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US 5,402,161 AGranted
Serial recording apparatus
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsTetsuo Kimura, Takashi Saito, Shigeru Yoshimura
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In a serial recording apparatus wherein a recording head is carried on a carriage movable in the direction of a print column and the recording head is driven on the basis of printing data while scanning by the recording head, to thereby form a dot image on a sheet, piezoelectric elements are joined to a vibration plate provided on the underside of the carriage and the vibration plate is slidably urged against the surface of a fixed member by a resilient force to thereby constitute a travelling wave type ultrasonic motor. A travelling wave is generated in the vibration plate by the piezoelectric elements being driven to thereby control the movement of the carriage.
Claims10
A serial recording apparatus including:
- a carriage movable in a direction transverse to print columns, the carriage carrying thereon a thermal ink jet head driven by printing drive signals;
- a guide member for guiding the movement of said carriage in the direction transverse to print columns;
- detecting means for detecting movement of the carriage, the detecting means producing a pulse signal for each predetermined amount of movement of said carriage;
- an endless annular shaped vibration plate provided on said carriage, said vibration plate having a portion of contact with said guide member and having an electro-mechanical conversion element which is driven by high frequency drive pulses and generates a travelling wave which acts on said guide member through said portion of contact to thereby move said carriage in the direction transverse to print columns, and
- control means for generating the high frequency drive pulses for driving said electro-mechanical conversion element and printing drive signals for said thermal ink jet head, wherein a time period during which one of the printing drive signals is generated is smaller than a time interval between any two of the high frequency drive pulses, and the control means controls printing time of said thermal ink jet head in accordance with the carriage movement pulse signal from said detecting means to synchronize the movement of said carriage with a printing operation of said thermal ink jet head.
2 more elements
A serial recording apparatus including:
- an apparatus body having a base;
- a carriage movable in a direction transverse to print columns, the carriage carrying thereon a thermal ink jet head driven by printing drive signals;
- a first guide member for guiding the movement of said carriage in the direction transverse to print columns,
- a guide roller provided on said carriage, said guide roller being rotatable along said first guide member,
- a second guide member for guiding the movement of said carriage in the direction transverse to print columns,
- the second guide member being provided on said base of said apparatus body;
- detecting means for detecting a movement of the carriage, said detecting means producing a pulse signal for each predetermined amount of movement of said carriage;
- an elliptical vibration plate provided on said carriage, said vibration plate having a portion of contact with said second guide member and having an electro-mechanical conversion element which is driven by high frequency drive pulses to generate a travelling wave which is caused to act on said second guide member by said portion of contact to thereby move said carriage in the direction transverse to print columns;
- and
- control means for generating the high frequency drive pulse for driving said electro-mechanical conversion element and the printing drive signal for driving said thermal ink jet head, wherein a time period during which one of the printing drive signals is generated is smaller than a time interval between any two of the high frequency drive pulses and the control means controls printing time of said thermal ink jet head in accordance with the pulse signal from said detecting means to synchronize the movement of said carriage with a printing operation of said thermal ink jet head.
7 more elements
A serial recording apparatus including:
- an apparatus body having a base;
- a carriage movable in a direction transverse to print columns, the carriage carrying thereon a thermal ink jet head driven by printing drive signals;
- a guide member for guiding the movement of said carriage in the direction transverse to print columns, the guide member being provided on said base of said apparatus body;
- detecting means for detecting a movement of the carriage, the detecting means producing a pulse signal for each predetermined amount of movement of said carriage;
- an elliptical holding member provided on said carriage;
- an elliptical vibration plate mounted on said holding member, said vibration plate having a comb-tooth portion contacting said guide member along the direction transverse to print columns;
- an electro-mechanical conversion element provided on an area of said vibration plate opposite the comb-tooth portion of said vibration plate, said electro-mechanical conversion element being driven by high frequency drive pulses to generate a travelling wave which acts on said guide member through said comb-tooth portion to thereby move said carriage in the direction transverse to print columns;
- and
- control means for generating the high frequency drive pulses for driving said electro-mechanical conversion element and the printing drive signals for said thermal ink jet head, wherein a time period during which one of the printing drive signals is generated is smaller than a time interval between any two of the high frequency drive pulses and control means controls printing time of said thermal ink jet head in accordance with the pulse signal from said detecting means to synchronize the movement of said carriage with a printing operation of said thermal ink jet head.
6 more elements
A serial recording apparatus including:
- an apparatus body having a base;
- a carriage movable in a direction transverse to print columns, the carriage carrying thereon a thermal ink jet head driven by printing drive signals;
- a guide member for guiding the movement of said carriage in the direction transverse to print columns, the guide member being provided on said base of said apparatus body;
- detecting means for detecting a movement of the carriage, the detecting means producing a pulse signal for each predetermined amount of movement of said carriage;
- an endless annular shaped vibration plate provided on said carriage, said vibration plate having a portion of contact with said guide member and having an electro-mechanical conversion element which is driven by high frequency drive pulses to generate a travelling wave which is caused to act on said guide member through said portion of contact to thereby move said carriage in the direction transverse to print columns;
- and
- control means for generating the high frequency drive pulses for driving said electro-mechanical conversion element and the printing drive signals for driving said thermal ink jet head, wherein a time period during which one of the printing drive signals is generated is smaller than a time interval between any two of the high frequency drive pulses and the control means controls printing time of said thermal ink jet head in accordance with the pulse signal from said detecting means to synchronize the movement of said carriage with a printing operation of said thermal ink jet head.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.