1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus, and particularly to a recording apparatus with an apparatus main body to which an extension unit can be attached.
2. Related Art
In the related art, recording apparatuses, each of which is provided with a sheet cassette containing stacked sheets as a kind of recording medium and a recording unit causing a liquid ejecting head, for example, to eject liquid onto the sheet sent from the sheet cassette and transported along a transport path to record images including characters and figures has been put into practical use.
According to some of such recording apparatuses, an extension unit (optional unit) such as an extension case configured as a separate body from an apparatus main body can be attached to and detached from the apparatus main body. In addition, one such extension units is a unit attached to a lower surface side of the apparatus main body and including a sheet cassette, on which sheets to be supplied to the recording unit are stacked and placed, which can be inserted into and pulled out from the unit. The extension unit includes a sending mechanism such as a sheet feeding roller and sends the sheets contained in the sheet cassette one by one from the sheet cassette to the transport path in the recording apparatus.
Incidentally, there are cases where the recording apparatus is brought into a state where a sheet clogs the transport path in the course of being sent from the sheet cassette to the recording unit (also referred to as a “jam state”) and the sheet cannot be supplied to the recording unit. In such cases, it is necessary for an operator to perform processing for removing the sheet in the jam state (also referred to as “jam processing”). For example, JP-A-2004-26438 and JP-A-2010-253754 have proposed configurations which have been contrived to facilitate such jam processing.
JP-A-2004-26438 has proposed a configuration in which a sheet sending unit of an extension unit (optional feeder) can be visually recognized from the upper side by pulling the sheet cassette on the side of the apparatus main body from the apparatus main body. According to such a configuration, it is possible to easily perform the jam processing by visually recognizing a sheet in the jam state in a sending mechanism in the extension unit. In addition, JP-A-2010-253754 has proposed a configuration in which a reversing unit can be detached from the apparatus main body. According to such a configuration, it is possible to expose the sheet, which has been sent from the sheet cassette on the side of the apparatus main body and brought into the jam state in the apparatus main body, by detaching the reversing unit from the apparatus main body and to thereby easily perform the jam processing.
In the case of the configuration disclosed in JP-A-2004-26438, however, it is necessary to configure the recording apparatus such that an opening is formed in the apparatus main body in a state where the sheet cassette is pulled out from the apparatus main body. For this reason, it is difficult to apply this configuration to a recording apparatus with a typical configuration in which the circumference of a sheet cassette provided in an apparatus main body is covered with a case body including a sheet transport path and the like formed therein and a sheet supply unit of the extension unit is not exposed even when the sheet cassette is pulled out.
In the case of the configuration disclosed in JP-A-2010-253754, there is a problem in that jam processing cannot be performed for the sheet cassette provided in the extension unit while it is possible to easily perform the jam processing for the sheet cassette provided in the apparatus main body. Accordingly, jam processing is performed for the jam state of the sheet cassette occurring in the extension unit while the extension unit is detached from the apparatus main body. Particularly, when a sheet brought into a jam state inside the sheet cassette provided in the extension unit is removed, it is necessary to detach the extension unit from the apparatus main body. For this reason, a configuration, which can stably maintain a state where the extension unit is attached to the apparatus main body, according to which the operator can immediately and easily detach the extension unit from the apparatus main body when the jam state occurs has been also desired.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds