Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Masashi Kimijima

Mamoru Yorimoto

Mitsuru Yamada

Kenji Hiratani

Satoshi Araaki

Hiroshi Hirose

Fumihiro Tsunoda

A sheet feeding device including a sheet feed cassette. The sheet feed cassette includes a tray extendable and contractible in a direction of sheet feed; a guide member having a long groove provided on a bottom plate of the sheet feed cassette in the direction of sheet feed; a pressing member having a shaft in a lower portion thereof loosely inserted into the guide member, the pressing member movable along the guide member and contacting a rear edge of a sheet stored in the sheet feed cassette; a link cam plate having a long guide groove into which the shaft of the pressing member is movably inserted, the link cam plate being swingably provided on the bottom plate of the sheet feed cassette; and a sheet size detector including a convex portion and a size detector to detect a size of the sheet stored in the sheet feed cassette.

Sheet feeding device and image forming apparatus including the same

A sheet feeding device comprises a sheet feeding roller, having a first circumferential section and a second circumferential section, configured to rotate in a direction from the first circumferential section to the second circumferential section; and a pressure plate provided apart from the sheet feeding roller and configured to mount thereon a recording sheet stack having recording sheets ranging from a maximum number to a minimum number. The first circumferential section includes a first contact point for contacting, when the sheet feeding roller is rotated, a leading top edge of the recording sheet stack having the maximum number of recording sheets; and a second contact point for contacting, when the sheet feeding roller is rotated, a leading top edge of the recording sheet stack having the minimum number of recording sheets.

Device for feeding a recording medium at a controlled distance and image forming apparatus having such device

A drive force transmitting mechanism includes a first gear rotatably supported by a first shaft element, a first gear holding unit including the first shaft element and a first support element supporting the first shaft element, a second gear rotatably supported by a second shaft element, a second gear holding unit including the second shaft element and a second support element supporting the second shaft element. The second gear holding unit moves relative to the first gear holding unit, to thereby contact and separate the second gear with and from the first gear. A drive force is transmitted from the first gear to the second gear engaged therewith. A movement of the second gear is regulated by abutting the second shaft element against a curved surface of the first support element that curves at a predetermined curvature relative to an axis line of the first shaft element.

Drive force transmitting mechanism, and image forming apparatus including the drive force transmitting mechanism

The current invention is directed to systems and methods determining an overflow situation for a output catch tray device for holding a predetermined capacity of a image-carrying medium in image-duplicating machines such as photocopiers, facsimile machines and printers. The overflow condition is monitored by keeping track of a number of sheets of an image-carrying medium in a predetermined size and is independent from an inflexible mechanical device such as a torque limiter on a holding roller. In addition, the overflow beyond the predetermined capacity is flexibly adjusted based upon the conversion data.

Method and systems for holding image carrying media of various sizes

A catch type sheet tray for accommodating sheets sequentially driven out of an image forming apparatus by catching the leading edges of the sheets. The tray has a transport unit for transporting the sheet driven out through the outlet downward. A holder receives the sheet conveyed by the transport unit by catching the leading edge of the sheet while causing the trailing edge of the sheet to hand down to the outside. A mounting section mounts the transport unit on a portion of the apparatus from which the horizontal tray has been removed. The catch type tray is mounted on the apparatus in place of the horizontal tray.

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Yokohama, Japan

Masashi Kimijima