Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Corporation

Osamu Tashiro

Yuji Okamoto

Atsushi Ide

Katsuyoshi Fujiwara

Kazushi Yamamoto

Tadaaki Kawano

Itsuro Kato

Kazuo Maeyama

Masafumi Okumura

Fukusaburo Ito

An object of the invention is to accommodate sheets, as coming from two image forming units, in a small-sized sheet accommodating apparatus. The individual sheets S from the first and second image forming units are fetched in different directions X1 and Y1 by a sheet pedestal and accommodated in a stack. The sheets S are registered by stoppers which can be moved in the fetching directions X1 and Y1, respectively. The sheets can be fetched in registration by inclining the sheet pedestal into first and second modes and can be fetched in an image forming direction and in a sheet direction by turning at least the sheet pedestal in a horizontal direction. The sheets S are stapled as the post-processing and are discharged in a discharge direction X2 along the fetching direction X1 from the sheet pedestal by a push member.

Sheet accommodating apparatus and complex image forming system using same

In the document feeder of the invention, the originals stacked in the document hopper always show the same surfaces upward during copy operation. Consequently, when an original document sheet causes paper jam or similar trouble in the transport path, the original may be restacked in the document hopper with the same surface facing upward as that facing upward when the original was first stacked in the document hopper. Consequently an operator is less likely to be confused as to the surface to face upward when stacking originals in the document hopper, resulting in improved operating performance. Further, the structure of installing the original feeding mechanism and the original restacking mechanism separately on both sides of the document hopper and bottom-feed, top-restack configuration of the document hopper simplifies the structure around the document hopper.

Document feeder

An original document feeder which is so arranged that directions indicated by front and reverse surfaces of the original documents stacked in an original document accommodating section remain the same as the directions of front and reverse surfaces of the original documents initially accommodated in the accommodating section at all times during the copying operation, while constructions around the original document accommodating section can be simplified for efficient operation.

Original document feeder for producing double sided copies using two

An automatic document feeder having a recirculating conveying path with a first switchback means between the document hopper and a presentation area interfacing with the scanning exposure region of an optical reading apparatus and a second switchback means between the presentation area and the document hopper, each such switchback means being selectively operable to either invert the surfaces or reverse the leading and trailing edges of the document for presentation at the presentation area, so as to facilitate document handling in the event of jamming and to reduce the size of the feeder. Additionally, the feeder can be used in correspondence with a copying machine having a conveying path with a third switchback means located between a photosensitive drum and an intermediate tray for reversing the leading and trailing edges of the copying paper and a fourth switchback means located between the photosensitive drum and a discharge hopper for inverting the surfaces of the copying paper.

Recirculating automatic document feeder

A circulating type of automatic document feeding apparatus comprising a document hopper which is adapted to take out the top document from the hopper or take it out from the bottom to return in onto the topmost side, a first carrying means for carrying the document form the document hopper to a first exposure portion, a document presentation portion having the first exposure portion and the second exposure portion, a second carrying means which is equipped with an inside and outside inverting means for inverting the carrying direction of the document between the first exposure portion and the second exposure portion, and a third carrying means for returning the document to the document hopper from the second exposure portion. One face of the duplex document may be exposed in the first exposure portion to continuously expose the other face thereof in the second exposure portion, so that the copying operation of the duplex document may be effected at higher speeds and furthermore with considerably reduced operations on the part of the operator.

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Osaka, Japan

Osamu Tashiro