Patent Publication Number: US-6698855-B1

Title: Automatic spacing adjustment mechanism of cartridge

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to an automatic spacing adjustment mechanism of printing cartridge and, more particularly, to a spacing adjustment mechanism, which directly utilizes an existing paper feed drive motor of a printer to adjust the distance from a cartridge to papers without the need of any extra motor. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Because an inkjet printer prints on papers by means of ink spraying, the spacing between its inkjet head and the papers must be adjusted for different kinds of papers. For example, for common papers of A4 size, a small spacing must be used; while for envelops or business cards, a larger spacing must be used. Otherwise, the quality and effect of printing will be greatly deteriorated. For adjustment of spacing between the inkjet head and papers, there have been inkjet printers (e.g., those produced by the Canon or Epson company) in the market utilizing a manual rod to adjust the spacing. Although they can accomplish the object of adjusting the spacing, a user needs to poke the rod himself, resulting in much inconvenience in use. Besides, there have also been inkjet printers (e.g., those produced by the HP company) in the market utilizing a motor to adjust the spacing. Although the user needs not to adjust the spacing himself, it is necessary to add in an extra motor, resulting in increase of their weight. Moreover, the motor also greatly increases the cost of the inkjet printers. 
     Accordingly, the present invention aims to propose an automatic spacing adjustment mechanism of cartridge so as to resolve the problems in the prior art. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The primary object of the present invention is to provide an automatic spacing adjustment mechanism of cartridge, wherein an existing paper feed drive motor of a printer is utilized to perform adjustment of spacing. Therefore, it is not necessary to add in any extra motor so that the high cost of motor will not be added. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic spacing adjustment mechanism of cartridge, wherein a sensor capable of detecting the kind of paper is matched to automate the action of spacing adjustment without manual operation of user, hence achieving much convenience in use. 
     To achieve the above objects, the present invention provides an automatic spacing adjustment mechanism of cartridge, which comprises a gear set and a lift unit. The gear set can be triggered to be in a mutual engaged state through motion of a print cartridge receiving seat of a printer to the utmost side. The gear set can be driven to rotate by an existing paper feed drive motor. The lift unit can be driven by the mutual engaged gear set to lift or lower the print cartridge receiving seat. 
    
    
     The various objects and advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the appended drawing, in which: 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a front view of the present invention before action; 
     FIG. 2 is a front view of the present invention after action; 
     FIG. 2A is a partly exploded perspective view of the present invention; 
     FIG. 3 is a partly left side view of the present invention before action; 
     FIG. 4 is a partly left side view of the present invention after action; 
     FIG. 5 is a partly left side view before action according to another embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 6 is a partly left side view after action according to another embodiment of the present invention; and 
     FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view along line  7 — 7  shown in FIG.  5 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention provides an automatic spacing adjustment mechanism of cartridge, wherein a base  1  is a frame body composed of a first wall  11 , a second wall  12 , and a third wall  13 . The first wall  11  has an existing paper feed drive component  14 . A second pivotal rod  16  for transverse motion of a print cartridge receiving seat.  17  is disposed between the second and third walls  12  and  13 . A first pivotal rod  15  driven by the paper feed drive motor  14  to achieve paper feed and exit function of the printer, is disposed between the first, second, and third walls  11 ,  12 , and  13 . The print cartridge receiving seat  17  for receiving a print cartridge (e.g., an ink box of an inkjet printer) is driven by a belt (not show) to move left and right for printing. 
     The paper feed drive component  14  drives the first pivotal rod  15  to rotate through a transmission gear  151 . 
     As shown in FIGS. 1,  2 , and  2 A, a driving component  171  projects from beside the print cartridge receiving seat  17 . A gear set comprising a first gear  2 , a second gear  3 , and a third gear  4  is disposed at the second wall  12 . A lift unit comprising a second driven component  6  and a second pivotal rod  16  having eccentric cam function is also disposed at the second wall  12 , as shown in FIG. 
     Please refer to FIG. 3 with also reference to FIG.  1 . The first pivotal rod  15  fixedly connects the first gear  2 , and is movably slipped into a first driven component  5 . The first driven component  5  is roughly of a fan shape, and is movably slipped onto the first pivotal rod  15  through the lower end thereof. A driven body  51  to be touched by the driving component  171  is formed at the front end of a fan edge of the upper end of the first driven component  5 . The third gear  4  is pivotally connected at the rear end of the fan edge of the upper end of the first driven component  5 . The first and third gears  2  and  4  engage each other. The third gear  4  can thus revolve around the periphery of the first gear  2  with the first pivotal rod  15  as the axis. The second gear  3  having a small diameter coaxial gear  31  is pivotally connected at the second wall  12 , and is adjacent to but does not engage the first gear  2 . As shown in FIG. 4, rotation of the second gear  3  lets the third gear  4  to further engage the second gear  3  through the first driven component  5  moving rearwards, thereby letting the gear set be in a mutual engaged state. Therefore, rotation of the paper feed drive motor  14  can be transmitted to the second gear  3 , via the transmission gear  151 , the first pivotal rod  15 , the first gear  2 , and the third gear  4 . 
     As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, when the print cartridge receiving seat  17  is driven by a belt to transversely move from a print region to a non-print region at the utmost side, the protrude driving component  171  will exactly drive the driven body  51  of the first driven component  5  to move rearwards a small distance so that the gear set can be in mutual engaged state as above. The second gear  3  will lead the lift unit to start acting. 
     Please refer to FIG. 7 with also reference to the lift unit shown in FIG.  1 . The second pivotal rod  16  is pivotally connected between the second wall  12  and the third wall  13  through eccentric shafts  161  at two ends thereof. The portion of the second pivotal rod  16  between the second and third walls is a large-diameter cylinder, the portion thereof pivotally connected in the wall is a small-diameter cylinder  1612 , and the portion thereof protruding out of the second wall  12  and fixedly connecting the second driven component  6  is a small-diameter deformed post  1611  roughly of a semi-cylinder shape. The small-diameter deformed post  1611  is used as a basis to be driven by the second driven component  6 . The large-diameter cylinder can make eccentric rotation with the small-diameter cylinder  1612  as the axis. The eccentric shaft  161  comprises the small-diameter deformed post  1611  and the small-diameter cylinder  1612 . 
     Please refer to the lift unit shown in FIGS. 3 and 7. The center of the second driven component  6  roughly of a crank shape is fixedly connected with the small-diameter deformed post  1611  to lead the second pivotal rod  16  to rotate. 
     The second driven component  6  is roughly lying on the second wall  12 . An arm body  61  extends from the upper end of the second driven component  6 . A teeth edge  62  is formed at a fan edge of the lower end of the second driven component  6 . A protrudent post  63  projects from near the upper end of the second driven components toward a trench  121  of the second wall  12 . The protrudent post  63  can be guided by the arc-shaped trench  121 . The teeth edge  62  of the second driven component  6  engages the coaxial gear  31  of the second gear  3 . A positioning spring  64  of torsion spring type is connected between the arm body  61  of the second driven component  6 . The positioning spring  64  can elastically twist into the shape shown in FIG. 4 after the second driven component  6  rotates in the forward direction, and can elastically twist into the shape shown in FIG. 3 after the second driven component  6  rotates in the reverse direction. The positioning spring  64  can thus position the second driven component  6  after twisting. A hung body  52  to be used as the basis for elastically restoring the first driven component  5  projects downwards from the lower end of the pivotal position of the first driven component  5 . 
     As shown in FIG. 1, the print cartridge receiving seat  17  is located at the print region and can perform printing action. When different kinds of papers are placed in a paper feeding-in case (not shown) of a printer, a sensor (not shown) disposed at the paper feeding-in case can detect the kind of paper (this technique is well known in the prior art). Through a command issued from an internal circuit, the print cartridge receiving seat of the printer is controlled to transversely move to the utmost side shown in FIG. 2, and the driven body  51  of the first driven component  5  is touched by the driving component  171 . As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the first driven component  5  is driven-by the driving component  171  to move rearwards, and leads the third gear  4  to further engage and drive the second gear  3  to rotate. At this time, the gear set engages each other. Through rotation of the second gear  3 , the lift unit is synchronously driven to make lift/drop action. That is, through different rotation directions of the paper feed drive motor  14 , the coaxial gear  31  of the second gear  3  can lead the second driven component  6  of the lift unit to rotate in the forward direction (as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4) or in the reverse direction (as shown in FIGS.  5  and  6 ), and can synchronously drive the second pivotal rod  16  to make eccentric rotation so as to accomplish the object of lift/drop adjustment. Please refer to FIG. 7 with also reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. Forward rotation of the second driven component  6  can let the protrudent post  63  thereof move from the lower end to the upper end of the trench  121 . Simultaneously, the positioning spring  64  can accomplish its twisting and positioning action. Through rotation of the second driven component  6 , the second pivotal rod  16  can be simultaneously led to make synchronous eccentric rotation with the eccentric shaft  161  thereof as the axis. The print cartridge receiving seat  17  can thus be synchronously driven to move upwards (or downwards) so as to adjust the spacing between the cartridge of the print cartridge receiving seat  17  and the paper. When a paper of another kind is detected, through the first driven component  5  driven by the driving component  171  and reverse rotation of the paper feed drive component  14 , the second driven component  6 , the second pivotal rod  16 , and the print cartridge receiving seat  17  can the led to restore to their original positions. Therefore, the present invention can directly utilize the existing paper feed drive component  14  to accomplish the object of spacing adjustment without the need of any extra motor. 
     As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the second driven component  6  is indirectly led to rotate in the reverse direction before and after the reverse rotation of the paper feed drive component  14 . The protrudent post  63  of the second driven component  6  is thus led to move from the upper end to the lower end of the trench  121 , hence leading the print cartridge receiving seat  17  to move upwards (or downwards) for adjustment. Besides, no matter the lift unit is controlled to lift or drop, when the lift/drop action is finished, the print cartridge receiving seat  17  immediately leaves the driven state. Moreover, when the print cartridge receiving seat  17  leaves the utmost side, the first driven component  5  can elastically restore through the elastic component  53  thereof, and the third gear  4  no longer engages the second gear  3 . 
     Of course, it is also feasible that dose not use the above sensor in the present invention for use. Although full automatic spacing adjustment cannot be accomplished, the object of semi-automatic spacing adjustment can be achieved through a preset button pressed or choose from software by users. 
     To sum up, because the existing paper feed drive motor  14  of the printer is utilized to lead the gear set and the lift unit to perform the actions of spacing adjustment, it is not necessary to add in an extra expensive motor. Therefore, the object of spacing adjustment can be achieved without adding the cost of another motor. Moreover, if a sensor is further matched to detect the kind of paper, the actions of the gear set and the lift unit can be controlled in full automatic way without any manual operation of user. Once a user places in a paper of a different kind, the printer will automatically perform the actions of spacing adjustment through detection of the sensor. Moreover, the actions of spacing adjustment are accomplished with the existing paper feed drive motor of the printer without adding the cost of another motor. 
     Although the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the details thereof. Various substitutions and modifications have been suggested in the foregoing description, and other will occur to those of ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, all such substitutions and modifications are intended to be embraced within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.