Abstract: A printer such as an ink jet printer in which a record carrier is fed around a transport roller and over an elongated flat supporting surface extending alongside the roller, with a printing head displaceable along that surface. To cause the carrier to lie flat under the printing head, the surface lies in a plane which is a secant plane with respect to the roller, the secant defining a roller circular segment having a height less than half the roller radius. Between the head and the roller, a ruler presses the record carrier toward but not against the flat surface at that location, causing the carrier to lie flat under the printing head.