Dual feed paper path for ink-jet printer

摘要

An ink-jet printer having improved print quality and full color printing capability on plain paper media. To accommodate placement of both input and output media trays on the same side of the printer housing for operator convenience, a paper path with a direction reversal is employed. A paper preconditioning preheater with a curved surface and a multi-purpose paper path component accomplish the direction reversal. The printer further includes a manual feed path for guiding a manually fed sheet or envelope from a manual feed inlet slot at the top, rear corner of the printer to a path converging location with the primary feed path. The preheater includes a heating portion disposed along the primary path between the path converging location and the-print area, to provide the capability of preheating media fed either from the input tray or the manual feed slot.