Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Kazuya Tsutsui

Masahiro Tamura

Shuuya Nagasako

Akihito Andoh

Shingo Matsushita

Tamaki Kaneko

Makoto Hidaka

Yoshiaki Ushirogata

Tetsuji Watanabe

Tooru Horio

An image forming apparatus may include an image forming mechanism configured to form an image and transfer the image on a sheet member, and/or a sheet processing unit. The sheet processing unit may include a sheet aligning unit, an ejection sheet tray configured to stack the sheet member, a sheet stopper configured to align the sheet member at a trailing edge thereof, a return mechanism configured to return the sheet member stacked on the ejection sheet tray to the sheet stopper, and/or a discharging mechanism configured to discharge the sheet member, aligned by the return mechanism, from the sheet stopper to the ejection sheet tray. The sheet aligning unit may include a stacking mechanism configured to stack the sheet member transferred into the sheet aligning unit and/or a sheet aligning mechanism configured to align the sheet member.

Image forming apparatus including sheet processing unit capable of aligning sheets

The present invention provides a sheet processing apparatus, such as a finisher or sorter, for implementing predetermined processing such as alignment and stapling on an inserted sheet material (i.e. any sheet-form recording medium such as recording paper, transfer paper, or an OHP sheet), and an image forming apparatus comprising the sheet processing apparatus. The sheet processing apparatus comprises a rear end fence horizontal portion that contacts the end portion of the sheet member on the upstream side of a sheet member conveyance direction during alignment of the sheet member, a rear end fence vertical portion for supporting the other parts of the sheet member, and a staple unit for stapling the sheet member. The stapling direction in which a staple is punched by a stapler of the staple unit is set to be parallel to the rear end fence horizontal portion that contacts the rear end portion of the sheet member.

Sheet processing apparatus and image forming apparatus comprising same

A sheet feeding device includes a conveyor belt having a first row of a plurality of convex portions intermittently arranged on an inner circumferential surface of the conveyor belt in a sheet conveying direction. The sheet feeding device further includes a plurality of rollers around which the conveyor belt is spanned such that a direction substantially perpendicular to the sheet conveying direction is parallel to an axial direction of each of the rollers. The rollers include concave portions on outer circumferential surfaces thereof, in which the convex portions of the first row of the conveyor belt are engaged. The concave portion of at least one roller of the plurality of rollers has a width different from a width of each of the plurality of rollers other than the at least one roller.

Conveyor belt, sheet feeding device, and image forming apparatus including the sheet feeding device

To ensure that the leading edge of the sheet ejected onto a traydoes not push and move loaded sheets in advance, loaded sheets are retained at position (II) by a retaining roller. A roller (returning roller in this case)for applying external force to a sheet S ejected onto the trayand moving the sheet toward a end facefor alignment is displaced to a different position in the direction of ejection 'a', thereby firmly gripping the trailing edge of the sheet S ejected on the tray

Sheet-like medium alignment apparatus

A sheet-shaped medium processing apparatus of the present invention is provided with a pair of arranging members, and these arranging membershave both arranging function for arranging paper S piled on a trayafter being discharged in a discharge direction 'a' from a paper discharge rollerat only fixed position, and sorting/arranging function for arranging the papers S grouped together at different position in direction (direction perpendicular to paper face) perpendicular to the discharge direction 'a' in every copy of grouping together predetermined number of the paper S. For that reason, it is possible to conduct sorting/arranging action by using small drive power and to arrange the paper S in high precision regardless of largeness of piled amount of the paper S on the tray

Sheet-shaped medium processing apparatus

A sheet feeding apparatus includes a sheet feeding device that picks up sheets from stacked sheets and feeds the sheets one by one, a drive device that drives the sheet feeding device, first and second detecting devices that detect the fed sheet, and a control device that feeds the sheet while setting a drive amount of the drive device. The control device calculates a first drive amount of the drive device during a first interval from when the first detecting device detects the sheet to when the second detecting device detects the sheet based on information detected by the first and second detecting devices, and the control device sets a second drive amount of the drive device during a second interval from when the second detecting device detects the sheet to when the drive device is stopped based on the calculated first drive amount.

Sheet feeding apparatus, sheet conveying apparatus, and image reading appartus

A sheet-shaped medium treatment apparatus is disclosed. The sheet-shaped medium treatment apparatus has returning means. The sheet-shaped medium treatment apparatus is movable between a home position (I) and a press/return position (II). In addition, before leading end of discharged sheet-shaped medium Sgets contact with top surface of sheet-shaped medium Salready piled on said piling means, the returning meansis situated at said press/return position (II) and acts upon said already piled sheet-shaped medium Sto retain it in proper position, and after said discharged sheet-shaped medium Sfalls on said piling meanssaid fallen sheet-shaped medium is aligned by being collided against said vertical wallby said returning action of said returning meansthereafter, sheet-shaped medium is arranged by said arranging action of said arranging means in the direction of piercing the paper plane. Also, sheet-shaped medium treatment apparatus includes after-treatment apparatus, and the after-treatment apparatus has stapling means for aligning and stapling a plurality of sheet-shaped media, if sheet-shaped medium is sheet-shaped medium bundle stapled by the stapling means, returning means is controlled so that it is remote from top of the sheet-shaped medium bundle.

Sheet-shaped medium treatment apparatus

Sheet-like medium alignment apparatus including device and means locatable at different positions

A sheet-shaped medium processing apparatus including a pair of arranging members. The arranging members have both an arranging function for arranging paper piled on a tray after being discharged in a discharge direction from a paper discharge roller at a fixed position, and a sorting/arranging function for arranging the papers grouped together at a different position in a direction perpendicular to the discharge direction for grouping together a predetermined number of papers. The apparatus arranges and sorts using low drive power and arranges the paper with high precision regardless of the amount of paper on the tray.

A sheet-shaped medium aligning apparatus, an image forming apparatus, and a sheet-shaped medium after-treatment apparatus where an arranging device is moved from a position predetermined to arrange sheet-shaped mediums on a sheet piling device to a position receiving the sheet-shaped mediums in a body so that, in taking out the sheet-shaped mediums from the body, an injury of hands or destruction of the arranging device can be prevented.

Sheet-shaped medium aligning apparatus, image forming apparatus, and sheet-shaped medium after-treatment apparatus

A sheet processing apparatus includes a sheet conveying path for receiving a sheet conveyed from the outside and conveying the sheet therethrough to be discharged, a stack tray for stacking a plurality of the conveyed sheets for stapling, a stapler for stapling the plurality of the sheets stacked on the stack tray, and an output tray for receiving the discharged sheets. The sheet conveying path includes a first conveying path for guiding the conveyed sheet to the stack tray for stapling, and a second conveying path for guiding the conveyed sheet to the output tray bypassing the stack tray. The sheet processing apparatus further includes a discharging member for discharging the conveyed sheet or the sheets guided by the first conveying path or second conveying path, a discharging member switching device which selectively switches the discharging member to a closed condition for discharging the sheet or sheets by sandwiching them or to an open condition for discharging the sheet or sheets without sandwiching them, and a controller configured to control the discharging member switching device to switch the discharging member to the open condition before a tip end of the sheet being conveyed through the first conveying path reaches the discharging member.

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Tokyo, Japan

Kazuya Tsutsui