Source: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/54301238/Sheet-Feeder-And-Recording-Apparatus-Incorporating-The-Same---Patent-6899326
Timestamp: 2014-04-18 12:01:04
Document Index: 211820471

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 43', 'art 43', 'art 43', 'art 43', 'art 43', 'art 43', 'art 43', 'art 43', 'art 39', 'art 43', 'art 43', 'art 43', 'art 43', 'art 43', 'art 33', 'art 33', 'art 33', 'art 33', 'art 33', 'art 33', 'art 43', 'art 33', 'art 43', 'art 33', 'art 33', 'art 43', 'art 33', 'art 33', 'art 43', 'art 33', 'art 43', 'art 33', 'art 33', 'art 43', 'art 43', 'art 43', 'art\n43', 'art 33', 'art 43', 'art 33', 'art 43', 'art 33', 'art 43', 'art 6', 'art 43', 'art 33', 'art 43', 'art 6', 'art 43', 'art 6', 'art 6', 'art 6', 'art 6', 'art 6', 'art 33', 'art 43', 'art 43', 'art 43', 'art 6', 'art 6', 'art 43', 'art 43', 'art 33', 'art 33', 'art 33', 'art 43', 'art 51', 'art 51', 'art 33', 'art 51', 'art 33', 'art 33', 'art 51', 'art 51', 'art 33', 'art 51', 'art 51', 'art 51', 'art 51', 'art 33', 'art 33', 'art 51', 'art 51', 'art 33', 'art 33', 'art 43', 'art 43', 'art 33', 'art\n33', 'art 43', 'art 43', 'art 43', 'art 33', 'art 33', 'art 43', 'art 43', 'art 33', 'art 43', 'art 33', 'art 43', 'art 43', 'art 51', 'art 51', 'art 33', 'art 51', 'art 33', 'art 51', 'art 51', 'art 51', 'art 47', 'art 47', 'art 47', 'art 47', 'art 47', 'art 9', 'art 47', 'art 9', 'art 9', 'art 61', 'art 6', 'art 47', 'art 47']

Sheet Feeder And Recording Apparatus Incorporating The Same - Patent 6899326
United States Patent: 6899326
Sheet feeder and recording apparatus incorporating the same
A first non-recording region is situated in one of both outer sides of a
recording region in a main scanning direction of recording. A second
non-recording region is situated in the other one of the both sides of the
recording region. A power source provides a driving force. A driving gear
is interconnected with the power source. A transmission gear is operable
to be coupled with the driving gear to transmit the driving force to a
rotatable member. An actuator is operable to move in the main scanning
direction. A first trigger is disposed in the first non-recording region.
A second trigger is disposed in the second non-recording region. A clutch
is interconnected with the trigger so as to couple the driving gear and
the transmission gear when the one of the first trigger and the second
trigger is actuated by the actuator.
Kawakami; Kazuhisa (Nagano, JP), Shimomura; Masaki (Nagano, JP), Yasue; Takuya (Nagano, JP), Fukushima; Toru (Nagano, JP)
10/402,134
P2002-095180
P2002-206110
P2002-244169
271/114
B41J 23/02&amp;nbsp(20060101); B41J 23/00&amp;nbsp(20060101); B41J 002/65&amp;nbsp()
2004/0061278
0 482 356
10-329965
1.  A recording apparatus, comprising: a recording region;  a first non-recording region, situated in one of both outer sides of the recording region in a main scanning
direction of recording;  a second non-recording region, situated in the other one of the both sides of the recording region;  a power source, which provides a driving force;  a driving gear, interconnected with the power source;  a transmission gear,
operable to be coupled with the driving gear to transmit the driving force to a rotatable member;  an actuator, operable to move in the main scanning direction;  a first trigger, disposed in the first non-recording region;  a second trigger, disposed in
the second non-recording region;  and a clutch, interconnected with the trigger so as to couple the driving gear and the transmission gear when the one of the first trigger and the second trigger is actuated by the actuator.
2.  The recording apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein: the rotatable member is a medium feeding roller which feeds a recording medium to the recording region;  the driving gear is a ratchet gear;  the clutch comprises a clutcher, formed
with a tooth and an engagement portion, the clutcher held by the transmission gear so as to be pivotable between a first position where the tooth is engaged with the ratchet gear and a second position where the tooth is disengaged from the ratchet gear;
the transmission gear rotates with the clutcher when the clutcher is placed in the first position, so that the driving force is transmitted to the medium feeding roller;  and the clutch comprises a clutch lever, operable to engage with the engagement
portion of the clutcher, and to place the clutcher in the second position when the clutch lever engages with the engagement portion under a condition that the transmission gear rotates with the clutcher.
3.  The recording apparatus as set forth in claim 2, further comprising a link, interconnected with the clutch lever, and extending in the main scanning direction from the first non-recording region to the second non-recording region, wherein:
the clutch lever is disposed in the second non-recording region;  and at least the first trigger is provided with the link.
4.  The recording apparatus as set forth in claim 3, wherein the second trigger is provided with the clutch lever.
5.  The recording apparatus as set forth in claim 4, wherein: a first end of the clutch lever is formed with a hook member;  a second end of the clutch lever is pivotably supported such that the hook member is engageable with the engagement
portion of the clutcher, to thereby serves as the second trigger;  the clutch comprises an elastic member which urges the hook member toward the engagement portion of the clutcher;  the link is slidable in the main scanning direction;  the actuator
actuates the first trigger such that the link is slid away from the clutch lever;  and the clutch lever is pivoted when the link is slid, so that the hook member is disengaged from the engagement portion of the clutcher.
6.  The recording apparatus as set forth in claim 5, wherein the hook member is formed with a tapered portion which is to be abutted against the engagement portion of the clutcher.
7.  The recording apparatus as set forth in claim 5, wherein: the medium feeding roller is provided with a cam having a cam face formed with a recess;  the recording apparatus further comprises a cam follower, operable to engage with the cam;
the clutch lever engages with the engagement portion of the clutcher when the cam follower begins to engage with the cam;  and the medium feeding roller is rotated by an action that the cam follower engages with the recess, so that the transmission
roller is accordingly rotated to place the clutcher in the second position.
8.  The recording apparatus as set forth in claim 5, wherein: the clutch lever is disengaged from the engagement portion of the clutcher and the ratchet gear is rotated reversely in a case where the actuator is to actuate one of the first trigger
and the second trigger in connection with operation other than a paper feeding operation, so that the clutch is placed in the second position against an urging force of the elastic member.
9.  A recording apparatus, comprising: a power source, which provides a driving force;  a medium feeding roller, operable to rotate to feed a recording medium;  a transmitter, operable to transmit the driving force to the medium feeding roller;
an actuator, operable to move in a main scanning direction of recording;  a clutch, operable to be actuated by the actuator so that the transmitter transmits the driving force to the medium feeding roller;  and a controller, which judges a position in
the main scanning direction where the clutch is actuated by the actuator, and determines a reference position of the rotation of the medium feeding roller in accordance with the judged position.
10.  The recording apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the actuator is a carriage for reciprocating a recording head which performs recording with respect to the recording medium in the main scanning direction.
11.  The recording apparatus as set forth in claim 9, wherein the clutch comprises an actuated member which is pivotable about an axis extending in the main scanning direction, and operable to be actuated by the actuator.
12.  The recording apparatus as set forth in claim 11, wherein the actuated member is formed with a portion slanting in the main scanning direction, against which the actuator is to be abutted.
13.  The recording apparatus as set forth in claim 9, further comprising: a recording region;  a first non-recording region, situated in one of both outer sides of the recording region in a main scanning direction of recording;  a second
non-recording region, situated in the other one of the both sides of the recording region;  and a trigger, operable to be slid by the actuator in the main scanning direction, to actuate the clutch to cause the transmitter to transmit the driving force to
the medium feeding roller, wherein the trigger is disposed in the first non-recording region and the clutch is disposed in the second non-recording region.
14.  The recording apparatus as set forth in claim 9, further comprising a ratchet gear, interconnected with the power source, wherein: the clutch comprises a clutcher, formed with a tooth and an engagement portion, the clutcher held by the
transmitter so as to be pivotable between a first position where the tooth is engaged with the ratchet gear and a second position where the tooth is disengaged from the ratchet gear;  the transmitter rotates with the clutcher when the clutcher is placed
in the first position, so that the driving force is transmitted to the medium feeding roller;  and the clutch comprises a clutch lever, operable to engage with the engagement portion of the clutcher, and to place the clutcher in the second position when
the clutch lever engages with the engagement portion under a condition that the transmitter rotates with the clutcher.  Description
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus, such as an ink jet printer, which includes a drive gear coupled to a power source, a transmission gear for transmitting power to other rotary members, and a clutch device for selecting
permission or prohibition of power transmission between the drive gear and the transmission gear.  The invention also relates to a sheet feeder for feeding printing sheets incorporated in such a recording apparatus.
In the specification, the &quot;recording apparatus&quot; includes a recording apparatus, such a printer, a copying machine and a facsimile, in which an ink jet recording head is used, and the recording head which ejects ink to a recording medium to
perform recording, and also includes a liquid jetting apparatus in which a liquid jetting head corresponding to the recording head which ejects liquid, instead of the ink, selected for its use to a medium corresponding to the recording medium, whereby
the liquid sticks to the medium.
Examples of the liquid jetting heads are the recording head mentioned above, a coloring material jetting head used for manufacturing color filters in use for a liquid crystal display or the like, an electrode material (conductive paste) jetting
head used for forming electrodes of an organic EL (electro luminescence) display, a field emission display (FED) and the like, an organic material jetting head used for manufacturing biological biochips, and a sample jetting head as a micro pipette.
One kind of the recording apparatus is an ink jet printer (referred to as a &quot;printer&quot;).  Some types of printers are each provided with an auto sheet feeder (ASF) for feeding a recording sheet which is one kind of the recording medium, toward an
ink jet recording head.  The sheet feeder includes a feeding roller for feeding recording sheets.  It is a common practice that for the purpose of cost reduction, a drive source for the feeding roller is also used for a drive source for a transporting
roller for transporting the recording sheets to the ink jet recording head.  In the description to follow, the recording sheet will be used as a typical example of the recording medium.  Accordingly, &quot;feeding&quot;, &quot;feeder&quot;, and &quot;feeding roller&quot; will be
referred frequently to as &quot;sheet feeding&quot;, &quot;sheet feeder&quot;, and &quot;sheet feeding roller&quot;, respectively.
When power is transmitted from a drive motor as the drive source to the transporting roller and the sheet feeding roller, for example, when the recording sheet is transported by the transporting roller, it is necessary to stop the rotation of the
sheet feeding roller.  Further, it is necessary to forwardly and reversely rotate the transporting roller.  In this respect, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 10-329965A, a clutch device is provided which selects permission or prohibition
of power transmission from the drive motor to the sheet feeding roller.
A trigger for selecting the permission or prohibition of power transmission by the clutch device is normally at one end of the main scan direction of a carriage, viz., one end of the main body of the printer as horizontally viewed.  The carriage
is moved to a position of the trigger located at one end of the scanning path of the carriage, and pressed against the trigger, whereby the clutch device is readily operated.
Since the trigger is provided at only one end of the scanning path of the carriage, when the carriage is positioned at the other end of the scanning path at the end of the recording operation and just before the clutch device is subjected to the
selection of the permission or prohibition of power transmission, the carriage must be moved to the position of the trigger over substantially the entire recording region in order to actuate the clutch device.  Thus, the carriage consumes time only for
traversing the recording region.  This time consumption hinders improvement of the throughput from the sheet feeding to the sheet discharging in the recording operation by the printer.
In a technique that the carriage per se engages with a part of the clutch device through the scanning movement to thereby select the permission or prohibition of power transmission to the sheet feeding roller (in other words, the carriage per se
serves as a trigger).  Sometimes, a position of the carriage when the permission of actual power transmission is switched to its prohibition or permission somewhat varies depending on the dimensional or assembling accuracy of the components.
Upon start of rotation of the sheet feeding roller, various sheet feeding operations are performed during a period of one rotation of the sheet feeding roller.  For example, after the sheet feeding roller is rotated by a predetermined angle, the
ascending operation of the hopper starts.  After the sheet feeding roller is further rotated by a predetermined angle, for example, a retracting operation of a sheet returning lever for returning multi-feeding print sheets to the upstream side is
performed.  Thus, operation timing charts of components forming the sheet feeder are determined with respect to a rotation start point of the sheet feeding roller.  A sequence of sheet feed controls are executed according to the timing charts.
As described above, a position of the carriage when the permission of actual power transmission is switched to its prohibition or permission, varies depending on the dimensional or assembling accuracy of the components.  Accordingly, the rotation
start point of the sheet feeding roller on which the operation timings determination is based is different for each printer, and hence, exact sheet feed controls are not secured.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a recording apparatus in which the carriage can reach the trigger for a relatively short time even when the carriage is at any position in order to attain a high throughput of the
It is also an object of the invention is to provide exact sheet feeding controls in a sheet feeder which controls the sheet feeding operation based on the rotation start point of the sheet feeding roller which starts its rotation when the clutch
device permits the power transmission.
In such a configuration, in comparison with a related-art configuration where the trigger is provided to one end side alone, the maximum distance needed for the actuator to reach the trigger is reduced by half.  It is thus possible to obtain a
recording apparatus capable of activating the rotating body (e.g., gears) quickly.
Here, it is preferable that: the rotatable member is a medium feeding roller which feeds a recording medium to the recording region; the driving gear is a ratchet gear; the clutch comprises a clutcher, formed with a tooth and an engagement
portion, the clutcher held by the transmission gear so as to be pivotable between a first position where the tooth is engaged with the ratchet gear and a second position where the tooth is disengaged from the ratchet gear; the transmission gear rotates
with the clutcher when the clutcher is placed in the first position, so that the driving force is transmitted to the medium feeding roller; and the clutch comprises a clutch lever, operable to engage with the engagement portion of the clutcher, and to
place the clutcher in the second position when the clutch lever engages with the engagement portion under a condition that the transmission gear rotates with the clutcher.
In such a configuration, since the power transmitted by the clutcher is used to drive the medium feeding roller, a distance needed for the carriage to reach the trigger at the time of medium feed processing can be reduced to a half the distance
that is needed in the related art, and the medium feeding roller can be activated quickly.  It is thus possible to obtain a recording apparatus with high throughput as to the recording processing including the medium feeding processing.
It is further preferable that: the recording apparatus further comprises a link, interconnected with the clutch lever, and extending in the main scanning direction from the first non-recording region to the second non-recording region; the clutch
lever is disposed in the second non-recording region; and at least the first trigger is provided with the link.
In such a configuration, it is possible to provide the first trigger positioned away from the clutch lever in a simple arrangement.  This can minimize an increase of the number of components.
The word &quot;interlocked&quot; means both a case where the link and the clutch lever are formed integrally and operate as a single member, and a case where each is formed as a separate member and operate in association through their respective
interlocking mechanisms.
In such a configuration, since the second trigger is provided with the existing component, it will not involve the increase of component.  Further, since the second trigger is not provided on the link, the link may be simple.
It is further preferable that: a first end of the clutch lever is formed with a hook member; a second end of the clutch lever is pivotably supported such that the hook member is engageable with the engagement portion of the clutcher, to thereby
serves as the second trigger; the clutch comprises an elastic member which urges the hook member toward the engagement portion of the clutcher; the link is slidable in the main scanning direction; the actuator actuates the first trigger such that the
link is slid away from the clutch lever; and the clutch lever is pivoted when the link is slid, so that the hook member is disengaged from the engagement portion of the clutcher.
In such a configuration, no additional power is needed to switch the states of the clutch lever.  Further, since a tensile force in the longitudinal direction of the link member is exerted on the link member, and the link portion need not to
receive a force in the direction perpendicular to the tensile force.  Hence, a member with a relatively low stiffness can be used, and a narrow wire or the like can be used as long as it can withstand the tensile force.
In such a configuration, when the hook portion proceeds in a direction to enable engagement with the engagement portion of the clutcher, the tapered portion moves so that it pivots the clutcher in a direction such that the tooth of the clutcher
comes out of the ratchet gear, which allows the transition to the first position to take place speedily in a reliable manner.
It is also preferable that: the medium feeding roller is provided with a cam having a cam face formed with a recess; the recording apparatus further comprises a cam follower, operable to engage with the cam; the clutch lever engages with the
engagement portion of the clutcher when the cam follower begins to engage with the cam; and the medium feeding roller is rotated by an action that the cam follower engages with the recess, so that the transmission roller is accordingly rotated to place
the clutcher in the second position.
It is also preferable that the clutch lever is disengaged from the engagement portion of the clutcher and the ratchet gear is rotated reversely in a case where the actuator is to actuate one of the first trigger and the second trigger in
connection with operation other than a paper feeding operation, so that the clutch is placed in the second position against an urging force of the elastic member.
In such a configuration, no power transmission state can be selected when it is not necessary to switch the power transmission state of the rotational driving of the medium feeding roller, even when the carriage actuates on the trigger.  For
example, when the stand-by position of the carriage is outside of the recording region and the carriage is moved to the stand-by position for the cleaning of the recording head, etc.
In such a configuration, by performing the medium feeding control using the position of the carriage at the instant the medium feeding roller starts to rotate as the judged position, it is possible to perform precise medium feeding control
regardless of the dimensional or assembling accuracy of the components.
In such a configuration.  It is possible to allow the actuated member to move naturally without giving a load to the actuator.
Preferably, the recording apparatus further comprises: a recording region; a first non-recording region, situated in one of both outer sides of the recording region in a main scanning direction of recording; a second non-recording region,
situated in the other one of the both sides of the recording region; and a trigger, operable to be slid by the actuator in the main scanning direction, to actuate the clutch to cause the transmitter to transmit the driving force to the medium feeding
roller.  The trigger is disposed in the first non-recording region and the clutch is disposed in the second non-recording region.
It is preferable that: the recording apparatus further comprises a ratchet gear, interconnected with the power source; the clutch comprises a clutcher, formed with a tooth and an engagement portion, the clutcher held by the transmitter so as to
be pivotable between a first position where the tooth is engaged with the ratchet gear and a second position where the tooth is disengaged from the ratchet gear; the transmitter rotates with the clutcher when the clutcher is placed in the first position,
so that the driving force is transmitted to the medium feeding roller; and the clutch comprises a clutch lever, operable to engage with the engagement portion of the clutcher, and to place the clutcher in the second position when the clutch lever engages
with the engagement portion under a condition that the transmitter rotates with the clutcher.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an exterior appearance of an ink jet printer according to a first embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 22B is a section view taken along X--X line of FIG. 22A;
Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.  An entire configuration of an ink jet printer (referred to as a &quot;printer&quot;) 100 which is one kind of a recording apparatus according to
a first embodiment of the present invention will first be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an exterior appearance of a main body of the printer 100 (a state that a cover forming the exterior appearance is removed).  FIG. 2 is a sectional side view schematically showing the same.  In the description
to follow, a right side in FIG. 1 (back side of the printer 100) will be referred to as an &quot;upstream side&quot; (upstream side of a sheet transporting path), and a left side in FIG. 1 (front side of the printer 100) will be referred to as a &quot;downstream side&quot;
(downstream side of the sheet transporting path).
The printer 100 includes a sheet feeder 1, which is disposed on the rear side of a U-shaped (in plan view) main frame 12 which defines a base of a main body of the printer as shown FIG. 1.  Recording sheets are fed one by one to the front side of
the printer, from the sheet feeder 1.  As shown in FIG. 2, the sheet feeder 1 includes a sheet feeding roller 3, a separation pad 4, and a sheet returning lever 9, and a hopper 5.
The sheet feeding roller 3, which is driven to rotate by a drive motor (not shown), is shaped like D in side view, and includes a roller body 3a and a rubber material 3b wound on an outer peripheral surface of the roller body 3a.  The sheet
feeding roller 3 feeds a recording sheet P by use of its arcuate part, and allows the recording sheet P to pass there by use of its flat part to thereby impart no transport load to a downstream transporting roller 17 disposed in the downstream side when
it is in a transporting operation.
The hopper 5 is formed with a plate-like member, and as shown, it is provided taking a slanted posture.  Further, it may be pivoted about a rotary shaft 5a provided in an upper part, clockwise and counterclockwise in FIG. 2.  When the hopper is
pivoted by a cam mechanism to be described later, the lower end of the hopper is brought into pressing contact with the sheet feeding roller 3 and separated from the same.  When the hopper 5 is pivoted in a direction in which the hopper is brought into
pressing contact with the sheet feeding roller 3, a bundle of recording sheets P stacked on the hopper 5 is put in pressing contact with the sheet feeding roller 3.  In this state, the uppermost recording sheet P of the sheet stack is fed to the
downstream side by rotating the sheet feeding roller 3.
The separation pad 4 is made of a high friction material, and provided at a position where it faces the sheet feeding roller 3.  When the sheet feeding roller 3 is rotated, the arcuate part of the sheet feeding roller 3 is brought into pressing
contact with the separation pad 4 to thereby form a pressing contact part (nipping part).  The uppermost recording sheet P that is fed out by the arcuate part of the sheet feeding roller 3 passes the pressing part and advances to the downstream side.
The next recording sheet P and the subsequent ones, which will advance to the downstream while being taken by the uppermost recording sheet P, are blocked in their advancing by the pressing part, whereby the multi-feeding of the recording sheets P is
The separation pad 4 may be substituted by another multi-feed preventing member, such as a retard roller.  When the retard roller is used, the sheet feeding roller 3 used may be circular in side view.
The sheet returning lever 9, which is shaped like a lever, and disposed near the lower end of the hopper 5, may be pivoted about a supporting point 9a by a drive mechanism (not shown), clockwise and counterclockwise in FIG. 2.  In a feeding
operation of the recording sheet P, the sheet returning lever 9 is pivoted to the downstream side as shown in FIG. 2, and does not hinder the feeding operation of the recording sheet P. When the feeding of the recording sheet P starts and the leading end
of the recording sheet P advances to the downstream side of the sheet returning lever 9, the sheet returning lever 9 rises toward the upstream side, and pushes back to the upstream side the next recording sheets P and the subsequent ones, which are taken
by the fed recording sheet P and on the verge of multi-feeding.  With the pushing back action, the multi-feeding of the recording sheets P is more securely prevented.
A sheet guide 15 formed with a plate-like member is substantially horizontally disposed downstream of the sheet feeder 1.  The front end of the recording sheet P fed out by the sheet feeding roller 3 comes in contact with the sheet guide 15 in an
oblique direction and the sheet is smoothly guided to the downstream side.  A transporting roller 17 is provided downstream of the sheet guide 15.  The transporting roller 17 includes a drive roller 17a to be driven to rotate and a follower roller 17b to
be in pressing contact with the drive roller 17a.  The recording sheet P is nipped between the drive roller 17a and the follower roller 17b, and transported to the downstream side at a pitch which depends on print conditions.
The follower roller 17b is shaft-supported at a downstream position of a follower roller holder 21.  The follower roller holder 21 is provided such that it is rotatable about a rotary shaft 21a clockwise and counterclockwise in FIG. 2.  The
follower roller 17b is constantly urged in a direction in which it is pressed against the drive roller 17a (counterclockwise in FIG. 2), by a coiled spring (not shown).  The drive roller 17a is formed with a shaft member extending in main scanning
directions (orthogonal to the drawing sheet of FIG. 2).  A plurality of follower rollers 17b and a plurality of follower roller holders 21 (not shown) are disposed in the axial direction of the drive roller 17a.
A sheet sensor 19 for sensing passing of the recording sheet P, which includes a sensor body 19b and a detecting lever 19a, is disposed near the follower roller holder 21 located closest to a home position (the right side of FIG. 1).  The
detecting lever 19a, shaped like a dogleg in side view, is rotatable about a rotary shaft 19c located substantially at the center thereof, clockwise and counterclockwise in FIG. 2.  The sensor body 19b, located above the detecting lever 19a, includes a
light emitting part (not shown) and a light receiving part (not shown) for receiving light from the light emitting part.  An upper part of the detecting lever 19a with respect to the rotary shaft 19c interrupts light originated from the light emitting
part to the light receiving part and allows the same light to go from the former to the latter, through the pivoting operation of the upper part of the detecting lever 19a.  Accordingly, when with the passing of the recording sheet P, the detecting lever
19a is pivoted to move upward as shown in FIG. 2, the upper part of the detecting lever 19a comes off from the sensor body 19b.  As a result, the light receiving part is brought in a light receiving state to detect the passing of the recording sheet P.
A platen 27 and an ink jet recording head 25 are disposed downstream of the drive roller 17a, while being opposite to each other in the vertical direction.  The recording sheet P which is transported to under the ink jet recording head 25 by the
transporting roller 17 is supported from its underside by the platen 27.  The ink jet recording head 25 is provided on a bottom part of a carriage 23 on which an ink cartridge 24 is mounted.  The carriage 23 which extends in the main scanning direction
is guided in the main scanning direction by a carriage guide shaft 10, which is supported by the main frame 12 (FIG. 1).
In FIG. 1, a follower pulley 13 which is freely rotatable and a drive pulley 14 driven to rotate by a drive motor (not shown) are provided on both side parts of the main frame 12.  An endless belt 18 is wound on the drive pulley 14 and the
follower pulley 13.  The carriage 23 is fixed to a part of the endless belt 18, whereby the carriage 23 is reciprocatively moved in the main scanning direction.  While the carriage 23 is reciprocatively moved in the main scanning direction, the ink jet
recording head 25 (FIG. 2), which receives ink from the ink cartridge 24, ejects ink drops to a recording sheet P to thereby record on the recording sheet.
Returning to FIG. 2, a sheet discharging section is located downstream of the ink jet recording head 25, and contains a discharging roller 29 which is formed with a drive roller 29a to be driven to turn and a follower roller 29b which is freely
rotatable.  A recording sheet P having undergone a recording by the ink jet recording head 25 is discharged in a direction of an arrow in a state that the recording sheet P is nipped between the rotating drive roller 29a and the follower roller 29b.  An
auxiliary roller 30 which is freely rotatable is disposed slight upstream of the follower roller 29b.  A plurality of drive rollers 29a are substantially equidistantly disposed in the main scanning direction.  The follower rollers 29b are also
substantially equidistantly disposed, while corresponding to the drive rollers so disposed (not specifically illustrated).  The auxiliary roller 30 is located at a mid position between adjacent discharging roller pairs (not specifically illustrated).
As shown in FIG. 2, in the transporting roller 17, a nip point between the drive roller 17a and the follower roller 17b is set at a position slightly shifted to the downstream side with respect to the rotation axis of the drive roller 17a.  In
the discharging roller 29, a nip point between the drive roller 29a and the follower roller 29b is set at a position slightly shifted to the upstream side with respect to the rotation axis of the drive roller 29a.  Accordingly, between the transporting
roller 17 and the discharging roller 29, the recording sheet P is gently curved downward as shown, so that the recording sheet P is pressed against the platen 27.  As a result, the recording sheet P is prevented from lifting from the platen 27, and a
distance between the recording surface and the ink jet recording head 25 is kept constant, and hence deterioration of the print quality is prevented.
More detailed construction of the sheet feeder 1 will be described hereunder with reference to FIGS. 3 through 11.  FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a structure including a sheet feeding roller 3 and a hopper 5, when viewed obliquely from
below.  FIG. 4 is an exploded, perspective view showing a clutch device (gear device) 31 for permitting and inhibiting power transmission to the sheet feeding roller 3 (rotary shaft 2) which is provided on a side (right side in FIG. 1) of the sheet
feeder 1.  FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an assembled state of the clutch device.  FIGS. 6A and 6B are cross sectional views showing a clutch member 43 for explaining an operation principle of the clutch member 43.  FIGS. 7 to 11 are front views
(cross sectional views in part) showing an operation principle of a clutch device 31.
First, a cam mechanism for driving the hopper 5 to turn will be described with reference to FIG. 3.  The hopper 5 includes cam followers 7 which are located at both side ends of a lower part of the hopper 5, and protrude toward the sheet feeding
roller 3.  Two cams 6 are provided at both ends of the rotary shaft 2, and integrally formed with the rotary shaft 2.  The cams 6 each take a sector shape as viewed in the axial direction of the rotary shaft 2, and engage with the cam followers 7.  A
hopper spring 8 (see FIG. 2) is provided on the rear side of the hopper 5, so that the hopper 5 and the cam followers 7 are constantly urged toward the sheet feeding roller 3 or the cams 6.  Through rotation of the sheet feeding roller 3 (rotary shaft
2), an engaged state and a disengaged state of the cams 6 with the cam followers 7 are switched.  When an engaged state that the cams 6 press down the cam followers 7 (a state of FIG. 3) is established, the hopper 5 separates from the sheet feeding
roller 3.
As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the clutch device 31 includes a spur gear 40 driven to rotate by a drive motor (not shown).  The spur gear 40 serves as a power input part to the clutch device 31.
The spur gear 40 is integrally formed with a ratchet gear 41.  An annular clutch member 43 is loosely fit to the ratchet gear 41.  The clutch member 43 includes a gear part 43a to be in mesh with the ratchet gear 41 within an inner peripheral
part.  The clutch member 43 includes a receiving hole 43b located shifted from the center thereof.  A protruded shaft 39a is fit into the receiving hole 43b.  The protruded shaft 39a is located at a position shifted from a rotation center of a spur gear
39 as a &quot;transmission gear&quot;, which is provided sandwiching the clutch member 43 between the spur gear 39 and the spur gear 40.  When a gear part 43a of the clutch member 43 is in mesh with the ratchet gear 41, the clutch member 43 rotates together with
the ratchet gear 41, and then the spur gear 39 also rotates.
A sheet feeding roller gear 35, which is provided at an end of the rotary shaft 2 of the sheet feeding roller 3, is in mesh with the spur gear 39.  Accordingly, when the spur gear 40 rotates in a state that the gear part 43a of the clutch member
43 is in mesh with the ratchet gear 41, a rotational force is resultantly transmitted to the rotary shaft 2 and the sheet feeding roller 3 rotates.
As seen from the foregoing description, in a state that the gear part 43a of the clutch member 43 is not in mesh with the ratchet gear 41, the ratchet gear 41 merely idle-rotates within the annular inner part of the clutch member 43, so that a
rotational force of the spur gear 40 is not transferred to the sheet feeding roller 3.  In the clutch device 31, a shaft member, which is not shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, is inserted into the spur gear 40, the ratchet gear 41, the clutch member 43 and the
spur gear 39.  Accordingly, those four rotary bodies are rotated about one rotation center.
Description will now be given mainly about an operation principle of the clutch device 31, while referring mainly to FIGS. 4, 6A and 6B.  FIG. 6A shows a state that as described above, the gear part 43a of the clutch member 43 comes in mesh with
the ratchet gear 41 to transmit a rotational force to the sheet feeding roller 3.  FIG. 6B shows a state that the gear part 43a of the clutch member 43 is not in mesh with the ratchet gear 41, and the rotational force is not transmitted to the sheet
feeding roller 3.
In FIG. 6A, the protruded shaft 39a (FIG. 4) is fit into the receiving hole 43b, and the clutch member 43 is pivoted about the receiving hole 43b clockwise and counterclockwise in FIGS. 6A and 6B.  With the pivoting of the clutch member, the gear
part 43a engages with the ratchet gear 41 (gear engaged state) as shown in FIG. 6A, or disengages from the ratchet gear 41 (gear disengaged state) as shown in FIG. 6B.
A spring hooking part 43c is provided on the clutch member 43 (see also FIG. 4).  A spring hooking part 39b is provided on the spur gear 39 (see also FIG. 4).  A tension coiled spring 45 is stretched between those two spring hooking parts.  The
tension coiled spring 45 urges the clutch member 43 in a direction in which the gear part 43a comes into engagement with the ratchet gear 41 (a direction in which it is pressed against the ratchet gear 41).  As a result, in a state that some force is not
imparted from exterior to the clutch member 43, the gear part 43a firmly engages with the ratchet gear 41.
As seen from FIG. 6A, the teeth of the ratchet gear 41 are slanted in a counterclockwise direction in the figure.  The gear part 43a is also formed so as to engage with the teeth of the ratchet gear 41 thus formed.  Accordingly, when the ratchet
gear 41 is pivoted counterclockwise shown in FIG. 6A, a rotational force is transmitted to the clutch member 43.  And, the spur gear 39 is also pivoted counterclockwise in the figure, so that the sheet feeding roller 3 is rotated in a direction in which
the sheet feeding roller 3 feeds the recording sheet P to the downstream side (clockwise direction in FIG. 2).
A clutch engaging part 43d is formed on an outer periphery of the clutch member 43.  When the clutch member 43 is pivoted in a direction in which the clutch member 43 transmits a rotational force to the sheet feeding roller 3 (counterclockwise
direction in FIG. 6A), the clutch engaging part 43d engages a hook part 33a which is positioned near the outer periphery of the clutch member 43.
The hook part 33a is formed at a lower part of a clutch lever 33 (FIG. 4).  The clutch lever 33 is provided such that when it is pivoted about the center of a rotary shaft 33b, the hook part 33a in the lower part advances to and retracts from the
outer periphery of the clutch member 43.  The clutch lever 33 is provided with a spring 53 (FIG. 4) for urging and pressing the hook part 33a against the outer periphery of the clutch member 43.  When the carriage 23 moves to a side (right side in FIG.
1) where the clutch device 31 is provided, an upper part of the rotary shaft 33b is allowed to engage with the carriage 23 (not specifically illustrated), whereby the pivoting operation of the clutch lever 33 (advancing and retracting operations of the
hook part 33a) is performed.  Through the pivoting operation, the clutch lever 33 selects a &quot;clutch engaged state&quot; in which the hook part 33a engages with the clutch engaging part 43d or a &quot;clutch disengaged state&quot; in which the hook part 33a does not
engage with the clutch engaging part 43d.
The hook part 33a of the clutch lever 33 includes a tapered part 33e, which is formed in a portion of the hook part where it comes in contact with the clutch engaging part 43d (FIGS. 10 and 11).  Accordingly, when the hook part 33a advances in a
direction in which the hook part 33a engages with the clutch engaging part 43d (it is pressed against the outer periphery of the clutch member 43), the clutch member 43 is pivoted, by the tapered part 33e, in a direction in which the gear part 43a of the
clutch member 43 comes off from the ratchet gear 41, and the gear disengaged state is established quickly and reliably.
As shown in FIG. 6A, when the hook part 33a advances to the outer periphery of the clutch member 43 during the rotation of the ratchet gear 41 in a direction in which the rotational force is transferred to the sheet feeding roller 3
(counterclockwise in this figure), the hook part 33a engages with the clutch engaging part 43d to stop the rotation of the clutch member 43.  However, the ratchet gear 41 will further rotate.  Accordingly, the teeth of the ratchet gear 41 will push the
gear part 43a in a direction of an arrow in FIG. 6A, so that the clutch member 43 is pivoted about the receiving hole 43b against the urging force of the tension coiled spring 45.  A disengaged state of the gear part 43a from the ratchet gear 41 is
established as shown in FIG. 6B.
Description will be given below about the operations of the sheet feeding roller 3 and the hopper 5 and an operation principle of the whole clutch device 31.  In description to follow, a state that the ratchet gear 41 meshes with the gear part
43a, and a rotational force is transmitted from a drive motor (not shown) to the sheet feeding roller 3, will be referred to as an &quot;active state&quot; of the clutch device 31.
Firstly, FIG. 7 shows a state immediately after the sheet feeder 1 shifts from a stand-by state to a sheet feeding state.  In this state, the flat part of the sheet feeding roller 3 which is shaped like D in side view is confronted with the
hopper 5 (the state shown in FIG. 2).  The hopper 5 has separated from the sheet feeding roller 3 against the urging force of the hopper spring 8.  More specifically, the cams 6 and the cam followers 7 are in an engaged state as described referring to
FIG. 3, and the cams 6 have pushed downward the hopper 5 through the cam followers 7.  Accordingly, in this state, the recording sheet P set on the hopper 5 is not in pressing contact with the sheet feeding roller 3.  In this state, the urging force does
not act on between the sheet feeding roller 3 and the hopper 5, but acts on between the cams 6 and the cam followers 7.
When the sheet feeding operation starts, the carriage 23 (FIG. 1) engages with the clutch lever 33, the hook part 33a retracts from the outer periphery of the clutch member 43 as shown in FIG. 7, the ratchet gear 41 is brought into engagement
with the gear part 43a of the clutch member by an urging force of the tension coiled spring 45, and the clutch device 31 is put in an operation state.  In FIGS. 7 to 9, arrows III to V indicated by solid lines designate the rotational directions of the
sheet feeding roller 3 (i.e., the rotary shaft 2, the spur gear 35, and the cams 6), the spur gear 39, and the clutch member 43.  Further, the solid lines indicate a state that the clutch device 31 is in the active state, and that those rotary bodies are
rotated by a drive force of the not-shown drive motor.  In FIG. 10, arrows indicated by dashed lines designate rotations of the rotary bodies by another drive force, not the drive force of the drive motor (described later).  Arrows I and II indicate a
direction in which the hopper 5 is pivotable.
When the ratchet gear 41 is pivoted in a direction indicated by an arrow VI from a state shown in FIG. 7, the engagement of the cams 6 with the cam followers 7 is removed as seen from a change from the state of FIG. 7 to a state of FIG. 8.  The
hopper 5 is swung in a direction in which it is pressed against the sheet feeding roller 3 by an urging force of the hopper spring 8 (a direction indicated by an arrow I in FIG. 7).  That is, in this state, the urging force acts on between the sheet
feeding roller 3 and the hopper 5, but does not act on between the cams 6 and the cam followers 7.  As a result, the recording sheet P set on the hopper 5 is pressed on the sheet feeding roller 3, and the feeding of the uppermost recording sheet P starts
with rotation of the sheet feeding roller 3.  Also at this time, the carriage 23 (FIG. 1) disengages from the clutch lever 33, so that the hook part 33a advances again to the clutch member 43 by the urging force of the tension spring 53.
When the ratchet gear 41 is further rotated, the cams 6 and the cam followers 7 start to engage again as shown in FIG. 9, the hopper 5 is caused to be pivoted in a direction in which it separates from the sheet feeding roller 3 (a direction
indicated by an arrow II in FIG. 7), and the clutch engaging part 43d engages with the hook part 33a.  When the ratchet gear 41 is further rotated from a state shown in FIG. 9, the teeth of the ratchet gear 41 push aside the gear part 43a, so that the
clutch member 43 is pivoted in a direction indicated by an arrow VII in FIG. 9.  A recessed part 6b is formed on a cam surface (arcuate surface) 6a of the cam 6.  At a time point where the engagement of the clutch engaging part 43d with the hook part 33a
starts, the cam follower 7 is in pressing contact with the gentle arcuate surface of the cam surface 6a.  In this sate, the urging force does not act on between the sheet feeding roller 3 and the hopper 5, but acts on between the cams 6 and the cam
follower 7.
When the ratchet gear 41 is further rotated, and as shown in FIG. 10, the ratchet gear 41 and the gear part 43a are put in a disengaged state through the pivoting operation of the clutch member 43 at the same time that the cam follower 7 moves
near the recessed part 6b of the cams 6, and the ratchet gear 41 is freely rotatable in either direction as indicated by arrows VIII.  That is, the clutch device 31 is in an inactive state, and a rotational force of the ratchet gear 41 is not transferred
to the clutch member 43, and hence, the sheet feeding roller 3 is not rotated.  Accordingly, even if the transporting roller 17 (FIG. 2) having the same drive source (drive motor) as of the sheet feeding roller 3 is rotated in either direction, the sheet
feeder 1 is not affected by its rotation.
Since the clutch device 31 is in an inactive state, the spur gear 39, the sheet feeding roller gear 35 and the rotary shaft 2 will not be rotated on and after this time point, in principle.  In this state, the gear part 43a is pushed aside by the
ratchet gear 41 and moved apart from the teeth of the ratchet gear 41.  Accordingly, it is on the verge of contacting with the teeth of the ratchet gear 41, viz., it is located (at a position) very close to the teeth.  In some case, a collision sound
(abnormal noise) will be generated with the rotation of the ratchet gear 41.
As stated above, the recessed part 6b is formed on the cam surface of the cams 6, and the cam follower 7 is in pressing contact with the cams 6 under the urging force by the hopper spring 8.  In the state shown in FIG. 10, the cam follower 7 is
very close to the recessed part 6b.  Accordingly, if the transmission force from the ratchet gear 41 is interrupted, the cam follower 7 moves into (fits into) the recessed part 6b as seen from a change from the state of FIG. 10 to the state of FIG. 11 to
thereby turn the rotary shaft 2 by a predetermined angular quantity (slightly).
In turn, the sheet feeding roller gear 35 and the spur gear 39 are pivoted by a predetermined angular quantity (slightly).  In FIG. 10, an arrow I&#39; and arrows indicated by dashed lines indicate a direction in which the cam follower 7 fits into
the recessed part 6b and the hopper 5 is slightly pivoted.  Arrows III&#39; and IV&#39; and arrows of dashed lines indicate directions in which the cam follower 7 fits into the recessed part 6b and the sheet feeding roller gear 35 and the spur gear 39 are
resultantly pivoted by a predetermined angular quantity (slightly).
As for the clutch member 43, when the spur gear 39 is slightly rotated, only the receiving hole 43b is slightly moved together with the spur gear 39 since the hook part 33a engages with the clutch engaging part 43d.  Accordingly, the clutch
member 43 is slightly pivoted in a direction of an arrow VII&#39; indicated by dashed lines.  In turn, as shown in FIG. 11, the gear part 43a further moves away from the ratchet gear 41, the state that the gear part 43a is on the verge of contacting with the
teeth of the ratchet gear 41 is removed, and even if the ratchet gear 41 is pivoted, the collision sound (abnormal sound) is not generated.
That is, the clutch device 31 is constructed such that the recessed part 6b is formed on the cam 6, and the cam follower 7 fits into the recessed part 6b to thereby turn the rotary shaft 2 slightly.  Therefore, the engaged state of the ratchet
gear 41 and the gear part 43a is readily and reliably removed by utilizing the existing constituent elements, with a simple construction and no need of complicated controls.  Therefore, when the clutch device 31 is in an inactive state, there is no
chance that the ratchet gear 41 contacts with the gear part 43a to generate a collision sound (abnormal sound), even if the ratchet gear 41 is pivoted in either direction.
The construction and operation of the ink jet printer 100 when only the clutch lever 33 is used as a trigger to turn on and off the rotation drive of the sheet feeding roller 3 are as described above.  A case where two triggers are provided on
both sides of the recording region, will be described with reference to FIGS. 12 to 15.  FIG. 12 is a plan view showing a recording apparatus having two triggers to turn on and off the rotation drive for the sheet feeder, which the two triggers are
provided at both ends of the sheet feeder which are located outside the recording region.  FIG. 13 is an enlarged perspective view showing an essential portion of the recording apparatus, that is, an engaging part of the clutch lever 33 and a link
member.  FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing an essential portion of the recording apparatus in which the carriage 23 is located at a position just before the carriage engages with one of those two triggers.  FIG. 15 is a perspective view showing an
essential portion of the recording apparatus in which the carriage is located at a position just before the carriage engages with the other one of those two triggers.
As shown in FIG. 12, the clutch lever 33 is located at one end of the sheet feeder in the main scanning direction (the home position, i.e., a reference position in the printing).  And, a link member 51 extends to reach both sides of the sheet
feeder in the main scanning direction.  Specifically, the link member extends over the entire recording region in parallel with the carriage guide shaft 10, and may be interlocked with the clutch lever 33.  In the embodiment, by the operation of the
carriage 23, of the two triggers to turn on and off the rotation drive of the sheet feeding roller 3, a first trigger 51a which is positioned on the opposite side of the clutch lever 33, is provided at one end of the link member 51.  The other trigger,
or a second trigger 33c, which is located on the clutch lever 33 side, is provided at an upper part of the clutch lever 33.
Thus, the first trigger 51a located on the side opposite to the clutch lever 33 is provided on the link member 51 which may be interlocked with the clutch lever 33.  The first trigger 51a, which is located remote from the clutch lever 33, may be
provided with a simple construction, and an increase of the number of parts can be avoided.  Further, the second trigger 33c is provided on the existing clutch lever 33 per se.  Therefore, the second trigger 33c may be installed without increasing the
number of parts.  Since there is no necessity of providing the second trigger 33c on the link member 51, the function of the first trigger 51a may be realized with a simple structure.
In the specification, the word &quot;interlock&quot; involves the following two cases: a first case is that the link member 51 is integrally formed with the clutch lever 33 and those elements operate as a single member, and a second case is that both the
members are separately formed, and operate in an interlocking manner by an interlocking mechanism as in the embodiment (described in detail later).
In the embodiment, the clutch lever 33 is pivoted about the rotary shaft 33b, so that the hook part 33a is movable with respect to the outer periphery of the clutch member 43, and an upper part of the clutch lever 33 serves as the second trigger
33c.  The clutch lever 33 is provided with the tension spring 53 (FIGS. 4 and 16) for urging and pressing the hook part 33a against the outer periphery of the clutch member 43.  The link member 51 is slidable in the main scanning direction.  The carriage
23 moves to and abuts on the first trigger 51a, and the link member 51 moves in a direction opposite to the clutch lever 33.  With the movement of the link member, the clutch lever 33 is pivoted, and the hook part 33a retracts from the clutch engaging
part 43d.
A relationship among the clutch lever 33, the link member 51 and the tension spring 53 will be described in more detail.  Sliding grooves 51c (a total of two grooves) are provided at both ends of the link member 51.  Those grooves loosely receive
projections 52 formed on the main body of the sheet feeder 1 so as to allow a sliding motion relative to the sheet feeder 1.  The carriage 23 is provided with a protrusion 23a operable to engage with the first trigger 51a of the link member 51 and the
second trigger 33c of the clutch lever 33.
As shown in FIG. 13, for a lever engaging part 51b as a part engaging with an upper part of the clutch lever 33, a tapered part 51d gradually increasing its width while being away from the recording region, comes in contact with a plate-shaped
contact part 33d protruding to the tapered part 51d at a contact point 54, whereby force is mutually transmitted between them, so that the link member 51 and the clutch lever 33 move backward.  In a state that the protrusion 23a of the carriage 23 does
not engage with the first trigger 51a and the second trigger 33c, the hook part 33a of the clutch lever 33 is urged to the outer periphery of the clutch member 43 by the urging force of the tension spring 53.
In this state, the contact part 33d of the clutch lever 33 pushes the tapered part 51d of the link member 51.  The link member 51 slides such that the lever engaging part 51b moves away from the recording region (to the right direction in FIG.
12), and the contact point 54 between the contact part 33d and the tapered part 51d is stably positioned at a portion where the tapered part 51d is narrowed.
By the moving operation of the carriage 23, the protrusion 23a pushes the first trigger 51a positioned at one end of the link member 51 in a direction in which it moves apart from the recording region (to the left in FIG. 12), to thereby slide
the link member 51.  At this time, the lever engaging part 51b provided at the other end of the link member 51 also moves together with the link member 51.  Through the sliding operation, the tapered part 51d pushes the contact part 33d of the clutch
lever 33, and the contact point 54 between the contact part 33d and the tapered part 51d displaces to a widened portion of the tapered part 51d, and the clutch lever 33 pivots about the rotary shaft 33b in a direction in which the hook part 33a retracts
from the outer periphery of the clutch member 43.
That is, the protrusion 23a of the carriage 23 is pressingly abutted against either of the second trigger 33c of the clutch lever 33 or the first trigger 51a of the link member 51, whereby the rotation drive of the sheet feeding roller 3 may be
turned on and off.  Accordingly, both of them serve as triggers to turn on and off the rotation drive of the sheet feeding roller 3.
Since the first trigger 51a and the second trigger 33c are disposed on both sides of the recording region, a maximum distance of movement of the carriage 23 when it reaches the trigger to turn on and off the rotation drive of the sheet feeding
roller 3, may be reduced half when comparing with a case where the trigger is disposed only on one side of the recording region.  Accordingly, the throughput of the recording process including the sheet feeding process may be improved.
The link member 51 is slidable, and the carriage 23 is pressingly abutted against the first trigger 51a, whereby the clutch device is operated.  At this time, a tension force act on the link member 51 in the longitudinal direction of the link
member 51, and there is no need that it receives a force vertical to the tension force is present.  Accordingly, a member of a relatively low stiffness may be used for the link member 51.  A thin wire, for example, may be used if it is able to withstand
the tension force applied.
An operation control when the carriage 23 passes a trigger position though there is no need of feeding sheets, will be described.  When a stand-by position 50 of the carriage 23 is located outside the second trigger 33c as shown in FIG. 12, there
is a case that the carriage 23 passes the trigger position through there is no need of sheet feeding, for example, when the carriage 23 is operated for its initializing, when the nozzle orifices are cleaned, and when the carriage 23 is merely returned to
the stand-by position 50.  In such a case, it is necessary to avoid unnecessary sheet feeding operation and to eliminate the useless sheet feeding process.
The operation control to avoid the execution of the sheet feeding process when the carriage 23 passes the trigger position though there is no need of sheet feeding, will be described with reference to FIGS. 16 to 18.  FIG. 16 is a front view of
the clutch device 31 showing a clutch engaged state of the clutch device (power transmission &quot;off&quot; state; the protrusion 23a of the carriage 23 is not in engagement with the triggers 33c and 51a).  FIG. 17 is a front view of the clutch device 31 showing
a state of the clutch device just after its state leaves the clutch engaged state (power transmission &quot;on&quot; state; the protrusion 23a of the carriage 23 is in engagement with the triggers 33c and 51a).  FIG. 18 is a front view of the clutch device 31
showing a state that the clutch lever 33 of the clutch device 31 lifts up the clutch member 43.
In the state shown in FIG. 16, the sheet feeding process is finished, the carriage 23 is retracted from a position for engaging with the second trigger 33c of the clutch lever 33 or the first trigger 51a of the link member 51 for the sheet
feeding operation, and the hook part 33a is urged to the clutch member 43 by the tension spring 53 provided in the lower part of the rotary shaft 33b of the clutch lever 33.  The spring 53 is designed to be capable of storing a tension force high enough
to disengage the gear part 43a of the clutch member 43 from the ratchet gear 41.  Accordingly, by its urging force, the clutch engaging part 43d is lifted up to an upper part of the slanted surface of the hook part 33a.
At this time, when the carriage 23 is pressingly abutted again on either of the second trigger 33c or the first trigger 51a (the second trigger 33c in the case of FIG. 12), the clutch lever 33 is pivoted as shown in FIG. 17.  Then, the hook part
33a of the clutch lever 33 disengages from the clutch engaging part 43d of the clutch member 43, and the gear part 43a of the clutch member 43 approaches the ratchet gear 41 and abuts on or comes in contact with the ratchet gear 41 by the tension force
stored in the tension coiled spring 45.
Normally, as described above, the ratchet gear 41 is pivoted counterclockwise in FIG. 17 to execute the sheet feeding process.  However, to avoid the sheet feeding process, in the invention, in such a case, the ratchet gear 41 is pivoted, by a
predetermined angular quantity, clockwise (an arrow IX in FIG. 17), in response to a control signal from a controller (not shown).  Resultantly, the clutch member 43 is pivoted about the receiving hole 43b in a direction of an arrow VII in FIG. 17, and
the clutch engaging part 43d is lifted.
Where the carriage 23 having been pressed against the second trigger 33c or the first trigger 51a (the second trigger 33c in the example of FIG. 12) retracts to a position where it is not in engagement with the second trigger 33c or the sliding
grooves 51c, the clutch lever 33 is pivoted by the tension force stored in the tension spring 53, the hook part 33a advances to the outer periphery of the clutch member 43, and the slanted surface provided on the hook part 33a abuts on the clutch
engaging part 43d as shown in FIG. 18.
The spring 53 is designed to be capable of storing a spring force high enough to disengage the gear part 43a of the clutch member 43 from the ratchet gear 41.  Accordingly, by its urging force, the slanted surface of the hook part 33a lifts up
the clutch engaging part 43d to an upper part thereof so that the engaging state quickly returns to a clutch engaging state.
Through this sequence of operations, even if the hook part 33a and the clutch engaging part 43d are disengaged from each other, they are restored to the clutch engaging state without performing one rotation of the sheet feeding roller 3.
A second embodiment of the invention will be described below.  The sheet feeding roller 3, which is driven to rotate by a drive motor 167 (FIG. 20, described layer), is shaped like D in side view, and includes a roller body 3a and a rubber
material 3b wound on an outer peripheral surface of the roller body 3a.  The sheet feeding roller 3 feeds a recording sheet P by use of its arcuate part, and allows the recording sheet P to pass there by use of its flat part to thereby impart no
transport load to a downstream transporting roller 17 disposed in the downstream side when it is in a transporting operation.
The hopper 5 is formed with a plate-like member, and as shown, it is provided taking a slanted posture.  Further, it may be pivoted about a rotary shaft 5a provided in an upper part, clockwise and counterclockwise in FIG. 19.  When the hopper is
The sheet returning lever 9, which is shaped like a lever, and disposed near the lower end of the hopper 5, may be pivoted about a supporting point 9a by a drive mechanism (not shown), clockwise and counterclockwise in FIG. 19.  In a feeding
operation of the recording sheet P, the sheet returning lever 9 is pivoted to the downstream side as shown in FIG. 19, and does not hinder the feeding operation of the recording sheet P. When the feeding of the recording sheet P starts and the leading
end of the recording sheet P advances to the downstream side of the sheet returning lever 9, the sheet returning lever 9 rises toward the upstream side, and pushes back to the upstream side the next recording sheets P and the subsequent ones, which are
taken by the fed recording sheet P and on the verge of multi-feeding.  With the pushing back action, the multi-feeding of the recording sheets P is more securely prevented.  More detailed operations of the sheet feeding roller 3, the hopper 5 and the
sheet returning lever 9 will be described later.
An arrangement of a controller 150 of the printer 100 will be described below with reference to FIG. 20.  The controller 150 is able to communicate data with a host computer 200 for transmitting print information to the printer 100.  The
controller is made up of an interface part (abbreviated as &quot;I/F&quot;) 151 which is an interface between the controller 150 and the host computer 200, an ASIC 152, a RAM 153, a PROM 154, an EEPROM 155, a CPU 156, oscillator 157, a DC unit 158, a feeding motor
driver 159, a carriage motor driver 165, and a head driver 166.
The CPU 156 performs arithmetic operations for executing a control program for the printer 100 and other necessary arithmetic operations.  The oscillator 157 generates periodical interrupt signals necessary for various processing for transmission
to the CPU 156.  The ASIC 152 controls print resolutions, drive waveforms for the recording head 25 or the like in accordance with print data coming from the host computer 200 via the I/F 151.  The RAM 153 is used for work areas by the ASIC 152 and the
CPU 156, and a primary storage area for other data.  A control program (firmware) necessary for controlling the printer 100 and data necessary for processing are stored in the PROM 154 and the EEPROM 155.
The feeding motor driver 159 drives and controls the sheet feeding motor 167 under control by the DC unit 158, and rotates a plurality of objects to be driven to rotate, i.e., the sheet feeding roller 3, the drive roller 17a and the drive roller
29a.  The carriage motor driver 165 drives and controls a carriage motor 161 under control of the DC unit 158, and reciprocatively moves the carriage 23 in the main scanning direction, and stops and holds the carriage.  The head driver 166 drives and
controls the ink jet recording head 25 in accordance with print data from the host computer 200, under control of the CPU 156.
The CPU 156 and the DC unit 158 receive a detect signal from the sheet sensor 19 for detecting the leasing and trailing ends or edges of a sheet P under transportation, an output signal from a rotary encoder 168 for detecting a rotation quantity
of the drive roller 17a to be described in detail later, and an output signal from a linear encoder 164 for detecting an absolute position of the carriage 23 in the main scanning direction.  The linear encoder 164 includes a code plate 163 extending in
the main scanning direction, a light emitting part (not shown) for emitting light to a plurality of translucent parts arrayed in the main scanning direction in the code plate 163, and a light receiving part (not shown) for receiving light as passed
through the translucent parts.  The linear encoder outputs leading edge signals and trailing edge signals, which are formed by light passing through the translucent parts, and detects an absolute position of the carriage 23 in the main scanning
direction.  The rotary encoder 168 is mounted on a shaft end of the drive roller 17a (see FIG. 19), and thereby detects a rotation quantity (rotation angle) of the drive roller 17a.  The controller 150 receives an output signal from the rotary encoder
168, computes a rotation quantity and a rotational speed of the drive roller 17a, and executes appropriate sheet-feeding controls in accordance with the computation results.  Incidentally, the drive roller 17a is constantly driven and rotated by the
sheet feeding motor 167, and this sheet feeding motor 167 also transmits power to the rotary shaft 2 (sheet feeding roller 3) shown in FIG. 19, through the clutch device 31 to be described later.
Firstly, a detailed mechanical arrangement of the sheet feeder 1 will be described hereunder with reference to FIGS. 21 through 22C.  FIG. 21 is a side view of the sheet feeder 1 (front view of the clutch device 31), and FIGS. 22A to 22C are
explanatory diagrams for explaining a reinforcing plate 16 provided on the hopper 5.
The sheet feeder 1, as shown in FIG. 21, includes the clutch device 31 on the right side thereof (in the home position of the printer 100: right side in FIG. 1).  The clutch device 31 selects permission or prohibition of power transmission to the
rotary shaft 2.  The clutch device 31 transmits power from the sheet feeding motor 167 installed in the main body of the printer 100 to the rotary shaft 2.  When power is transmitted to the rotary shaft 2, the sheet feeding roller 3, the hopper 5 and the
sheet returning lever 9, which are shown in FIG. 19, operate with rotation of the rotary shaft 2.
A cam mechanism is similar to that as already described referring to FIG. 3.  In this instance, the cams 6 and the followers 7 are operable to separate the hopper 5 from the sheet feeding roller.
The followers 7 are provided so as to press down both ends of the hopper 5.  The hopper spring 8 for urging the hopper 5 toward the sheet feeding roller 3 and the cams 6 is located slight shifted to the home position (right side in FIG. 3) as
shown in FIG. 22C.  FIG. 22A is a rear view showing the hopper 5 when it is viewed from its rear side.  FIG. 22B is a cross sectional view taken on line X--X in FIG. 22A.  FIG. 22C is a schematic diagram showing positions of external forces acting on the
hopper 5 when the hopper 5 is viewed from top.  In FIG. 22C, reference numeral 8&#39; indicates a position on the hopper 5 on which an urging force of the hopper spring 8 acts.  Reference numeral 7&#39; indicates positions on the hopper 5 on which depressing
forces by the cams 6 acts.
As shown in FIG. 22C, depressing forces 6&#39; by the cams 6 act on both ends of the hopper 5.  An urging force by the hopper spring 8 acts on a position on the hopper 5, which is slightly shifted from the center to the home position.  In other
words, the hopper 5 has a beam structure, and bending moments act on the hopper 5 by the hopper spring 8 and the cams 6.  As a result, the hopper 5 would be gradually bent (deformed) with time passes.
To cope with this, in the embodiment, the reinforcing plate 16 is disposed on a portion of the rear side of the hopper 5 on which a spring force of the hopper spring 8 acts.  The reinforcing plate 16, as shown in FIG. 22C, is a plate member
extending over the entire width of the hopper 5 in the lower part thereof as shown in FIG. 22A.  The reinforcing plate 16, as shown in FIG. 22B, is bent to have a shape like U to receive the bending moments.  Pawls 16a for holding the hopper spring 8 are
provided on a portion of the hopper 5 in which the hopper spring 8 is disposed.  The hopper spring 8 does not directly urge the hopper 5, but indirectly urges it through the reinforcing plate 16.  With this, the reinforcing plate 16 is able to receive
the bending moments and hence to prevent the bending (deformation) of the hopper 5.
FIG. 23 is an exploded, perspective view showing the clutch device 31.  As shown in this figure, the clutch device 31 includes the spur gear 40.  When the sheet feeder 1 is installed to the main body of the printer 100, the spur gear 40 comes in
engagement with a transmission gear (not shown) which is provided in the main body of the printer 100, and is constantly driven to rotate by the sheet feeding motor 167.  Specifically, the spur gear 40 serves as an input part of inputting power to the
clutch device 31.  The spur gear 40 and its peripheral structure were already described referring to FIG. 4, and no further description will be given.
In the embodiment, a state that the ratchet gear 41 is in mesh with the gear part 43a, and resultantly a rotational force is transmitted from the sheet feeding motor 167 (see FIG. 20) to the rotary shaft 2 (state of FIG. 6A) will be referred to
as an &quot;active state&quot; of the clutch device 31.  A state that the rotational force is not transferred to the rotary shaft (state of FIG. 6B) will be referred to as an &quot;inactive state&quot;.
More specifically, as shown in detail in FIGS. 25 and 14, the second trigger 33c which engages with the carriage 23 is provide at an upper part of the clutch lever 33 described above.  The second trigger 33c is trapezoidal when viewed in plan
view, and a trapezoidal slanted surface of it is directed to the carriage 23.  A protrusion 23a, triangular in plan view, is provided on the carriage 23, while being opposed to the second trigger 33c.  With movement of the carriage 23, the protrusion may
engage with the second trigger 33c.
The clutch lever 33 may be pivoted about the second trigger 33c oriented parallel to the main scanning direction, as described above.  By the tension spring 53 shown in FIG. 21, the second trigger 33c is urged toward the carriage 23.  When the
carriage 23 moves to the home position, the protrusion 23a pushes aside the second trigger 33c against an urging force of the tension spring 53 so that the clutch lever 33 (gradually) pivots.  With the pivot of the clutch lever 33, the clutch device 31
shifts its state from the inactive state to the active state as already described referring to FIG. 6.  That is, a rotational force is transmitted to the rotary shaft 2.
The carriage 23 is able to trigger the clutch device 31 also at a side opposite to the home position with regard to the recording region (hereinafter, referred as &quot;away position&quot;).  As shown in FIG. 24, the link member 51 extending in the main
scanning direction is provided at the upper part of the sheet feeder 1, while being slidable in the main scanning direction.
More specifically, protrusions 52 are provided on both sides of a frame 1a of the sheet feeder 1, as shown in FIGS. 24, 25 and 15.  Elongated grooves 51c extending in the main scanning direction are provided on both sides of the link member 51.
The protrusions 52 are loosely put in the grooves 51c.  With this, the link member 51 is slidable in the main scanning direction.
A lever engaging part 51b protruding to the rear side of the sheet feeder 1 is formed at the home position side end of the link member 51 at which the clutch device 31 is provided.  A window hole through which the lever engaging part 51b is
inserted is formed in an upper part of the clutch lever 33.  A plate-shaped, contact part 33d, which is substantially orthogonal to the sliding direction of the link member 51, is formed within the window hole.  A side of the lever engaging part 51b,
which faces the contact part 33d, is tapered to form a tapered part 51d.  As seen from FIG. 25, when the link member 51 slides to the away position side (upper direction in FIG. 25), the lever engaging part 51b comes in contact with the tapered part 51d
to form a contact point 54.  As the link member 51 slides to the away position side, the clutch lever 33 gradually pivots.  The pivot motion of the clutch lever 33 has a direction in which the second trigger 33c moves apart from the carriage 23 against
the urging force of the tension spring 53 shown in FIG. 21.  Accordingly, the link member 51 is put in an active state.  That is, a rotation force is transmitted to the rotary shaft 2.
The sliding operation of the link member 51 to the away position side is performed by the carriage 23.  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 15, the first trigger 51a is formed at the away position side end of the link member 51.  The first trigger
protrudes upward from the link member 51, and to the side of the carriage 23.  When the carriage 23 moves to the away position side, the protrusion 23a engages with the link member 51, and the link member 51 is slid to the away position side.
In the mechanism described above, the carriage 23 (protrusion 23a) is pressingly abutted against either of the second trigger 33c and the first trigger 51a, which are provided on both sides of the recording region, whereby the active state or the
inactive state of the clutch device 31 is selected, viz., permission or prohibition of power transmission to the rotary shaft 2 is selected.  With this feature, time taken for the carriage 23 to move is reduced when comparing with a case where the
carriage engaging part is provided on one side of the recording region.  Accordingly, the throughput of the printing process including the sheet feeding process may be improved.
A relationship between the sheet feeding roller gear 35 shown in FIG. 23 and the sheet returning lever 9 will be described with reference to FIGS. 26A through 31.  FIG. 26A is a side view showing the sheet feeding roller gear 35, and FIG. 26B is
a view showing the sheet feeding roller gear 35 shown in FIG. 26A when viewed from its rear side.  FIGS. 27A through 29B show diagrams for showing a transition of operation of the sheet feeding roller gear 35 and the sheet returning lever 9.  FIG. 27A is
a side view showing a mechanism including the sheet feeding roller gear 35 and the sheet returning lever 9, and FIG. 27B is a side view showing a state of the sheet feeding roller 3 and the hopper 5, which corresponds to a state shown in FIG. 27A.
The sheet feeding roller gear 35 will first be described.  As shown in FIG. 26A, a hole 35a through which the rotary shaft 2 is inserted is formed at the center of the sheet feeding roller gear 35.  Ribs 35b are crosswise disposed on a disc-like
surface of the sheet feeding roller gear.  A cam 36 is formed on the disk-like surface of the sheet feeding roller gear 35.  The cam takes a sector shape as viewed in plan view.  The cam 26 and the sheet feeding roller gear 35 are integrally formed by
As shown in FIG. 26B, a cam groove 37 is formed in the rear side of the sheet feeding roller gear 35.  A boss part 47b (see FIG. 23) provided on a pivot member 47 to be described later is loosely put in the cam groove 37.  More specifically, the
cam groove 37 is defined by an endless (loop like) inner wall 37b surrounding the hole 35a and an outer wall 37a formed on the radially outer side of the hole 35a so as to include an arcuate part which is spaced from the hole 35a by a fixed distance, and
a non-arcuate part located radially apart from the arcuate part.  Accordingly, when the sheet feeding roller gear 35 is rotated, the boss part 47b which is loosely put in the cam groove 37 cyclically moves to and from the hole 35a (the rotary shaft 2).
Subsequently, the pivot member 47 is provided near the sheet feeding roller gear 35 mounted on the clutch device 31 as shown in FIG. 27A (also see FIGS. 21 and 23).  The pivot member 47 is pivotable about a pivot shaft 47a clockwise and
counterclockwise in FIG. 27A.  The pivot member 47 includes the boss part 47b at a position located apart from the pivot shaft 47a.  Accordingly, when the sheet feeding roller gear 35 is rotated, the boss part 47b moves along the cam groove 37 and the
pivot member pivots clockwise and counterclockwise in FIG. 27A.  As seen from the figures, the boss part 47b is restricted in its movement by the cam groove 37.  When the sheet feeding roller gear 35 is rotated, the pivot member 47 pivots accordingly.
A protruding, spring holder 47c is formed at a position located apart from the pivot shaft 47a.  A spring retainer 47d is formed at a position slight lower than the spring holder 47c.  A twist spring 48 is provided at the spring holder 47c such
that its twist part is fit into the spring holder 47c and the spring compresses the spring retainer 47d from both sides thereof by its spring force.  The twist spring 48 is also mounted on the pivot member 47 such that an operating part 9b located at a
position shifted from the supporting point 9a of the sheet returning lever 9 is put between steel wires 48a and 48b.
As seen from a state change shown in FIGS. 27A and 28A, when the sheet feeding roller gear 35 rotates with rotation of the rotary shaft 2, the boss part 47b relatively moves within the cam groove 37 as described above, so that the pivot member 47
pivots about the pivot shaft 47a clockwise and counterclockwise in FIG. 27A.  In turn, with this pivot, the twist spring 48 also pivots.  Then, the sheet returning lever 9 which receives external forces from the steel wires 48a and 48b through the
operating part 9b is pivoted about the supporting point 9a clockwise and counterclockwise in FIG. 27A, as seen from a state change from the state of FIG. 27A to the state of FIG. 28A.
FIG. 27B shows a state that the sheet returning lever 9 extends across the sheet feeding path of the sheet P to close the entrance of the sheet feeding path.  FIGS. 28B and 29B show a state that the sheet returning lever 9 retracts from the sheet
feeding path to open the entrance the sheet feeding path.  In this way, the sheet returning lever 9 selects the state shown in FIG. 27B or the state shown in FIG. 28B (FIG. 29B) through the rotation of the sheet feeding roller gear 35.  On the other
hand, it is pivoted so as to change the state from the state shown in FIG. 28B (FIG. 29B) to the state shown in FIG. 27B, to thereby push back and upward the sheets P to be multi-fed.
As described above, the spring force of the twist spring 48 is selected such that in a normal load condition, for example, when the sheet returning lever 9 in a state that no load is applied thereto is pivoted, or when the sheet returning lever 9
is pivoted when the sheets P to be multi-fed are pushed back, either of the steel wire 48a or 48b separate from the spring retainer 47d and the twist spring 48 is not expanded, and the sheet returning lever 9 is allowed to pivot.
FIG. 30 shows a state that in a sheet-feed stand-by state shown in FIG. 27, the sheet returning lever 9 is pivoted by directly applying an external force thereto, not by the rotation of the sheet feeding roller gear 35 (rotary shaft 2).
Specifically, not only in a case the sheet returning lever 9 is pivoted with rotation of the sheet feeding roller gear 35, it may be pivoted by directly applying an external force to the sheet returning lever 9.  Such a situation will occur, for example,
when the user thrusts the sheet P in the sheet feeding direction.
In a case where the twist spring 48 is a simple rigid body, if such an excessive external force as just mentioned (i.e., an abnormal load) is applied to the sheet returning lever 9, there is a danger that the solid body may be broken by the
external force or that the operating part 9b of the sheet returning lever 9, the spring holder 47c of the clutch member 43 or the like may be broken.
In the embodiment, if the excessive external force is applied to the sheet returning lever 9, the twist spring 48 expands against its spring force as shown in FIG. 30.  In turn, the pivoting operation of the sheet returning lever 9 is allowed to
thereby prevent the breakage problem as described above.  In other words, the twist spring does not put the sheet returning lever 9 in completely constrained state because of its elasticity.  Therefore, even if an irregular operation occurs, the breakage
problem in the cam mechanism does not arise.
FIG. 31 shows a state that in a sheet-feedable state, paper jamming, for example, occurs under the sheet returning lever 9, and the sheets P stay there.  When the sheets P thus stay under the sheet returning lever 9, the sheets P hinders the
pivoting operation of the sheet returning lever 9.  Accordingly, if in this state, the sheet feeding roller gear 35 (rotary shaft 2) is rotated by a state change from the state of FIG. 27A to the state of FIG. 31, the cam mechanism will be broken as in
The twist spring 48 expands against its spring force as shown by a state change from the state of FIG. 27A to the state of FIG. 31.  As a result, the sheet returning lever 9 is caught by the sheets P and left not rotated, and permits the rotation
of the sheet feeding roller gear 35, whereby the breaking of the cam mechanism is prevented.  Specifically, also in this case, the twist spring 48 does not put the sheet feeding roller gear 35 (sheet returning lever 9) in a completely constrained state
because its elasticity.  Therefore, even if an irregular operation occurs, the breakage problem in the cam mechanism does not arise.
Relationship among the sheet feeding roller 3, the cam 6 provided on the rotary shaft 2, the cam follower 7 (hopper 5) engaging with the cam 6, the sheet feeding roller gear 35 and a twist coiled spring 49 will be described with reference to
FIGS. 32 through 36.
First, FIG. 32 shows a state before a sheet feeding operation starts.  An annular part of the twist coiled spring 49 is supported by a protrusion 60 formed on the frame 1b.  A steel wire 49a extending from the annular part to the rear side of the
sheet feeder 1 may engage with a spring engaging part 61 formed on the frame 1b.  A steel wire 49b which extends from the annular part obliquely downward while taking a V-shape, is put in a free state, and may engage with the cam 36 provided on the sheet
feeding roller gear 35.
In a state shown in FIG. 32, the cam 6 mounted on the rotary shaft 2 completely engages with the cam follower 7 provided on the hopper 5, so that the hopper 5 is separated from the sheet feeding roller 3.  When the sheet feeding roller 3 is
rotated clockwise in the figure from this state, the cam 36 provided on the sheet feeding roller gear 35 starts to engage with the steel wire 49b of the twist coiled spring 49, as shown in FIG. 33.  At this time, the cam follower 7 is at a position near
the end of the cam surface 6a of the sector-shaped cam 6.  When the sheet feeding roller 3 is rotated from this state, the cam follower 7 comes off from the cam surface 6a of the cam 6 as shown in FIGS. 34 and 35, and hence, the hopper 5 is urged toward
the sheet feeding roller 3 by an urging force of the hopper spring 8.
If the twist coiled spring 49 is not provided, the hopper 5 is swiftly abutted against the sheet feeding roller 3 by the urging force of the hopper spring 8.  In the embodiment, the twist coiled spring 49 is provided, the cam 36 provided on the
sheet feeding roller gear 35 may engage with the steel wire 49b of the twist coiled spring 49.  If the cam follower 7 comes off from the arcuate part 6a, it does not happen that the cam 6 is pressed by the cam follower 7, and the rotary shaft 2 is
rapidly rotated.  Accordingly, the hopper 5 is not swiftly abutted on the sheet feeding roller 3 by the urging force of the hopper spring 8, and is braked.
When the sheets P stacked on the hopper 5 is abutted against the sheet feeding roller 3, the cam 36 and the twist coiled spring 49 serve to apply to the hopper 5 a braking force having a direction opposed to that of the urging force of the hopper
spring 8.  By the cam/spring combination, a speed of the hopper 5 approaching the sheet feeding roller 3 is reduced, so that an impact sound generated when the sheet P supported on the hopper 5 is abutted against the sheet feeding roller 3 is effectively
Incidentally, there may be configured that the load is applied to the rotation of the cam 6 through the sheet feeding roller gear 35 to cause the cam 6 to gently rotate, whereby the braking force is indirectly applied to the hopper 5.  If
required, the braking force may directly be applied to the hopper 5.  For example, when the hopper 5 moves to the sheet feeding roller 3 a fixed distance, a spring force may directly be applied to the hopper 5.
In the embodiment, the brake is not arranged such that it produces a braking force over the entire period of one rotation of the sheet feeding roller 3.  Exactly, the cam 36 is provided at a part of the disc-like surface of the sheet feeding
roller gear 35.  After the depressing state of the hopper 5 by cooperation of the cam 6 and the cam follower 7 is removed, the braking force is applied only for a segment of the one rotation period till the hopper 5 (the sheet P supported on the hopper
5) is abutted against the sheet feeding roller 3 (see FIG. 36).  In other words, the braking force is applied only for a necessary minimum time period.  Therefore, excessive load is not applied to the sheet feeding motor 167.
In addition, as seen from FIGS. 34 and 35, after the engagement of the cam 6 and the cam follower 7 is removed, a spring force of the twist coiled spring 49 increases as the hopper 5 moves to the sheet feeding roller 3.  That is, since the
braking force increases, the braking force reaches a maximum value at an instant that is most important in reducing the collision sound, viz., an instant that the sheet P supported on the hopper 5 abuts on the sheet feeding roller 3, whereby the
collision sound is reliably reduced.
In the embodiment, the braking force is produced by the spring force of the twist coiled spring 49.  However, as a third embodiment of the invention, the braking force may also be produced by forming the cam groove 37 formed in the sheet feeding
roller gear 35 as shown in FIGS. 37A and 37B.  FIG. 37A is a perspective view showing a sheet feeding roller gear 35&#39;.  FIG. 35B is a perspective view showing the pivot member 47 and the sheet feeding roller gear 35&#39;.
As shown in FIG. 37A, a cam groove 37&#39;, like the cam groove 37 shown in FIG. 26B, includes an endless inner wall 37b&#39; surrounding the hole 35a&#39; through which the rotary shaft 2 is passed, and an outer wall 37a&#39; formed on the radially outer side
of the inner wall 37b&#39;.  As shown in FIGS. 37A and 37B, a widened portion 38a is formed at a part of the outer wall 37a&#39;, and a widened portion 38b is formed at a part of the inner wall 37b&#39;.  Those widened portions may be brought into pressing contact
with a portion of the pivot member 47 where the boss part 47b is formed.  After the cam follower 7 come off from the arcuate part of the cam 6 as shown in FIGS. 34 and 35, the widened portions 38a and 38b may be brought into pressing contact with the
portion of the pivot member 47 where the boss part 47b is formed, in a segment where the sheet P supported on the hopper 5 abuts on the sheet feeding roller 3.  Accordingly, the braking force is produced to lessen a collision sound generated when the
sheets P collide the sheet feeding roller 3.
Details of the sheet feed control will be described with reference to FIGS. 38 through 42.  FIGS. 38 and 39 are timing charts showing operations of related components in the sheet feed control.  FIGS. 40A, 40B and 40C are partially enlarged plan
views showing a positional relationship between the clutch lever 33 and the carriage 23.  FIG. 41 is a graph showing an pivot angle of the clutch lever 33 with respect to an absolute position of the carriage 23 when the clutch device 31 becomes active.
FIG. 42 is a flow chart showing an operation for obtaining a position (activating position) of the carriage 23 for switching a state of the clutch device 31 from the inactive state to the active state.
First, an overall flow of the sheet feed control will be described with reference to FIGS. 38 and 39.  &quot;A phase angle&quot; depicted in the uppermost location in each of FIGS. 38 and 39 indicates a rotational angle of the sheet feeding roller 3 when
it is rotated from the sheet-feed stand-by state as shown in FIG. 32.
FIG. 38 shows a timing chart when the printer 100 does not perform yet a sheet feeding job and a print job, and starts the sheet feeding of the first sheet in a perfect stand-by state.  At the time of starting such a sheet feeding job of the
first sheet, the carriage 23 has been moved to the home position side in advance, and resultantly the clutch device 31 has been in an active state (ON).
To start, the sheet feeding motor 167 forwardly rotates (speed V.sub.2) and the sheet feed control of the first sheet starts.  Since the clutch device 31 is already in an active state (ON), the sheet feeding roller 3 immediately starts to rotate,
the hopper 5 rises (UP) in a segment &quot;a&quot; in the figure, and the sheet returning lever 9 retracts (DOWN) (state shown in FIG. 28).  &quot;Hopper brake&quot; in the figure means a brake by the hopper brake (the cam 36 and the twist coiled spring 49), and &quot;ON&quot; state
means a state that the cam 36 engages with the twist coiled spring 49 as shown in FIGS. 33 to 35.
Subsequently, in the segment &quot;a&quot;, the speed of the sheet feeding motor 167 is decreased from V.sub.2 to V.sub.1 (V.sub.2 &amp;gt;V.sub.1) during the rising of the hopper 5.  After the rising operation of the hopper 5 is completed, the speed of the
sheet feeding motor 167 is increased from V.sub.1 to V.sub.2.  The reason for this is as follows.  Thus, the hopper brake decreases a speed of the hopper 5 when the sheets P supported on the hopper 5 collide the sheet feeding roller 3, to thereby prevent
generation of the collision sound.  When the speed V.sub.2 of the sheet feeding motor 167 is increased to perform a high speed sheet feeding operation, there is an anxiety that use of only the hopper brake fails to reduce the collision sound to a desired
level.  To cope with this, in the embodiment, when the sheet P supported on the hopper 5 abuts on (hits) the sheet feeding roller 3 (when the hopper 5 rises), the rotational speed of the sheet feeding motor 167 is decreased from the speed V.sub.2 to the
speed V.sub.1, to thereby effectively reduce the collision sound.
Subsequently, the sheet feeding roller 3 is further rotated, and the stop and reverse turn control of the sheet feeding motor 167 is performed.  This control is used for removing a skew of the sheet P such that once the sheet P reaches the
transporting roller 17 (see FIG. 19), and its leading end is nipped by the roller, the transporting roller 17 is reversely turned to release the leading edge of the sheet P from the roller.
Subsequently, the sheet feeding roller 3 is rotated and descending (DOWN) of the hopper 5 starts in a segment &quot;d&quot;, and then the sheet return operation (UP) of the sheet returning lever 9 starts (state change from a state of FIG. 29 to a state of
FIG. 27A).  At this time, the speed of the sheet feeding motor 167 is decreased again from V.sub.2 to V.sub.1.  This is done for the following reason.  Recently, there is a strong demand of high throughput of the printer.  To meet the demand, it is
desired to perform the sheet feed transportation (sheet feeding) and the sheet discharging of the sheet P at high speed by rotating the sheet feeding motor 167 at high speed.  With this, the sheet returning lever 9 is also driven at high speed, however.
When the sheet P is swiftly returned to the upstream side, so that a called &quot;hopping phenomenon&quot; of the sheet P occurs.  When such a phenomenon occurs, the sheets P are not neatly stacked subsequently.  As a result, the sheets are undesirably skewed.
Further, when the sheet pops and drops, the leading end of the sheet collides the separation pad 4, for example (FIG. 19) to sometime generate noisy collision sounds.
However, in the embodiment, the speed decreasing control of the sheet feeding motor 167 for driving and rotating the sheet returning lever 9 is carried out when the sheet is returned.  Accordingly, even during the sheet feeding operation at high
speed, the rotational speed of the sheet returning lever 9 is curbed.  As a result, the hopping of the sheet P is reduced in level or prevented during the sheet returning operation.  Therefore, the sheet is properly fed at high speed.
In the embodiment, the sheet returning lever 9 is pivoted with the rotation of the rotary shaft 2 (sheet feeding roller 3).  However, the sheet returning lever 9 is separated from the rotary shaft 2 (sheet feeding roller 3) so as to have no
relation to the rotating operation of the rotary shaft 2, and pivots in accordance with only the rotating operation of the transporting roller 17 (see FIG. 19).  Also in this case, if the transporting roller 17 is driven to rotate at low speed only in
the sheet returning operation by the sheet returning lever 9, the popping of the sheet P is prevented and an appropriate sheet feeding operation is secured even under high speed sheet feeding.
Subsequently, in a segment &quot;d&quot; the sheet returning lever 9 completes the sheet returning operation, and the hopper 5 descends (DOWN).  In turn, the speed of the sheet feeding motor 167 is increased again from the speed V.sub.1 to the speed
V.sub.2, and one turn rotation of the sheet feeding roller 3 ends (phase angle 360.degree.).  When the one rotation of the sheet feeding roller 3 ends, the carriage 23 moves apart from the clutch device 31 (home position) side, and the clutch device 31
is put in the inactive state (OFF).  Subsequently, only the transporting roller 17 is driven to rotate, and the printing on the sheet P is carried out (segment &quot;e&quot; in FIG. 38).
When the printing on the sheet P ends, the sheet feeding control for a second sheet P starts as shown in FIG. 39.  Incidentally, in the embodiment, when the sheet feeding control for the second sheet P shown in FIG. 39 is carried out, the
trailing end of the first sheet P is still nipped by the discharging roller 29 (see FIG. 19).  Accordingly, the sheet feeding of the first sheet P and the sheet feeding of the second sheet P are concurrently carried out, whereby the throughput of the
recording process is further improved.
At the start of the sheet feeding control for the second sheet P, the sheet feeding motor 167 is being rotated at the speed V.sub.2 as shown in a segment &quot;e&quot; in FIG. 39, unlike the start of the sheet feeding control for the first sheet P. The
clutch device 31 is in the inactive state, unlike the start of the sheet feeding control for the first sheet P. To start, it is necessary to put the clutch device 31 in the active state, and to make the sheet feeding roller ready for its rotation drive.
Accordingly, even when the sheet feeding motor 167 is being rotated, it is necessary to move the carriage 23 to the clutch device 31 (home position side) and to resultantly put the clutch device 31 in the active state.
As described referring to FIG. 14, the clutch device 31 is put in the active state when the protrusion 23a provided on the carriage 23 pushes aside the second trigger 33c provided on the clutch lever 33.  Since the second trigger 33c is
trapezoidal in shape, an absolute position (referred to as a &quot;activating position&quot;) of the carriage 23 when the clutch device 31 is switched from the inactive state to the active state, varies depending on part accuracy and assembling accuracy.  If the
activating position is offset, the timings of the speed decreasing control or the speed increasing control for the sheet feeding motor 167 is also offset, as seen from a timing chart shown in FIG. 38.  As a result, a proper sheet feeding operation is not
FIGS. 40A through 41 are presented for describing this in detail.  FIG. 40A shows an instant that the protrusion 23a provided on the carriage 23 comes in contact with the slanted surface S of the second trigger 33c.  At this time, the absolute
position of the carriage 23 is a position a.sub.0 in FIG. 41.  The carriage 23 further moves to the home position, and with the movement, the protrusion 23a pushes aside the second trigger 33c while being in contact with the slanted surface S, as shown
in FIG. 40B.  In turn, the clutch lever 33 gradually pivots about the rotary shaft 33b (see FIG. 23).  An ordinate in the graph of FIG. 41 represents a pivot angle when the clutch lever 33 pivots.  As seen from the graph, when the carriage 23 moves from
the position a.sub.0 to a position a.sub.4, the clutch lever pivots over an angular range from 0 to b.sub.3 degrees.
As shown in FIGS. 40B and 40C, when the protrusion 23a moves in contact with the slanted surface S, for example, a pivot angle of the clutch lever 33 is b.sub.1 degrees when the carriage 23 is at the position a.sub.2, as shown in FIG. 41.  At
this time, the clutch device 31 is switched from the inactive state to the active state.  However, a pivot angle of the clutch lever 33 necessary for the switching of the clutch device 31 from the inactive state to the active state or the active state to
the inactive state, varies depending on part accuracy or assembly accuracy.  In some cases, the clutch device is switched from the inactive state to the active state at the pivot angle b.sub.0 degrees, and in some cases, the clutch device 31 is switched
from the inactive state to the active state at the pivot angle b.sub.2 degrees.  The activating position of the carriage 23 takes any of various positions such as the positions a.sub.1, a.sub.2, and a.sub.3 depending on dimensional or assembling accuracy
of the elements, and it is not definitely determined.
For this reason, in this embodiment, the activating position of the carriage 23 is found in advance, and the sheet feeding control of the second and subsequent sheets shown in FIG. 39 is performed on the assumption that the phase angle of the
sheet feeding roller 3 when the carriage 23 reaches the activating position is assumed as 0 degrees.  FIG. 42 is a flowchart showing an operation of finding the activating position of the carriage 23 in advance in this manner.
In the flow 300, the activating position C.sub.T is set to the position a.sub.0 shown in FIG. 41 first (Step S301), then the carriage 23 is moved to the position C.sub.T (Step S302), and the sheet feeding motor 167 is driven in the forward
direction (Step S303).  When the clutch device 31 is in the active state in this instance, it can be judged that the load (current value) of the sheet feeding motor 167 has exceeded the predetermined value Is.  However, because the position a.sub.0 is
not the position that should be the activating position, the occurrence of an error is judged in this case.  In other words, whether the current value of the sheet feeding motor 167 has exceeded the predetermined value is judged (Step S304), and if so
(YES at Step S304), the control is returned to the upper control routine due to &quot;detection failure of the activating position&quot; (Step S309).
In a case where the current value of the sheet feeding motor 167 has not exceeded the predetermined value (Is) when the carriage 23 is at the position a.sub.0, the sheet feeding motor 167 is suspended (Step S305), and the carriage 23 is moved to
the home position side by Cs (step) (Step S306), then the sheet feeding motor 167 is rotated again (Step S308), and whether the current value of the sheet feeding motor 167 has exceeded the predetermined value (Is) is judged (Step S310).
Herein, Cs (step) is the number of steps obtained by equally dividing a distance between the position a.sub.0 and a.sub.4 shown in FIG. 41.  In other words, the operation of judging whether the current value of the sheet feeding motor 167 has
exceeded the predetermined value (Is) after the carriage 23 is moved slightly toward the home position side is repeated until the carriage 23 reaches the position a.sub.4.  Hence, in Step S307, whether the absolute position of the carriage 23 is closer
to the home position side than the position a.sub.4 (a.sub.0 &amp;gt;a.sub.4) is judged, and in a case where the current value of the sheet feeding motor 167 will not exceed the predetermined value (Is) even when the aforementioned moving operation of the
carriage 23 and the work of confirming the absence or presence of a variance in load of the sheet feeding motor 167 are repeated and the absolute position of the carriage 23 is closer to the home position side than the position a.sub.4, the control is
returned to the upper control routine due to &quot;detection failure of the activating position (the occurrence of error)&quot; (Step S309).
On the other hand, when the current value of the sheet feeding motor 167 has exceeded the predetermined value (Is) (YES at Step S310), it is judged that the clutch device 31 is switched to the active state from the inactive state.  Hence, the
control is returned to the upper control routine as deeming this position as the activation position of the carriage 23 (Step S311).  In other words, the activating position C.sub.T is a.sub.0 -n.multidot.C.sub.s (step) (Step S311).
As has been described, the absolute position (the activating position) of the carriage 23 in the main scanning direction when the clutch device 31 is switched to the active state from the inactive state (the instance the switching takes place) is
found, and the sheet feeding control of the second and subsequent sheets shown in FIG. 39 is performed using this activating position as the reference position.  Hence, even in a case where the clutch device 31 is switched to the active state to the
inactive state while the sheet feeding motor 167 is rotating, it is possible to perform precise sheet feeding control regardless of the dimensional or assembling accuracy of the elements.
An embodiment capable of performing the phase matching effectively when the sheet feeding roller gear 35 and the spur gear 39 are engaged (assembled) will now be explained.  The spur gear 39 transmits power to the sheet feeding roller 3 through
the sheet feeding roller gear 35.  However, in terms of the ON/OFF timing of the power transmission to the sheet feeding roller 3, the power transmission has to be turned OFF while the flat portion of the sheet feeding roller 3 shaped like a capital D
when viewed from the side opposes the hopper 5 (the state of FIG. 2), and the cam 6 described with reference to FIG. 3 pushes up the follower 7, which keeps the hopper 5 to be spaced apart from the sheet feeding roller 3.
Because the spur gear 39 includes the protruded shaft 39a to be used as the supporting point of the pivotal movement of the clutch member 43 that turns ON and OFF the power transmission to the clutch device 31, it is necessary to match the phases
of the spur gear 39 and the sheet feeding roller gear 35 when assembled (when engaged).  When the phases of the sheet feeding roller gear 35 and the spur gear 39 are not matched accurately, for example, the flat portion of the sheet feeding roller 3 does
not oppose the hopper 5 and the power transmission is turned OFF while the hopper 5 is not spaced apart from the sheet feeding roller 3, which makes it impossible to perform the normal sheet feeding operation thereafter.
For this reason, in this embodiment, the sheet feeding roller gear 35 and the spur gear 39 are arranged as shown in FIG. 43 through FIG. 45, so that the phases are matched effectively when engaged (assembled).  First, in regard to the sheet
feeding roller gear 35, as shown in FIG. 43, a tooth groove 135c between a tooth 135a as one of a number of teeth formed on the periphery and an adjacent tooth 135b is partly buried in the widthwise direction thereof (the part designated by numeral
135d).  On the other hand, in regard to the spur gear 39 that is engaged with the sheet feeding roller gear 35, as shown in FIG. 44, a width-reduced tooth 139c is formed in such a manner that it just fits in the tooth groove 135c.  By allowing the sheet
feeding roller gear 35 and the spur gear 39 to engage with each other at the phases such that the width-reduced tooth 139c of the spur gear 39 is fitted into the width-reduced tooth groove 135c of the sheet feeding roller gear 35 as shown in FIG. 45, it
is enabled to perform normal rotational operations.
The width-reduced tooth 139c is used as a guide for the phase matching.  The guide can be formed at the same time the spur gear 39 is molded from resin, which eliminates the need to attach an identification mark or the like separately after the
spur gear 39 was molded.  Consequently, not only can the guide used for the phase matching be provided at lower costs, but also there is no risk that the mark is formed at a wrong position (tooth) because the guide can be provided at the same time of the
The same can be said about the sheet feeding roller 35 shown in FIG. 43.  In other words, because the width-reduced tooth groove 135c can be provided at the same time the sheet feeding roller gear 35 is molded from resin, there is no need to
attach an identification mark or the like separately after the sheet feeding roller gear 35 was molded.  Consequently, not only can the guide used for the phase matching be provided at lower costs, but also there is no risk that the mark is formed at a
wrong position (tooth) because the guide can be provided at the same time of the molding.
In connection with each of the width-reduced tooth 139c and the width-reduced tooth groove 135c, since a tooth or a tooth groove is kept remained, the sheet feeding roller gear 35 and the spur gear 39 maintain a uniform tooth form (teeth at
regular pitches) along the circumferential direction, which eliminates an inconvenience that the gears are engaged unstably.
In addition, according to the sheet feeding roller gear 35 and the spur gear 39 formed in this manner, tools or the like for the phase matching are not needed, and the costs can be thereby saved in this regard.  Furthermore, even when the phase
matching is not performed accurately, because the sheet feeding roller gear 35 and the spur gear 39 have, strictly speaking, irregular portions (the width-reduced tooth groove 135d and the width-reduced tooth 139d) along the circumference direction, when
the both gears are rotated after they are engaged, a lock position is caused, at which the both gears stop rotating.  Thus, it is possible to detect that the phase matching is not performed accurately based on that occurrence.  This in turn makes it
possible to perform the phase matching accurately.
Moreover, the dimensions of the width-reduced tooth groove 135c and the width-reduced tooth 139c are preferably enlarged as much as possible to attain more stable engagement.
In this embodiment, one width-reduced tooth 139c and one width-reduced tooth groove 135d are provided.  However, it goes without saying that the function and the effect described above can be achieved as well by providing two or more of each.
Further, although the width-reduced tooth 139c is arranged at one widthwise side of the sheet feeding roller gear 35 in this embodiment, the tooth 139c may be provided at the widthwise center portion of the sheet feeding roller 35.  In this case,
the width-reduced tooth groove 139c may be accordingly formed so as to receive the tooth 139c.
Still further, although the width-reduced tooth groove 135c is formed by the buried portion 135d in this embodiment, the buried portion 135d may be provided as a protrusion of the like.
Sheet feeder and recording apparatus incorporating the same, Kawakami, et al., Kazuhisa Kawakami, Masaki Shimomura, Takuya Yasue, Toru Fukushima, Application number 10 402-134, Sheet Feeding Or Delivering, Sheet feeder, Recording medium, clutch lever, scanning direction, cam follower, spur gear, link member, roller gear, hopper spring, rotary shaft
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus, such as an ink jet printer, which includes a drive gear coupled to a power source, a transmission gear for transmitting power to other rotary members, and a clutch device for selectingpermission or prohibition of power transmission between the drive gear and the transmission gear. The invention also relates to a sheet feeder for feeding printing sheets incorporated in such a recording apparatus.In the specification, the "recording apparatus" includes a recording apparatus, such a printer, a copying machine and a facsimile, in which an ink jet recording head is used, and the recording head which ejects ink to a recording medium toperform recording, and also includes a liquid jetting apparatus in which a liquid jetting head corresponding to the recording head which ejects liquid, instead of the ink, selected for its use to a medium corresponding to the recording medium, wherebythe liquid sticks to the medium.Examples of the liquid jetting heads are the recording head mentioned above, a coloring material jetting head used for manufacturing color filters in use for a liquid crystal display or the like, an electrode material (conductive paste) jettinghead used for forming electrodes of an organic EL (electro luminescence) display, a field emission display (FED) and the like, an organic material jetting head used for manufacturing biological biochips, and a sample jetting head as a micro pipette.One kind of the recording apparatus is an ink jet printer (referred to as a "printer"). Some types of printers are each provided with an auto sheet feeder (ASF) for feeding a recording sheet which is one kind of the recording medium, toward anink jet recording head. The sheet feeder includes a feeding roller for feeding recording sheets. It is a common practice that for the purpose of cost reduction, a drive source for the feeding roller is also used for a drive source for a transportingroller for transporting the recordi
Envelope and sheet feeder and collating apparatus