a plurality of the cylindrical bodies are arranged, and the plurality of cylindrical bodies are all configured by a set of the two cylindrical bodies, and the two cylindrical bodies are formed. An ink jet recording apparatus, wherein the columnar body is arranged at a position which is point-symmetrical with respect to the rotation center of the small gear portion. 8. The cavity according to claim 6 or 7, wherein a hollow portion is formed inside the small gear portion, and the hollow portion is provided with a biasing means for press-contacting the gear-shaped unevenness with the columnar body. An ink jet recording apparatus characterized by the above. 9. The method according to claim 3, wherein the first cam shaft also serves as the detector release shaft.
Further, the ink jet recording apparatus, wherein the first cam portion is provided with the second cam portion that rotates the detector. 10. The rotation of the transport driven roller holder according to claim 3, wherein the first cam portion formed on the first cam shaft engages with the cam follower portion. An ink jet recording apparatus characterized in that the conveyance driven roller holder is rotated by abutting from a far side of a moving shaft. 11. The rotation of the paper discharge frame according to claim 3, wherein the second cam portion formed on the second cam shaft is brought into pressure contact with the paper discharge frame. An ink jet recording apparatus, wherein the discharge frame is rotated by being pressed against the shaft from a far side. 12. The sensor engagement part according to claim 4, wherein a sensor engagement part having a constant length is formed along an outer circumference of the turntable part, and a predetermined distance is provided from the sensor engagement part. A sensor main body portion that is disposed as a unit, and a sensor detection portion that engages and disengages with the sensor engagement portion in accordance with the rotation of the operation lever, and that projects from the sensor main body portion toward the sensor engagement portion.
An ink jet recording apparatus comprising a position sensor composed of. 13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein a plurality of the position sensors are provided, and a switching state of the operation lever that switches to three or more positions can be detected by a combination of detection signals of the plurality of position sensors. Inkjet recording device.