Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Corporation

Nisca Corporation

Sharp Labushiki Kaisha

Hidetoshi Kaneko

Jinichi Nagata

Takashi Kubo

Toshiki Ohgita

Hideo Yoshikawa

Yoshinori Shiraishi

Yoshiaki Masuda

Susumu Hashimoto

Masaru Tsuji

Hideo Matsuda

Minoru Tomiyori

Yasushi Matsutomo

Shin Tsugane

Yoshitaka Matsumoto

Tokiyuki Okano

Kouzou Yamaguchi

Kazunori Soda

Yoshinori Hayashi

Koichi Moriyama

Mamoru Akiyama

Tomohisa Shimizu

Sei Takahashi

Kazunori Iwasa

Masayuki Nagatani

Tomiyuki Ishikawa

Nobuyuki Ueda

Yasutaka Maeda

Hideshi Izumi

Yuhi Akagawa

Yasuhiro Ono

Masato Tokishige

Yasunobu Ohkawa

Masatsugu Ohishi

Toshihiko Seike

Kiyoshi Inamoto

Kengo Matsuyama

Hiroshi Kawamoto

Motokazu Nakao

Toyokazu Mori

Masatsugu Hatanaka

Atsushi Kurimoto

Yasutoshi Kawai

Syuichi Yoshinaka

A paper feeding device includes a stacking plate for stacking sheets. The stacking plate is movable vertically within a range from a lower limit position to a pick-up position. The stacking plate has a first surface facing the lower limit position and a second surface facing the pick-up position. The paper feeding device also includes a driving device for driving the stacking plate. The paper feeding device has a locking member for locking the staking plate in the lower limit position. The locking member has a deformable section for contact with the second surface of the stacking plate. The deformable section becomes deformed by a driving force applied through the stacking plate as locked in the lower limit position by the driving device, to unlock the stacking plate.

Moving member holding mechanism, paper feeding device, and image forming apparatus

A cover support mechanism regulates an opening angle of an openable cover with respect to a chassis of an electronic device. The cover constitutes a portion of the chassis. The mechanism has a cord shaped or tape shaped stopper, and a support unit. The stopper has a first end portion and a second end portion, the first end portion being fixed to the cover. The support unit supports the second end portion of the stopper. The support unit is provided to the electronic device. The support unit has a receiving portion, a biasing member, and a braking unit. The receiving portion has a space for pulling in the second end portion of the stopper. The biasing member applies force to the stopper for pulling in the stopper into the receiving portion. The braking unit applies frictional force to the stopper when the cover is opened.

Cover support mechanism and image forming apparatus incorporating the same

Rack gears of far-side paper guides are provided such that manners of meshing with pinion gears are made tighter at respective regions corresponding to locations for constraining paper of standard size, as compared to other regions. In addition, by constituting width guide plates which are upstream in a paper feed directions from far-side paper guides and width guide plates which are downstream in a paper feed directions therefrom such that respective areas of surfaces receiving paper, and respective distances from respective width guide plates to gear mesh locations, are respectively set so as to be substantially mutually equal. Impacts from stacks of paper produced during placement of paper within a paper supply apparatus may be received substantially equal at upstream and downstream from gear mesh of far-side paper guides, and torques acting on far-side paper guides upstream and downstream from gear mesh locations may be made substantially mutually equal.

Paper supply apparatus

In one embodiment of the present invention, a sheet post-processing apparatus includes an ejection path that successively feed sheets each with an image found thereon from an ejection outlet. A processing tray is disposed under the ejection outlet to temporarily store sheets fed from the ejection path. A port processing unit performs post processing such as binding and punching. The post processing unit is located under the ejection path and is provided with a cooling fan that sends air toward the post processing unit.

Sheet post-processing apparatus and image formation apparatus

In one embodiment, a charge removal member, which removes static electricity built up on paper waste, is disposed in a collecting containerused for collecting the punch wastegenerated by punching transported paper. The charge removal memberis disposed in an open top portion of the collecting container, in a location corresponding to a hole-punching punchdisposed in the punching unit, with a proximal end portionof the charge removal membersupported by the collecting containerand the distal end portion of the charge removal memberforming charge removal comb-shaped needlesextending towards the central portion of the collecting container.

Punching apparatus

A sheet stacking device includes: an evacuation section for transporting and ejecting sheets; a sheet exit tray for stacking the ejected sheets; an arm supporting member; and a sheet presser arm including a supported end at one end, a free end at the other end which is capable of pressing the sheets stacked on the sheet exit tray directly or via a contact member attached to the free end, and a flexure portion having flexibility between the supported end and the free end. The supported end is attached to the arm supporting member. The arm can apply, by the flexibility of the flexure portion, a pressing force to the sheets stacked on the sheet exit tray and a repulsive force to each of the ejected sheets when a front end of the ejected sheet strikes against the arm.

Sheet stacking device and image forming apparatus including the same

A transport roller is provided in a transport path in order to transport paper, the transport roller transporting the paper downstream in the transport path by making contact with the paper, and At least one contact portion that makes contact with the paper is provided in the transport roller. The contact portion is deformable in a direction that releases pressing force received from the paper when transporting the paper.

Transport roller, transport mechanism, and image forming apparatus

A sheet feeding device is adapted to be placed beside a sheet processing apparatus by being lifted on a side close to the sheet processing apparatus for engagement with the sheet processing apparatus. The sheet feeding device includes a housing, casters, and an elastic member. The housing stores therein sheets to be supplied to the sheet processing apparatus. Provided for supporting the housing, the casters are mounted on a bottom portion of the housing and include a first caster and a second caster. The first caster is located close to the sheet processing apparatus so as to be movable upward and downward. The second caster is located far from the sheet processing apparatus. The elastic member applies a downward force to the first caster.

Sheet feeding device

Front and side surfaces of an image forming device are provided with a front cover and a side cover, respectively, which cover an image forming section, and which can opened and closed. A supporting hinge of the side cover is provided along a lateral edge thereof toward the rear of the main body of the device, and the side cover opens to widely expose a lower portion of the image forming section. Further, by means of an obstructing body provided integrally with the front cover, the and side covers are given an order of opening and closing.

Image forming device having front and side covers

Front and side surfaces of an image forming device are provided with a front cover and a side cover, respectively, which cover an image forming section, and which can be opened and closed. A supporting hinge of the side cover is provided along a lateral edge thereof toward the rear of the main body of the device, and the side cover opens to widely expose a lower portion of the image forming section. Further, by means of an obstructing body provided integrally with the front cover, the front and side covers are given an order of opening and closing.

Image forming device having internal access capability

An electrophotographic apparatus is provided with a fixing device having the first through third fixing rollers for forming the first fixing section by contacting the first and second fixing rollers as well as forming the second fixing section by contacting the second and third fixing rollers, the first fixing section being temperature-adjusted in relation to a first copying mode, the second fixing section being temperature-adjusted in relation to a second copying mode. Either the first or second fixing section is temperature-adjusted according to the order of priority in such a manner that after the completion of the temperature adjustments, temperature adjustments with respect to the other fixing section is successively carried out.

Electrophotographic apparatus having two fixing sections and control

A copying machine as an example of electrophotographic printing machines is composed of a main body which permits both black-and-white copying and full color copying, and a reverse and retransport unit provided under the main body, for reversing and retransporting a sheet after being copied on one surface thereof to the main body. The main body has a fixing means including upper and lower fixing portions formed between three heat rollers. The lower fixing portion placed closer to the reverse and retransport unit is associated with the black-and-white copying, and the upper fixing portion is associated with the full color copying. Upper and lower discharge transport paths for discharging the sheet out of the device are provided so as to respectively extend from the upper and lower fixing portions. Further, a retransport path is provided so as to extend from the lower fixing portion. Since the above three paths are provided without having any crossing point, the structure of the paths is simplified. Furthermore, when carrying out a black-and-white copying on one surface of the sheet and a color copying on the other surface, the black-and-white copying is carried out first, thereby eliminating the problem of the sheet being stuck in the device.

Electrophotographic printing machine providing both monochrome and color

A fine particle recovery device for recovering fine particles such as waste toner accumulating at a plurality of locations such as a photoreceptor and a transferring belt in an image forming apparatus. The fine particle recovery device possesses transport path, constituted by waste toner recovery pipes, which allows the waste toner from the plurality of locations to pass therethrough; a waste toner recovery container, attached to the exit of the transport path, which stores the waste toner in one lot; and auger axes, installed inside the transport path, which convey the waste toner toward the waste toner recovery container. Further, among transport distances from the respective locations to the waste toner recovery container, the transport distance from the location having the most waste toner to the waste toner recovery container is set to be the shortest.

Fine particle recovery device for recovering particles, such as toner,

The present invention provides a compact electrophotographic device in which the gap between a screen and a photosensitive body can be kept uniform throughout the screen, no fogging is caused on a copied imaged, no wasteful space is around the photosensitive body, color contaminations are completely prevented and the quality of a color copied image is improved.

Electrophotographic apparatus with reduced contamination from toner

Growing community of inventors

Yamatokoriyama, Japan

Hidetoshi Kaneko