Seiko Epson Corporation

Minoru Kishigami

Shota Mizuno

Daisuke Tanaka

Kazuyoshi Ohashi

Satoru Miyamoto

Yasuhiro Matsuo

Katsumi Okamoto

Hiroshi Miyazawa

Nobuyuki Mizushima

Kazutoshi Matsuzaki

Kuniaki Tanaka

Yuto Suzuki

Kazuhiro Nishiyama

Takafumi Ogimura

Masaharu Inui

A recording apparatus includes a carriage that is movable in a reciprocating manner with a recording head being mounted on the carriage, a tube that is capable of supplying ink to the recording head in a curved state and is capable of being deformed in curvature in response to a reciprocating motion of the carriage, an arm that is swingably movable about a swing shaft which extends in a direction perpendicular to a plane formed by the curved tube and is capable of supporting the tube, and a connecting section that has a holding section which holds the tube and is configured to support the tube by the arm, wherein the connecting section is movable relative to the arm in response to the reciprocating motion of the carriage.

Recording apparatus

A recording apparatus includes a case. In the case, a feeding unit configured to feed a recording medium in a feeding direction, a feeding path through which the recording medium is fed, a recording unit configured to record on the recording medium, and an ink tube connected to the recording unit and an ink cartridge for supplying ink to the recording unit are provided. A first opening is provided in a face of the case for allowing the recording medium disposed in the feeding path to be removable. A second opening is provided in the face where the first opening is provided for allowing the ink cartridge to be installed. An operating unit is provided above the first opening.

An ink jet printer includes a carriage that includes a recording head which performs recording on a medium and is movable in a scanning direction of the recording head, a first sliding portion that is provided so as to be able to displace a relative position to a carriage main body in a direction in which a gap between the recording head and the medium changes and moves in the scanning direction together with the carriage, a guide member with which the first sliding portion makes contact and that is provided so as to extend in the scanning direction, and a gap adjusting unit that adjusts the gap by adjusting a position of the carriage main body relative to the first sliding portion.

Provided is a liquid ejecting apparatus including a main body frame that has a main guiding member which has a sliding surface and enables a carriage to move in a scanning direction in a state where the carriage is mounted thereon, and a slide body which has a cap member which can abut on a liquid ejecting head to surround nozzles in such a manner that the slide body moves along with the carriage in a state where an abutment portion which can abut on the carriage abuts on the carriage, in which the carriage has a connection portion in which the carriage is connected to a movement mechanism which moves the carriage in the scanning direction.

Liquid ejecting apparatus

A recording apparatus includes a recording head and a carriage. The carriage includes a slide member that is provided so that the position of the slide member relative to a carriage body is changeable in a direction where a gap between the recording head and a medium changes, and moves together with carriage body in the scanning direction, a gap adjusting cam that is interposed between the slide member and the carriage body, and, upon reception of the dead weight of the carriage, changes in the scanning direction relative to the slide member and the carriage body to change the gap, and a restriction section that restricts at least one of expansion of the interval between the carriage body and the gap adjusting cam and expansion of the interval between the gap adjusting cam and the slide member in such a way as to keep a predetermined gap.

An ink jet printer includes a carriage configured to be movable supporting a recording head that can eject ink onto paper, a cam member adjusting the height position of the carriage to adjust the distance between the paper and the recording head, a cap member abutting the recording head along with a biasing force, and an engagement member placed to oppose the cap member with the carriage therebetween and pressing the carriage to the cap member side. The sum of the weight of the carriage itself and the pressing force with which the engagement member presses the carriage is equal to or greater than the biasing force acting on the carriage through the abutting of the cap member.

An ink jet printer includes a movable carriage supporting a recording head, a cam member adjusting the height position of the carriage to adjust the distance between the paper and the recording head, a cap member that can abut the recording head, and an engagement member that can engage with the carriage in a case where the carriage moves from a printing area to a head opposing position. The cam member adjusts the height position of the carriage when the distance between the paper and the recording head is between a first distance in which the carriage does not engage with the engagement member and a second distance in which the carriage engages with the engagement member. The carriage is decelerated while moving, and the deceleration timing is earlier for the second distance than for the first distance.

An image carrier is adapted such that an electrostatic latent image is formed thereon. A rotary member has a plurality of loading sections each of which is adapted to accommodate a developing device which is operable to develop the electrostatic latent image. A motor is operable to rotate the rotary member so that each of the loading sections is sequentially opposed to the image carrier, and operable to exert a detent torque when no power is supplied thereto. A home position is defined, in a case where only one of the loading sections accommodates the developing device, such that the one of the loading sections is placed in a position lower than any other loading sections. The motor rotates the rotary member to the home position at least when the development of the electrostatic latent image is not performed. The rotary member is retained in the home position with the detent torque exerted by the motor.

Image forming apparatus that prevents displacement of rotary member

A rotary member has a plurality of loading sections each of which is adapted to accommodate a developing device operable to develop an electrostatic latent image formed on an image carrier. The rotary member is rotatable between a plurality of stop positions. A motor is operable to exert a torque on the rotary member, the torque including a first torque, a second torque lower than the first torque, and a third torque lower than the second torque. A controller is operable to cause the motor to exert the first torque to rotate the rotary member, and to cause the motor to interchange the torque between the second torque and the third torque to retain the rotary member at one of the stop positions.

Image forming apparatus and image forming system incorporating the same

An image forming apparatus includes: an image bearing body for bearing a latent image; a plurality of attach/detach sections to each of which a developer container for containing developer used for developing the latent image can be attached; and a container attachment mechanism for allowing a developer container containing developer of a certain color to be attached to any of the plurality of attach/detach sections, and a developer container containing developer of a color other than the certain color to be attached only to a predetermined attach/detach section of among the plurality of attach/detach sections.

Image forming apparatus and system with attachable and detachable developer container

An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier formed with a latent image A developing device has a developing roller driven by a stepping motor. A rotary development apparatus supports the developing device on a rotating shaft to rotate to a developing position opposed to the image carrier to form an image by developing the latent image formed at the image carrier and transfers the developed image to a medium at a transferring position The developing roller is driven by the stepping motor in a region of the latent image of the image carrier and is stopped in a holding state in a region in which the latent image is not formed by a current lower than a current in driving the developing roller.

Image forming apparatus with selectively rotated developing roller

A rotary development device includes a rotating member, a development unit which is detachably mounted on the rotating member, an engaging member which engages the rotating member and the development unit. The engaging member is provided so that a positioning pin is fitted into a positioning hole. The rotary development device further includes a biasing member which biases either the development unit or the rotating member so that the positioning pin is biased to inner face of the positioning hole.

Rotary development device and image forming apparatus having a development unit mounted on a rotating member

An image forming apparatus where during the image forming operation, the completion of development by one of development cartridges is followed by the rotation of a rotary for setting the next development cartridge to a development position. The rotational speed v of the rotary is increased linearly to the maximum speed vmax and, after that, is decreased linearly to stop the rotary when the next development cartridge reaches the development position. During replacement of the development cartridge, the rotary is rotated to set the development cartridge to be replaced to the replacement position. The rotational speed of the rotary is set to be a constant speed vin a region other than a contact region where an input gear of the development side is in contact with a driving gear of the fixed side and a speed lower than the speed vin the contact region (the minimum speed v).

Image forming apparatus having preset developer unit replacement positions and a locking device

A rotary developing device having a cylindrical rotary developing unit, and a plurality of development members mounted around the periphery of the rotary developing unit. The rotary developing unit is driven to bring one of the development members to the developing position facing a photoreceptor and subsequently the transmission of the driving power to the development member is conducted. In the rotary developing device, the driving direction of the development members at a driving power transmitting section is set to be the same as the driving direction of the rotary developing unit and a simple additional structure employing an electromagnetic clutch or a one-way clutch is applied to the driving power transmitting section, thereby avoiding a collision of tooth tops between gears, damping the impact generated by a collision, and reducing vibration and damage of tooth tops. Therefore, the production of image defects due to registration error are prevented.

Rotary developing device

A rotary developing apparatus having a plurality of developing devices mounted along the outer periphery of a cylindrical rotary unit. A first gear train for connecting the rotary unit to a drive source to rotate the rotary unit. A second gear train for connecting a developing roller of a developing device revolved and stopped at a developing position, as a result of the rotary unit being rotationally driven, to the drive source to rotate the developing roller. The rotary unit and the developing roller are rotated with the same motor used as the drive source by switching between the connections of the gear trains, thereby rapidly damping vibration generated by the rotation of the rotary unit and vibration generated by the rotation of the developing roller, and thus eliminating image defects due to displacement, etc.

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Nagano-ken, Japan

Minoru Kishigami