Abstract: A platen-gap regulation apparatus for regulating a carriage with respect to a platen of a printer, comprises: a pair of guide members rotatably mounted on the printer via an eccentric portion, for running the carriage; and regulating means for imparting the same rotational displacement quantity to both the guide members, wherein the carriage is separated from and drawn near to a printing reference plane in parallel thereto.

Abstract: An auxiliary roller is disposed in the proximity of sides of feed rollers and in the proximity upward from a separation pad. At the print time, the auxiliary roller is slightly projected toward the side of print sheet from roller faces of the feed rollers. The auxiliary roller is displaced as paper is displaced in a stack direction of the paper, and can be freely rotated. A hopper is moved up, paper is pressed against the feed rollers, and the separation pad abuts the feed rollers. Then, the feed rollers and a transport roller are rotated forward for feeding the paper to the transport roller. Further, the paper is sent from the transport roller at a distance equal to or greater than the length along the feeding path between the position of the front end of paper placed in a paper feed tray and the abutment center point of the separation pad and the feed rollers. Subsequently, the feed rollers and the transport roller stop, the hopper is moved down, and the separation pad is brought away from the feed rollers.

Abstract: Springs 34 and 35 are located on the back face of a paper cassette, between a movable plate 32 and a bar 31, coupled with a side edge aligner 27. A slot extending in the direction in which a spring load is generated is formed in the movable plate, and a hook portion is formed at the end of the spring in the direction in which the spring is extended or contracted. The length of the slot and the length of the spring end in the direction in which the spring load is generated differ for the individual springs, and correspond to the distance the movable plate is displaced. That is, a size difference is defined for each spring until the spring load is applied. During the insertion of the paper cassette, the movable plate is displaced by the mechanism constituted by the groove cam 41 and the boss 36a, and in accordance with the displacement, different spring loads are multiply applied the paper side edge aligning member via the bar.

Abstract: A platen-gap regulating apparatus for regulating a carriage with respect to a platen of a printer, comprises: a pair of guide members rotatably mounted on the printer via an eccentric portion, for running the carriage; and regulating means for imparting the same rotational displacement quantity to both the guide members, wherein the carriage is separated from and drawn near to a printing reference plane in parallel thereto.

Abstract: A valve opening/closing mechanism operated to open a passage by the rotation in the direction of paper feed of a paper feed motor is provided in a part of the passage from an ink cartridge to a recording head and a problem such as the leakage and mixture of ink caused when a printer is vibrated or tilted is prevented beforehand by opening the passage only in recording.

Abstract: Disclosed is a printer wherein an inverted paper feeding roller (5), for inverting and feeding a recording sheet, is located under a horizontal, paper transportation path (20), along which is provided a main paper feeding roller (21) for feeding a recording sheet to a recording/writing unit; and wherein when the recording sheet reaches the main paper feeding roller (21), paper pressing rollers (8) and (16) that are in contact with the inverted paper roller (5) are separated from it to reduce the transportation resistance engendered by the recording sheet, and a movable guide member (30), which is located at the portion whereat the horizontal paper transportation path (20) and the inverted paper transportation path meet, is smoothly connected to the horizontal paper transportation path (20) to prevent the occurrence of a flipping sound at this portion.

Abstract: The rear edge support rollers which protrude in the U-shaped sheet paths on the upstream side of the sheet feeding direction prevent the rear edge of the sheet from sliding in contact with the path walls and restrain back tensions from working on the main sheet feed roller while the sub-sheet feed rollers which are disposed inside the U-shaped path are imparted with the revolutionary resistances that correspond to the curvatures of the paths so as to reduce the loads which are given to the main sheet feed roller to work in the direction of forwarding the sheet by the rear edge of the sheet thrusting against the outer lateral wall due to the stiffness of the sheet.

Abstract: A printer is provided in which even if short sheets are fed therethrough, these sheets are properly fed and are prevented from twisting during a sheet feed operation. Thus a paper jam caused by a defective sheet feed operation can be prevented. The printer includes sheet feed rollers, a hopper that is retractable with respect to the sheet feed rollers 21, the hopper urging a sheet to be printed upon toward the sheet feed rollers 21, and a link that insures the hopper moves in parallel with the sheet feed rollers when retracted, and when even short sheets are placed within the hopper.

Abstract: An ink jet printer having a pair of supporting portion for supporting from below both side portions of a sheet to be discharged after characters are printed on the surface of a sheet. At least one of the pair of supporting portion includes a roller, which may be either a driving roller, which conveys discharging sheets from the sheet discharge section, or a driven roller, which rotates upon contacting a discharging sheet to convey the sheet from the sheet discharge section. As a consequence, the sheet is discharged smoothly, without reducing sheet feeding accuracy even when stiff sheets are printed upon by the printer.

Abstract: A printer for feeding printing sheets of different thicknesses including a sheet feeding roller 30 adapted to convey a printing sheet P. A pinch roller having a shaft 40a is provided and adapted to press a printing sheet against sheet feeding roller. A supporting member 41 is provided for rotatably supporting pinch roller 40 through shaft 41. An urging member 45 is provided for applying the pressing force through the supporting member to the pinch roller. A guide member 46, discrete from supporting member 41, is positioned by shaft 40a of pinch roller 30, and adapted to lead the front edge of the printing sheet to the nipping region of sheet feeding roller 30 and pinch roller 40.

Abstract: Generally speaking, in accordance with the invention, a printer is provided for consistently printing on a sheet of recording media regardless of any curl in the recording media. The printer includes a feed roller for feeding a sheet of recording medium through the printer. At least one pinch roller is provided for pressing the sheet against the feed roller. At least one guide is provided with an end which contacts the feed roller in the vicinity of the contact point so as to guide the sheet toward the contact point. A biasing member is provided for biasing the end of the guide against the feed roller, and at least one control roller is rotatably attached to the guide to control the contact force exerted by the end of the guide against the feed roller.

Abstract: A paper discharge section for a printer having a printer body includes first and second support portions mounted on the printer body. At least one of the support portions is slidable towards and away from the other support portion. The first support portion can rotate between at least a first position at which the first support portion supports a first bottom side portion of the sheet of paper and at least a second position in which the first support portion does not support the first bottom side portion of a sheet of paper. A slidable edge guide for guiding a first side edge of a sheet of paper is provided and slidable towards the other edge guide. A linkage mechanism links the slidable edge guide to the first support portion to cause the edge guide and first support portion to slide together.

Abstract: An ink jet printer comprising a recording device for jetting ink droplets from a printer head while moving in a direction perpendicular to the direction of conveyance of a recording medium in the form of a sheet, to form a dot image on the recording medium according to an input time, further including a pair of sheet retaining devices respectively arranged before and behind in the direction of travel of the recording device, where one of the pair of sheet retaining devices arranged before in the direction of travel is displaced to push against the recording medium in order to form a predetermined clearance between the printer head and the recording medium, while the other is displaced to leave from the recording medium.

Abstract: An ink jet printer including a recording device for jetting ink droplets from a printer head while moving in a direction perpendicular to the direction of conveyance of a recording medium in the form of a sheet, to form a dot image on the recording medium according to an input time. The ink jet printer further includes a conveying mechanism, including a gate roller that performs an intermittent feed operation at a speed corresponding to the pixel density of a character or pattern recorded on the recording medium; and a roller provided downstream of the recording device, the roller being operated after the rear edge of the recording medium passes through the conveying mechanism located upstream of the recording device, to convey the recording medium while in contact with the dot image forming surface of the recording medium, the roller being movable into and out of engagement with the recording medium.

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.

Abstract: A printer which is compact, can accurately supply paper and has reduced noise characteristics. Additionally, the printer enables easy correction of paper jams and can be selectively operated in various modes according to the user's preference. The printer includes a paper feed roller which is pivotable between a paper feed position and a non-feeding position, a drive force transmitting mechanism for transmitting a drive force to the paper feed roller, a carriage reciprocatively movable along the width of the paper fed by the paper feed roller, and an intermediate transmission mechanism attached to the side of the carriage. Only when the carriage is in a stand-by position, the intermediate transmission mechanism couples with the drive force transmitting mechanism to transmit to the paper feed roller a paper-feed directional rotating force so as to rotate the paper feed roller to the paper feed position.

Abstract: A printer which is compact, can accurately supply paper and has reduced noise characteristics. Additionally, the printer enables easy correction of paper jams and can be selectively operated in various modes according to the user's preference. The printer includes a paper feed roller which is pivotable between a paper feed position and a non-feeding position, a drive force transmitting mechanism for transmitting a drive force to the paper feed roller, a carriage reciprocatively movable along the width of the paper fed by the paper feed roller, and an intermediate transmission mechanism attached to the side of the carriage. Only when the carriage is in a stand-by position, the intermediate transmission mechanism couples with the drive force transmitting mechanism to transmit to the paper feed roller a paper-feed directional rotating force so as to rotate the paper feed roller to the paper feed position.