The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 22, 2011
Filed:
Apr. 25, 2007
Kenji Samoto, Nagoya, JP;
Toshio Sugiura, Anjo, JP;
Kenji Samoto, Nagoya, JP;
Toshio Sugiura, Anjo, JP;
Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, Nagoya-shi, Aichi-ken, JP;
Abstract
An image recording apparatus including a housing; a recording head which ejects droplets of one or more sorts of inks; a carriage which is provided in the housing and which carries the recording head and reciprocates in opposite directions; one or more ink supply tubes which are connected, at respective one ends thereof, to a tube connection portion of the carriage so as to supply the sorts of inks to the recording head, and is fixed, at respective fixed portions thereof, to the housing such that respective intermediate portions thereof located between the respective one ends thereof and the respective fixed portions thereof forms respective curved portions that are each convex in one of the opposite directions, wherein the ink supply tubes have respective flexibilities assuring that when the carriage reciprocates, the ink supply tubes follow reciprocation of the carriage while the respective curved portions thereof change respective shapes thereof; a pivotable support member which is supported by the housing such that the pivotable support member is pivotable about a supporting point, wherein the pivotable support member includes an arm portion which extends from the supporting point and has a support portion that supports respective portions of the respective curved portions of the ink supply tubes; and a biasing device which biases the pivotable support member in a biasing direction to cause the pivotable support member to pivot in a direction to decrease respective radii of curvature of the curved portions of the ink supply tubes.