Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Munekazu Hirata

Takayuki Andoh

Kaoru Tada

Yohei Osanai

Koji Hatayama

Yasunobu Youda

Tatsuaki Nagano

Satoshi Narai

Toshiyuki Horikawa

Tomoya Fujii

Kunihiko Nishioka

Masatoshi Ishida

Masashi Ota

Kazushige Kawamura

Mitsutaka Nakamura

Takuji Kawai

Naoto Kitamura

Kozo Yamazaki

Toshio Yamaki

Daisuke Imaki

Takashi Fujimoto

Haruyuki Honda

Toshikane Nishii

Masanori Namba

An image forming apparatus includes a recording device and an apparatus body to internally house the recording device. The apparatus body includes an attachment unit to be removably mounted in the apparatus body and an apparatus body-side connector. The attachment unit includes an attachment-side connector to be electrically connected to the apparatus body-side connector. The apparatus body also includes a pressing portion to press the attachment unit in a direction in which the attachment-side connector faces the apparatus body-side connector in a state where the attachment unit is attached to the apparatus body. The direction is orthogonal to a mounting direction of the attachment unit. The apparatus body further includes a movable member holding the pressing portion movable between a first position where the pressing portion is closest to the apparatus body-side connector and a second position where the pressing portion is farthest from the apparatus body-side connector.

Image forming apparatus and image forming apparatus body

An article includes a body member and a detachable member detachably attached to the body member. One of the body member and the detachable member includes a cover portion having an engaging portion on an inner wall face of the cover portion. The other includes a covered portion that is covered with the cover portion and has an engaged portion on an outer wall face of the covered portion. The engaging portion and the engaged portion are configured to be disengaged by warping the cover portion so that the cover portion displaces to an outer wall face side of the cover portion. The one of the body member and the detachable member includes a finger-applying-position indicator at a position deviated from a portion corresponding to the cover portion, on an outer wall face of the one. The finger-applying-position indicator indicates a position to be applied with fingers of a user.

Handheld mobile printing device

An image forming apparatuses includes an apparatus body configured to house a replacement part. The apparatus body includes a guiding face configured to guide a guided face of the replacement part. The guided face is on a side along a movement direction in which the replacement part moves between a set position in the apparatus body and an attaching and detaching position at which the replacement part is attached to and detached from the apparatus body. The apparatus further include a moving device configured to move the replacement part between the set position and the attaching and detaching position, and a pressing device configured to press the guided face of the replacement part against the guiding face of the apparatus body while the replacement part moves between the set position and the attaching and detaching position.

Image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes a recording device configured to record an image on a recording medium, a main body configured to house the recording device, and a cover rotatably attached to the main body. The main body includes a recording face to be disposed opposite the recording medium, a first face positioned opposite the recording face, and a second face positioned between the recording face and the first face. The cover includes a first cover portion configured to cover the first face of the main body, and a second cover portion configured to cover at least a portion of the second face, and the second cover portion is configured to house a battery.

A sheet conveying device includes a separator to separate a sheet from sheets. The separator includes a separation conveyor; a separation resistance member to press against the separation conveyor via the sheet; a resistance-member holder; a biasing member to contact and bias the resistance-member holder to press the separation resistance member toward the separation conveyor, the resistance-member holder to rotate about a resistance-member rotary shaft to separate from the biasing member in detaching from an apparatus body; and a biasing-member holder configured to rotate about a biasing-member rotary shaft to more incline the biasing member in a state, in which the biasing member is spaced apart from the resistance-member holder, in a moving direction of the resistance-member holder to detach from the apparatus body than the biasing member in a biasing state in which the biasing member biases the resistance-member holder in contact with the resistance-member holder.

Sheet conveying device, image reading device, and image forming apparatus

An image reading device includes a plurality of conveyance rollers to convey a sheet, a motor to drive the plurality of conveyance rollers, an image reading unit to read an image of the sheet, a control device to perform a stop control that stops the sheet in a course of a conveyance path, and a clutch to transmit a driving force of the motor. A first conveyance roller group includes at least one of the plurality of conveyance rollers upstream from a leading end of the sheet stopped by the stop control in a conveyance direction, to which the driving force is transmitted via the clutch. A second conveyance roller group includes at least one of the plurality of conveyance rollers downstream from the leading end of the sheet stopped by the stop control in the conveyance direction, to which the driving force is transmitted without the clutch.

Image reading device configured to selectively stop a sheet based on image reading readiness and image forming apparatus incorporating same

A document feeder, which may be incorporated in an image forming apparatus, includes a sheet conveying guide, at least one recess, a frame, and at least one protrusion. The sheet conveying guide is disposed facing an exposure glass on an apparatus body and guides an original document passing over the exposure glass when the document feeder is closed to the apparatus body. The recess is disposed on the apparatus body at both ends of the exposure glass in a lateral direction orthogonal to a document conveying direction. The frame is openably closable about one end side of the apparatus body in the lateral direction and vertically movably holds the sheet conveying guide. The protrusion is disposed on the frame facing the recess. The sheet conveying guide and the frame are secured to each other while the recess and the protrusion are engaged with each other in the closed state.

Document feeder and image forming apparatus incorporating the document feeder

A sheet conveying device includes a sheet container, a separation feeder, a plurality of conveyance drivers, a multifeed detector, a sheet detector, and a conveyance controller. The conveyance drivers are driven to convey a sheet to a conveyance completion position on a sheet conveyance path. The multifeed detector detects occurrence of a multifeed on the conveyance path. The sheet detector detects presence or absence of the sheet at a sheet detection point on the conveyance path. The conveyance controller controls the conveyance drivers to be continuously driven until a preceding sheet preceding multifed sheets is conveyed to the conveyance completion position after the multifeed detector detects the occurrence of the multifeed. The conveyance controller controls the conveyance drivers to stop in a period in which at least one of the multifed sheets is present at the sheet detection point after the preceding sheet is conveyed to the conveyance completion position.

An image reading device, which may be incorporated in an image forming apparatus, includes an image reader, a color reference body, a biasing body, a reading gap forming device, and a driving device. The image reader reads an image of an original document. The color reference body has a white reference face to position facing the image reader within a predetermined range in a document width direction. The biasing body biases the color reference body to the image reader. The reading gap forming device forms a reading gap while receiving a biasing force from the biasing body on the outside of the predetermined range. The driving device has a force drive transmission body engaged with a center of the color reference body in the document width direction and drives the color reference body in the document width direction at the center via the force drive transmission body.

Shade correcting image reading by biasing force of a color reference body in the document width direction

An automatic document feeding device includes a document tray, an ejection tray, and a document takeout port. The document tray is rotatably attached to a rotation fulcrum provided in a body of the automatic document feeder, to load a document. The document tray includes a first positioner and a second positioner. The first positioner is disposed at a front side of the body in a direction perpendicular to a document feed direction. The second positioner is disposed at a depth side of the body in the direction perpendicular to the document feed direction. The first positioner is disposed upstream from the rotation fulcrum in the document feed direction and above the document takeout port in the body. An upper portion and side surfaces of the first positioner in the direction perpendicular to the document feed direction are surrounded by the document tray in a closed state of the document tray.

Automatic document feeding device

An automatic document feeding device includes a conveyance unit, an image reading unit, a color reference member, a moving assembly, and a drive source. The drive source includes a rotation output shaft to drive the conveyance unit and the moving assembly. The drive source changes the rotation output shaft from a forward rotation direction to a reverse rotation direction to reversely rotate the rotation output shaft to a set reverse rotation angle set in advance, according to a condition of conveyance of the document. In a rotation transmission route from the rotation output shaft to the moving assembly, the movement regulator is disposed in a first reverse rotation drive region from when a rotation direction of the rotation output shaft is changed to the reverse rotation direction to when a rotation angle of the rotation output shaft after the change in the reverse rotation direction reaches the set reverse rotation angle.

Automatic document feeding device and image forming apparatus incorporating same

An image scanner, which is incorporated in an image forming apparatus, includes a stationary-document reading section, a moving-document reading section disposed at an angle to the stationary-document reading section, a reader movable between the stationary-document reading section and the moving-document reading section, and a reading element movable to different angles while contacting the stationary-document reading section and the moving-document reading section to selectively read a document placed on the stationary-document reading section and a document moving over the moving-document reading section. The image scanner further includes any one of position detector, a combination of a moving device and at least one position sensor, and a combination of at least one pressing member, a framework, and an angle changer.

Image scanner and image forming apparatus incorporating the image scanner

A sheet container, which is incorporated in an image forming apparatus, includes a container body having a loading face to load a sheet thereon, an extension unit disposed extendable in a sheet feeding direction with respect to the container body to extend the loading face, a length regulator disposed movable in the sheet feeding direction with respect to the extension unit to regulate a sheet trailing end position in the sheet feeding direction, and a sheet size indicator having a strip-shape provided on the container body along with a moving direction of the extension unit as a reference of a position of the length regulator, having at least one sheet size mark to indicate a size of the sheet, and being variable in length in a longitudinal direction with respect to the container body along with movement of the extension unit.

Sheet container and image forming apparatus incorporating same

A sheet feed tray to stack a sheet to be conveyed to an image forming apparatus includes a platen on which a first portion of the sheet is placed; a pair of first support portions to support a second portion of the sheet folded back upward at a trailing end of the first portion; and a pair of second support portions to support a third portion of the sheet folded back upward at a trailing end of the second portion. In the sheet feed tray, the first support portions and the second support portions are reciprocally movable toward each other, and a distance between the second support portions is wider than a distance between the first support portions.

Sheet feed tray, sheet feed device, and image forming apparatus

A sheet conveyor, which is incorporated in an image forming apparatus and in which a method of preventing sheet skew is performed, includes a sheet conveying path through which a sheet is conveyed, a first conveying unit disposed in a sheet conveying direction and including a shaft extending in a lateral direction, multiple rollers attached to the shaft along the shaft, and a rotation regulator disposed between each of the multiple rollers and the shaft to idly rotate each of the multiple rollers in a given range about the shaft, a second conveying unit disposed along the sheet conveying path and downstream from the first conveying unit in the sheet conveying direction, and a sheet abutting part provided at the second conveying unit, against which a leading edge of the sheet abuts to form a slack of the sheet to correct skew of the sheet.

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Kanagawa, Japan

Munekazu Hirata