PRINTER WITH MULTI-FUNCTION DOCUMENT FEEDING SYSTEM

The present invention relates to a printer including a printing station (13, 14) and a multi-function document feeding system for feeding and guiding a document through the printing station. The feeding system comprises a friction roll document feeding means (24, 25, 26, 27), a pin wheel document feeding means (33, 34, 35) for feeding a document (D) of the continuous web type having uniformly spaced pin feed holes in its outer edges, and document guide means including a first set of document guide members (40, 42, 48) defining a first feed path for document travel through the printer and a second set of document guide members (44, 46, 42) defining a second feed path for document travel through the printer. A printer according to the invention is characterised in that the friction roll document feeding means (24, 25, 26, 27) is located upstream of the printing station (13, 14) in the direction of movement of a document through the friction roll feeding means and is capable of feeding of both individual cut form documents (6) and continuous web type documents (D). The first feed path (40, 42, 48) extends through the pin wheel document feeding means (33, 34, 35), through the friction roll document feeding means (24, 25, 26, 27) and through the printing station (13, 14) to provide a feed path for a continuous web type document (D), and the second feed path (44, 46, 42) extends through the friction roll feeding means (24, 25, 26, 27) and through the printing station (13, 14) to provide a feed path for individual cut form documents (C).