Printer Cassette Rigidity via Body-Side Cover and Rotating Support
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Solution Overview
Problem
Ink jet type printers face issues with the insufficient rigidity of their sheet cassettes, which are exposed and prone to mechanical stress, leading to potential instability and damage.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a body-side cover section to protect the side portions of the medium accommodation body, a rotatable and inclined medium support section, and an extension unit with continuous cover sections to enhance rigidity, ensuring the medium is securely supported and handled without protruding from the cassette.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the sheet cassette is exposed from the body to allow easy access and manual feeding, then the ease of operation is improved, but the rigidity of the sheet cassette deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
A body-side cover section is introduced as an intermediary structural element that connects to the side portions of the sheet cassette. This cover section reinforces the sheet cassette's rigidity while allowing the cassette to remain accessible for manual feeding operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The sheet cassette assembly is formed as a composite structure combining the cassette body with the body-side cover section. This composite construction provides enhanced rigidity to the previously low-rigidity sheet cassette while maintaining its removable and accessible nature.
2Ease of operation
If the medium support section protrudes further to improve sheet discharge accessibility, then the ease of operation is improved, but the rigidity of the medium support section deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The medium support section is configured to rotate about an axis, allowing it to extend further in the sheet discharge direction when needed. This rotational capability provides enhanced discharge accessibility while maintaining rigidity when the support section is in its retracted or supported position.
Solution Approach 2:
The medium support section transitions from a static structure to a dynamic, rotatable component. This allows the support section to adapt its position for optimal sheet discharge while being supported from below by the medium accommodation body to maintain rigidity during operation.
3Strength
If the medium accommodation body is made more rigid to improve structural stability, then the strength is improved, but the ease of manual feeding deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The medium accommodation system is segmented into a removable sheet cassette and a stationary body-side cover section. This segmentation allows the cassette to be easily removed and accessed for manual feeding while the cover section provides the necessary structural stability and rigidity to the overall assembly.
Data Source
AI summary
A recording apparatus includes a body, an operation panel provided on a front surface of the body, a feeding cassette that accommodates sheets, removably mounted with respect to the body from the front surface of the body, and is configured such that a part thereof is protruded from body in a state of being mounted on the body, a recording section that is disposed inside the body and performs printing by ejecting ink onto a sheet transported from the feeding cassette, a discharging tray that is disposed on the feeding cassette and supports the sheet after printing is completed, and a body-side cover section that is provided in the body and covers both side surfaces of the feeding cassette. Then, when viewed from a right and left direction, a first farthest section that is positioned in the farthest position from the body in the feeding cassette in a front direction is separated from the body in the front direction further than a second farthest section that is positioned in the farthest position from the body in the operation panel in the front direction.