Patent ID: 7464922
Filing Date: 2008-12-16
Classification: B65H

Abstract:
1. An image-recording apparatus comprising (a) a recording head operable to record an image on a recording medium, (b) a carriage carrying said recording head and reciprocable in a main scanning direction, (c) a guide device guiding said carriage in said main scanning direction, and (d) a maintenance device disposed at a predetermined standby position located outside a predetermined recording area of said recording head in said main scanning direction and operable to perform a maintenance operation of said recording head when said carriage is located at said standby position, the image-recording apparatus further comprising: a plurality of medium supply cassettes which are superposed on each other and each of which is open upwards and accommodates a stack of recording media; a plurality of medium feeding devices which are operable to feed said recording media from the respective stacks accommodated in said plurality of medium supply cassettes, one after another along a feeding path; a plurality of power transmitting devices disposed on one of opposite sides of said predetermined recording area which corresponds to said standby position, said plurality of power transmitting devices respectively corresponding to said maintenance device and said plurality of medium feeding devices and including respective power transmitting members, the power transmitting member corresponding to said maintenance device being located furthest from said recording area in said main scanning direction, while the power transmitting member corresponding to an uppermost one of said plurality of medium feeding devices being located nearest to said recording area in said main scanning direction; a drive-force output device operable to produce a drive force; and a power-transmission switching device operable to transmit said drive force selectively to one of said power transmitting members, according to a distance of movement of said carriage in said main scanning direction from one of opposite ends of said recording area which corresponds to said one of the opposite sides; wherein said plurality of power transmitting devices include respective at least three gears which are disposed coaxially and in series with each other, and said power-transmission switching device includes a shift gear which receives said drive force produced by said drive-force output device and which is movable in an axial direction of said at least three gears of said power transmitting devices parallel to said main scanning direction for selective meshing engagement with one of said at least three gears, said power-transmission switching device further including an engaging portion engageable with said carriage to move said shift gear in said axial direction.