Conveying mechanism

• US 20040201160A1
• Filed: 04/27/2004
• Published: 10/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Brother Industries Limited)
• Original Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Brother Industries Limited)
• Inventors: Nakashima, Atsuhisa
• Granted Patent: US 7,011,208 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 271/10.1
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 15/64 for automatically maintaining the position of the belts

Abstract

A conveying mechanism capable of preferably inhibiting the portion of a transfer belt located in an image forming area from meandering. A plurality of ribs (84) are provided so as to extend approximately parallel to a transfer direction (X) on an upper surface (8a) of a guide member (8). The intervals between the ribs (84) are constituted to be gradually narrowed in the left direction (Y). A transfer belt (3) is gradually moved in the left direction (Y) by the abutment between an inner side face (3d) thereof and the plurality of ribs (84). The movement of the transfer belt (3) in the left direction (Y) is limited and restricted by the abutment between a right side face (81a) of a projection piece (81) of the guide member (8) and a left side face (3b) of the transfer belt (3).

Claims

1. A conveying mechanism for transferring a recording medium to an image forming area in which an image is formed on the fed recording medium, the conveying mechanism comprising:

a transfer belt for transferring the recording medium at a position with a predetermined interval with respect to a recording head for forming the image;

at least two transfer rollers for transferring the transfer belt wound around the transfer rollers;

a guide member provided at a position facing the recording head via the transfer belt to support the transfer belt;

a biasing device for biasing the transfer belt in one direction which is the width direction of the transfer belt; and

a restriction device configured by the portions of the transfer belt and the guide member for restricting the movement of the transfer belt biased in the one direction by the biasing device.

2. The conveying mechanism as set forth in claim 1, wherein the biasing device comprises a contact portion of the guide member in contact with the transfer belt on which frictional resistance against the transfer belt is gradually enlarged in the biasing direction.

3. The conveying mechanism as set forth in claim 2, wherein the contact portion is a plurality of convex portions disposed on the surface of the guide member facing the transfer belt so as to extend approximately parallel to the transfer direction of the transfer belt,

and wherein the intervals between convex portions are constituted to be gradually narrowed in the biasing direction.

4. The conveying mechanism as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the transfer belt comprises a biasing belt side face, the biasing belt side face being approximately parallel to the transfer direction of the transfer belt and having a predetermined angle with respect to the belt surface of the transfer belt on which the recording medium is placed,

wherein the guide member comprises a biasing guide member side face, the biasing guide member side face being disposed at the position facing the biasing belt side face, being approximately parallel to the transfer direction, and having a predetermined angle with respect to the belt surface,

and wherein the biasing device comprises a biasing member, the biasing member being disposed between the biasing belt side face and the biasing guide member side face so as to set apart the biasing belt side face and the biasing guide member side face.

5. The conveying mechanism as set forth in claim 4, wherein the biasing member is fixed to one of either the biasing belt side face or the biasing guide member side face.

6. The conveying mechanism as set forth in claim 5, wherein a sliding member is provided between the biasing member and the side face opposite to one of either the biasing belt side face or the biasing guide member side face, to which the biasing member is fixed.

7. The conveying mechanism as set forth in claim 6, wherein the biasing member is an elastic member made of metal and the sliding member is a member made of resin.

8. The conveying mechanism as set forth in claim 4, wherein the biasing belt side face is a side face of a biasing projection piece protruding from the surface of the transfer belt opposite to the belt surface on which the recording medium is placed.

9. The conveying mechanism as set forth in claim 4, wherein the biasing guide member side face is a side face of a biasing projection piece protruding from the surface of the guide member facing the transfer belt.

10. The conveying mechanism as set for in claim 1,

wherein the restriction device comprises,

a restricting belt side face provided to the transfer belt, the restricting belt side face being approximately parallel to the transfer direction of the transfer belt and having a predetermined angle with respect to the belt surface of the transfer belt on which the recording medium is placed,

and a restricting guide member side face provided to the guide member so as to face the restricting belt side face, the restricting guide member side face being approximately parallel to the transfer direction, and having a predetermined angle with respect to the aforementioned belt surface.

11. The conveying mechanism as set forth in claim 10, wherein the restricting belt side face is a side face of a restricting projection piece protruding from the surface of the transfer belt opposite to the belt surface on which the recording medium is placed.

12. The conveying mechanism as set forth in claim 10, wherein the restricting guide member side face is a side face of a restricting projection piece protruding from the surface of the guide member facing the transfer belt.

13. The conveying mechanism as set forth in claim 1, wherein the biasing device comprises the transfer roller gradually enlarged in the shaft diameter in the one direction for biasing the transfer belt.

14. The transfer roller as set forth in claim 1, wherein the biasing device comprises the transfer roller of which the shaft direction is shifted by a predetermined angle with respect to the width direction of the transfer belt so as to bias the transfer belt in one direction which is the width direction of the transfer belt.