Ink-jet recording apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9533517-B2
Application number	US-201615054359-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 26, 2016
Priority date	Feb 27, 2015
Publication date	Jan 3, 2017
Grant date	Jan 3, 2017

Abstract

An ink-jet recording apparatus includes: a conveyance roller pair which conveys a sheet in a conveyance direction; a recording section having a nozzle surface provided with nozzles and which jets ink droplets from the nozzles thereby recording an image on the sheet conveyed by the conveyance roller pair; a platen arranged to face the recording section; a first support frame which supports the recording section; a first contact member supported by the first support frame, arranged upstream of the nozzles in the conveyance direction, extended toward the platen, and which contacts with the sheet; a discharge roller arranged downstream of the nozzles in the conveyance direction; a second support frame which supports the discharge roller; and a spur arranged to face the discharge roller and which contacts with the sheet from the same direction as the first contact member.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An ink-jet recording apparatus comprising:
a conveyance roller pair configured to convey a sheet guided through a conveyance path in a conveyance direction;
a recording section having a nozzle surface provided with nozzles and configured to jet ink droplets from the nozzles and to record an image on the sheet conveyed by the conveyance roller pair;
a platen arranged to face the recording section;
a first support frame configured to support the recording section;
a first contact member supported by the first support frame, arranged upstream of the nozzles in the conveyance direction, extended toward the platen, and configured to contact with the sheet;
a discharge roller arranged downstream of the nozzles in the conveyance direction;
a second support frame configured to support the discharge roller; and
a spur arranged to face the discharge roller and configured to contact with the sheet from the same direction as the first contact member,
wherein the first support frame is supported by the second support frame, and
a contact part, at which the first contact member contacts with the sheet, and a nip position, at which the discharge roller and the spur nip the sheet, are located at the same position in a width direction intersecting the conveyance direction and being parallel to the nozzle surface, and have the same shortest distance from a virtual surface including the nozzle surface.

2. The ink-jet recording apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first contact member is included in a plurality of first contact members arranged to be apart from each other in the width direction, and
the discharge roller is included in a plurality of discharge rollers arranged to be apart from each other in the width direction.

3. The ink-jet recording apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising:
a second contact member arranged between contact parts of an adjacent pair of first contact members of the plurality of first contact members in the width direction, and located at a first position at which projecting end thereof projecting toward the conveyance path is closer to the virtual surface than the contact parts; and
a third contact member arranged between an adjacent pair of discharge rollers of the plurality of discharge rollers in the width direction, and located at a second position at which projecting end thereof projecting toward the conveyance path is closer to the virtual surface than the nip position.

4. The ink-jet recording apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the second contact member is movable between the first position and a third position at which the projecting end thereof is farther from the virtual surface as compared to the first position, and the third contact member is movable between the second position and a fourth position at which the projecting end thereof is farther from the virtual surface as compared to the second position.

5. The ink-jet recording apparatus according to claim 4 ,
wherein at the third position, the projecting end of the second contact member is farther from the virtual surface than the contact parts of the adjacent pair of first contact members, and
at the fourth position, the projecting end of the third contact member is farther from the virtual surface than the nip position.

6. The ink-jet recording apparatus according to claim 4 ,
wherein the second contact member and the third contact member are provided on the platen,
the platen is movable in a direction orthogonal to both the conveyance direction and the width direction,
the second contact member is movable between the first position and the third position along with movement of the platen, and
the third contact member is movable between the second position and the fourth position along with the movement of the platen.

7. The ink-jet recording apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the platen is rotatable about one end thereof which is located downstream in the conveyance direction.

8. The ink-jet recording apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the second contact member and the third contact member are formed continuously along the conveyance direction.

9. The ink-jet recording apparatus according to claim 3 , further comprising a fourth contact member arranged at a fifth position which is the same position as the third contact member in the width direction, which is downstream of the third contact member in the conveyance direction, and at which projecting end thereof projecting toward the conveyance path is closer to the virtual surface than the nip position.

10. The ink-jet recording apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the recording section comprises:
a carriage supported by the first support frame to be movable in the width direction; and
a recording head mounted on the carriage and having the nozzles.

Assignees

• Brother Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Ito Tsuyoshi
• Samoto Kenji

Classifications

• B41J13/03 Primary

  driven, e.g. feed rollers separate from platen · CPC title

• B41J11/005

  Guides in the printing zone, e.g. guides for preventing contact of conveyed sheets with printhead · CPC title