Synchronous drive arrangement for a printer
AssigneeTohoku Ricoh Co., Ltd.
InventorsHisashi Sato, Keiichi Chiba
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A synchronous drive arrangement for a printer of the present invention includes a timing belt passed over drive pulleys each being mounted on a particular print drum. The timing belt is made up of two narrow belt parts produced by dividing a single belt. Assuming that the belt parts have n teeth each, one of the belt parts is shifted from the other belt part by one-half of the number of teeth n. The belt parts are so positioned as to cancel each other's eccentricity component during rotation. The arrangement reduces synchronization errors ascribable to the eccentricity of the timing belt while preserving the low-cost configuration of timing belt connection.
Claims13
A synchronous drive arrangement comprising:
- a drive member including a drive member toothed pulley;
- a driven member including a driven member toothed pulley;
- and
- a timing belt passed over said drive member toothed pulley and said driven member toothed pulley for causing said drive member and said driven member to rotate in synchronism with each other, said timing belt including a plurality of narrow belt parts arranged side by side in an axial direction of said pulleys and so positioned as to cancel each other's eccentricity component, and said plurality of narrow belt parts being two narrow belt parts produced by dividing a single timing belt.
A method of causing a drive member and a driven member, which are spaced from each other, to rotate in synchronism with each other, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing said drive member with a drive member toothed pulley;
- providing said driven member with a driven member toothed pulley;
- passing a timing belt over said drive member and said driven member to engage said drive member toothed pulley and said driven member toothed pulley, respectively,
- dividing a single timing belt to form two narrow belt parts;
- arranging said two narrow belt parts of said timing belt so as to be side by side each other in an axial direction of said drive member or said driven member;
- and
- canceling an eccentricity component of a first of said two narrow belt parts to cancel an eccentricity component of a second of said two narrow belt parts during rotation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.