Patent Publication Number: US-8118504-B2

Title: Printer

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     1. Technical Field 
     The present disclosure relates to printers, and particularly to a printer whose ink cartridge carrier can be adjusted. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     An ink cartridge carrier is configured for holding an ink cartridge of a printer. Commonly, a print head is mounted to the carrier or the ink cartridge. A distance between the print head and a printing medium, such as a piece of paper, is one of the important indicators that impact the printing quality. When a printer is manufactured, there are processing errors and assembly errors, which leads the distance between the print head and the printing medium being not accurate, and thereby the printing quality is downgraded. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is an exploded, isometric view of an embodiment of a printer, the printer including an ink cartridge carrier and an adjusting unit. 
         FIG. 2  is an enlarged view of the ink cartridge carrier in  FIG. 1 , but viewed from another perspective. 
         FIG. 3  is an enlarged view of the adjusting unit in  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 4  is an assembled view of the ink cartridge carrier and the adjusting unit in  FIG. 1 , but viewed from another perspective. 
         FIG. 5  is an assembled, side elevational view of the printer in  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 6  is an enlarged view of the circled portion VI in  FIG. 5 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , an embodiment of a printer  10  includes a chassis  20 , an ink cartridge carrier  40 , and an adjusting unit  60 . 
     The chassis  20  includes a slide rail  21 , and a plurality of supports  200  for supporting the slide rail  21 . The slide rail  21  is used for slidably mounting the ink cartridge carrier  40 . The slide rail  21  includes a vertical rear board  23 , a top board  24  extending horizontally from an upper side of the rear board  23 , a bottom board  26  extending horizontally from a lower side of the rear board  23  and opposite to the top board  24 , an upper bending piece  25  extending perpendicularly from a front side of the top board  24  away from the rear board  23  towards the bottom board  26 , and a lower bending piece  27  extending perpendicularly from a front side of the bottom board  26  away from the rear board  23  towards the top board  24 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , the ink cartridge carrier  40  is used to hold an ink cartridge (not shown). The ink cartridge carrier  40  or the ink cartridge includes a print head (not shown). In one embodiment, the print head is mounted to a front portion of the ink cartridge carrier  40 . Two sliding portions  41  extend from a lower end of a rear portion opposite to the front portion of the ink cartridge carrier  40 . Each sliding portion  41  includes spaced first clipping piece  411  and second clipping piece  412 . Two shaft holders  43  extend from a top of the rear portion of the ink cartridge carrier  40 . Two C-shaped rotating holes  47  are defined in each shaft holder  43 . A groove  45  is defined in the ink cartridge carrier  40  between the shaft holders  43 . Two projections  49  extend downwards from the top of the rear portion of the ink cartridge carrier  40 . The projections  49  are located at the left and right sides of the two shaft holders  43  respectively, and are a little higher than the rotating holes  47 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , the adjusting unit  60  includes a cam  61 , two rotating shafts  63 , and two gears  65 . The rotating shafts  63  coaxially extend from opposite sides of the cam  61 . The gears  65  are fixed to distal ends of the rotating shafts  63  away from the cam  61 , respectively. Each gear  65  includes eight teeth  651 . An operating hole  653  is defined in a side of each gear  65 , opposite to the cam  61 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 4 and 5 , in assembly, the rotating shafts  63  of the adjusting unit  60  are snapped in the rotating holes  47  of the shaft holders  43  of the ink cartridge carrier  40 , while the cam  61  of the adjusting unit  60  is received in the groove  45  between the shaft holders  43 , and each projection  49  of the ink cartridge carrier  40  is clipped between two adjacent teeth  651  of the corresponding gear  65  (see  FIG. 6 ). The ink cartridge carrier  40  is mounted to the slide rail  21  from an end of the slide rail  21 . The lower bending piece  27  of the slide rail  21  is sandwiched between the first clipping pieces  411  and second clipping pieces  412  of the sliding portions  41  of the ink cartridge carrier  40 . The cam  61  abuts against an inner side of the upper bending piece  25  of the slide rail  21  (see  FIG. 6 ). 
     Referring to  FIG. 6 , a printing medium (not shown), such as a piece of paper, can be placed under the ink cartridge carrier  40 . When a distance between the print head of the ink cartridge carrier  40  and the printing medium needs to be adjusted, a screw driver (not shown) may be employed to insert into the operating hole  653  of one of the gears  65  or a plier (not shown) may be employed to clamp one of the gears  65 , to rotate the adjusting unit  60 . Because the cam  61  abuts against the upper bending piece  25  of the slide rail  21  and is rotated, a counterforce of the upper bending piece  25  acts on the cam  61 . The counterforce is passed to the ink cartridge carrier  40  via the adjusting unit  60  to cause slight elastic deformation of the sliding portions  41  of the ink cartridge carrier  40 , which causes the ink cartridge carrier  40  to slightly rotate relative to the lower bending piece  27  of the slide rail  21 . Therefore, a purpose of adjusting the distance between the print head and the printing medium can be achieved. When the cam  61  is rotated to a desired position, each projection  49  is clipped between certain two adjacent teeth  651  of the corresponding gear  65 , such that the cam  61  is positioned. 
     In other embodiments, one of the gears  65  and the corresponding rotating shaft  63  may be omitted, and a hole like the operating hole  653  may be defined in the cam  61 . 
     In other embodiments, only one rotating hole  47  may be directly defined in each shaft holder  43 . 
     In other embodiments, one of the sliding portions  41  of the ink cartridge carrier  40  may be omitted. 
     In other embodiments, the number of the teeth  65  of each gear  65  may be adjusted, to change a times that the cam  61  is able to be positioned in a rotating cycle, so as to change an adjustment precision of the ink cartridge carrier  40 . 
     It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the disclosure have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.