Ink jet recording apparatus for maintaining constant distance between recording head and recording medium

An inkjet recording apparatus for recording an image on a recording medium with a recording head, equipped with a plurality of recording elements disposed in an ink discharge plane, for discharging ink droplets in accordance with image data, said apparatus comprising:

• carrying means for carrying said recording head;
• moving means for reciprocally moving said recording head carried by said carrying means relative to said recording medium in a main scan direction, said main scan direction being different from an arrangement direction of the plurality of recording elements;
• feed means for feeding said recording medium to a record position by said recording head, said feed means feeding said recording medium in a sub-scan direction different from the main scan direction;
• and
• actuation means for actuating said recording head to conduct recording in forward movement or backward movement of said moving means, wherein said carrying means comprises wheel members for maintaining a constant distance between the ink discharge plane of said recording head and said recording medium, said wheel members being located upstream and downstream of the ink discharge plane of said recording head as viewed in the main scan direction.

An ink jet recording apparatus for recording an image on a recording medium with a recording head for discharging ink droplets in accordance with image data, said apparatus comprising:

• moving means for reciprocally moving said recording head relative to said recording medium;
• feed means for feeding said recording medium to a record position by said recording head;
• detection means for detecting a trailing edge of said recording medium in a vicinity of said feed means;
• and
• control means for selecting a record mode in accordance with an output of said detection means, wherein said control means selects a first record mode in which recording is conducted in each of forward movement and backward movement of said moving means before said detection means detects the trailing edge of said recording medium and selects a second record mode in which the recording is conducted in one of the forward movement and the backward movement of said moving means after the detection of the trailing edge of said recording medium by said detection means.