Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Ejector mechanism
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-24
2001-07-03
Nguyen, Thinh (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Ejector mechanism
C347S040000, C347S042000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06254218
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a color ink jet printer for printing color images on a transported recording medium, and more specifically, to a color ink jet printer which is provided with a plurality of ink jet units corresponding to plural colors of ink including black, each one of which is provided with a plurality of ink jet nozzles arranged along a direction intersecting a transportation direction of the recording medium, and can record color images by ejecting plural colors of ink including black in the direction intersecting the transportation direction of the recording medium onto the transported recording medium.
This kind of color ink jet printer has recently begun to be used in place of a conventional, so-called serial type color ink jet printer which can record color images by ejecting plural colors of ink onto a transported recording medium while the ink jet unit provided with a plurality of ink cassettes for plural colors of ink is making a reciprocal movement along the recording medium in a direction intersecting a transportation direction of the recording medium (in a width direction of the recording medium).
This new type of conventional color ink jet printer is widely known by, for example, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 10-138520, and in comparison with the conventional so-called serial type color ink jet printer, it has following advantages. That is, since it is no longer necessary to reciprocate the ink jet unit to record color images, it can record color images on the recording medium at high speed. In addition, since the size of each of a plurality of ink cassettes combined with the non-reciprocating ink jet unit can be increased, the frequency for replacing ink cassettes is reduced (that is, recording efficiency is high).
Next, referring to
FIG. 8
, a structure of the new type of conventional color ink jet printer will be schematically explained.
As shown in
FIG. 8
, the new type of conventional color ink jet printer
10
has a paper sheet cassette
14
removably arranged at a lower part of an inner space of an external housing
12
. The paper sheet cassette
14
includes a mounting plate
14
a
on which a large number of paper sheets P are stacked and an urging means
14
b
such as a spring which urges the mounting plate
14
a
upwards. Substantially at a center in the inner space, a rotation drum
16
which rotates at a predetermined speed in a direction indicated by an arrow R is arranged.
From one end of the paper sheet cassette
14
, a first transportation unit
18
extends towards a side facing portion of an outer circumferential surface of the rotation drum
16
. The first transportation unit
18
includes a pick-up roller
18
a
with which an upper most paper sheet P in the large number of paper sheets urged upwards as described above by the urging means
14
a
in the paper sheet cassette
14
comes in contact and which picks up the uppermost paper sheet P by its rotation, and a resist roller pair
18
b
with which a leading end of the paper sheet P picked up by the pick-up roller
18
a
from the cassette
14
comes in contact.
The first transportation unit
18
is connected at the resist roller pair
18
b
with a branched transportation unit
20
extending from the resist roller pair
18
b
to a paper sheet manual supply opening
10
a
formed at a predetermined position of an outer wall of the external housing
12
. The paper sheet manual supply opening
10
a
is usually covered with a paper sheet manual supply lid
22
which is mounted in a predetermined position on the outer wall of the external housing
12
to be rotatable between an open position where the lid
22
is left from the opening
10
a
to open the opening
10
a
and a closed position where the lid
22
covers the opening
10
a
to close the opening
10
a
. In
FIG. 1
, the paper sheet manual supply lid
22
is arranged in the open position.
The paper sheet manually inserted into the opened paper sheet manual supply opening
10
a
is transported to the resist roller pair
18
b
by a sub pick-up roller
20
arranged close to the paper sheet manual supply opening
10
a
in the inner space of the external housing
12
.
At a predetermined position along each of the transportation paths of the first transportation unit
18
and the branched transportation unit
20
, a transportation fault (jamming) sensing unit
24
which senses a transportation fault (jamming) of the paper sheet P in the transportation path is arranged.
The rotation drum
16
includes a recording medium holding member (not-illustrated) mounted in a predetermined position on the outer circumferential surface of the drum
16
so as to be movable between a closed position where the holding member is laid on the circumferential surface and an opening position where the holding member is left from the circumferential surface. The holding member (not-illustrated) is opened and closed by a holding member driving unit (not-illustrated)located in the vicinity of the rotation drum
16
. The holding member (not-illustrated) is opened by the holding member driving unit (not-illustrated) when it reaches a predetermined rotation angle position as the rotation drum
16
makes the predetermined rotation.
The resist roller pair
18
b
of the first transportation unit
18
supplies the paper sheet towards the opened holding member on the rotation drum
16
. The opened holding member is closed by the holding member driving unit (not-illustrated) at a timing when the leading end of the paper sheet reaches a gap between the opened holding member and the outer circumferential surface of the rotation drum
16
, so that the leading end of the paper sheet is held at the predetermined position on the outer circumferential surface of the rotation drum
16
by the closed holding member.
Thereafter, as the predetermined rotation of the rotation drum
16
takes place, the paper sheet is pressed against and brought in close contact with the outer circumferential surface of the rotation drum
16
by a pressure roller
16
a
and an electric charging roller
16
b
arranged on the circumferential surface of the rotation drum
16
. The pressure roller
16
a
and the charging roller
16
b
are separated from the circumferential surface of the rotation drum
16
after the paper sheet is passed under these rollers
16
a
and
16
b
. At a predetermined position adjacent to the outer circumferential surface of the rotation drum
16
, a transportation fault (jamming) sensing unit
16
c
which senses a separation of the paper sheet from the outer circumferential surface of the rotation drum
16
(that is, transportation fault and a cause of jamming) is arranged.
In this embodiment, the rotation drum
16
, pressure roller
16
a
, charging roller
16
b
, and the not-illustrated holding member and the holding member driving unit mentioned above form a recording medium holding unit which holds and rotates the paper sheet as the recording medium.
In the inner space of the external housing
12
, a recording head
26
is further arranged adjacent to the outer circumferential surface of the rotation drum
16
. The recording head
26
is supported by a recording head moving unit
28
, and the recording head moving unit
28
can move the recording head
26
between a recording position where the recording head
26
is located closely to the outer circumferential surface of the rotation drum
16
as shown by a solid line in
FIG. 1 and a
retracted position where the recording head
26
is brought away from the outer circumferential surface of the rotation drum
16
as indicated by a two-dots chain line in FIG.
1
. In the recording position, the recording head
26
is close to the outer circumferential surface of the rotation drum
16
by 1 mm or less.
The recording head
26
includes four ink jet units
26
C,
26
M,
26
Y, and
26
K arranged at four positions separated from each other with a predetermined distance interposed therebetween along the circumferential direction of the outer circumferential surface of the rotation dru
Suzuki Hidenobu
Tsujimura Yoshihiro
Frishauf, Holtz Goodman, Langer & Chick, P.C.
Nguyen Thinh
Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
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