Patent ID: 7344326

Claim:
An inkjet recording apparatus, comprising: a housing; an inkjet recording head arranged to eject ink downwardly onto a recording sheet; a sheet feeding mechanism configured to feed a portion of the recording sheet, a first side of which has been printed on by the inkjet recording head, to a location outside of the housing along a substantially horizontal straight path to expedite drying of the ink, the sheet feeding mechanism keeping the sheet substantially straight from where printed on by the inkjet recording head until the sheet reaches the location outside of the housing, and the sheet feeding mechanism configured to reverse an orientation of the recording sheet, having the first side which has been printed thereon, by conveying the recording sheet through a location which is below the recording head and then back to the recording head so that a second side of the recording sheet is printed thereon by the inkjet recording head; and a controller configured to control the sheet feeding mechanism to maintain the recording sheet at the location outside of the housing for a predetermined time period to allow the ink printed on the first side of the sheet to dry before printing on the second side of the sheet.