Ultrasonic motor and pressing mechanism of ultrasonic vibrator

Abstract

Contact pressures between a driven member and an ultrasonic vibrator are balanced, making the driving characteristics in the forward and reverse directions uniform, and the driven member is driven with high driving efficiency. The invention provides a pressing mechanism of an ultrasonic vibrator for pressing sliding members against a driven member, the sliding members being provided at two or more positions corresponding to antinodes of a standing wave vibration of the ultrasonic vibrator. The pressing mechanism includes a pressing member configured to make contact with the ultrasonic vibrator at two or more positions corresponding to nodes of the standing wave vibration of the ultrasonic vibrator; and pressing-force adjusting units configured to adjustably apply pressing forces, which press the sliding members against the driven member, to the pressing member at two or more separate positions in the direction of a gap between the two or more nodes of the standing wave.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.