JP6486742B2 - Inkjet printing device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an inkjet printing apparatus that prints a desired image on various print media by ejecting ink with an inkjet head.

  Conventionally, a plurality of ink jets mounted on a carriage fixed in position while conveying various printing media (for example, various sheets such as A3 paper and A4 paper, and irregular-sized media such as cardboard). A line-type inkjet printing apparatus that prints a desired image on a print medium by discharging ink from a head is known.

  By the way, in this type of apparatus, when the distance between the ink jet head and the printing surface of the printing medium (hereinafter referred to as “head gap”) is larger than the specified value, the landing position of the ink droplet is displaced and visually blurred. There is a problem that the image becomes an image, or the ejected ink droplets are scattered as a mist and adhere to an unnecessary portion. Further, when the head gap is smaller than the specified value, there is a problem that the deformed portion of the print medium comes into contact with the nozzle surface of the inkjet head and the nozzle is damaged.

  And as an apparatus provided with the function for solving such a problem, the apparatus disclosed by the following patent documents 1 and 2, for example is proposed.

  In the apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 below, the gap between the inkjet head and the recording medium is defined by a gap regulating member, and the platen is moved according to the thickness of the recording medium. Accordingly, the platen moves in response to this, and the gap between the printing surface of the recording medium and the inkjet head always maintains an appropriate value.

  Further, in the apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 2 below, a reciprocally movable carriage on which a recording head for ejecting ink is mounted, a conveying means for conveying a recording medium, and a position of the recording head with respect to the carriage are changed. And a gap adjusting means for adjusting a gap between the recording medium and the recording head, and adjusting the gap between the recording medium and the recording head by the gap adjusting means to thereby adjust the thickness of the recording medium and cockling (waving phenomenon). Even if the recording conditions change, the system maintains a suitable interval.

JP 2000-147191 A JP 2000-158745 A

  However, in the apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1, printing is performed in a state where the printing medium is pressed against the gap regulating member by the platen, so that undried ink attached to the printing medium immediately after printing contacts the contact surface of the gap regulating member. As a result, there was a problem that the stamp surface was stained. In addition, in the case of continuous printing, there is a problem that the undried ink adhering to the gap regulating member adheres to the printing surface of the next print medium and becomes dirty.

  Furthermore, in the apparatus of Patent Document 1, the print medium is conveyed while being sandwiched between the platen and the gap regulating member. For example, the print medium such as cardboard has an adhesive portion to form a box shape. In addition, while this portion is sandwiched between the platen and the gap regulating member, the thickness of the bonded portion becomes a reference, and therefore an appropriate gap cannot be maintained at a portion other than the bonded portion.

  Further, in the apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 2, the position of the recording head can cope with distortion in the sub-scanning direction of the printing medium (the conveying direction of the printing medium). Since there may be distortion not only in the main scanning direction but also in the main scanning direction orthogonal to the sub-scanning direction, an appropriate head gap cannot be maintained.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and ink jet printing capable of performing a printing process while maintaining a constant head gap with respect to a print medium having a difference in thickness or distortion generated on a printing surface. The object is to provide a device.

The inkjet printing apparatus according to claim 1, a transport unit that transports a print medium along a sub-scanning direction that is a transport direction;
A carriage mounted with an inkjet head disposed above the transport unit and extending along a main scanning direction orthogonal to the sub-scanning direction;
A plurality of point contact rollers rotatably supported by the carriage and in contact with a printing surface of the printing medium conveyed by the conveyance unit to form a predetermined head gap between the printing surface and the inkjet head;
The carriage is supported so that it can swing in the main scanning direction, swing in the sub-scanning direction, and vertically move in the vertical direction with its position in the sub-scanning direction regulated. A support mechanism;
It is characterized by having.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the inkjet printing apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the carriage is rotatable on a pair of left and right support members provided at an upstream end portion in the sub-scanning direction of the carriage. It has an upstream roller that is pivotally supported,
The support mechanism is characterized in that long holes extending in the vertical direction formed in the support member are respectively fitted to a pair of left and right swing support shafts fixed to the apparatus housing. Yes.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the ink jet printing apparatus according to the first or second aspect, the carriage is formed of an elastically deformable member.

  According to the ink jet printing apparatus described in claim 1, even if the printing medium is a printing medium such as a corrugated cardboard having a distortion such as a difference in thickness or warping, the carry is predetermined so as to follow the shape of the printing surface of the printing medium. Since the point contact roller can always be kept in contact so as not to be separated from the medium printing surface by swinging in the direction, stable printing processing can be performed. In addition, since the contact area between the marking surface and the roller surface can be minimized by adopting the point contact roller, there is an effect of preventing the ink from being retransferred to the other portion.

  According to the ink jet printing apparatus of the second aspect, the carriage includes the upstream roller rotatably supported by the pair of left and right support members provided at the upstream end of the carriage in the sub-scanning direction. The carriage support mechanism has a configuration in which the elongated holes formed in the support member and extending in the vertical direction are respectively fitted to the pair of left and right swing support shafts fixed to the apparatus housing. Regardless of the shape of the printing surface of the printing medium, the bounce of the carriage can be prevented and the printing medium can be stably conveyed while being suppressed by the weight of the upstream roller. Therefore, a constant head gap can always be maintained with respect to the print medium.

  According to the ink jet printing apparatus of the third aspect, even when the card surface shape of the print medium is warped in the main scanning direction, the carriage is elastically deformed so that the mark shape of the print medium can be flexibly changed. Can follow.

(A) It is a schematic block diagram of the inkjet printing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. (A) is a figure which shows the example of the shape of the cardboard used as a printing medium, (b) is the figure which looked at the cardboard shown in FIG. 2 (a) from the sub scanning direction upstream. (A) is a schematic perspective view of the conveyance part and printing part in the apparatus, (b) is a schematic side view. (A) is a diagram showing a state when the carriage is swung so that the downstream side in the sub-scanning direction is lifted up, and (b) is a diagram showing a state when the carriage is swung so that the upstream side in the sub-scanning direction is lifted up. It is. (A) is a diagram showing a state when the carriage is swung to the right side in the main scanning direction, and (b) is a state when the carriage is swung to the left side in the main scanning direction. FIG. It is a figure which shows the state which the same carriage moves up and down, maintaining a horizontal state. (A) is a figure which shows the example of installation of a point contact roller, (b) is a figure which shows the other example of installation of a point contact roller. (A) is a schematic perspective view which shows the other structural example of the carriage in a printing part, (b) is a figure which shows the state in which the carriage of the same form curved in the main scanning direction.

  Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, the present invention is not limited by this embodiment, and all other forms, examples, operation techniques, and the like that can be implemented by those skilled in the art based on this form are included in the scope of the present invention. .

  In this specification, the direction of the arrow X shown in each drawing is the main scanning direction X (that is, the direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the print medium P), and the direction of the arrow Y indicating the direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction X is shown in FIG. The direction is the sub-scanning direction Y (that is, the conveyance direction of the print medium P). Also, in the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, the words “up”, “down”, “left”, and “right” are used to indicate directions and positions. This is the case when the user views each drawing as illustrated. Matches down, left, right.

  Further, the print medium P used in the ink jet printing apparatus 1 according to the present invention is various, such as a general sheet (A4 paper, A3 paper, etc.) or an irregular size medium such as cardboard. In the description, the object of the present invention is “a constant head gap (between the printing surface of the printing medium P and the inkjet head 32 while following unevenness such as a difference in thickness of the printing medium P and distortion generated on the printing surface”. An example using cardboard as shown in FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b) will be described so that it is clear that “printing is performed in a state in which the interval is maintained”.

  The shape of the corrugated cardboard shown in FIG. 2A gradually increases from the upstream side in the transport direction, and reaches the maximum thickness near the approximate center. This corresponds to the bonding portion for making the cardboard into a box shape. When it passes through this bonded portion, it becomes thinner by the thickness of the corrugated cardboard and gradually becomes thinner along the downstream side in the transport direction. Further, as shown in FIG. 2B, when seen from the upstream side in the sub-scanning direction Y, the left side portion in the figure is swollen.

<Main components of the device>
First, the configuration of the inkjet printing apparatus 1 of the present invention will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 3, the inkjet printing apparatus 1 includes a paper feed unit 10, a transport unit 20, a printing unit 30, a discharge unit 40, and a control unit 50.
Note that the illustration of the ink tank, the ink path to the head, the bundling line, the bearing of the transport unit 20, the drive unit, and the like provided in the main body of the inkjet printing apparatus 1 is omitted for the sake of simplicity.

  The paper feed unit 10 picks up the paper feed tray 11 on which the print media P are stacked and the print media P disposed on the paper feed tray 11 and stacked on the paper feed tray 11 one by one, and puts it in the subsequent stage. A paper feed roller 12 to be transported, and a registration roller 13 disposed downstream of the paper feed roller 12 and temporarily transported toward the transport unit 20 at a predetermined timing after the print medium P transported by the paper feed roller 12 is stopped. It has. The paper feed roller 12 and the registration roller pair 13 are rotationally driven by a motor (not shown) that is driven by the control of the control unit 50.

  The transport unit 20 includes a transport belt 21, a drive roller 22, a driven roller 23, and a suction fan 24, and is disposed below the printing unit 30 in the apparatus housing 1a. The transport unit 20 transports the print medium P transported from the registration roller pair 13 along the sub-scanning direction Y.

  The conveying belt 21 is looped around the driving roller 22 and the driven roller 23. The belt conveying surface of the conveying belt 21 is formed with a number of through holes (not shown) which are through holes for sucking and holding the print medium P. A negative hole generated by the suction driving of the suction fan 24 is formed. The printing medium P is sucked and held on the suction holding surface (the surface in contact with the printing medium P) of the transport belt 21 using pressure. The driving belt 22 is driven to rotate by a motor (not shown) and the conveying belt 21 is rotated clockwise in FIG. 1 to convey the printing medium P in the sub-scanning direction Y.

  The printing unit 30 is provided above the transport unit 20 in the apparatus housing 1a, and an inkjet head 32 is mounted on a rectangular parallelepiped carriage 31. The printing unit 30 performs a printing operation for ejecting ink onto the printing surface of the printing medium P conveyed from the paper supply unit 10 in the sub-scanning direction Y (that is, the surface facing the nozzles of the inkjet head 32), and the conveyance unit 20. By repeating the transport operation in the sub-scanning direction Y, the images are sequentially printed on the printing surface of the print medium P.

  The inkjet head 32 includes a plurality of (three in the drawing) head blocks 32a in which a plurality of nozzles (not shown) are arranged along the main scanning direction X along one line along the main scanning direction Y. Are arranged in a total of two lines in the sub-scanning direction Y (a total of six in the figure), and staggered alternately so that each head block 32a partially overlaps in adjacent lines. Arranged in a shape. Since the inkjet head 32 is a line-type inkjet system, the carriage 31 is fixed at a predetermined position on the transport unit 20 without scanning the print medium P. Therefore, the inkjet head 32 mounted on the carriage 31 is equal to or greater than the short side width of the print medium P that can be printed by the inkjet printing apparatus 1 (that is, the length in the main scanning direction X of the conveyed print medium P). Will have a distance.

  In the present embodiment, the inkjet printing apparatus 1 that supports single color printing (for example, monochrome printing) will be described as an example, and an inkjet head 32 for one color is installed. However, for example, printing for a plurality of colors is supported. In the case of a color printing machine, an inkjet head 32 corresponding to the color of ink to be used may be installed. In this case, the inkjet heads 32 of the respective colors are arranged at a predetermined interval in the sub scanning direction Y.

As shown in FIG. 3B, the dimensions of the roller 33 and the support member 33a are determined so that the upstream roller 33 is in contact with the same plane as the roller 35 when the carriage 31 is horizontal.
Further, the weight balance between the upstream roller 33 and the carriage 31 is achieved so that the carriage 31 can smoothly follow the shape of the print medium P.

  The discharge unit 40 is located on the most downstream side in the conveyance direction of the print medium P, and the print medium P printed by the printing unit 30 is discharged by the discharge roller pair 41 and stacked on the discharge table 42.

  The control unit 50 is configured by a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), for example, and a computer program necessary for driving the inkjet printing apparatus 1 to execute a print job transmitted from a connected PC (personal computer). It is a central processing unit that executes control processing and various processing of the entire inkjet printing apparatus 1 by reading various application software and performing program processing.

<Oscillation function of printing unit>
Next, the swing function of the printing unit 30 during printing will be described.
The inkjet printing apparatus 1 according to the present invention is intended to perform a stable printing process on a printing medium P having unevenness such as a difference in thickness or distortion generated on a printing surface like a cardboard.
Therefore, the printing unit 30 includes a support mechanism 34 and a point contact roller 35 as a configuration that maintains a certain head gap while following the shape of the printing surface of the print medium P.

  The support mechanism 34 performs the printing process while the carriage 31 follows the shape of the printing surface of the printing medium P during printing, so that the carriage 31 moves around the pair of left and right swinging fulcrums R and F in the main scanning direction X in the main scanning direction. It is a mechanism that supports the swinging in the X and sub-scanning directions Y and the vertical movement in the vertical direction. In this embodiment, the swing fulcrum R is a fulcrum on the depth side in FIG. 3A, and the swing fulcrum F is a fulcrum on the near side in FIG. 3A.

That is, when the carriage 31 swings in the sub-scanning direction Y, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the upstream end of the carriage 31 around the swing fulcrum R or F (the left end in the figure). Part) or the downstream end part (right end part in the figure) follows the shape of the printing surface of the print medium P and moves in the vertical direction.
When the carriage 31 swings in the main scanning direction X, as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the left end portion of the carriage 31 around the swing fulcrum R or F (FIG. 3A). 3 corresponds to the depth side edge) or the right edge (corresponding to the front side edge in FIG. 3A) moves up and down following the shape of the printing surface of the printing medium P.
Furthermore, depending on the shape of the printing surface of the printing medium P, as shown in FIG. 6, the carriage 31 can move up and down around the swinging fulcrums R and F while maintaining a horizontal state along the vertical direction.

  In this embodiment, for example, as shown in FIG. 3A, one of the side end portions on the upstream side of the carriage 31 extends upstream in the sub-scanning direction Y, and the other extends in the vertical direction. A pair of left and right L-shaped members 33a for installing the upstream roller is provided. On the other hand, in the apparatus casing 1a of the ink jet printing apparatus 1, the swing support shaft 34b is fixedly supported on both sides in the main scanning direction X by a support member (not shown). And the long hole 34a extended in a perpendicular direction is formed with respect to the said L-shaped member 33a, and the said rocking | fluctuation support shaft 34b is set as the structure fitted to each long hole 34a. The two swing support shafts 34b in the figure function as the swing support points R and F described above.

  Further, in the configuration of the support mechanism 34 described above, the swing support shaft 34b has a distance La between the swing support shaft 34b and the lower end 34aa of the long hole 34a, as shown in FIG. It is preferable that the distance Lb between the upper end 34ab of the long hole 34a and the upper end 34ab of the long hole 34a is longer than the center position of the long hole 34a. The main reasons for this are that the carriage 31 flexibly follows the shape of the printing surface of the print medium P, and that the head gap formed by the point contact roller 35 coming into contact with the print medium P does not narrow. It becomes.

  Further, by making the diameter of the swing support shaft 34b substantially the same as the width dimension of the elongated hole 34a in the sub-scanning direction Y, the carriage 31 does not slide in the sub-scanning direction Y due to the movement of the transported print medium P. Due to the structure, even if the carriage 31 is swung during printing, it is possible to prevent the deviation of the ink landing position in the sub-scanning direction Y.

  The point contact roller 35 is a roller for forming an appropriate head gap between the inkjet head 32 and the print medium P during printing, and is located near the inkjet head 32 along the upstream line and the downstream line. A plurality of each is provided. Since the point contact roller 35 is always in contact with the printing surface of the print medium P at least until the print medium P passes below the inkjet head 32, the point contact roller 35 is located between the inkjet head 32 and the print medium P. The proper head gap can be kept. Further, before the print medium P reaches the carriage 31 or after it passes, the point contact roller 35 is in contact with the belt conveyance surface of the conveyance unit 20.

  In this embodiment, the point contact rollers 35 are arranged on both sides in the main scanning direction Y of the head block 32a arranged in a staggered manner as shown in FIG. 7A, and the same upstream line and downstream as each head block 32a. A plurality of each is provided along the side line. 7B, when the inkjet head 32 is configured as a single line (no nozzles are not shown), a predetermined interval is provided along the upstream line and the downstream line of the inkjet head 32. A plurality of each is arranged while leaving a gap.

  As shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, the point contact roller 35 prevents the ink transfer to the other part by minimizing contact with the ink immediately after the ink is dropped. What is installed on the downstream side of 32 is required to be in point contact with the print medium P. Therefore, as the configuration of the point contact roller 35, for example, there are a plurality of spur-shaped wheels (star wheels) formed into a roller shape, a bead roller provided with fine particles on the roller surface, a sand roller, etc. Since the roller has fine unevenness, the contact area with respect to the printing surface is minimized and the ink is prevented from being transferred directly to the roller surface. In the case of FIG. 7 (a), the vicinity of each head block 32a is a point contact roller 35, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, in the case of FIG. 7B, the downstream roller of the inkjet head 32 is a point contact roller 35, and the upstream roller is a cylindrical roller 36. In such a configuration, if the roller on the downstream side of the inkjet head 32 that contacts at least the printing surface after printing is the point contact roller 35, the roller on the upstream side of the inkjet head 32 is not necessarily the point contact roller 35. Also good.

  As described above, in the printing unit 30, the carriage 31 can flexibly swing in the main scanning direction X and the sub-scanning direction Y so as to follow the shape of the printing surface of the printing medium P, and can move up and down in the vertical direction. Since the supported support mechanism 34 is provided, even when the printing medium P has unevenness such as a thickness difference or distortion, the printing process can be performed while the carriage 31 follows the printing surface shape at the time of printing. .

<Operation during printing>
Next, an operation example of the carriage 31 of the printing unit 30 at the time of printing by the inkjet printing apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.
As the printing medium P, corrugated cardboard having unevenness due to thickness difference or distortion as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B is used, and the direction of operation of the carriage 31 is viewed from the direction of FIG. 3B. When the operation.

  When the printing process is started, the print medium P fed from the paper feed unit 10 is transported along the sub-scanning direction Y by the transport unit 20.

  When the leading end of the conveyed printing medium P reaches below the printing unit 30, the inclination gradually increases with the upstream side of the carriage 31 in the sub-scanning direction Y lifted as shown in FIG. 4B. . This is because the thickness of the print medium P gradually increases. Then, when the leading end of the print medium P comes directly below the inkjet head 32, an ink ejection operation starts from a nozzle (not shown) downward, and thereafter, until the print medium P passes under the inkjet head 32. In the meantime, a predetermined print image is formed on the upper surface of the print medium P. When the leading end of the print medium P passes just below the inkjet head 32, the inclination gradually decreases from the state where the upstream side of the carriage 31 in the sub-scanning direction Y is lifted.

  Next, when the ink jet head 32 reaches and passes through the adhesion portion of the print medium P, the point contact roller 35 gets over the step of the adhesion portion, so that the carriage 31 in the sub-scanning direction Y as shown in FIG. The downstream side is lifted.

  As a result, the depth side direction of the carriage 31 in the main scanning direction X is raised as shown in FIG. This is because the cardboard which is the printing medium P is warped on the depth side as shown in FIG.

  Thereafter, the inclination of the carriage 31 gradually decreases in the state shown in FIG. 4A, and when the print medium P completely passes below the inkjet head 32, the carriage 31 as shown in FIG. 3B. Is in a horizontal state (that is, parallel to the belt conveyance surface of the conveyance unit 20).

  As described above, the inkjet printing apparatus 1 according to the present invention is configured so that the carriage 31 of the printing unit 30 is swung in the main scanning direction X and the sub scanning direction Y in a state where the position of the carriage 31 in the sub scanning direction Y is restricted. Is supported by a support mechanism 34 that supports the vertical movement and the vertical movement in the vertical direction. A point contact roller 35 that forms a predetermined head gap between the inkjet head 32 mounted on the carriage 31 and the print medium P is provided. Further, the carriage 31 includes an upstream roller 33 that is rotatably supported by a pair of left and right L-shaped members 33 a provided at an upstream end portion of the carriage 31 in the sub-scanning direction Y.

  Therefore, even if the print medium P is a cardboard-like print medium P having a distortion such as a difference in thickness or warping, the carriage 31 swings in a predetermined direction so as to follow the shape of the printing surface of the print medium P and makes point contact. Since the roller 35 can always maintain a contact state so as not to be separated from the printing surface, the carriage 31 can be prevented from bouncing, and the print medium P can be stably conveyed while being suppressed by the weight of the upstream roller 33. Can do.

  Furthermore, even when the point contact roller 35 contacts immediately after printing, the contact area between the stamp surface and the roller surface can be minimized, so that the effect of preventing the ink from being retransferred to the other portion is achieved.

[Other embodiments]
In addition, this invention is not limited to said each embodiment, For example, as shown below, it can also change suitably according to a use environment etc. and can also be implemented. Also, the following modifications can be implemented in any combination within the scope not departing from the gist of the present invention.

  In the above-described embodiment, the inkjet head 32 is mounted on the rectangular parallelepiped carriage 31, and the carriage 31 itself is swingable by the support mechanism 34, but the head mounting surface is not deformed. However, the configuration is not limited thereto. There is nothing.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 8 (a), the carriage 31 itself is printed as shown in FIG. 8 (b) by forming the material of the carriage 31 with an elastically deformable material (such as a stainless steel leaf spring). It can be curved in the main scanning direction X following the shape of the marking surface of the medium P. In the illustrated example, there are six head blocks 32a. In the case of such a configuration, even a corrugated cardboard in which the printing surface shape of the printing medium P is warped in the main scanning direction X can be handled more flexibly than the above-described embodiment. Further, when the inkjet head 32 is composed of a plurality of head blocks 32a, a fold along the sub-scanning direction Y is formed at the boundary between the head blocks 32a of the carriage 31, so that the main scanning can be performed more flexibly. Can be curved in direction X.

  Further, as the configuration of the upstream roller 33, at least a part of the core roller having rigidity may be employed in which a deformable flexible material such as sponge or rubber is coated. By adopting the roller having such a configuration as the upstream roller 33, the roller surface is freely deformed according to the shape of the printing surface of the print medium P, and as a result, the carriage 31 that fixes the upstream roller 33 becomes the print medium P. The effect that it becomes easier to follow by the shape of the stamp surface can be achieved.

1 ... Inkjet printing device (1a ... casing)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Paper feed part 20 ... Conveyance part 30 ... Printing part 31 ... Carriage 32 ... Inkjet head 33 ... Upstream roller (33a ... L-shaped member (support member))
34 ... support mechanism (34a ... elongated hole, 34b ... swinging support shaft)
35 ... Point contact roller 36 ... Cylindrical roller 40 ... Discharge unit 50 ... Control unit P ... Print medium R, F ... Oscillation fulcrum

Claims (3)

A transport unit that transports the print medium along the sub-scanning direction that is the transport direction;
A carriage mounted with an inkjet head disposed above the transport unit and extending along a main scanning direction orthogonal to the sub-scanning direction;
A plurality of point contact rollers rotatably supported by the carriage and in contact with a printing surface of the printing medium conveyed by the conveyance unit to form a predetermined head gap between the printing surface and the inkjet head;
The carriage is supported so that it can swing in the main scanning direction, swing in the sub-scanning direction, and vertically move in the vertical direction with its position in the sub-scanning direction regulated. A support mechanism;
An ink jet printing apparatus comprising: The carriage includes an upstream roller rotatably supported by a pair of left and right support members provided at an upstream end of the carriage in the sub-scanning direction.
The support mechanism is configured such that a vertically extending elongated hole formed in the support member is fitted to a pair of left and right swing support shafts fixed to the apparatus housing. The inkjet printing apparatus according to claim 1. The inkjet printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the carriage is formed of an elastically deformable member.

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