Patent ID: 9327533
Filing Date: 2016-05-03
CPC Classification: B41J

Claim Text:
1. An image recording apparatus, comprising: a carriage on which a recording head is mounted and which is configured to reciprocate in main scanning directions composed of a first direction and a second direction that are opposite to each other; a first gear configured to rotate about a rotation axis thereof extending along the main scanning directions based on a power of a drive motor; a second gear meshing with the first gear and slidably supported by a support shaft extending along the main scanning directions, the second gear being configured to be slidable to a plurality of slide positions; a plurality of transmission gears parallely disposed at respective positions so as to correspond to the plurality of slide positions of the second gear, each of the transmission gears being configured to mesh with the second gear at a corresponding one of the plurality of slide positions of the second gear; a lever member having a lever arm that protrudes into a movement region of the carriage and supported by the support shaft so as to be slidable and rotatable about the support shaft, the lever member being disposed downstream of the second gear in the first direction of the main scanning directions; a first biasing member configured to elastically bias the second gear toward the first direction; a second biasing member configured to elastically bias the lever member toward the second direction opposite to the first direction by a biasing force larger than that of the first biasing member; and a first guide member configured to guide the lever arm to a plurality of slide positions of the lever member corresponding to the positions of the respective transmission gears, wherein the first guide member has an elongate hole through which the lever arm passes and which extends in the main scanning directions, the elongate hole being defined by a first edge portion and a second edge portion that extend in the main scanning directions, the second edge portion that is located more distant from the carriage than the first edge portion extending outward, in a direction orthogonal to the main scanning directions, from a carriage region over which the carriage passes, the second edge portion having a guide portion that is inclined such that its downstream end in the second direction is closer to the carriage region than its upstream end in the second direction.