US 5,328,280 AGranted

Printer having means for switching medium feed path from sheet feed path to web feed path or vice versa

AssigneeBrother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

InventorNoritsugu Ito

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A printer capable of printing selectively on cut sheets and webs, wherein feed paths along which the cut sheets and webs are fed by respective feeding devices are selected depending upon the type of the recording medium. The sheet driving device may include a sheet inlet through which a cut sheet is manually inserted, an automatic sheet feeder for delivering cut sheets from a sheet stacker, and a sheet feeding mechanism for feeding the cut sheet which is manually inserted or the cut sheets which are successively delivered from the automatic sheet feeder. A power transmitting mechanism and a power shut-off mechanism are provided to transmit a drive force from a single drive source to the appropriate one or ones of the web feeding device, automatic sheet feeder and sheet feeding mechanism.

Claims13

Dependent claims

A printer comprising:

a printing portion for printing on a recording medium;
sheet feeding means for feeding a cut sheet as said recording medium along a sheet feed path, said sheet feeding means comprising a sheet supply portion from which said cut sheet is separately inserted into said sheet feed path, and a sheet driving device that partially defines said sheet feed path, said sheet driving device including means for moving said cut sheet in a selected one of a forward direction from said sheet supply portion toward said printing portion, and a reverse direction from said printing portion toward said sheet supply portion;
web feeding means for feeding a web as said recording medium along a web feed path, said web feeding means comprising a web supply portion from which said web is supplied, said web feed path extending between said web supply portion and said printing portion;
and
path switching means, disposed upstream of said printing portion as viewed in said forward direction, and including means for switching a feed path of said recording medium, from one of said sheet feed path and said web feed path to the other of said sheet feed path and web feed path, said path switching means further including means for guiding said cut sheet to be fed back along said sheet feed path from said printing portion to said sheet supply portion when said cut sheet is moved in said reverse direction by said sheet driving device;
wherein said sheet feed path includes a first portion between said sheet supply portion and said path switching means, and a second portion between said path switching means and said printing portion, said first and second portions being bent with respect to each other at said path switching means.

3 more elements

A printer comprising:

a printing portion for printing on a recording medium;
sheet feeding means including a sheet inlet through which a cut sheet is manually inserted as said recording medium, an automatic sheet feeder having a sheet stacker for delivering cut sheets one after another from said sheet stacker as said recording medium, and a sheet driving device partially defining a sheet feed path and selectively moving said cut sheet manually inserted through said sheet inlet, and said cut sheets delivered from said automatic sheet feeder to said printing portion along said sheet feed path;
web feeding means for feeding a web to said printing portion along a web feed path as said recording medium;
a single drive source coupled to said automatic sheet feeder, said sheet driving device and said web feeding means and selectively driving said automatic sheet feeder, said sheet driving device and said web feeding means;
a power transmitting mechanism including (a) a first gear coupled to said sheet driving device, (b) a second gear coupled to said automatic sheet feeder, (c) a third gear coupled to said web feeding means, (d) an axially movable gear rotatable about an axis, and axially movable along said axis and engageable with said first, second and third gears, and (e) means for transmitting a drive force of said single drive source to said first gear, for transmitting said drive force to said automatic sheet feeder, said sheet driving device and said web feeding means;
and
power shut-off means including a gear moving device for moving said axially movable gear selectively to one of a plurality of operating positions along said axis, said plurality of operating positions including (i) a manual sheet feeding position wherein transmission of rotary motion of said first gear to said second and third gears is inhibited, thereby removing transmission of said drive force to said automatic sheet feeder and said web feeding means when said cut sheet manually inserted through said sheet inlet is fed along said sheet feed path, (ii) a web feeding position wherein transmission of rotary motion of said first gear to said second gear is inhibited and transmission of rotary motion of said first gear to said third gear is permitted, thereby removing transmission of said drive force to said automatic sheet feeder and applying transmission of said drive force to said web feeding means when said web is fed along said web feed path, and (iii) an automatic sheet feeding position wherein transmission of rotary motion of said first gear to said third gear is inhibited and transmission of rotary motion of said first gear to said second gear is permitted, thereby removing transmission of said drive force to said web feeding means and applying transmission of said drive force to said automatic sheet feeder when said cut sheets are delivered from said sheet stacker.

4 more elements

A printer comprising:

a printing portion for printing on a recording medium;
sheet feeding means including a sheet inlet through which a cut sheet is separately inserted and delivered as said recording medium, an automatic sheet feeder including means for delivering cut sheets one after another from a sheet feeder holding said recording medium, and a sheet driving device partially defining a sheet feed path leading to said printing portion, said sheet driving device including means for selectively moving said cut sheet separately inserted through said sheet inlet, and said cut sheets delivered from said automatic sheet feeder to said printing portion along said sheet feed path;
web feeding means for feeding a web as said recording medium to said printing portion along a web feed path which leads to said printing portion as said recording medium;
path switching means for switching a feed path of said recording medium from one of said sheet feed path and said web feed path to the other of said sheet feed path and web feed path, said path switching means being disposed upstream of said printing portion as viewed in a direction of feed of said cut sheet and said web toward said printing portion;
a single drive source coupled to said automatic sheet feeder, said sheet driving device and said web feeding means, and driving said automatic sheet feeder, said sheet driving device and said web feeding means;
a power transmitting mechanism coupled to said single drive source to transmit a drive force of said single drive source to said automatic sheet feeder, said sheet driving device and said web feeding means;
and
power shut-off means operated synchronously with said path switching means, for inhibiting transmission of said drive force from said single drive source to said automatic sheet feeder and said web feeding means when said path switching means selects said sheet feed path to feed said cut sheet separately inserted through said sheet inlet along said sheet feed path, said power shut-off means further inhibiting transmission of said drive force from said single drive source to said automatic sheet feeder when said path switching means selects said web feed path to feed said web along said web feed path.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.