Patent ID: 8047646

Claim:
A printing apparatus comprising: a pallet configured to receive a print substrate; a conveyer system configured to convey said pallet, said conveyer system having an upper conveying passage and a lower conveying passage that are arranged in two stages in a vertical direction; a pair of left and right anteroposterior moving mechanisms arranged on left and right sides of said upper conveying passage and extending in an anteroposterior direction; a pair of left and right fitting members disposed on said pair of left and right anteroposterior moving mechanisms, respectively, and configured to move in the anteroposterior direction in synchronism with each other by said anteroposterior moving mechanisms; a guide bar member that extends in a lateral direction above said upper conveying passage and is mounted on said pair of left and right fitting members; and a head device that is movably disposed along said guide bar member and has a plurality of inkjet nozzles for ejecting ink droplets to the print substrate, wherein said printing apparatus is adapted to conduct printing by ejecting ink droplets from said inkjet nozzles to said print substrate on said pallet which is secured above said upper conveying passage and which is conveyed by said conveyer system while moving said head device, wherein said pair of left and right anteroposterior moving mechanisms comprise: a pair of left and right first driven sprockets and a pair of left and right second driven sprockets that are arranged on left and right sides of said upper conveying passage and that are rotatably disposed to be spaced apart from each other in the anteroposterior direction; a pair of left and right driving sprockets rotatably disposed below said second driven sprockets; a driving shaft that is disposed below said lower conveying passage and extends in the lateral direction to connect said pair of left and right driving sprockets; a driving device that is disposed below said lower conveying passage to rotate said driving shaft; and a pair of left and right endless moving members each of which is formed in a ring shape via each said fitting member and each of which is wound around each said first driven sprocket, each said second driven sprocket, and each said driving sprocket to extend around them, wherein said endless moving members extend in the anteroposterior direction along said upper conveying passage from said first driven sprockets to said second driven sprockets and extend downward from said second driven sprockets to said driving sprockets, and wherein said fitting members are moved in the anteroposterior direction in synchronism with each other via said endless moving members by the rotation of said driving sprockets so that said head device is moved in the anteroposterior direction together with said guide bar member.