Tohoku Ricoh Co., Ltd.

Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Masayuki Shima

Mitsuo Sato

Tomoya Otomo

Kenji Endo

Hidetoshi Aizawa

Kiyohiko Yakuwa

Naoki Ashikaya

A stencil printer includes an ink drum having a hollow cylindrical porous support and a pair of flanges supporting opposite ends of the support. Annular elastic members are respectively affixed between the inner periphery of the porous support and the outer circumferences of the flanges. When the ink drum is pressed against a press roller, the elastic members deform and cause an ink roller disposed in the ink drum to be displaced. As a result, the ink roller contacts the inner periphery of the porous support brought into contact with and positioned by the press roller. The ink roller and the inner periphery of the ink drum can therefore contact each other under uniform pressure without the rigidity of the drum being reduced and without any shaking.

Stencil printer

A paper feeder for feeding papers to an image forming apparatus and a paper tray elevation device therefore are disclosed. A first tray is movable up and down with a plurality of papers stacked thereon. A paper feed member feeds the papers from the first tray in a preselected direction of paper feed. A second tray is positioned beside the first tray in substantially the horizontal direction and movable up and down with a plurality of papers stacked thereon. A shifting device shifts the entire paper stack from the second tray to the first tray. A horizontal elevating mechanism elevates the first tray while maintaining it in substantially the horizontal position. An interlocking mechanism at least elevates, when papers of greater in size than the papers to be stacked on the first or second tray are stacked over the first and second trays in a single stack, the second tray in interlocked relation to the elevation of the first tray while maintaining the second tray in substantially the horizontal position. The papers of greater size are capable of being stacked over the first and second trays and fed by the paper feed member.

Paper feeder and paper tray elevation device therefor

In an image forming apparatus, a sheet stacking device for stacking sheets sequentially driven out of the apparatus body has a stack tray including a base, and a pair of side fences mounted on the base and each having an inclined portion. The side fences are moved to positions matching the width of sheets beforehand. When the sheet driven out of the apparatus body falls onto the base, the opposite widthwise edges of the sheet are reshaped in an inverted arch configuration by the inclined portions of the side fences. Hence, sheets sequentially stacked on the base have their opposite edges accurately aligned with each other.

Sheet discharging device for a printer

A document reading apparatus comprises a contact type image sensor having a protection glass located at a surface where a document is to be read, first roller mechanism for supplying a document which is to be read in a document transport direction on the protection glass of the contact type image sensor, a platen roller which is rotatably supported at a position confronting the protection glass, a support mechanism for rotatably supporting the platen roller, and a restricting mechanism. The support mechanism permits a movement of the platen roller in a predetermined direction which is approximately perpendicular to a surface of the protection glass depending on a thickness of the document which is supplied between the platen roller and the protection glass by the first roller mechanism. The restricting mechanism restricts a position of the platen roller to a predetermined position when no document is inserted between the platen roller and the protection glass so that a predetermined gap is formed therebetween.

Document reading apparatus

In a printing-plate preparation apparatus employed in a screen printing machine comprising a thermal printhead provided with a heating-element portion, a rotatably supported platen roller for delivering a stencil paper and urging the same against a surface of the heating-element portion of the thermal printhead, and a manuscript-reading unit movable back and forth between a first position and a second position an improvement resides in that an outer peripheral surface of the platen roller is made of non-adhesive material while urged against a surface of the heating-element portion of the thermal printhead, whereby the stencil paper is clamped between the platen roller and the thermal printhead so as to be delivered while subjected to a perforation operation conducted by the heating-element portion of the thermal printhead.

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Sendai, Japan

Masayuki Shima