A transport device includes a transport unit that transports a sheet-like transport material without holding a one-end-side portion of the transport material in a transport direction; and a blowing unit that blows air against a lower surface of the transport material that is transported by the transport unit via multiple blowing holes that open with respect to the lower surface, an arrangement interval of the multiple blowing holes in the transport direction being inconstant in the transport direction.

An indirect printing system is disclosed having an intermediate transfer member (ITM) in the form of an endless belt that circulates during operation to transport ink images from an image forming station. Ink images are deposited on an outer surface of the ITM by one or a plurality of print bars. At an impression station, the ink images are transferred from the outer surface of the ITM onto a printing substrate. In some embodiments, the outer surface of the ITM 20 is maintained within the image forming station at a predetermined distance from the one or each of the print bars 10, 12, 14 and 16 by means of a plurality of support rollers 11, 13, 15, 17 that have a common flat tangential plane and contact the inner surface of the ITM. In some embodiments, the inner surface of the ITM is attracted to the support rollers, the attraction being such that the area of contact between the ITM and each support roller is greater on the downstream side than the upstream side of the support roller, referenced to the direction of movement of the ITM.

An ink jet recording method includes a step of forming a first image containing a first liquid and a coloring material on an ink receiving medium and a liquid absorbing step of bringing a liquid absorbing member including a porous body into contact with the first image to absorb at least some of the first liquid from the first image to form a second image.

Provided an intermediate transfer member for use in an image forming method including: (1) applying a liquid for reducing fluidity of ink onto the intermediate transfer member; (2) forming an image by applying the ink onto the intermediate transfer member on which the liquid for reducing the fluidity of the ink is applied; and (3) transferring the image onto a recording medium, the intermediate transfer member including: a base; and an elastic layer formed on the base, the elastic layer including: a stack of a first layer being an outer layer and having a plurality of protrusions formed on a surface thereof; and a second layer located below the first layer, an elastic modulus (E1) [MPa] of the first layer and an elastic modulus (E2) [MPa] of the second layer satisfying a relationship of (E1−E2)≥5 [MPa].

An embodiment of the present disclosure is directed to a wet sacrificial coating composition. The coating composition is made from ingredients including: a waxy starch; at least one cross-linker; at least one hygroscopic material; at least one surfactant; and a liquid carrier.

A cleaning apparatus carries ink ejected from an inkjet head and cleans a transfer body that transfers the ink onto a recording medium at a transfer nip, and the cleaning apparatus includes: a cleaning rotor that contacts the transfer body and rotates in a counter direction opposite to a moving direction of the transfer body to remove a pre-coating agent and an impurity present on the transfer body after transfer.

A three-dimensional (3D) printer and method are provided, including a substrate, a liquid deposition device configured to deposit a liquid dispersion including a suspension of a particulate material in a liquid vehicle, the liquid vehicle including a solvent but devoid of a binder material, onto the substrate to form a non-patterned layer on the substrate, a solvent removal device configured to remove at least a portion of the solvent from the liquid vehicle from the non-patterned layer to form a dried non-patterned layer, and a liquid binder print head configured to deposit a liquid binder onto the dried non-patterned layer to form a printed pattern on the dried non-patterned layer.

Embodiments of the invention relate to a method of indirect printing with an aqueous ink. Related apparatus, systems and treatment formulations are disclosed herein. Some embodiments relate to an aqueous treatment formulation for use with an intermediate transfer member of a printing system. In some embodiments, the system comprises a treatment station disposed downstream of the impression station and upstream of the image forming station for forming a uniform thin layer of a liquid treatment formulation onto a surface of an intermediate transfer member (ITM) at a lower run thereof.

A digital printing system (10) includes a print head (622) and a processor (20). The print head is configured to jet droplets of ink. The processor is further configured to translate a required shade of a color, to be printed at a given location on a substrate by tire print head, into a sequence of pulses (625, 630), the sequence including: (a) up to a predefined maximum number of driving pulses (625) that cause the print head to jet respective droplets, and (b) a tickling pulse (630), which has a smaller amplitude than the driving pulses and which causes the print head to jet a droplet smaller than the droplets jetted in response to the driving pulses. The processor is additionally configured to apply the sequence of pulses to the print head.

A printing apparatus acquires characteristic information about a recording medium and executes a light quantity adjustment in a reading operation using a reading unit based on the acquired characteristic information. By using the above-described configuration, it is possible to prevent an increase in the number of processes for analyzing read data obtained by reading a test pattern.