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Description  |
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a supporting apparatus for an optical unit
which is stably supported on a slider, the optical unit being consisted of
components such as a light source and a reflector which reciprocate to
scan and expose an original set on a contact glass.
To accomplish overall reduction in size and increase in operating speed of
a picture image forming apparatus, there has been conventionally provided
a number of apparatuses, in which an optical unit consisting of components
such as a light source and a reflector disposed under a fixed glass is
caused to reciprocate to scan and expose an original set on the contact
glass.
A structure in which an optical unit is caused to reciprocate in such
manner as above includes the following for example; wherein a sliding
member is installed under both ends of a first supporting frame body which
supports a light source, a concave mirror to converge the light irradiated
from the light source and other components, and a second supporting frame
body which supports a plane reflector to reflect the reflected light from
the original and other components. The sliding member employs a small
piece which slides over the slider. A sliding member at each end of the
supporting frame body is supported on the rail-like slider. At each end of
the supporting frame body is connected a driving wire and the driving
force is transmitted to both sides of the supporting frame body through
this driving wire (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,332,460 and 4,353,643).
With the above construction, because the height of the supporting frame
body can not be adjusted with respect to the slider, it may become
impossible to correct dimensional errors of such components as the
supporting frame body and/or slider or errors caused during assembly, so
as not to maintain the horizontality of the supporting frame body. Under
this condition, the intensity of the light irradiated to an original may
not be uniform, or the position of the light reflected from the original
and condensed on a photosensitive drum may shift causing to generate a
shade on a picture image formed on a copying paper, or the focus of the
picture image may become fuzzy or otherwise the picture image may be
distorted.
Then, an apparatus is suggested, in which the horizontality of the
supporting frame body is adjustable by adjusting the protruding length of
each of the sliding member of above disposed under the supporting frame
body. More specifically, each sliding member is mounted on the tip of the
screws which vertically pass through both ends of the supporting frame
body. By turning these screws, the protruding length of each sliding
member disposed under the supporting frame body can be adjusted (Japanese
Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 138932/1983). By making
adjustments in such manner as above, not only the supporting frame body
but also the optical member mounted thereon can be maintained
horizontally.
However, in the construction of above, because there are several screw
members which need a number of adjustments to be made, it takes time to
make adjustments to maintain the supporting frame body horizontally. In
addition, there is a problem which requires extra handling such as paint
locking to prevent the screw member from becoming loose after an
adjustment is once made. Furthermore, because screwing and unscrewing from
above are employed, it becomes necessary to remove the contact glass,
which affects the workability.
By the way, if one tries to support the supporting frame body on the slider
using sliding members, normally at least three sliding members become
necessary. To put it in another word, a pair of sliding members to slide
over one slider and one sliding member to slide over the other slider will
be necessary, and it is preferable that the pair of sliding members to
slide over one slider of above are disposed at a wide gap because such
arrangement can maintain the stability while the supporting frame body is
moving. When the supporting frame bodies having above sliding members are
placed respectively at its home position, the gap between both supporting
frame bodies can not be made too small because the gap of the pair of the
sliding members is wide and such arrangement as this causes a picture
image forming apparatus to become large in size. Another problem involved
in the above arrangement is that if one tries to reduce the gap between
both supporting frame bodies of the above to prevent the picture image
forming apparatus from becoming large in size, the stability is affected
while the supporting frame bodies are moving and the quality of the
picture image obtained will be deteriorated because the gap between the
pair of sliding members of the above must also be reduced.
Even in the event the supporting frame bodies are placed at their home
positions, there is a suggested structure of which the gap between both
supporting frame bodies can be reduced. The suggested structure comprises
two sliders disposed above and below, one of which supports the first
supporting frame body slidably and the other of which supports the second
supporting frame body slidably (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.
37670/1983). In an apparatus with such structure as above, it has an
advantage wherein even if the gap between a pair of sliding members on one
side and/or on both sides of respective supporting frame bodies is
expanded, both supporting frame bodies can be caused to be closer as much
as possible at their home positions. However, because the sliders are
disposed at two stages of above and below, idle spaces will increase in
vertical direction, the picture image forming apparatus will become large,
and the slider structures will also become complicated, all of which
result in cost increase.
The first object of the present invention is to provide a supporting
apparatus for optical unit wherein the horizontality of the supporting
frame body mounted with the optical unit can be easily adjusted without
removing the contact glass.
The second object of the present invention is to provide a supporting
apparatus for optical unit in which the stability in moving of the
supporting frame body is improved, and by causing both supporting frame
bodies to be closer at their home positions, the reduction of size of the
picture image forming apparatus can be achieved.
The first object of above can be accomplished by providing the supporting
apparatus for optical unit described hereunder: wherein the supporting
apparatus for optical unit comprises a reciprocatingly movable supporting
frame body mounted with a light source to illuminate the original on the
contact glass, and a reciprocatingly movable supporting frame body mounted
with a reflecting mirror to reflect a light reflected from the original,
sliding members provided on both ends of at least one of the supporting
frame body of above, and an eccentric cam mechanism provided at one end of
the supporting frame to make vertical adjustments of one sliding member
provided at the same end.
By the structure of the above, sliding members are installed on both sides
of reciprocatingly movable supporting frame bodies mounted with optical
units, and one of the sliding members is vertically adjustably installed
on the supporting frame body by means of the eccentric cam mechanism, and
therefore, one end of the supporting frame body where the aforementioned
vertically adjustable sliding member is installed can be adjusted to a
desired height only by handling the eccentric cam mechanism. Thus it
becomes possible to adjust horizontality of the supporting frame body as
well as the optical unit mounted on the supporting frame body. Moreover,
because the eccentric cam mechanism can be manually operated from
transverse direction, there is no necessity to remove the contact glass
for adjustment.
In addition, in the supporting apparatus for optical unit according to the
present invention, it is preferable that a pair of sliding members are
installed on both ends of the above supporting frame bodies, so that the
sliding members of either one of the pairs can be vertically adjusted by
means of the eccentric cam mechanism and the pair can be freely rotated
about an eccentric shaft.
In such a case, by operating the eccentric cam mechanism it becomes
possible to adjust horizontality of the supporting frame body and also
adjust horizontality of the optical unit mounted on the supporting frame,
and by rotation of the sliding members of either one of the pair about the
eccentric shaft, two pairs of sliding members come in continuous contact
with the top surface of respective sliders. Therefore, it is possible to
always maintain a condition wherein the sliding members are supported
continuously on the sliders.
In the optical unit supporting apparatus according to the present
invention, a pair of sliding members may be mounted on one end of the
supporting frame body, and one sliding member may be provided on the other
end of the supporting frame body vertically adjustably by means of an
eccentric cam mechanism.
In the case of above, by operating the eccentric cam mechanism
horizontality of the supporting frame body can be adjusted and
horizontality of the optical unit installed on the supporting frame can
also be adjusted, and by means of a total of three sliding members, of
which a pair of sliding members are installed on one end of the supporting
frame body and the remaining one is installed on the other end thereof, it
is possible to always maintain a condition wherein the sliding members are
continuously supported on the sliders.
The second object of above can be accomplished by providing the optical
unit supporting apparatus of the following: there are provided a
reciprocatingly movable supporting frame body mounted with a light source
to illuminate the original on the contact glass, and a reciprocatingly
movable supporting frame body mounted with a reflecting mirror to reflect
the light reflected from the original, wherein one end of either one of
the supporting frame bodies is provided with a pair of sliding members
having relatively large gap therebetween, the other end thereof is
provided with a pair of sliding members having relatively small gap
therebetween or with one sliding member, the end of the other supporting
frame body on the same side of the above one end is provided with a pair
of sliding members having relatively small gap therebetween or with one
sliding member, and the reverse end thereof is provided with a pair of
sliding members having relatively large gap therebetween.
By a structure such as above, on the upper surface of one slider are
supported a pair of sliding members having relatively large gap mounted on
one supporting frame body and a pair of sliding members having relatively
small gap mounted on the other supporting frame body or one sliding
member, on the upper surface of the other slider are supported a pair of
sliding members having relatively small gap mounted on one supporting
frame body or one sliding member, a pair of sliding members having
relatively large gap mounted on the other supporting frame body, and both
supporting frame bodies can thus be caused to come closer at their home
positions. By expanding the gap between a pair of sliding members mounted
on each supporting frame body, the stability in moving can be secured.
Features of the present invention will be more apparent in the following
description and by referring to the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a perspective diagram of a supporting apparatus for an optical
unit according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a plan view;
FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view of an eccentric cam mechanism;
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the eccentric cam
mechanism;
FIG. 5 is a perspective diagram and a front view showing the structure of
the adjusting member;
FIG. 6 is a side view of the first supporting frame body;
FIG. 7 is a side view of the second supporting frame body;
FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing the inside mechanism of a copying
machine;
FIG. 9 is a perspective diagram showing other embodiment;
FIG. 10 is a sectional side view of the first supporting frame body;
FIG. 11 is a diagram describing the operation of the eccentric cam
mechanism in the embodiment shown in FIG. 9; and
FIG. 12 is a perspective diagram of the eccentric cam mechanism in the
embodiment shown in FIG. 9.
DETAILED OF THE EMBODIMENTS
FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram clearly illustrating the inside structure of
a copying machine equipped with the optical unit supporting apparatus
according to the present invention.
The numeral 1 represents a body of the copying machine, and the inside of
the body of the copying machine is divided into an upper chamber 12 and a
lower chamber 13 by a partition board 11. In the upper chamber 12, an
optical system 2 to scan and expose the original D is provided and in the
lower chamber 13, a copy processing unit 4 to form a copied picture image
on the copying paper P and a copying paper conveying unit 8 are provided.
The optical system 2 has a light source 21 consisted of a luminous body 31,
main reflection board 32 and sub reflection board 33, plane reflecting
mirrors 22 to 24, lens 25, and a plane reflecting mirror 26. By moving the
light source 21 and plane reflecting mirror 22 to 24 into the direction
shown by an arrow A, the original D on the contact glass 14 can be scanned
and exposed. In this case, the light source 21 and plane reflecting mirror
22 move together and the main reflection board 23 and 24 also move
together, and the moving speed of the former is set so as to be two times
the moving speed of the latter. In the following description, the light
source 21 and the plane reflecting mirrors 22 to 24 are collectively
called the optical unit 2'.
The copying paper conveying unit 8 has a paper feeding roller 81, paper
feeding path 22, resist roller 83, conveying roller 84, heating/fixing
roller 85, and discharging roller 86. By driving the paper feeding roller
81, copying paper P are supplied sheet by sheet into the paper feeding
path 82 from the paper cassette 16, copying paper P is led into the copy
processing unit 4 where the toner image is transferred on the copying
paper P, the toner image transferred on the copying paper P is heated and
fixed by the heating/fixing roller 85, and the copying paper P is
discharged onto the receiving tray 17. The copying paper conveying unit is
not limited to such structure but a copying paper conveying unit of other
known structure to those skilled in the art may be adopted including such
structure, for example, as one which has the feeding side and discharging
side on the same side with respect to the copy processing unit 4.
In the copy processing unit 4, there are disposed a charger 42, a
developing unit 43, a transfer charger 44, a separating belt 45, and a
cleaner 46 in that order around a photosensitive drum 41 which rotates in
the direction shown by C in the diagram. An original image irradiated from
the optical system 2 is caused to be formed at a specified portion on the
surface of the photosensitive drum 41 charged uniformly by the charger 42,
thereby forming a static latent image. Static charge on the peripheral
edge of the surface of the photosensitive drum 41 where a static latent
image is not formed is removed by the blank lamp (not shown in the
diagram). Afterward, the static latent image is actualized into a toner
image by the developing unit 43, and the toner image is transferred on the
copying paper P by the transfer charger 44. The remaining toner is
recovered by the cleaner 46. The copy processing unit is not limited to
the structure referred to herein but a copy processing unit of other known
structure may be adopted including such structure, for example, as one
which uses a belt-like photosensitive body.
FIG. 1 is a perspective diagram showing the structure of the supporting
apparatus according to the present invention and FIG. 2 is a plan view.
The optical unit 2' has a first supporting frame body 51 which supports
the light source 21 and reflecting mirror 22, a second supporting frame
body 61 which supports the reflecting mirror 23, 24, and a pair of driving
wires 57, 58 which provide moving force to both ends of both supporting
frame bodies 51, 61. At a specified position of one end of the first
supporting frame body 51 are installed a pair of sliding members 52a, 52b,
and a driving wire connecting block 53 by means of a slide mounting block
50, and at a specified position of the other end of the first supporting
frame body 51 are installed one driving wire connecting block (not shown
in the diagram) and a pair of sliding members 55a, 55b by means of an end
member 54.
To describe further in detail, the sliding members 52a, 52b, 55a, 55b are
small pieces formed from fluorine-contained resin such as a
polytetrafluoroethylene or other material of small frictional coefficient
and are installed to protrude downward from respective bottoms of the
sliding member mounting block 50 and the end member 54. On the end member
54 is upwardly formed a bent portion 54a at the middle portion of both
sliding members 55a, 55b. At the center of the upward bent portion 54a is
formed a circular through hole 54b and a pair of rotation restricting
protrusions 54c, 54d are formed closely to the circular through hole 54b.
At the other end of the first supporting frame body 51 installed an end
member connecting block 51a formed by perpendicularly bending an end
portion of a flat plate. On the end member connecting block 51a is
protrudingly formed a shaft 51b whose diameter is smaller than the above
circular through hole 54b, and a stopper 51c with which the aforementioned
rotation restricting protrusions 54c, 54d can be engaged are formed
closely to the shaft 51b. As shown in FIG. 5, an adjusting member 56 is
provided with a shaft hole 56b to pass through the above shaft 51b and
further a circular outer surface 56a which can be fitted into the circular
through hole 54b of the above end member 54 is formed eccentrically with
respect to the shaft hole 56b. By causing the shaft hole 56b of the
adjusting member 56 to be inserted through the above shaft 51b, by causing
the circular through hole 54b of the end member 54 to be inserted through
the circular outer surface 56a of the adjusting member 56, and by screwing
a screw-shaped stopping member 51d into the end of the shaft 51b, the
above end member 54 can be held so as to freely rotate about the shaft
51b, in other words, in a status of a pendulum Note that 56d is a knob to
rotate the adjusting member 56.
By referring to FIG. 3, the depth of the above circular outer surface 56a
is greater than the thickness of the upward bent portion 54a of the end
member 54, so that the protruding length of the above shaft 51b is smaller
than the depth of the shaft hole 56b. Therefore, by screwing the stopping
member 51d, it becomes possible to securely fix the adjusting member 56 to
the shaft 51b and also to freely rotate the end member 54 about the shaft
51b. The gap between the sliding members 52a, 52b mounted unmovably with
respect to the first supporting frame body 51 is made large to improve the
stability while the first supporting frame body 51 is moving and the gap
between the sliding members 55a, 55b mounted freely rotatably about the
shaft 51b is made considerably small as compared with the gap between the
above sliding members 52a, 52b.
At a specified position of one end of the second supporting frame body 61,
there is mounted a pair of sliding members 65a, 65b consisting of material
of small frictional coefficient such as the above fluorine-contained resin
by means of a pulley 63' and an end member 64, and at a specified position
of the other end, there is mounted a pair of sliding members 62a, 62b
consisting of material of small frictional coefficient such as the above
fluorine-contained resin by means of a pulley 63 and an end member 60.
More specifically, the second supporting frame body 61 has a reflecting
mirror mounting portion 67 which is made by bending both ends of a flat
plate at right angles, and to the outside of both ends of the above,
supporters 68, 69 are connected unmovably by means of shafts 70, 71 and/or
by welding (refer to the area A in FIG. 2). The supporter 68 mounts the
pulley 63 by bending a lower end of a flat plate at right angle, and
secures the end member 60 by bending an upper end of the flat plate in the
form of letter L. The supporter 69 mounts the pulley 63' by bending the
lower end of a flat plate at right angle, and forms an end member
connecting portion 61a by bending the upper end thereof at right angle and
by further bending upward at right angle.
On the end member 64 of above is formed an upwardly bent portion 64a at the
middle portion of both sliding members 65a, 65b. A circular through hole
64b is formed at the center of this upwardly bent portion 64a, and a
rotation restricting protrusion 64c is formed closely to the circular
through hole 64b. On the end member connecting portion 61a, a shaft 61b
whose diameter is smaller than the above circular through hole 64b is
formed to protrude, and a pair of stoppers 61c, 61e at a portion close to
the shaft 61b are formed with which the above rotation restricting
protrusion 64c can be engaged. On the adjusting member 66 is provided a
shaft hole 66b to be inserted through the above shaft 61b, and a circular
outer surface 66a which is insertable into the circular through hole 64b
of the above end member 64 is formed eccentrically with respect to the
shaft hole 66b. By causing the shaft hole 66b of the adjusting member 66
to be inserted through the above shaft 61b, by causing the circular
through hole 64b of the end member 64 to be inserted through the circular
outer surface 66a of the adjusting member 66, and by screwing the
screw-shaped stopping member 61d into the end of the shaft 61b, the above
end member 64 can be held so as to freely rotate about the shaft 61b, in
other words, in a status of a pendulum. Note that 66d is a knob to rotate
the adjusting member 66.
Because the mounting conditions of components such as the above end member
64 and adjusting member 66 are the same as those of the components such as
the end member 54 and adjusting member 56 shown in FIG. 3, detailed
description thereof are omitted.
With the above structure, the sliding members 62a, 62b, 65a, 65b will
contact the upper surface of the sliders 77, 78 mounted respectively on
the body 1 of the copying machine and the pulleys 63, 63' will be
positioned under the sliders 77, 78.
The gap between the sliding members 62a, 62b mounted unmovably with respect
to the second supporting frame body 61 is made large to improve the
stability during moving. The gap between the rotatably mounted sliding
members 65a, 65b is made considerably small as compared with the gap
between the above sliding members 62a, 62b.
Furthermore, at specified positions of the above first supporting frame
body 51 and the second supporting frame body 61 respectively facing each
to the other are formed the engaging portions 59, 79 to position both
supporting frame bodies when widing the driving wires (refer to FIG. 2.).
As shown in FIG. 4, the horizontality adjustment of the first supporting
frame body 51 can be easily accomplished by holding the knob 56d, with the
stopping member 51d being loosened, so as to rotate the adjusting member
56 (by rotating from the status shown by two-dot chain line to the status
shown by continuous line as shown in FIG. 4.). In a manner such as above,
vertical positions of the sliding members 55a, 55b can be adjusted with
respect to the supporting frame body 51, thereby it becomes possible to
adjust the horizontality of the light source 21 and reflecting mirror 22.
It is also possible to adjust vertical positions of the sliding members
65a, 65b with respect to the supporting frame body 61 and as a result of
this, it becomes possible to adjust the horizontality of the reflecting
mirrors 23, 24. After the horizontality adjustment of the light source 21
and reflecting mirrors 22 to 24 are completed, the adjusting members 56,
66 can be fixed by firmly screwing the stopping members 51d, 61d. As is
apparent from the above description, the horizontality adjustment can be
easily accomplished from the front of the copying machine or from the
behind of the copying machine (i.e. in the direction vertical to the
surface of the paper where FIG. 8 is shown) without having to remove the
contact glass 14. This arrangement improves the working efficiency
remarkably.
In the first supporting frame body 51, because the end member 54 is mounted
capable of freely rotating about the shaft 51b, it becomes possible for
the end member 54 to freely rotate about the shaft 51b even when the above
stopping member 51d is tightened. By the free rotation of the end member
54 as stated above, each pair of the sliding members, in other words, a
total of four sliding members 52a, 52b, 55a, 55b can be securely contacted
continuously with the upper surfaces of the sliders 77, 78 (refer to FIG.
6). Furthermore, also in the second supporting frame body 61, because the
end member 64 is mounted capable of freely rotating about the shaft 51b,
it becomes also possible to maintain continuous contact of each pair of
sliding members 62a, 62b, 65a, 65b with the upper surfaces of the sliders
77, 78 (refer to FIG. 7). Therefore, the force applied from each sliding
member 62a, 62b, 65a, 65b onto the sliders become uniform thereby to
control the wear of the sliding members and to maintain the quality of the
obtained picture image to a high level. In a conventional structure where
each sliding member is fixed unmovably with respect to the supporting
frame body (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 37670/1983, U.S.
Pat. Nos. 4,332,460, 4,353,643, etc.), if accuracy of the sliding member
itself and/or the accuracy of installation of the sliding members are
poor, either one of the sliding member will be supported on the slider in
a condition which is nor adequate (e.g. in a tilted condition), resulting
in wear. Therefore, the stability while the supporting frame body moves
over the slider is deteriorated and vibration will be generated while
moving. As a result of this, the picture image obtained is deflected and
its quality is lowered.
After the horizontality adjustments of the supporting frame bodies 51, 61
are accomplished, the light source 21 and reflecting mirror 22 are settled
to be at right angles with respect to the moving direction of the optical
unit by adjusting the connecting conditions with respect to the driving
wire connecting portion 53 of the driving wires 57, 58. Furthermore, by
adjusting the winding conditions with respect to the pulleys 63, 63' of
the driving wires 57, 58, it becomes also possible to adjust the
reflecting mirrors 23, 24 to be at right angles with respect to the moving
direction of the optical unit. Therefore, in a process of forming picture
images, deflection of the picture image can be prevented without fail
thereby to obtain copied picture images of high quality when moving back
and forth the supporting frame bodies 51, 61 by both driving wires 57, 58
of the above. In making focus adjustments as well, connecting conditions
of the driving wire connecting portion 53 and the driving wire 58 can be
simply adjusted. In addition, it is possible to adjust the deflection of
the above picture image, so that the reflecting mirrors 23, 24 maintain a
right angle with respect to the moving direction of the optical unit by
rotating the pulley 63' of the second supporting frame body 61 by changing
the fixing position of the driving wire by such means as screws in a state
that the driving wires are wound round the driving pulley (not shown in
the diagram).
In the condition wherein the optical unit 2' has returned to the home
position, as shown in FIG. 2, the sliding members 52a, 52b whose gap is
large and the sliding members 65a, 65b whose gap is small come close
together and the sliding members 62a, 62b whose gap is large and the
sliding members 55a, 55b whose gap is small come close together.
Therefore, the first supporting frame body 51 and the second supporting
frame body 61 can be caused to come close together. Concretely, by causing
both engaging portions 59, 79 to be kept engaged while winding the driving
wires, it becomes possible to cause both engaging portions to come close
together. As a result of this, the body 1 of the copying machine can be
made still smaller.
Furthermore, because the above end members 54, 64 are mounted as being
restricted of its rotating range with respect to the supporting frame
bodies 51, 61 respectively, there is an advantage to insure the prevention
of inconvenience in which the end members 54, 64 turn for 360.degree. to
be reversed upside-down while assembling the optical unit 2'.
FIG. 9 is a perspective diagram illustrating another embodiment of the
optical unit supporting apparatus, in which the optical unit 2' equipped
with this optical unit supporting apparatus has a first supporting frame
body 103 which supports a light source 101, and a reflecting mirror 102, a
second supporting fame body 105 which supports reflecting mirrors 104a,
104b, and a pair of driving wires 106, 107 which provides moving force for
both ends of both supporting frame bodies 103, 105. On one end of the
above first supporting frame body 103 is fixed a base plate 114, at the
specified position of the base plate 114 is connected an end member 110
which is vertically movable with respect to the base plate 114, and at the
specified position of the end member 110 is mounted one sliding member 108
which comprises material of small frictional coefficient such as
fluorine-contained resin. The numeral 109 is a driving wire connecting
portion fixed to the base plate 114. At the specified position of the
other end of the supporting frame body 103 are installed a pair of sliding
members 112a, 112b and a driving wire connecting portion 117. In addition,
at the specified position of one end of the above second supporting frame
body 105 is installed a pair of sliding members 121a, 121b, and at the
specified position of the other end thereof is installed one sliding
member 123.
More specifically, as shown in FIG. 12, the above base plate 114 has a bent
portion 114a which is bent downward at right angle, and this bent portion
114a is formed with small protrusions 114b, 114c which are respectively
inserted into two holes 110b, 110c of the end member 110, and a tapped
hole 118 used to fasten a screw-shaped stopping member 119. The end member
110 is formed with the above two holes 110b, 110c with the former being on
top and the latter being on bottom, and is also formed with a longitudinal
through groove 110d which extends vertically. The upper part of the end
member 110 is formed with a bent portion 110a which extends horizontally
and outwardly, and the center of the bent portion 110a is fixed with the
above sliding member 108. The lower part of the end member 110 is formed
with a bent portion 110e which extends horizontally and outwardly to
receive the lower end of an adjusting member 111. This adjusting member
111 is circular in shape and one plane on the side which contacts the end
member 110 is provided with an eccentrically disposed cylindrical
protrusion 111a which is fitted into the above through groove 110d. 111b
represents a rotating groove which causes the adjusting member 111 to
rotate by such means as a coin or screw-driver. Furthermore, a position
corresponding to the center of the above cylindrical protrusion 111a is
formed with a shaft hole 111c to insert through the stopping member 119,
and the stopping member 119 inserted through the shaft hole 111c can be
screwed into the tapped hole 118 formed in the above base plate 114. As
shown in FIG. 10, the protruding height of the cylindrical protrusion 111a
provided on the above adjusting member 111 is disposed to be smaller than
the thickness of the end member 110. When the stopping member 119 is
slightly loosened, the adjusting member 111 is disposed to enable itself
to rotate about the stopping member 119.
The holes 110b, 110c are inserted respectively with small protrusions 114b,
114c and the cylindrical protrusion 111a are passed through the through
groove 110d, the stopping member 119 is inserted through the shaft hole
111c and loosely screwed into the tapped hole 118. Then by rotating the
adjusting member 111 using the rotating groove 111b , the end member 110
is caused to move vertically with respect to the base plate 114. To
describe this motion using FIG. 11, in a condition where the center of the
adjusting member 111 is flush with the center of the cylindrical
protrusion 111a (FIG. 11(A)), the cylindrical protrusion 111a is
positioned at the center of the through groove 110d and the end member 110
is in a standard positional relation which is neither high nor low with
respect to the base plate 114. If, however, the adjusting member 111 is
caused to rotate in a direction so that the center of the adjusting member
111 is lower than the center of the cylindrical protrusion 111a (FIG.
11(B)), the lower end of the adjusting member 111 pushes the bent portion
110e downward As a result of this, the end member 110 moves downward with
respect to the base plate 114. In other words, the base plate 114 moves
upward with respect to the end member 110, thus, it becomes possible by
the above motion to lift the first supporting frame body 103 with respect
to the slider 115 because the end member 110 is in contact with the upper
surface of the slider 115 by means of the sliding member 108. Still more,
upward moving distance of the base plate 114 with respect to the end
member 110 is restricted to a fixed distance by causing the small
protrusions 114b, 114c to contact with the upper wall of the holes 110b,
110c. Though not shown in the diagram, if the adjusting member 111 is
rotated in a direction so that the center of the cylindrical protrusion
111a is lower than the center of the adjusting member 111, the distance
between the center of the cylindrical protrusion 111a and the lower end of
the adjusting member 111 gradually becomes short, while the base plate 114
moves downward with respect to the end member 110 by the weight of the
first supporting frame body 103. Downward moving distance of the base
plate 114 is restricted to a fixed distance by causing the small
protrusions 114b, 114c to contact the lower wall of the holes 110b, 110c.
As in the manner stated above, by adjusting the rotating angle of the
adjusting member 111, it becomes possible to make vertical adjustment of
the sliding member 108, which in turn enables to adjust the horizontality
of the first supporting frame body 103 as well as the horizontality of the
optical unit 2'.
In this embodiment, unlike the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the sliding
member 108 is consisted of one member. Therefore, it is possible to
provide supporting means of a pair of sliding members 112a, 112b disposed
on the other end of the supporting frame body 103 together with the above
one member, a total of three point supports, thereby to enable the
supporting frame body 103 to be supported continuously on the sliders 115,
116 with substantial stability. As a result of this, without providing a
structure wherein the end members 54, 64 are rotatably installed about the
shaft 51b as shown in the embodiment in FIG. 1, it is possible to secure a
condition in which each sliding member 108, 112a, 112b is caused to be in
positive contact with the sliders 115, 116. In the embodiment of FIG. 9,
the sliding member 108 is provided through the eccentric cam mechanism on
one end of the first supporting frame body 103 only, however, a same
sliding member can be provided on one end of the second supporting frame
body 105.
The present invention has been described in detail as above by referring to
the attached drawings and based on embodiments of the optical unit
supporting apparatus, but the present invention shall not be limited only
to the aforementioned embodiments and should be understood that various
other changes may be provided without departing from the scope and the
spirit of the essential characteristics of the present invention.
According to the optical unit supporting apparatus of the present invention
as stated above, because one side of the sliding members mounted on both
ends of the supporting frame body equipped with the optical unit is
supported vertically adjustably by means of the eccentric cam mechanism,
horizontality adjustment of the optical unit supporting apparatus can be
easily accomplished by operating the eccentric cam mechanism only.
Consequentially, such conventional means to prevent machine screw from
loosening as paint locking can be eliminated, and yet, the above
adjustment can be made from a horizontal direction w | | |
