Printer having regenerative intermediary drive

摘要

A printer includes: a media tray; a picker; a media guide for guiding the media sheets around a media feed path towards a print zone; a main drive roller assembly positioned upstream of the print zone; and an intermediary drive roller assembly positioned between the picker and the main drive roller assembly. The intermediary drive roller assembly includes: an intermediary idler roller mounted on an intermediary idler shaft; and an intermediary drive roller having a gripping surface engaged with the intermediary idler roller. An intermediary drive shaft is pivotally connected to a support shaft via a swing arm, such that the intermediary drive shaft is arcuately moveable relative to the intermediary idler shaft to provide a variable distance therebetween.

主权项

1. A printer comprising:
a media tray for storing a plurality of media sheets; a picker for picking individual media sheets from the media tray; a media guide for guiding the media sheets around a media feed path towards a print zone; a datum plate mounted perpendicularly with respect to the media feed path for engaging a side edge of each media sheet conveyed around the media guide; a main drive roller assembly positioned upstream of the print zone; and an intermediary drive roller assembly positioned between the picker and the main drive roller assembly, the intermediary drive roller assembly comprising:
an intermediary idler roller mounted on an intermediary idler shaft; andan intermediary drive roller having a gripping surface engaged with the intermediary idler roller, the intermediary drive roller being mounted on a rotatable intermediary drive shaft, the intermediary drive shaft being operatively connected to a drive mechanism, wherein: the intermediary drive and idler rollers extend non-perpendicularly relative to the datum plate, the intermediary drive and idler rollers being tilted towards the datum plate in a media feed direction during printing; the intermediary drive shaft is pivotally connected to a support shaft via a swing arm, such that the intermediary drive shaft is arcuately moveable relative to the intermediary idler shaft; and the media sheets pass through a nip defined between the intermediary idler roller and the intermediary drive roller, the swing arm providing a variable distance therebetween.