A method for printing on the surface of an object uses a print head generating ink drops to print at least a first swath and subsequently a second swath of ink onto the surface in such a way that the swaths are mutually adjacent and overlap in a strip. The first and second swaths are printed as solid areas and the swaths are XY stitched in the strip. In the strip, at least one of the two swaths is additionally stitched by using a function of an ink amount profile in a Y direction. High-quality or even highest-quality printed products can therefore be produced, in particular avoiding defects that are visible to the human eye in a region of overlap or a strip between swaths that are printed next to one another.

In an example, an apparatus is described that includes a first print section, a second print section, a dryer, and a printing path. The first print section includes a first fluid ejection array, while the second print section includes a second fluid ejection array. The dryer is positioned adjacent to the first print section and the second print section. The printing path that travels in a first direction through the dryer after exiting the first print section and travels in a second direction through the dryer after exiting the second print section.

A heating device configured to heat a medium on which a liquid for printing is impinged includes a heating element configured to face a processing surface, the processing surface being a surface on which the liquid is impinged, a blower configured to blow gas to a heating region between the heating element and the processing surface from the heating element side of the medium, and a control unit configured to control an output of the heating element and a driving amount of the blower. The control unit changes the driving amount of the blower in accordance with a type of the medium while maintaining the output of the heating element constant regardless of the type of the medium. The decrease in the drying efficiency of the medium is suppressed.

There is provided a printing apparatus including: a casing; a conveyance route formed in an internal space of the casing; a printing head positioned in the internal space of the casing, and configured to eject an ink to the sheet passing through the conveyance route; and a fixing device positioned in the internal space of the casing, at a location, of the conveyance route, at a downstream in the conveyance direction of the printing head, and configured to apply, to the sheet having the ink adhered thereon, an energy for fixing the ink so as to fix the ink to the sheet. A shortest distance A between the fixing device and the discharge port is longer than a shortest distance B between the printing head and the fixing device.

A concave and convex pattern forming apparatus, includes a pattern forming unit that forms a pattern with a transparent infrared absorbing material on a surface of a foam body that is foamed by heating; and an irradiation unit that irradiates, with infrared rays, the surface having a pattern formed by the pattern forming unit.

An inkjet printer includes a dryer configured to attenuate the effects of temperature differentials arising in substrates that are caused by holes in a media transport belt and a platen covering a vacuum plenum. The dryer includes a heater, a media transport belt cooler, and a media transport belt. The media transport belt is configured to move substrates past the heater after ink images have been formed on the substrates and the media transport belt cooler is positioned to remove heat energy from the media transport belt after the media transport belt has passed the heater and the substrates have separated from the media transport belt. The substrate cooler is configured to reduce a temperature of the media transport belt to a temperature that attenuates image defects arising from temperature differentials in the media transport belt when the media transport belt is opposite the heater.

A vacuum roller system and a method of operating the vacuum roller system can include a group of vacuum rollers operable to move a sheet of media through a dryer. The vacuum rollers do not require a vacuum to be drawn between the vacuum rollers. Each vacuum roller can include a plenum operable to direct the vacuum to a top portion of the vacuum roller to drive the sheet of media from one roller to the next roller. The plenum can engage vacuum holes in a rotating vacuum roller when the vacuum holes in the vacuum roller are aligned with the plenum.

A medium support portion including a support face that supports a medium, a heater configured to heat a surface of the medium remotely from the support face, an airflow supply unit configured to supply airflow, along the surface of the medium, to a region between the medium and the heater, a plurality of heater support portions that support the heater, and at least one first temperature detection unit located remotely from the support face and configured to detect a spatial temperature in the region that is in contact with the surface of the medium are provided, in which the at least one first temperature detection unit is disposed between two mutually adjacent heater support portions among the plurality of heater support portions.

A printing apparatus includes a coater, a first discharger, a first dryer, a second discharger, and a second dryer. The coater applies a coating liquid to both faces of a sheet material. The first discharger discharges a first liquid to one face of the sheet material with the coating liquid applied to both faces of the sheet material. The first dryer dries the sheet material to which the first liquid discharged from the first discharger is applied. The second discharger discharges a second liquid to the other face of the sheet material that has passed through the first dryer. The second dryer dries the sheet material to which the second liquid discharged by the second discharger is applied.

A sheet material cutting device includes a cutting blade and a guard member. The cutting blade is displaceably disposed and cuts a web-shaped sheet material. The guard member faces the sheet material and has a slit through which the cutting blade passes when the cutting blade is displaced to a cutting position.