Seiko Epson Corporation

Atsushi Nishizawa

Satoshi Fujioka

Susumu Murayama

Kiyoto Komuro

Masanori Yoshida

Hiromu Hirabayashi

Masaki Shimomura

Nobuhisa Takabayashi

Takayuki Okuda

Fujio Akahane

Toshikazu Kotaka

Narihiro Oki

Tsuyoshi Tomii

Masayuki Kumazaki

Kohji Watanabe

Kenjiro Ishihara

Yoshikatsu Yamamoto

Takao Mimura

Nobuhisa Takayashi

A sheet feeder, or a printer incorporating the sheet feeder, has separation pads for separating a sheet to be fed by sheet feed rollers from the next sheet and a roller spring which produce urging force smaller than that produced by a spring of the separation pad. Idle rollers are brought into contact with the separation pads by means of the roller spring, thereby preventing the lowering of the next sheet. A sheet reset lever is pivoted so as to return the next sheet to a hopper. As a result, the sheet sheets stacked on the hopper in an inclined state is fed one by one through use of a separation pad method without increasing force for driving rollers and a back tension.

Sheet feeder and printer

An apparatus and method for improving the freedom of movement of a carriage of an ink jet printer while a suction pump of the printer is being driven. The ink jet printer includes a carriage which reciprocates in a direction perpendicular to a direction in which printing paper is conveyed by a paper conveyor, a head, housed on the carriage, for printing characters on the printing paper, and a cap which is joinable tightly to the ink-jet face of the head. The printer further includes a suction pump communicating with the cap, a pump driving mechanism, a motor capable of driving the pump driving mechanism, and a switching gear capable of transferring the motive power of the motor selectively to and away from the pump driving mechanism as controlled by the apparatus. The apparatus includes structure which form paths through which an operating projection movably fitted to the carriage. A changeover holding device has driven portions projecting in the paths in which the operating projection moves, and operates to shift the switching gear to and from a position to enable the motor to drive the suction pump. Specifically, the paths includes operating paths in which the changeover holding device is actuated by the operating projection, and non-operating paths where the changeover holding device is not actuated when the operating projection passes through them.

Ink-jet printer for improving the freedom of movement of the carriage

A paper feeding apparatus and a printer wherein an idle roller is brought into contact with a separation pad by a roller spring for generating urging force smaller than that of a separation pad for separating a paper sheet to be fed by a paper feeding roller having a D-shape side cross section from a next paper sheet; a restraining pin for restraining movement of the separation pad toward the paper feeding roller when the paper sheet is not held between the separation pad and the paper feeding roller is provided; a pair of conveying rollers are temporarily and inversely rotated after the leading end of the paper sheet has passed through a nipping portion between the pair of the conveying rollers and in a state where the paper sheet is not held between the separation pad and a circular-arc portion of the paper feeding roller so as to arrange the leading end of the paper sheet along the nipping portion so that diagonal conveyance of the paper sheet is smoothly prevented and the load acting on the fed paper sheet is reduced.

Paper feeding apparatus and printer

The ink jet printer is provided which eliminates play between a carriage supporting an ink jet head and a guide shaft, allows the ink jet head to be releasably attached to the carriage, and provides reliable electrical connection between the ink jet head and the carriage with a reduced number of parts. An embodiment of the ink jet printer of the invention includes a guide shaft extending in a direction orthogonal to a direction in which paper is forwarded. A carriage is slidably mounted on the shaft, moving in reciprocal directions while being guided by the guide shaft. An ink jet head, releasably attached to the carriage, prints ink dots on the paper for forming a printed image by jetting ink out of nozzles. A first electrically connecting portion is arranged on the carriage. A second electrically connecting portion is arranged on the ink jet head so as to come in pressure contact with the first electrically connecting portion. A biasing member provides a pressing force between the first electrically connecting portion and the second electrically connecting portion.

Ink jet printer

In an ink jet printer, a recording unit in which an ink cartridge is detachably mounted has a cartridge removal preventing member so that the ink cartridge is prevented from being carelessly removed therefrom, and a moving mechanism is provided which, when the recording unit is mounted on the carriage, moves a first electrical connecting section towards a second electrical connecting section so that the first and second electrical connecting section are connected to each other with the aid of an energizing member under pressure, and, when the recording head is removed from the carriage, moves the first electrical connecting section away from the second electrical connecting section against the elastic force of the energizing member, whereby the recording head is detachably mounted on the carriage, and the former is positively electrically connected to the latter.

Ink jet type recording unit with an improved carriage structure

An ink jet printer comprising a recording device for jetting ink droplets from a printer head while moving in a direction perpendicular to the direction of conveyance of a recording medium in the form of a sheet, to form a dot image on the recording medium according to an input time, further including a pair of sheet retaining devices respectively arranged before and behind in the direction of travel of the recording device, where one of the pair of sheet retaining devices arranged before in the direction of travel is displaced to push against the recording medium in order to form a predetermined clearance between the printer head and the recording medium, while the other is displaced to leave from the recording medium.

An ink jet printer including a recording device for jetting ink droplets from a printer head while moving in a direction perpendicular to the direction of conveyance of a recording medium in the form of a sheet, to form a dot image on the recording medium according to an input time. The ink jet printer further includes a conveying mechanism, including a gate roller that performs an intermittent feed operation at a speed corresponding to the pixel density of a character or pattern recorded on the recording medium; and a roller provided downstream of the recording device, the roller being operated after the rear edge of the recording medium passes through the conveying mechanism located upstream of the recording device, to convey the recording medium while in contact with the dot image forming surface of the recording medium, the roller being movable into and out of engagement with the recording medium.

In an ink jet printer having a sheet conveying mechanism which changes the speed of conveyance of a recording sheet in accordance with the density of characters or a pattern to be printed to intermittently convey the recording sheet in such a manner that all printed portions are properly dried before the sheet is conveyed to a subsequent position. The recording head of the printer performs a printing operation while pushing the front end portion of the recording sheet against the platen with a sheet retaining lever.

A mechanism for automatically adjusting the gap between the platen and print head of a printer includes a paper thickness lever detecting lever pivotably mounted on the printer base so that one end selectively contacts the surface of the platen. The opposite end of the lever contacts a pressure sensitive conductive member or adjusts the amount of light striking a photosensitive member of a paper thickness detector to generate an initial signal. After paper is fed onto the platen the lever contacts the surface of the paper and the paper thickness detector generates a second paper thickness signal corresponding to the different position of the lever. A carriage control circuit receives this signal and controls a print head carriage guide to adjust the relative position between the carriage and the platen to provide a suitable distance for printing.

Growing community of inventors

Nagano, Japan

Atsushi Nishizawa