Patent ID: 6921217
Filing Date: 2005-07-26
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
1. A gap adjusting device for use in a recording apparatus including a carriage having a recording head for performing recording onto a recording medium and a carriage guide shaft for guiding said carriage in a main scanning direction, for adjusting a gap between said recording head and the recording medium by adjusting a level of said carriage guide shaft, said gap adjusting device comprising: a bushing member attached to an end of said carriage guide shaft and a side frame that is provided to stand perpendicularly to a direction of a shaft line of said carriage guide shaft to be rotatable, said bushing member being operable to support said carriage guide shaft in such a manner that a center of rotation is not coincident with a shaft center of said carriage guide shaft; and a bushing-member rotating means operable to engage with said rotating member and rotate said bushing member, said busing-member rotating means being driven by a power of a motor, wherein said bushing-member rotating means includes: a slidable member provided to be slidable along a surface of said side frame by the power of said motor; a slidable-member locking means operable to restrain a sliding operation of said slidable member; and a bushing-member rotating member having a bushing-member engagement portion that is to engage with said bushing member and a boss inserted into a cam groove formed in said slidable member in a movable manner and being provided to be rotatable, said bush-member rotating member being rotated by displacement of said boss within said cam groove in accordance with the sliding operation of said slidable member, to rotate said bushing member, a bushing-member forcing means is provided in such a manner that said boss is displaced within said cam groove while being in contact with a cam surface on one side of said cam groove and is pressed against said cam surface in a direction intersecting with a sliding direction of said slidable member, by weights of said carriage and said carriage guide shaft that act on said boss via said bushing member and said bushing-member rotating member, said bushing-member forcing means forcing said bushing member in a direction in which said busing member is forced to rotate by the weights of said carriage and said carriage guide shaft.