Abstract: An ink jet printer has a maintenance station in which a movable sled starts from a known position due to a diagonally disposed return spring. A cam profile near the uppermost portion of vertical movement of a movable sled is produced in accordance with a quadratic equation. This quadratic designed equation profile reduces the force required to move the movable sled up the cam profile to its uppermost position. The return spring, which holds the movable sled in the known position by urging a front wall of the movable sled against a front wall of a support housing, also absorbs energy to decrease the noise level of the printer.

Abstract: An image recording apparatus for controlling an image recording operation on the basis of a detected width of a recording medium by a paper width detecting means after the recording medium is fed to a predetermined position on a platen. Whether the recording medium is desirably conveyed or not is determined on the basis of a signal obtained by said paper width detecting means.