Brother Kogyo Kabushiki-Kaisha

Muneaki Takahata

Yoshinori Osakabe

Katsuro Miura

Takashi Maeda

Takashi Ohama

Hiromi Tanaka

Masayoshi Oosaki

Tianjin Xie

Takuya Naniwa

Yuta Uchino

Takashi Fujiwara

Huiqing Xu

A separation member separates a sheet, conveyed by a separation roller in a conveying direction, from remaining sheets supported by a support member. At least one of a first guide and a second guide is a movable guide which moves in a width direction orthogonal to the conveying direction to increase and decrease a distance therebetween. An urging member is retained, at one end thereof, by a base portion in an elastically deformed state and urges the separation member toward the separation roller. In response to the movable guide decreasing the distance between the first guide and the second guide, an engaging mechanism reduces elastic deformation of the urging member by moving the base portion in a first direction. In response to the movable guide increasing the distance, the engaging mechanism moves the base portion in a second direction opposite to the first direction.

Sheet separating device

A multi-function peripheral including an opening-closing member supported by a main body to be swingable around a first axis parallel to a side surface of the main body, between a closed position and an open position, a sheet supporter supported by the main body to be swingable around a second axis parallel to the first axis, between a first position to be on a trajectory of the opening-closing member and a second position to be slanted relative to the side surface, a hinge disposed between the main body and the opening-closing member and including a base attached to the main body to be movable in a vertical direction together with the first axis, and a link mechanism disposed between the base and the sheet supporter and configured to move the sheet supporter to the second position in conjunction with an upward movement of the base.

Multi-function peripheral having a link mechanism for moving a sheet supporter to a second position in conjunction with an upward movement of a base

An image scanning device includes a housing, a scanning unit disposed inside the housing and configured to scan, at a scanning position, an image of a sheet, a conveying mechanism disposed inside the housing, and a cover. The conveying mechanism is configured to convey the sheet along a common path to the scanning position in a first direction, and to discharge the sheet having passed the scanning position selectively along a return path in a second direction and along a one-way path in the first direction. The cover is configured to receive the sheet discharged from the one-way path in an inclined position in which the cover extends upward from the one-way path and is inclined relative to the one-way path.

Image scanning device

A cover opening-closing mechanism is provided, which is configured to allow a cover to rotate around a rotational axis with respect to a housing, the cover opening-closing mechanism including a connecting member configured to connect the housing with the cover, a first contact portion disposed at the cover, and a second contact portion disposed at the housing, the second contact portion configured to contact the first contact portion of the cover so as to hold the cover in a hold position relative to the housing.

Cover opening-closing mechanism and sheet feeder having the same

A sheet separator including two guides disposed to face each other across a distance in a width direction, at least one of the two guides being configured to move along the width direction to enlarge or reduce the distance therebetween, a separation roller, a separation pad configured to separate sheets being conveyed by the separation roller on a sheet-by-sheet basis in cooperation with the separation roller, a pressing mechanism configured to apply a pressing load to press the separation pad toward the separation roller, and an adjuster configured to increase the pressing load in response to the at least one of the two guides moving in a direction to enlarge the distance, and decrease the pressing load in response to the at least one of the two guides moving in a direction to reduce the distance.

Sheet separator

An image reading apparatus, including a driving unit, a separator unit, a conveyer unit, a reader unit, a reducer unit, a size detecting unit; and a controller is provided. The separator unit includes a drive shaft, a contact member, and a clutch. The controller manipulates the conveyer unit via the driving unit to convey the sheet at a first conveying speed when the size of the sheet detected by the size detecting unit is greater than a predetermined size. The controller manipulates the conveyer unit via the driving unit to convey the sheet at a second conveying speed, which is lower than the first conveying speed, when the size of the sheet detected by the size detecting unit is one of smaller than and equivalent to the predetermined size.

Image reading apparatus

A sheet conveying device including: a separating roller; a separating piece; and conveying rollers. The separating roller conveys each sheet along a predetermined conveying path in a conveyance direction. The separating piece provides a first nip position in cooperation with the outer peripheral surface of the separating roller for nipping a sheet or sheets therebetween. The conveying rollers are provided at positions downstream of the separating roller in the conveyance direction and provide a second nip position where the sheet is nipped therebetween for conveying the sheet conveyed by the separating roller in the conveyance direction. An imaginary flat plane is defined by connecting the first nip position and the second nip position. The separating piece has a portion positioned downstream of the first nip position and protruding toward the separating roller beyond the imaginary flat plane.

Sheet conveying device and image reading apparatus

In an image reading apparatus, it is judged whether an original sheet is a first sheet type, whose sheet length is longer than or equal to a first conveyance distance and shorter than a second conveyance distance, and a second sheet type, whose sheet length is longer than or equal to the second conveyance path, the first conveyance distance being a distance between a first conveyance roller and a second conveyance roller, the second conveyance distance being a distance between a supply roller and the second conveyance roller. At least one of a leading-edge arriving timing; a trailing-edge arriving timing; and a sub-scanning magnification is set dependently on the judged result. An image is read from the original sheet by using an image reading unit and a conveyance unit based on the set at least one of the leading-edge arriving timing; trailing-edge arriving timing; and sub-scanning magnification.

Image reading apparatus having conveyance rollers conveying original sheet

An image reading apparatus has a separation section configured to supply a sheet one by one, at least three driving rollers arranged downstream of the separation section in a sheet conveying direction and configured to convey the sheet, at least three driven rollers configured to be urged by the driving rollers and driven to rotate by rotation of the driving rollers, respectively, and an image reader unit configured to read an image of the sheet conveyed in the conveying direction. Sheet conveying forces by one of at least three driven rollers and one of at least three driving rollers arranged at the central portions in the sheet width direction is greater than sheet conveying forces by others of the at least three driven rollers and others of the at least three driving rollers arranged at both side portions in the sheet width direction.

An image reader includes a discharge cover disposed on a side of the image reader, the discharge cover forming part of a side surface when closed and forming a discharge port when opened. Undesired illumination from light entering the image reader through the discharge port is suppressed from impinging on a contact image sensor.

Image reader

A sheet feeding device is formed with a sheet mounting part, and a sheet feeding unit defining a sheet feed path having inlet and outlet. The sheet feeding unit is configured to introduce the sheet on the sheet mounting surface from the inlet, feed the sheet along the feed path, and discharge the sheet from the outlet onto the sheet mounting part. The sheet mounting part includes first and second members arranged next to each other. The first and second members with a border therebetween define a sheet mounting surface. An end portion of one of the first and second members has one or more protruded portions, while an end portion of the other member has one or more slits configured to receive the one or more protruded portions. An upper surface of the one member is located at a higher position than the upper surface of the other member.

Sheet-feeding device that smoothly feeds sheets in multiple direction

An image reading apparatus having a sheet path, which includes two ejection paths, is provided. The sheet path is switchable between the two ejection paths by a switchable member. An outlet cover arranged on a casing of the image reading apparatus is movable between a closed position and an open position to open and close an outlet of the second ejection path. When the outlet cover moves from the closed position to the open position, and before the switchable member switches the sheet path from the first ejection path to the second ejection path, switching of the sheet path from the first ejection path to the second ejection path is detectable.

In an image reading apparatus, it is judged whether an original sheet is either one of a first sheet type, whose sheet length is longer than or equal to a first conveyance distance and shorter than a second conveyance distance, and a second sheet type, whose sheet length is longer than or equal to the second conveyance path, the first conveyance distance being distance between a first conveyance roller and a second conveyance roller, the second conveyance distance being distance between a supply roller and the second conveyance roller. The original sheet is conveyed at a separation timing, when the original sheet separates away from the supply roller, at a speed that is smaller for a case where the original sheet is of the first sheet type than for a case where the original sheet is of the second sheet type. An image is read from the conveyed original sheet.

Image reading apparatus that reads original sheet while conveying the same

A conveying mechanism is disposed inside a housing of an image scanning device and is configured to convey the sheet along a common path to the scanning position in a first direction, and to convey the sheet having passed the scanning position selectively along a return path in a second direction and along a one-way path in the first direction. A scanning unit disposed inside the housing scans, at the scanning position, an image of a sheet. The discharge cover is openably and closably disposed in the housing and is configured, when open relative to the housing, to define a discharge port and receive the sheet conveyed along the one-way path and discharged through the discharge port. The maintenance cover is openably and closably disposed in the housing and is configured, when open relative to the housing, to expose the one-way path and the return path.

An image reading apparatus capable of reading an image from a sheet is provided. A sheet path to eject the sheet after being read may be selectively switched between a first ejection path to eject the sheet to an ejection unit and a second ejection path to eject the sheet on an outlet cover, which is openable/closable to a casing of the image reading apparatus. When the outlet cover is moved to open, a flapper arranged in a branch point between the first ejection path and the second ejection path moved in conjunction with the opening motion of the outlet cover, and the sheet path is switched from the first ejection path to the second ejection path. Further, a plurality of arms in a cover motion detector having a linkage mechanism rotate, and the rotating motions are detectable by a detector switch arranged at a terminal of the linkage mechanism.

Growing community of inventors

Toyoake, Japan

Muneaki Takahata