Patent ID: 8511816

Claim:
A printing apparatus comprising: a media path configured to transport at a first velocity media sheets including a first media sheet and a second media sheet subsequent to the first media sheet spaced at an inter-copy gap distance from the first media sheet; a marking module configured to jet ink drops for the first media sheet to generate an image on the first media sheet and configured to jet ink drops for the second media sheet to generate an image on the second media sheet; a flattener configured to operate at a second velocity slower than the first velocity to reduce the inter-copy gap distance between the first media sheet and the second media sheet including: a first rotational flattener member including a first rotational flattener member surface; a second rotational flattener member coupled to the first rotational flattener member at a flattener nip, the flattener nip configured to flatten the ink jet drops of the image on the first media sheet in the flattener nip and configured to flatten the ink jet drops of the image on the second media sheet in the flattener nip; a release agent distributer configured to distribute release agent on the first rotational flattener member; and a controller configured to control the printing apparatus to reduce the inter-copy gap distance between the first media sheet and the second media sheet to prevent the first rotational flattener member from contacting the second rotational flattener member between the first media sheet and the second media sheet; wherein the second rotational flattener member is selectively coupled to the first rotational flattener member at the flattener nip, wherein media sheets are controlled to enter the flattener nip with substantially zero gap between the media sheets; wherein the controller is configured to control the printing apparatus to decouple the second rotational flattener member from the first rotational flattener member at the flattener nip between printing apparatus print jobs.