Carriage system with variable belt tension

An inkjet printing system for printing to a media sheet, comprising:

• a frame;
• a carriage rod mounted to the frame;
• a carriage which moves along the carriage rod;
• an inkjet pen mounted within the carriage for ejecting ink drops during movement of the carriage along the carriage rod;
• a coupler pivotally mounted to the carriage;
• a drive motor which generates a drive force;
• and
• a drive belt coupled to the drive motor and indirectly coupled to the carriage through the pivotally mounted coupler, the drive belt coupling the drive force to the carriage to cause the carriage to move along a carriage path;
• wherein the coupler connects the carriage to the drive belt, the coupler pivoting relative to the carriage and being fixed relative to the drive belt along a length of the drive belt, the coupler displacing the drive belt during said pivoting of the coupler, the pivoting of the coupler isolating the carriage from vibrations occurring within the drive belt, wherein the carriage exerts a side load on the motor through the coupler and the drive belt during movement of the carriage alone the carriage path in response to the drive force, and wherein the pivoting of the coupler relative to the carriage reduces the carriage side load on the motor during constant velocity motion of the carriage.

A document scanning system, comprising:

• a frame;
• a carriage rod mounted to the frame;
• a carriage which moves along the carriage rod;
• an optical sensor mounted to the carriage for scanning a document during movement of the carriage along the carriage rod;
• a coupler pivotally mounted to the carriage;
• a drive motor which generates a drive force;
• and
• a drive belt coupled to the drive motor and indirectly coupled to the carriage through the coupler, the drive belt coupling the drive force to the carriage to cause the carriage to move along a carriage path;
• and
• wherein the coupler connects the carriage to the drive belt, the coupler pivoting relative to the carriage and being fixed relative to the drive belt along a length of the drive belt, the coupler displacing the drive belt during said pivoting of the coupler, the pivoting of the coupler isolating the carriage from vibrations occurring within the drive belt, wherein the carriage exerts a side load on the motor through the coupler and the drive belt during movement of the carriage along the carriage path in response to the drive force, and wherein the pivoting of the coupler relative to the carriage reduces the carriage side load on the motor during constant velocity motion of the carriage.

A carriage scanning system, comprising:

• a drive motor which generates a drive force;
• a drive belt coupled to the drive motor and receiving the drive force, the drive belt having a first tension in the absence of a drive force;
• a carriage indirectly coupled to the drive belt, the carriage moving along a carriage path and exerting a side load on the motor during such moving along the carriage path, wherein the drive belt couples the drive force to the carriage to cause the carriage to move along the carriage path;
• and
• a coupler pivotally mounted to the carriage and detachably connected to the drive belt, the coupler connecting the carriage to the drive belt, the coupler pivoting relative to the carriage and being fixed relative to the drive belt along a length of the drive belt, the coupler comprising means for reducing a side load acting on the motor attributable to the carriage during constant velocity motion of the carriage, and means for pivoting the carriage relative to the drive belt during acceleration of the carriage along the carriage path, the acceleration resulting from the drive force acting on the carriage.