Brother Kogyo Kabushiki-Kaisha

Hiroyuki Shingai

Kazutoshi Nakamura

Yasuo Yamasaki

Takayuki Akimatsu

Shota Shinoya

Ryoichi Matsushima

Shohei Ichikawa

Kotaro Kurokawa

Takaaki Mukai

Masanori Hamaguchi

Yuji Takimoto

A printer includes an image forming unit configured to form an image on a sheet by an electrophotographic method, and a recording unit configured to record an image on a sheet by an inkjet method. An image recording position of the recording unit is located above an image forming position of the image forming unit.

Printer

An operation panel unit is used for an image forming apparatus. The operation panel unit is configured to input various control instructions to the image forming apparatus. The operation panel unit includes a display portion, an NFC reading portion, and a USB port. The NFC reading portion and the USB port are disposed on different surfaces of the display portion.

Image forming apparatus and operation panel unit of the image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes: a casing including a first side surface, and a second side surface opposing the first side surface in the first direction, and an NFC board and a USB board that are disposed in the casing. The NFC board has a first board surface. The USB board has a second board surface on which a USB port is mounted. The NFC board and The USB board that are disposed in the casing at a position closer to the first side surface in the first direction than the second side surface. The second board surface is located at a level different from the first board surface in the direction normal to the first board surface. The USB board does not overlap with the NFC board when viewed in the direction normal to the first board surface.

Image forming apparatus having an NFC board and USB board positioned therein

An image reading apparatus includes a conveyor configured to convey a sheet along a predetermined conveyance path; a platen a sheet pressing member made of a resin member; spacers provided on both end portions of the sheet pressing member in a width direction, wherein each of the spacers protrudes toward a platen side, a tip end of the spacer in the protrusion direction contacting the platen at positions out of a reading range of a reading unit in the width direction to secure a gap between the sheet pressing member and a platen; and a protruding portion provided on a central portion of the sheet pressing member in the width direction.

Image reading apparatus

An image reading apparatus includes an imaging unit, a moving mechanism moving the imaging unit between a first position and a second position, a conveyance mechanism, a sun gear, and a planetary gear that rotates by being meshed with the sun gear and having a rotation center configured to revolve around the sun gear. The apparatus also includes a first output gear meshed with the planetary gear and transmits a driving force to the moving mechanism, a second output gear meshed with the planetary gear and transmits a driving force to the conveyance mechanism, a load generation part increasing a rotational resistance of the first output gear when the imaging unit is located at the first position, and a meshing part being meshed with teeth of the planetary gear when the planetary gear revolves around the sun gear.

An image reading apparatus having a conveyed document reading function and a placed document reading function includes: a moving mechanism for moving an imaging unit; a hinge mechanism for swingably connecting a document cover to a document platen; a conveyance mechanism provided to the document cover for conveying a document upon operation of the conveyed document reading function; a driving force transmission mechanism for selectively transmitting a driving force generated from a driving source to the moving mechanism or the conveyance mechanism; a first gear rotatable by receiving the driving force from the driving force transmission mechanism; and a second gear rotatable with being meshed with the first gear for transmitting the driving force to the moving mechanism or the conveyance mechanism, a rotating center line of which coincides with a swinging center line of the hinge mechanism.

Image reading apparatus and image forming apparatus

An image reading apparatus includes: a base section; a reading unit; a movable body; a drive unit; and a cable. The movable body supports the reading unit and reciprocates between first and second end positions in a first direction. The drive unit is disposed on a first side where the first end position is located. The cable has one end portion fixed to a base wall of the base section and another end portion connected to the reading unit. The cable includes: a first elongated portion extending from the one end portion; a curved portion extending from the first elongated portion toward a second side where the second end position is located and then curving toward the first side; and a second elongated portion connected to the another end portion. The curved portion has a part overlapping with the drive unit in the first direction.

Image reading apparatus capable of providing improved layout of wiring cable

A sheet conveying device to convey a sheet in a sheet path is provided. The sheet conveying device includes a separator roller, which is arranged to be rotatably in contact with the sheet to apply conveying force to the sheet, a pad assembly including a separator pad, which is arranged to be in contact with the sheet stack to apply convey resistance to the sheet stack, and a holder, which is swingably attached to a base member and holds the separator pad, the base member being in a fixed position with respect to the separator roller, a spring, which urges the pad assembly toward the separator roller, and a slidable member, which is attached to the pad assembly to be integrally movable with the pad assembly and to be slidably in contact with a first slidable section in the base member.

Sheet conveying device

An image reading device is provided, which includes a controller configured to, when a carriage reaches a turn-around position in a moving direction, control a motor to once stop, then rotate in a second direction opposite to a first direction such that a planetary gear swings to a position separated from an output gear and that an intermediate gear moves to an engagement position to engage with the output gear, and thereafter again rotate in the first direction so as to transmit a driving force from the motor to the output gear via an input gear, a planetary gear, and the intermediate gear.

Image reading device and image forming apparatus having the same

A sheet feeding device, which is configured to feed stacked sheets one by one in a sheet feed direction, is provided with a sheet tray configured to accommodate the stacked sheets, a feed-out roller protruded from the sheet tray and configured to feed the stacked sheets from the sheet tray, a feed-out nip member arranged above and opposite to the feed-out roller, the feed-out nip member being configured to contact an uppermost sheet of the stacked sheets and bias the sheets toward the feed-out roller, a separation unit located on a downstream side, in the sheet feed direction, of the feed-out roller, the separation unit separating a lowermost sheet from the stacked sheets fed by the feed-out roller, and a friction member configured to contact the uppermost sheet of the stacked sheets at a position different from a position where the feed-out nip member contacts the uppermost sheet.

Sheet feeding device and original sheet conveying device with feed-out roller protruded from the sheet tray and friction member applying friction to uppermost sheet

A document feeding device for feeding documents comprises a document input tray on which documents to be fed are placed, a document output tray to which the documents are ejected, and a feeding mechanism which is provided for a feeding path connecting the document input tray and the document output tray via a scanning position and feeds each document from the document input tray to the scanning position and from the scanning position to the document output tray. The document output tray includes a tray part which holds the ejected documents, a projecting part which pushes up a part of the ejected documents on the upstream side in a feeding direction and thereby lifts an upstream end of the ejected documents, and a pressing member which makes contact with the ejected documents from above at a position on the downstream side of the projecting part's apex in the feeding direction.

Document feeding device

An image reader is provided, which includes an intermediate feed roller that is disposed downstream relative to a separation roller on a feeding path and configured to rotate in contact with a document sheet separated and fed by the separation roller and feed the document sheet to a downstream side on the feeding path so as to restrain a variation of a tensile force applied to the document sheet, which variation may be caused when the document sheet is fed and away from the separation roller, and only a single U-turn roller that is disposed downstream relative to the intermediate feed roller on the feeding path, and configured to rotate in contact with the document sheet fed by the intermediate feed roller and feed the document sheet to a reading unit in a U-turn manner on a U-turn path curved along an outer circumferential surface of the U-turn roller.

Image reader

A document feeding device comprises a document input tray, a document output tray, a feeding mechanism provided for a feeding path connecting the document input tray and the document output tray via a scanning position to feed each document from the document input tray to the scanning position and to the document output tray, a turnover mechanism provided for a turnover path connected to the feeding path to return the document after passing through the scanning position to the upstream side of the scanning position while interchanging the front end and rear end of the document, and an ejection mechanism configured so that its document ejection mode can be switched between a first ejection mode for successively ejecting each document while stacking it on documents already ejected to the document output tray and a second ejection mode for successively ejecting each document while sliding it under the already ejected documents.

A sheet ejector, configured to eject sheets so as to insert a later-ejected sheet under an earlier-ejected sheet on a catch tray, includes a feed roller provided to the catch tray, wherein the feed roller is configured to feed, in a predetermined ejecting direction, the later-ejected sheet that is inserted under the earlier-ejected sheet, and a switching mechanism configured to switch a state of the feed roller relative to a sheet on the catch tray between a contact state where the feed roller contacts the sheet on the catch tray and a non-contact state where the feed roller is kept from contacting the sheet on the catch tray.

Sheet ejector and sheet feeder having the same for inserting later-ejected sheets under earlier-ejected sheets

A document feeding device comprises a document input tray, a document output tray placed above the document input tray, and a feeding mechanism provided for a feeding path (connecting the document input tray and the document output tray via a scanning position) to feed each document along the feeding path. The document output tray includes a reference tray and a pivoting tray (on the downstream side of the reference tray) pivotable with respect to the reference tray around a pivot shaft on the upstream side of the pivoting tray. The pivoting of the pivoting tray is restricted at a retracted position by a pivot restricting part when the pivoting tray has pivoted from a document stacking position to the retracted position. The pivot shaft is situated above an upstream end of a stacking surface of the pivoting tray when the pivoting tray is placed at the document stacking position.

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Nagoya, Japan

Hiroyuki Shingai