1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a transporting device that transports a recording medium in a recording apparatus such as a facsimile machine or a printer, and a recording apparatus including the transporting device.
2. Related Art
An ink jet printer is an example of a recording apparatus. The ink jet printer has a transporting unit that transports a recording sheet as an example of the recording medium. The transporting unit is disposed upstream of a recording head that ejects ink. The transporting unit has a pair of rollers including a drive roller that is rotated and a driven roller that is rotated by contacting the drive roller.
A guide member (platen) is disposed downstream of the transporting unit at a position facing the recording head. The guide member supports and guides the recording sheet in the downstream direction. If the recording sheet rises above the guide member, the distance between the recording head and the recording sheet becomes inappropriate and the recording quality is impaired. To prevent the recording sheet from rising above the guide member, the position of the nip point between the drive roller and the driven roller of the transporting unit may be adjusted such that the transporting unit feeds the recording sheet toward the surface of the guide member, that is, such that the recording sheet is pressed against the guide member.
However, the effect of pressing the sheet against the guide member by the transporting unit may be insufficient. Therefore, a restraining device that restrains the recording sheet from rising as described in Japanese Patent No. 3894311, or a pressing section that presses the recording sheet against the guide member as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-322632 may be provided immediately downstream of the transporting unit.
However, in the recording apparatus described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-322632, the pressing section applies a transport load to the recording sheet before the trailing edge of the recording sheet passes the pressing section. Furthermore, when the trailing edge of the recording sheet passes the pressing section, the transport load is suddenly released. At this time, the trailing edge of the recording sheet, having passed the transporting unit, is free from the restraint applied by the transporting unit. Since the transport load applied by the pressing section is suddenly released in such a situation, the accuracy with which the recording sheet is fed fluctuates and impairs the recording quality. A similar technical problem may occur in the recording apparatus described in Japanese Patent No. 3894311.