Ink jet printer carriage assembly

Claim 1

A carriage assembly for use in an ink jet printer comprising: a carriage which may be mounted in said printer in a reciprocatingly movable manner along a predetermined path; projecting means for projecting ink droplets, charged or uncharged, in succession in a predetermined projecting direction, said projecting means including a nozzle head for discharging a series of said ink droplets and a charging electrode located in front of said nozzle head for selectively charging said ink droplets; holding means for holding said projecting means on said carriage, said holding means adjusting said predetermined projecting direction in a first plane and also in a second plane which is normal to said first plane, said holding means including a base plate which is pivoted to said carriage horizontally pivotally and a holder which is pivoted to said base plate vertically and which securely holds said projecting means, said holder being an angle shaped holder including a vertical section which is provided with a recess for receiving therein said charging electrode and a front end portion of said nozzle head clamped in position by a spring and a horizontal section which extends generally in parallel with said base plate, said holder being spring-biased such that said horizontal section tends to move away from said base plate with the provision of a first screw connected between said horizontal section and said base plate thereby allowing to adjust the pitch angle of said projecting direction by turning said first screw in a desired direction, said holding means further including laterally adjusting means for adjusting the lateral pivotal position of said base plate about its pivoted point with respect to said carriage; a pair of deflector electrodes spaced apart from each other to provide a gap therebetween and disposed in the downstream of said projecting means, an electric field being produced in said gap through which said ink droplets are passed; support means for supporting said pair of deflector electrodes fixedly on said carriage, said support means including a pair of oppositely arranged ridges on which said deflector electrodes are fixedly mounted, respectively, mounted on said corresponding ridge with a wing member sandwiched therebetween; and a gutter adjustably disposed in the downstream of said pair of deflector electrodes, said gutter being adjustably positioned to collect non-deflected ink droplets passing through said gap between said pair of deflector electrodes.