Vibration damping mechanism of image processing device
View Patent ↗When the speed of carriages that are moved in an image processing device is increased in order to accelerate the processing speed, the acquired image data is degraded due to vibrations being transmitted to the carriages from a motor which drives the carriages. The present invention provides a vibration damping mechanism for such image processing devices wherein weights are provided at selected positions on the transmission paths of the vibrations from the motor to the carriages in order to damp the vibrations. Preferably, the weights are made of a permanent magnet material and the housing is made of a material, such as steel, that is attracted by a magnet. This enables the weights to be attached at any desired positions, such as on the housing base plate, on the lower housing, and at perimeter walls of the housing which support the carriages where vibrations, without the weights, would be excessive.
1. In an image processing device that includes an optical system, a carriage which supports an optical scanning member, a housing which supports the carriage, and a motor which is used to drive the carriage, the improvement of: providing a vibration damping mechanism which inhibits the transmission of vibrations from the motor to the optical system, said vibration damping mechanism comprising weights that are added outside a periphery of a region of the housing that supports the motor, with the combined weight of the weights that are added outside said periphery being larger than the combined weight of the motor and said region of the housing that supports the motor within said periphery.
2. The improvement as set forth in claim 1 , wherein said region of the housing that supports the motor is recessed as compared with the housing surface immediately outside the periphery of a region of the housing that supports the motor.
3. The improvement as set forth in claim 1 , wherein said weights are adhered to positions of the housing where, without said weights, vibrations of the housing due to operation of the motor are undesirably large.
4. The improvement as set forth in claim 3 , wherein said weights are magnetized and the housing is made of a material so that the weights can be magnetically adhered to the housing.
5. The improvement as set forth in claim 1 , wherein additional weights are added to walls that form a perimeter wall of the housing.
6. The improvement as set forth in claim 1 , wherein additional weights are added to a bottom surface of the housing where vibrations, without said weights, are excessive due to operation of the motor.