Patent application number | Description | Published |
20110273511 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCLUDING LIQUID-EJECTION RECORDING HEAD - An image forming apparatus includes a carriage movable in a main scanning direction in the image forming apparatus; a recording head mounted on the carriage to eject droplets; a maintenance unit disposed outboard of a recording area in the main scanning direction of the carriage and including a first liquid receptacle to collect droplets not used for image formation; a first space provided between the recording area and the maintenance unit; and a first sloped member provided at a side of the first space close to the maintenance unit. The sloped member has a sloped portion inclined downwardly from an upper side toward a lateral side close to the recording area to guide droplet mist generated by ejection of droplets from the head to a lower part of the first space with movement of the carriage from a position facing the maintenance unit to a position facing the recording area. | 11-10-2011 |
20110279499 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCLUDING DROPLET-EJECTION RECORDING HEAD - An image forming apparatus includes a carriage reciprocally movable in a main scanning direction in the image forming apparatus; a recording head mounted on the carriage to eject droplets; a carriage circuit board mounted on the carriage and equipped with a circuit; a control circuit board provided in the image forming apparatus and equipped with a control circuit; a board mount provided in the carriage on which the carriage circuit board is horizontally disposed; and a flexible flat cable connecting the control circuit board and the carriage circuit board and movable in the main scanning direction below the board mount. The flexible flat cable is extended below the carriage circuit board, bent back toward the carriage circuit board, and connected to the carriage circuit board from the main scanning direction. | 11-17-2011 |
20120293583 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS WITH CARRIAGE MOUNTING RECORDING HEAD FOR EJECTING LIQUID DROPLETS - An image forming apparatus includes a main body and a printing assembly. The printing assembly includes a carriage, an encoder scale, an encoder sensor, and a flexible cable. The carriage has a head mounting part and a board mounting part arranged along a direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction. The head mounting part mounts a recording head. The board mounting part mounts both the sensor and a carriage-side circuit board connected to the cable. A housing of the body has a first cover portion to cover an area opposing the head mounting part and a second cover portion to cover an area opposing the board mounting part. The first cover portion is openably disposed at the body to allow a user to open the first cover portion. The second cover portion is stationarily fixed at the body to prevent a user from opening the second cover portion. | 11-22-2012 |
20120320127 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus including a carriage, an image forming unit installed in the carriage to eject liquid onto a recording medium, a guide member to guide the carriage in a main scanning direction corresponding to a width direction of the recording medium, and a position restriction member detachably attachable to the carriage to restrict a position of the carriage relative to the guide member in a vertical direction. The carriage includes a first slide member slidably supported by the guide member, a second slide member that slidably contacts the guide member to prevent rotation of the carriage relative to the guide member, and a third slide member that slidably contacts the guide member to determine a position of the carriage in a sub-scanning direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction. The position of the carriage is not restricted by the guide member in the vertical direction. | 12-20-2012 |
20130113861 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus including a carriage having a contact portion and an image forming unit that ejects liquid onto a recording medium to form an image on the recording medium, a height adjustment mechanism provided to the carriage to change a height of the carriage, a guide member to support the height adjustment mechanism and to guide the carriage in a main scanning direction, and an impact reduction member provided to the guide member that is contacted by the contact portion of the carriage upon adjustment of the height of the carriage by the height adjustment mechanism to temporarily hold the carriage as the carriage is lowered from an upper position to a lower position by the height adjustment mechanism. | 05-09-2013 |
20130113862 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus including a carriage, a height adjustment mechanism provided to the carriage to change a height of the carriage and including a cam member and a rotation guide member, a guide member to guide the carriage in a main scanning direction, and a pressing member to drive the cam member. The rotation guide member is pressed against the pressing member to drive the cain member and change the height of the carriage. Upon a change in the height of the carriage from an upper position to a lower position, the carriage moves through at least a part of a range extending from one end to an opposite end of the guide member at a speed slower than a speed of the carriage during image formation to contact the rotation guide member and the pressing member against each other at the slower speed. | 05-09-2013 |
20130257986 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - In an image forming apparatus, a carriage mounts a recording head for discharging droplets, and moves in a main scan direction. A guide member slidably guides the carriage. An encoder scale is arranged along the main scan direction. An encoder sensor reads the encoder scale. The carriage includes a head mounting part for mounting the recording head, and a sensor attaching part for attaching the encoder sensor. The sensor attaching part is provided so as to be extended from the head mounting part. The encoder scale is arranged at a location which the encoder sensor can read. A partition member is provided to separate the head mounting part from the sensor attaching part in the carriage. The head mounting part is arranged in a first space, and the sensor attaching part and the encoder scale are arranged in a second space separated from the first space by the partition member. | 10-03-2013 |
20140028752 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an apparatus body, a print medium, a conveyance unit, art image forming unit, a cutter unit, a holding unit, a sensor, and a controller. The print medium has an adhesive face with no separation sheet. The cutter unit cuts the medium having an image formed into a print medium piece. The holding unit is configured to hold the piece in a state in which the piece is drawable from outside of the body. The holding unit has a surface separatable from an adhesive face of the piece to hold the adhesive face of the piece. The sensor detects presence or absence of the piece held by the holding unit. After the sensor detects that the piece is drawn out, the controller controls the conveyance unit to convey the medium to the holding unit and controls the holding unit to hold the medium. | 01-30-2014 |
20140029023 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD - An image forming apparatus includes a recording unit, a conveyance unit, a protection member, and at least one rotor pair. The recording unit forms an image on a print medium having an adhesive face. The conveyance unit conveys the print medium. The protection member presses against the adhesive face of the print medium to protect the adhesive face. Each of the at least one rotor pair includes rotors to sandwich and press the print medium and the protection member therebetween. The conveyance unit is configured to rotate the at least one rotor pair to convey the print medium and the protection member together to an image forming position at which the recording unit is configured to form the image on the print medium. The protection member is configured to separate from the adhesive face before discharge of the print medium to an outside of the image forming apparatus. | 01-30-2014 |
20140078232 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit, a conveyance unit, and an adhesive-surface guide unit. The adhesive-surface guide unit includes a second rotary body and an adhesive-surface guide member. The second rotary body is disposed at a position downstream from a first rotary body of a pair of rotary bodies of the conveyance unit in a conveyance direction. The adhesive-surface guide member is wound around the first and second rotary bodies to guide an adhesive surface of a print medium. The adhesive-surface guide unit is configured to press the adhesive-surface guide member against the adhesive surface, sandwich the print medium and the second rotary body between the pair of rotary bodies, move the print medium and the second rotary body together, and separate the adhesive-surface guide member from the adhesive surface at a side of the adhesive-surface guide unit at which the second rotary body is disposed. | 03-20-2014 |
20140079461 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit and a conveyance unit. The image forming unit forms an image on a print medium. The conveyance unit has a belt member to convey the print medium in a state in which an end of the print medium in a width direction perpendicular to a conveyance direction of the print medium is placed outside an end of the belt member in the width direction. | 03-20-2014 |
20140097288 | SHEET FEEDER AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A sheet feeder includes a spool and a pair of roll holders. The spool is configured to hold a roll of print medium having an adhesive surface with no release liner attached thereto, with the roll fitted around the spool. The pair of roll holders is configured to hold the spool at opposed ends of the spool, each including at least a first rotary member, a second rotary member, and a third rotary member that contact an outer circumferential surface of the spool at different locations along the outer circumferential surface of the spool to rotatably hold the spool. | 04-10-2014 |
20140099148 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a spool that holds a roll of print medium; an image forming device that forms an image on the medium; a transporting device including a transport rotary member that transports the medium to the image forming device, and a drive source that generates drive force; and a drive force transmission device which transmits the drive force to the spool when the transport rotary member rotates in a medium rewinding direction, and which includes a first gear train for rotating the spool in the same direction as the transport rotary member when the transport rotary member and the spool rotate in the same direction during the transport of the medium and a second gear train for rotating the spool in an opposite direction to the transport rotary member when the transport rotary member and the spool rotate in opposite directions during the medium transport. | 04-10-2014 |
20140099149 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes, an image forming device, a transporting device, a first medium holding device, and a second medium holding device. The image forming device forms an image on a print medium unwound from a roll. The transporting device is configured to transport the unwound print medium on a transport path facing the image forming device. The first medium holding device is disposed upstream of the image forming device in a medium transporting direction, and configured to hold the print medium on the transport path and retract to an open position for opening the transport path. The second medium holding device is disposed downstream of the image forming device in the medium transporting direction, and configured to hold the print medium on the transport path and retract to an open position for opening the transport path. | 04-10-2014 |
20140099150 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND METHOD OF SETTING PRINT MEDIA - An image forming apparatus includes an apparatus body, a sheet feeder to load a roll body including a recording medium wound around, an image forming unit to form an image on the recording medium, and a conveyance unit including a conveyance belt to convey the recording medium drawn out from the roll body so as to oppose the recording medium to the image forming unit. The sheet feeder and the conveyance unit are integrated as a sheet feed conveyance unit. The sheet feed conveyance unit is configured to load the roll body in at least the sheet feeder and be drawable from the apparatus body to a position at which the conveyance belt is visible. | 04-10-2014 |
20140105661 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a roll body including a print medium wound around, the medium having an adhesive face, an image forming unit to form an image on the adhesive face, a conveyance unit having a pair of a conveyance rotor and an opposed rotor to convey the medium with the medium interposed between the conveyance rotor and the opposed rotor and an adhesive face guide unit to guide the medium when the conveyance unit returns the medium in a return direction opposite a conveyance direction of the medium. The adhesive face guide unit has a downstream rotor disposed downstream from the opposed rotor in the return direction and an endless adhesive face guide member wound around the opposed rotor and the downstream rotor. The adhesive face guide member is configured to receive and guide the adhesive face of the medium returned, in a separable state. | 04-17-2014 |
20140253623 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image forming device, a conveyance unit, a correction unit, and an attitude controller. The image forming device forms an image on a printing medium. The conveyance unit is disposed opposing the image forming device to convey the printing medium. The correction unit corrects an attitude of a leading edge of the printing medium sent out from the conveyance unit. The attitude controller controls correction of the attitude of the leading edge of the punting medium performed by the correction unit. The attitude controller determines whether or not the correction of the attitude of the leading edge of the printing medium is to be performed, and causes the correction unit to perform the correction when the attitude controller determines that the correction is to be performed. | 09-11-2014 |
20150054898 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a media roll, art image forming device, and a feeder. In the media roll, a printing medium having an adhesive face is wound in a roll shape. The image forming device forms an image on the printing medium. The feeder feeds the printing medium. The feeder includes a protection belt and a pair of rotary bodies. The protection belt presses against and protects the adhesive face of the printing medium. The pair of rotary bodies sandwich and press the printing medium and the protection belt between the pair of rotary bodies. An approach angle of the printing medium is within a range from 0° to 30° and is formed by the printing medium drawn from the media roll and approaching to between the pair of rotary bodies and an opposing face of the protection belt opposing the image forming device. | 02-26-2015 |
20150077459 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND METHOD WHICH CONTROLS A POWER OF ADSORPTION WHICH HOLDS A PRINTING MEDIUM - An image forming apparatus includes an image forming device to form an image on a print medium by a reciprocation operation of a print head. There is a conveying device including a belt that holds the print medium, a fan that adsorbs air through suction holes in the belt, and a fan drive controller that drives the suction fan and adjusts power of adsorption of the suction fan. The fan drive controller performs control which makes the power of adsorption for the first reciprocation movement of the image forming device stronger than the power of adsorption for the second reciprocation movement of the image forming device. | 03-19-2015 |
20150077494 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND SEPARATION MEMBER - An image forming apparatus includes an image forming device, a conveyor, and a separation unit. The image forming device forms an image on a printing medium. The separation unit separates a printing medium from the belt. The separation unit includes a claw portion to contact the belt, and a first wing and a second wing disposed at both sides of the claw portion in a direction perpendicular to a conveyance direction of the printing medium. Each of the first wing and the second wing has a guide face to guide the printing medium. The guide face is a sloped face that slopes downward in a direction away from the claw portion with respect to the direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the printing medium. Each of the first wing and the second wing has an upstream end that recedes toward a downstream side in the conveyance direction. | 03-19-2015 |