Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Corporation

Haruo Sayama

Yasuhiro Takai

Yasushi Matsutomo

Michihiro Yamashita

Yuriko Kamei

Kiwamu Morita

Takahiro Fukunaga

Masanori Yamada

Yasunobu Ohkawa

Kengo Matsuyama

Shigenori Morimoto

Mitsuhiro Shimada

Yoshinobu Okumura

Keisuke Hara

Susumu Nonaka

Junichiro Matsumoto

Tatsuya Ogawa

Ryohsuke Sugiyama

Ryousuke Sugiyama

An image forming apparatus includes a feeding portion, an image forming portion, a discharge portion, a paper transport path, a plurality of detection members, and a control portion. The image forming portion forms images on sheets of paper fed from the feeding portion. The path transports paper from the feeding portion to the discharge portion via the image forming portion. The detection members detect transport state of paper at respective locations on the path including the feeding portion, between the feeding and image forming portions, within the image forming portion, between the image forming and discharge portions, and the discharge portion. Upon detection of paper jam at any of the locations, the control portion displays, on an indicator, information identifying a location where the jam has occurred, and the image forming portion where paper is detected by the detection members, as locations of paper to be eliminated from the path.

Image forming apparatus

A sheet feeder has a feed passage and includes feed roller pairs, sensors, and a controller. The feed roller pairs are arranged along the feed passage and feed sheets of paper in a feed direction along the passage by nipping the sheets. Each of the sensors is fitted at or near one of the feed roller pairs and senses a specified point on each of the sheets when the sheet is nipped by at least the associated roller pair. The controller includes a memory for storing reference feed timings as proper feed timings at each of which the specified points on the sheets should pass one of the sensors. The controller finds the real feed timing when each of the sensors senses the specified point on the sheet nipped by at least the associated roller pair. When each of the sensors senses the specified point on the sheet nipped by at least the associated roller pair, the controller finds the time difference between the associated reference feed timing and the associated real feed timing and controls, according to the found time difference, the feed speed at which the feed roller pair or pairs nipping the sheet feed it.

Sheet feeder

An image device includes a movable member, a guide shaft, and a shaft bearing. The movable member moves back and forth inside the device along a guide shaft when reading or recording image information. The guide shaft includes an arc portion in at least part of a cross-section. The shaft bearing is penetrated by the guide shaft at two locations in the movement direction that differ from the center of gravity in the movable member. The shaft bearing includes two inclined faces contacted by the arc portion of the guide shaft in the cross-section. The respective two inclined faces of the shaft bearing are at an angle &#x3b8;f (rad) and an angle &#x3b8;r (rad) with the perpendicular direction. The angle &#x3b8;f (rad) and the angle &#x3b8;r (rad) satisfy the following inequality:cos {&#x3c0;/2&#x2212;(&#x3b8;)}&#x3e;0.

Image device

A paper processing device includes a processing unit, a paper ejection roller, a sorting mechanism, a paper overlapping mechanism, and a control unit. The processing unit performs predetermined processing upon sheets of paper being conveyed one at a time along a paper conveyance direction. The roller discharges the sheets in the paper conveyance direction, after completion of processing by the processing unit. The sorting mechanism shifts the roller to and fro between an initial position and a sorting position in a direction orthogonal to the paper conveyance direction. The overlapping mechanism superimposes, between the processing unit and the roller in the paper conveyance direction, a predetermined number of sheets of paper upon which processing has been completed. The control unit superimposes a predetermined number of sheets of paper by operating the overlapping mechanism, before shifting the roller from the initial position to the sorting position with the sorting mechanism.

Paper processing device, paper processing method and image forming apparatus

Provided is an image forming apparatus support structure which permits improvements in both strength and dimensional accuracy, and which can also accommodate increases in size. Because respective coupling member(s) and steel channel of respective post member(s) may be sequentially and individually connected, it is possible to improve support structure dimensional accuracy, it being possible to assemble support structure(s) such that deviation(s) in the respective coupling member(s) and the respective post member(s) offset(s) one another. Furthermore, steel channel is suitable for supporting load(s) in vertical direction(s). Moreover, respective coupling member(s) may serve as brace(s) when interposed between respective post members. Where this is the case, strength of the overall support structure may be made extremely high, and strain exhibited by the overall support structure may be reduced.

Image forming apparatus support structure

A foldable tray is angularly displaceably supported at an end portion of a sheet tray of a printer body so as to be angularly displaceable about a supporting shaft, which foldable tray is capable of being folded onto an upper surface side of the sheet tray and is angularly displaced downwardly from the sheet stacking position when a force which exceeds the maximum loading weight of sheets is applied to the foldable tray. Further, the sheet tray comprises a stopper for holding the foldable tray at a sheet stacking position and at a downwardly displaced position by abutting the foldable tray against the stopper.

Sheet tray of image forming apparatus

Disclosed is a heat-transfer type thermal recording device capable of recording/printing color pictures by heating an ink tape using a thermal line head and transferring ink from the ink film tape to a continuous sheet of recording paper where the ink film tape and recording paper are conveyed simultaneously, consisting of a vertical cassette unit with an ink-tape supply reel and a take-up reel which allows both to freely rotate by suspending them between two side panels of the cassette unit, with such a configuration in which the ink tape from the supply reel is continuously retrieved by the take-up reel through an inferior aperture in the cassette unit after the ink tape is drawn through a superior aperture in the cassette unit. The cassette unit is installed in a designated position inside the thermal recording device to enable easy loading and unloading and to simplify positioning of the ink film tape between the thermal line head of the recording device and the recording paper platen reel.

Growing community of inventors

Yamatokoriyama, Japan

Haruo Sayama