Patent ID: 7427116

Claim:
A gap adjusting device adapted for a recording apparatus including: a recording head which performs recording on a recording medium, a platen disposed in opposition to the recording head so as to define a medium gap between a head surface of the recording head and the recording medium, and a carriage on which the recording head is mounted and which reciprocates in a first direction, the gap adjusting device comprising: a parallel lifting device including a cam mechanism, and a pair of carriage guide shafts being in a sliding contact with the carriage to thereby guide a reciprocating motion of the carriage, each of the carriage guide shafts including a guide shaft part which guides the carriage, and rotation shaft parts disposed on opposite ends of the guide shaft part so that the guide shaft part and the rotation shaft parts are concentric with each other; and a lifting guide portion disposed in a side frame, wherein the carriage guide shafts are configured to obtain a predetermined lifting stroke in accordance with a rotation angle in cooperation with the parallel lifting device and the lifting guide portion, wherein the pair of carriage guide shafts are provided with a main guide shaft disposed at a first side of the carriage, a sub guide shaft disposed in parallel to the main guide shaft at a second side of the carriage, and the parallel lifting device further comprises a shift cam disposed in a vicinity of the opposite ends of the guide shaft part in each of the carriage guide shafts so as to be integrally rotatable with the guide shaft part, a cam follower fixed to the side frame, and a synchronous drive transmission mechanism which transmits a rotation of the main guide shaft to the sub guide shaft.