JPH09295750A - Paper housing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the falling of a stopper at the front end of paper tray, to a lower position, and to be an obstacle of the paper exhaust, when the paper tray is moved to a storing position, in a paper tray which can be drawn out from an image forming device main body. SOLUTION: A paper tray (an auxiliary stacker) 72 is provided allowable to be drawn out, under an image forming device main body, and a stopper 75 allowable to fluctuate at the erecting position and the lower position is provided at the front end of the paper tray 72. By erecting the stopper 75 when the paper tray 72 is drawn out, the exhausted papers are housed in the paper tray 72 by locking their front ends to the stopper 75. When the paper tray 72 is moved to a storing position, the stopper 75 is abutted to the front end 71a of a stacker base (guide surface) 71, and pulled down to the lower position. Consequently, the papers are exhausted without striking against the stopper 75.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is provided in an image forming apparatus for discharging a sheet after image formation from a predetermined discharge port,
The present invention relates to a sheet storage device that stores the discharged sheets.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of sheet storage device,
It has been considered that a sheet tray for stacking and holding sheets is slidably provided between a storage position stored under the image forming apparatus and a protruding position protruding from the image forming apparatus. If the paper tray is configured in this way, when a large number of large papers are discharged, the paper trays are arranged in the projecting position and the papers are stacked and held, and otherwise, the paper trays are arranged in the storing position and the image forming apparatus is formed. The occupying area can be reduced.

Further, in this type of paper accommodating apparatus, it has been considered to provide a stopper at the front end of the paper tray for locking the front end of the paper discharged onto the paper tray.
By providing such a stopper, it is possible to align and hold many sheets of paper on the paper tray.

[0004]

However, if a stopper is provided on the slidably provided paper tray as described above, the paper tray is always placed at the projecting position when the paper is ejected, as described below. I have to do it. That is,
When the paper tray thus configured is arranged at the storage position, the stopper is arranged near the discharge port of the image forming apparatus,
This is because the paper discharge path is blocked. Therefore, even when an image is formed on one small sheet, the sheet tray has to be arranged at the projecting position, and as a result, the area occupied by the image forming apparatus cannot be sufficiently reduced.

Therefore, the applicant of the present application, an upright position at which a stopper provided at the leading end of the paper tray stands up from the upper surface of the paper tray to lock the leading end of the paper discharged onto the paper tray, and the upright position thereof. It has been proposed that the sheet discharged from the above-mentioned discharge port is provided so as to be movable between the lower position and the lower position where it passes above.

However, even if the stopper is provided movably in this way, if the paper tray is arranged in the storage position while the stopper is arranged in the standing position, the stopper may block the paper discharge path. is there. If image formation is performed in this state, the sheet after image formation will not be smoothly discharged. Therefore, when arranging the paper tray at the storage position, it is necessary to take care not to forget to dispose the stopper at the low position.

Therefore, the present invention has been made for the purpose of providing a sheet accommodating device capable of automatically disposing a stopper at a low position when disposing a sheet tray at a storage position.

[0008]

The invention according to claim 1 made in order to achieve the above object, is provided in an image forming apparatus for discharging a sheet after image formation from a predetermined discharge port. A sheet accommodating device for accommodating ejected sheets, which is slidably provided between a storage position stored in the lower portion of the image forming apparatus and a protruding position protruding from the image forming apparatus, and is provided on the upper surface. A sheet tray for stacking and holding the ejected sheets, an upright position provided at the tip of the sheet tray and standing up from the upper surface of the sheet tray to lock the tip of the sheets ejected on the sheet tray, When the stopper, which is positioned lower than the standing position and is movable between a lower position for passing the upper side of the sheet discharged from the discharge port, and the sheet tray slides to the storage position , The serial stopper, characterized in that and a stopper moving means for moving the said lower position.

In the present invention thus constituted, if the paper trays are arranged at the projecting position and the stoppers are arranged at the standing position, many papers are stacked and held by the paper trays, and the leading ends of the papers are held. The paper can be aligned by locking with a stopper. When the image is formed without using the paper tray, the paper can be passed over the stopper by disposing the paper tray in the storage position and the stopper in the low position. Therefore, the area occupied by the image forming apparatus can be favorably reduced.

Further, according to the present invention, when the paper tray slides to the storage position, the stopper moving means moves the stopper to the low position. Therefore, the stopper can be automatically arranged at the low position when the paper tray is arranged at the storage position. Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent the occurrence of a situation in which the sheet after the image formation is not smoothly discharged by disposing the sheet tray at the storage position while the stopper is disposed at the standing position.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration of the first aspect, the stopper moving means is provided integrally with the image forming apparatus, and when the paper tray slides to the storage position, It is characterized in that it is brought into contact with a stopper and moved to the low position. In the present invention, the stopper moving means moves the stopper to the lower position by mechanically abutting the stopper. Therefore, even if the paper tray is slid to the storage position while the power of the image forming apparatus is turned off, the stopper is surely arranged at the low position. Therefore, in the present invention, in addition to the effects of the invention described in claim 1,
There is an effect that the stopper can be moved to the lower position more reliably. Therefore, it is possible to more reliably prevent the occurrence of a situation in which the sheet after the image formation is not smoothly discharged.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the structure of the second aspect, the stopper is swung about a horizontal axis orthogonal to the sliding direction of the paper tray, whereby the standing position and the low position are lowered. The stopper moving means is provided so as to be movable between the position and the position, and the stopper moving means contacts the stopper from below the horizontal axis.

In the present invention thus constructed, the stopper moving means comes into contact with the stopper from below the horizontal axis which is the axis of the swing of the stopper. For this reason, when the paper tray slides to the storage position, the stopper is disposed at a low position by tilting to the side closer to the image forming apparatus. in this case,
The area occupied by the image forming apparatus when the paper tray is disposed at the storage position and the stopper is disposed at a low position is extremely small. Therefore, in the present invention, in addition to the effect of the second aspect of the invention, there is an effect that the area occupied by the image forming apparatus can be further reduced.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, in addition to the structure of the second aspect, the stopper is swung about a horizontal axis orthogonal to the sliding direction of the paper tray, so that the standing position and the low position are lowered. It is characterized in that the stopper moving means is provided so as to be movable between the position and the position, and the stopper moving means contacts the stopper from above the horizontal axis.

In the present invention thus constructed, the stopper moving means comes into contact with the stopper from above the horizontal axis which is the axis of the swing of the stopper. For this reason, when the paper tray slides to the storage position, the stopper is disposed at a low position by tilting to the side separated from the image forming apparatus. in this case,
Even if the stopper does not completely move to the low position and stops at a halfway position, there is little possibility that the paper discharge will be obstructed. Therefore, in the present invention, in addition to the effect of the second aspect of the present invention, the effect that the situation in which the sheet after the image formation is not smoothly discharged can be more surely prevented from occurring.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the structure according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, when the stopper is moved to the lower position, the sheet discharged from the discharge port is stored in the sheet tray. It is characterized in that the stopper is disposed substantially the same as or lower than the guide surface for guiding or the upper surface of the paper tray.

According to the present invention, when the stopper is moved to the low position, the stopper is arranged at the same level as or lower than the guide surface of the discharged paper or the upper surface of the paper tray. For this reason, there is almost no possibility that the stopper arranged at the low position will prevent the discharge of the paper. Therefore, in addition to the effect of the invention described in any one of claims 1 to 4, there is an effect that it is possible to more reliably prevent the occurrence of a situation in which the sheet after the image formation is not smoothly discharged.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in addition to the configuration according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, the image forming apparatus is an ink jet printer that forms an image by ejecting ink onto a sheet. And Inkjet printers often use relatively small sheets of paper such as A4 size when placed near a personal computer.
There is a strong demand to reduce the area occupied by the device. In the present invention,
As described above, by arranging the paper tray in the storage position and the stopper in the low position, the area occupied by the image forming apparatus can be favorably reduced. The effect becomes more remarkable.

[0019]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the configuration of an inkjet printer to which the present invention is applied. As shown in FIG. 1, a paper feed cassette 14 capable of accommodating a plurality of printing papers 12 is provided at a rear portion (left side in the drawing) of a printer body 10 as an image forming apparatus. A rotation axis along the width direction of the printing paper 12 (a direction perpendicular to the paper surface: hereinafter also referred to as a left-right direction) is provided in the lower front part of the paper feeding cassette 14 and in contact with the uppermost printing paper 12. A sheet feeding roller 16 is provided. A tray 18 on which the printing paper 12 can be placed is provided in the paper feeding cassette 14, and the tray 18 is biased toward the paper feeding roller 16 by a coil spring 20. Therefore, tray 1
The printing paper 12 on 8 comes into contact with the surface of the paper feed roller 16 by the urging force of the coil spring 20, and is conveyed downward on the guide 21 by the paper feed roller 16 which is rotationally driven by the motor (not shown) (counterclockwise in the drawing). To be done.

Printer main body 1 in front of the paper feed roller 16
0 is covered from above by a cover frame 24 that can be opened and closed. Inside the cover frame 24, the following members are arranged. First, a transport roller 31 that is rotationally driven by a motor, a paper pressing roller 32 that cooperates with the transport roller 31 to transfer the printing paper 12, and a roller holder 33 that rotatably supports the paper pressing roller 32. And are provided. The roller holder 33 is pivotally supported by a mounting shaft 34 and is urged by a biasing member (not shown) toward the conveying roller 31 (clockwise direction in the drawing).
Is urged by. Due to this biasing force, the paper pressing roller 32 is pressed against the transport roller 31.

The printing paper 12 transported on the guide 21 by the paper feed roller 16 is sandwiched between the transport roller 31 and the paper pressing roller 32 and transported on the print guide 35 diagonally below and in the front. In the cover frame 24, a printing unit 50 is further provided at a position facing the printing guide 35. The printing unit 50 includes a recording head 51 that forms an image on the printing paper 12 on the printing guide 35. The recording head 51 is mounted on a carriage 52 that can reciprocate along a guide shaft 53. . The recording head 51 is a well-known ink jet head that forms an image by ejecting ink from the printing surface (nozzle surface) 54.

Below the recording head 51, there are provided a discharge roller 60 which is rotationally driven by a motor, and a spur roller 61 which sandwiches the print sheet 12 after image formation between the discharge roller 60 and discharges it. ing. This spur roller 61
Is made of a thin plate material with many sharp protrusions on the outer circumference. That is, the ink is not dried on the upper surface of the printing paper 12 immediately after image formation, and a rubber roller or the like having a large contact area cannot be used unlike other printers other than the inkjet type. Therefore, the spur roller 61 having a small contact area is used.

The spur roller 61 is axially supported by a plate-shaped spur roller holder 62, and the spur roller holder 62 is attached to a frame 63 that supports the carriage 52. A bent portion 64 bent forward is formed at the lower end of the frame 63, and the bent portion 64 and the spur roller holder 62 form a substantially continuous surface. A partition plate 65 is disposed below the frame 63 substantially parallel to the frame 63, and the partition plate 65 is connected to the cover frame 24. Further, the opening between the partition plate 65 and the spur roller 61 is closed by the above-mentioned surface composed of the spur roller holder 62 and the bent portion 64, thereby preventing dust from falling on the lower stacker 70. There is. Further, the partition plate 65 is provided below the discharge roller 60 and the spur roller 61, and
The stacker 7 holds the printing paper 12 conveyed by 0, 61.
A discharge port 66 for discharging to 0 is formed.

The stacker 70 includes spur roller holders 62,
The folding section 64 and a stacker base 71 as a guide surface located below the partition plate 65, and an auxiliary stacker 72 as a paper tray that can be arranged so as to project forward (shown by the chain double-dashed line in FIG. 1). ing. The stacker base 71 is configured by a part of the base frame 73 of the printer body 10, and is formed in a slightly downward slope in the discharge direction of the printing paper 12. The auxiliary stacker 72 is configured such that it can be stored in the storage space 74 provided below the base frame 73 including the stacker base 71 (shown by the solid line in FIG. 1). That is, like the support plate 181, which will be described later with reference to FIG. 4B, a pair of L-shaped support plates 81 are formed below the base frame 73 so as to face each other and extend in the front-rear direction. . The auxiliary stacker 72 is supported by the support plates 81 on both left and right sides thereof, and is slidable between a storage position below the base frame 73 and a protruding position pulled out forward. Further, a stopper 75 for aligning the front end of the printing paper 12 is provided at the front end of the auxiliary stacker 72. The stopper 75 has a hinge portion 77.
(See FIG. 2), which is connected to the front end of the auxiliary stacker 72, and falls to the front of the auxiliary stacker 72 (shown by a solid line in FIG. 1) and a standing position which rises vertically to the surface of the auxiliary stacker 72 (see FIG. 1). (Indicated by a chain double-dashed line) and is capable of swinging about a horizontal axis.

In this ink jet printer, the upper surface 78 of the auxiliary stacker 72, which is fully projected,
The total length of the surface including the upper surface 79 of the stacker base 71 is
It is almost equal to the total length of the maximum size printing paper 12 that can be used. Further, the printing paper 12 passes through the discharge port 66 from between the discharge roller 60 and the spur roller 61, and is about 45 degrees downward.
Discharged at an angle of °. The front end of the stacker base portion 71 is arranged slightly forward of the extension surface of the stacker base portion 71.

Next, the structure of the stacker 70 will be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 2A shows a stacker 70.
2B is a longitudinal sectional view showing the configuration of FIG. 2B, and FIG. 2B is an exploded perspective view thereof. As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, in this stacker 70, a rectangular notch 83 is formed in the center of the front end of the auxiliary stacker 72, and the stopper 75 has the notch 8
3 is swingably connected via a hinge portion 77 configured as follows. That is, a cylindrical large-diameter shaft 91 is provided on both side surfaces of the stopper 75, and the auxiliary stacker 72 has a shaft hole 93 for rotatably supporting the large-diameter shaft 91.
Flange 90 having a groove is formed on both side surfaces of the cutout portion 83. Further, on both side surfaces of the stopper 75, a small diameter shaft 95 having a relatively small diameter is provided adjacent to the large diameter shaft 91, and the rotation of the small diameter shaft 95 around the large diameter shaft 91 is guided around the shaft hole 93. A guide groove 97 is formed. Here, the guide groove 97 extends from an upright position where the stopper 75 rises perpendicularly to the surface of the auxiliary stacker 72 to a low position where the stopper 75 falls forward and is disposed on the same plane as the auxiliary stacker 72. It is fan-shaped so that it can move. Further, in the guide groove 97, there is formed a ridge 97a through which the small diameter shaft 95 can be elastically overcome in order to hold the stopper 75 in the standing position.

On the other hand, at the tip 71a of the stacker base 71, as shown in the perspective view of FIG. 3, a pair of recesses 71b for accommodating the hinges 77 on both sides of the stopper 75 are formed. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2A, the auxiliary stacker 72 can be stored up to the position where the shaft hole 93 overlaps the tip 71a of the stacker base 71. Further, the top of the flange 90 is formed to have substantially the same height as or lower than the upper surface 79 of the stacker base 71. Therefore, when the auxiliary stacker 72 is stored in this manner, the leading end 71a is moved to the stopper 7
5, the stopper 75 is brought into contact with the large-diameter shaft 91 from above, and the stopper 75 is tilted forward and disposed at a low position. That is, the tip 71a functions as a stopper moving unit. In this state, the stopper 75 is lower than the stacker base portion 71, so that the printing paper 12 discharged through the stacker base portion 71 passes over the stopper 75 and is smoothly discharged.

Further, as shown by the chain double-dashed line in FIG. 2A, by pulling out the auxiliary stacker 72 and disposing the stopper 75 at the standing position, a large number of printing papers 12 can be aligned and held in layers. At this time, the small diameter shaft 95 and the ridge 97a are engaged with each other, and the stopper 75 is prevented from falling forward.

As described above, in the present ink jet printer, when the auxiliary stacker 72 is stored, the stopper 75 comes into contact with the leading end 71a and is automatically arranged at the low position. Therefore, the following effects can be obtained. That is, if the stopper 75 is held at the upright position when the auxiliary stacker 72 is stored, the stopper 75 may block the discharge path of the printing paper 12 and the printing paper 12 after image formation may not be discharged smoothly. However, the present inkjet printer can reliably prevent such a situation from occurring. Therefore, when the printing paper 12 is small or the number of printing papers 12 is small, it is possible to perform good image formation while the auxiliary stacker 72 is stored, and it is possible to properly reduce the area occupied by the inkjet printer. .

Further, since the stopper 75 moves to the lower position by mechanically abutting the tip 71a of the auxiliary stacker 72, the stopper 75 can be surely stored even if the auxiliary stacker 72 is stored with the ink jet printer turned off.
Can be moved to a low position. In addition, the stopper 7
5 is disposed at a low position by falling to the side away from the printer body 10, so that the stopper 75 does not completely move to the low position, that is, a halfway position, that is, the printer body 1.
Even if the sheet is stopped in a state of being inclined toward the outside of 0, there is little possibility that the discharge of the printing paper 12 is obstructed. Moreover,
The stopper 75 arranged at a low position is arranged below the stacker base 71, and there is almost no possibility of obstructing the discharge of the printing paper 12. Therefore, in this inkjet printer, it is possible to excellently prevent the occurrence of a situation in which the printing paper 12 after the image formation is not smoothly discharged.

The surface of the flange 90 on the side of the stacker base 71 is an inclined surface that rises in the discharge direction of the printing paper 12. For this reason, even if the auxiliary stacker 72 is stopped at a position where it is being pulled out, if the stopper 75 is tilted to the low position as described above, the top of the flange 90 will be located at the auxiliary stacker 72.
Since the stopper 75 is positioned lower than that as the upper surface of the printing paper 12, the printing paper 12 passes the flange 90 and is discharged. Even when the printing paper 12 that is longer than the total length of the stacker 70 is used, it is effective to pull out the auxiliary stacker 72 to the maximum and to depress the stopper 75. Also, the flange 9
It is also possible to provide 0 on the lower surface of the auxiliary stacker 72. In this way, the stopper 75 at the low position and the upper surface of the auxiliary stacker 72 can be arranged on the same plane.

Next, FIG. 4A is a vertical sectional view showing the structure of a stacker 170 of another embodiment, and FIG. 4B is a front view thereof. As shown in FIG. 4B, on both sides (only one side is shown in the figure) of the auxiliary stacker 172 of the stacker 170, support plates 181 that project from the lower surface of the stacker base 171 and are bent inward in an L-shape are provided. The auxiliary stacker 172 is slidably supported in the front-rear direction by the support plate 181. Further, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, a stopper 175 is provided in the rectangular cutout 183 formed at the center of the front end of the auxiliary stacker 172.
It is connected via 77 via a horizontal axis so as to be swingable. The hinge portion 177 has a well-known configuration in which shafts protruding from both side surfaces of the stopper 175 are fitted into shaft holes formed on both side surfaces of the cutout portion 183.

Further, the stopper 175 includes a plate-like plate portion 175a for locking the front end of the printing paper 12 and the plate portion 17 thereof.
The hinge portion 1 includes a leg portion 175b that obliquely protrudes from both ends (a lower end in a standing position described later) of the 5a.
77 is formed at the center of the side surface of the foot portion 175b.
With this configuration, the stopper 175 functions as the auxiliary stacker 1.
It is possible to swing between a low position (shown by the solid line in FIG. 4) that is overlaid on the upper surface 178 of 72 and a standing position (shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 4) that rises vertically to the surface of the auxiliary stacker 172. Becomes When the stopper 175 is arranged in the standing position, the foot portion 175b abuts on the inner wall of the cutout portion 183,
The stopper 175 is prevented from falling forward.

Behind the stopper 175 in the low position, a protrusion 172a is formed on the upper surface 178 of the auxiliary stacker 172, and the protrusion 172a has a gentle inclined surface at the rear portion. Therefore, even if the auxiliary stacker 172 is pulled out partway and used while the stopper 175 is arranged at the low position, the printing paper 12 can easily get over the stopper 175. Further, a rectangular notch 185 is formed at the front end of the stacker base 171 to dispose the stopper 175 at a low position and the auxiliary stacker 172 to the storage space 1.
When stored in 74, the stopper 175 is housed in the notch 185. At that time, the upper surface of the stopper 175 is positioned substantially the same as or lower than the upper surface of the stacker base 171.

Further, the front end 181a of the support plate 181 is arranged so as to be disposed in front of the hinge portion 177 when the auxiliary stacker 172 is stored. Therefore, when the auxiliary stacker 172 is stored, the front end 181a (stopper moving means) contacts the lower end of the foot portion 175b to move the stopper 175 to the low position. The support plate 1
The upper surface of 81 is notched near the front end 181a as shown in FIG. 4A in order to facilitate the above movement of the stopper 175.

Therefore, the stopper 175 can be automatically moved to the low position when the auxiliary stacker 172 is stored, as in the above-described embodiment. At this time, the stopper 175 is arranged below the upper surface 179 of the stacker base 171. Therefore, it is possible to favorably prevent the discharge of the printing paper 12 from being hindered. Further, in this embodiment, since the stopper 175 is tilted rearward and arranged at a low position, the area occupied by the inkjet printer can be further reduced.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be implemented in various forms without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, the present invention can be applied to various image forming apparatuses other than the inkjet printer. However, there is a strong demand for the inkjet printer to occupy a smaller area than an image forming apparatus such as a dot impact printer. Therefore, when the present invention is applied to an inkjet printer, the effect of the present invention that the occupied area can be favorably reduced becomes more remarkable. Further, the stopper may slide up and down to move between the upright position and the low position.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the configuration of an inkjet printer to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view and an exploded perspective view showing the configuration of the stacker.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a stacker side of the inkjet printer.

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view and a front view showing the configuration of another form of the stacker.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Printer body 12 ... Printing paper
51 ... Recording head 70, 170 ... Stacker 71, 171 ... Stacker base 72, 172 ... Auxiliary stacker 74, 174 ... Storage space 75, 175 ... Stopper 77, 177 ... Hinge part
181 ... Support plate

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A sheet accommodating device provided in an image forming apparatus for ejecting a sheet after image formation from a predetermined ejection port and accommodating the ejected sheet, which is stored in a lower portion of the image forming apparatus. A paper tray that is slidably provided between a storage position and a protruding position that protrudes from the image forming apparatus, and that holds a stack of the discharged papers on its upper surface, and a paper tray that is provided at the tip of the paper tray. A standing position that stands up from the upper surface of the tray and locks the leading edge of the paper discharged onto the paper tray, and a low position that is positioned lower than the standing position and that passes above the paper discharged from the discharge port. And a stopper moving means for moving the stopper to the low position when the paper tray slides to the storage position. Paper receiving device. 2. The stopper moving means is provided integrally with the image forming apparatus, and when the paper tray slides to the storage position, the stopper moving means comes into contact with the stopper to move the stopper to the low position. The sheet storage device according to claim 1. 3. The stopper moving means is provided so as to be movable between the upright position and the low position by swinging around the horizontal axis orthogonal to the sliding direction of the paper tray. The sheet accommodating apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the sheet abuts on the stopper from below the horizontal axis. 4. The stopper moving means is provided so as to be movable between the upright position and the low position by swinging around the horizontal axis orthogonal to the sliding direction of the paper tray. The sheet accommodating apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the sheet abuts on the stopper from above the horizontal axis. 5. A guide surface for guiding the paper discharged from the discharge port to the paper tray when the stopper is moved to the low position, or a top surface of the paper tray,
The sheet accommodating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the stoppers are disposed at substantially the same level or below the stoppers. 6. The sheet accommodating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is an inkjet printer that ejects ink onto a sheet to form an image.