Ink jet printer

• US 5,530,466 A
• Filed: 09/20/1994
• Issued: 06/25/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/1989
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: Takayashi, Nobuhisa, Komuro, Kiyoto, Fujioka, Satoshi, Nishizawa, Atsushi, Hirabayashi, Hiromu
• Primary Examiner(s): Hartary, Joseph W.
• Application Number:
  US08/308,936
• Time in Patent Office: 644 Days
• Field of Search: 347/104, 346/134, 346/136, 400/641, 492/30, 492/33, 492/34, 492/27, 226/193
• US Class Current: 347/104
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 11/002 Curing or drying the ink on the copy materials, e.g. by heating or irradiating
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 11/0022 using convection means, e.g. by using a fan for blowing or sucking air

Abstract

In an ink jet printer having a sheet conveying mechanism which changes the speed of conveyance of a recording sheet in accordance with the density of characters or a pattern to be printed to intermittently convey the recording sheet in such a manner that all printed portions are properly dried before the sheet is conveyed to a subsequent position. The recording head of the printer performs a printing operation while pushing the front end portion of the recording sheet against the platen with a sheet retaining lever.

Claims

1. An ink jet printer comprising:

recording means for jetting ink droplets while moving in a direction perpendicular to the direction of conveyance of a recording medium having a dot image forming side and a back side, to thereby form a dot image on said recording medium according to an input time, further comprising a cylindrical roller having a small wall thickness and which contacts the back side of said recording medium, and a plate-shaped roller with peripheral teeth and which contacts the dot image forming side of said recording medium, said cylindrical roller and said plate-shaped roller being provided downstream of said recording means in such a manner that said rollers are confronted with each other.

2. The ink jet printer as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plate-shaped roller and said cylindrical roller comprise nip rollers which gently nip said recording medium to discharge said recording medium having the dot image formed thereon.

3. The ink jet printer as claimed in claim 1, wherein said cylindrical roller having a small wall thickness is formed at at least one end of a solid discharging roller, said cylindrical roller and said solid discharging roller being formed of an elastic material.

4. The ink jet printer as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a first rotatable shaft for supporting said plate-shaped roller;

and a second rotatable shaft for supporting said cylindrical roller.

5. The ink jet printer as claimed in claim 4, further comprising a plurality of cylindrical rollers mounted on said second rotatable shaft and spaced apart from one another;

and a plurality of plate-shaped rollers mounted on said first rotatable shaft and spaced apart from one another.