Brother Kogyo Kabushiki-kaisha

Brother Koygo Kabushiki Kaisha

Sakae Ito

Satoru Hattori

Shusaku Tsusaka

Takuro Kusama

Yasuo Tamaru

Yoshiteru Hattori

Tomitake Aratachi

Terumasa Ito

Atsuo Hirose

Hiroshi Nobe

Hidetoshi Yano

Yoshiyuki Ito

Kotaro Kurokawa

Kazutoshi Kuse

Kota Fujii

An open/close assembly, having a first housing with an aperture; a second housing being openable and closable to the first housing; a first protrusion arranged in the second housing and movable between a first position protruding from the second housing to be inserted in the aperture and a second position being more inward than the first position; a spring arranged in the second housing and configured to urge the first protrusion toward the second position; a sensor arranged in the first housing and configured to detect the first protrusion inserted in the aperture; and an actuator with a surface configured to move the first protrusion to the first position when the second housing is being closed and to move the first protrusion to the second position when the second housing is being opened, is provided.

Open/close assembly and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes a printer unit including a sheet ejection tray located on an upper surface of the printer unit; a scanner unit spaced above the sheet ejection tray of the printer unit in a vertical direction; an operation unit disposed at a front end portion of the scanner unit, the operation unit including a touchscreen; a cover covering a bottom side of the touchscreen in the vertical direction; and a fixing portion fixing the cover to the front end portion of the scanner unit. The cover includes a support portion that, when projected on an imaginary horizontal surface, overlaps a part of the touchscreen. The support portion is shaped like a box extending in the vertical direction and is coupled to a portion of the upper surface of the printer unit adjacent to the sheet ejection tray.

Image forming apparatus including scanner unit disposed above sheet ejection tray

An image processing device is provided with a first unit, a second unit attached to the first unit rotatably around a rotational axis, flat cables connecting elements in the first unit with elements in the second unit, and a guide member having wiring paths each defined between two of separations walls, the guide member guiding, from the first unit to the second unit, the flat cables laid through the wiring paths, respectively, in a state spaced apart from each other in a thickness direction thereof without contacting each other, at least one of the separation walls including a curving wall curving to surround the rotational axis, at least one of the flat cables guided to have a curving section along the curving wall, a first extension extending continuously from the curving section to the first unit, and a second extension extending continuously from the curving section to the second unit.

Image processing device

An image forming apparatus includes a first housing, a second housing pivotable relative to the first housing in such a manner as to be located to an open position and a close position, a slider provided in one of the first and second housings configured to be slidable relative to the one in a slide moving direction, a connecting portion provided in the other of the housings; an arm member configured to connected each of the slider and the connecting portion to be pivotable relative to each of them, and an elastic member comprising a first engaging portion engaging with the slider and a second engaging portion engaging with the one of the housings. The elastic member applies, to the slider, a force in a direction in which the slider moves closer to the connecting portion, when the second housing is in the close position.

Image forming apparatus having two housings and method for assembling the same

A document reader is provided, which includes side covers disposed to face each other to form side faces of a main body housing, each of the side covers including a protruding section formed with an upper portion of the side cover being protruded outward relative to the main body housing, the upper portion being higher than a predetermined position below a reading unit, the protruding section including a first finger-holding portion disposed on a lower surface of the protruding section, the first finger-holding portion being formed with a length in a longitudinal direction thereof as long as a length of a readable range for the reading unit in a main scanning direction, the first finger-holding portion being configured such that one or more operators put their fingers thereon from below, the first finger-holding portion including one or more ribs formed along the longitudinal direction of the first finger-holding portion.

Document reader with a plurality of holding portions

An image scanner section is disposed above a printer section. The image scanner section is supported by the printer section in such a manner as to be pivotable about a pivotal axis. The printer section has a lower housing having a substantially rectangular shape as viewed from above. The image scanner section has an upper housing having a substantially rectangular shape as viewed from above. The upper housing and the lower housing are configured such that a second upper corner portion, which is a corner portion of the upper housing, projects beyond a second lower corner portion, which is a corner portion of the lower housing and is located just under the second upper corner portion.

Image-forming apparatus

An image processing apparatus, comprising a main body and a movable unit configured to be swingable about a first axis located on a rear side and to move between a first placement position and a first separated position, wherein the main body comprises: side frames; an image processing unit; and a body cover comprising side covers and an upper opening, and wherein: each of the side frames has a flat surface part having a height in a first state on a front side; and each of the side covers has a first part having a height in the first state on the front side, a second part in a second state higher than the first state on a rear side near the first axis, and a third part formed to connect the first part with the second part while changing the height thereof.

Image processing apparatus

Image-forming apparatus including lower housing and upper housing disposed over the lower housing and movable between closed and open positions

An image forming apparatus is provided. The image forming apparatus includes a main chassis, an image reader unit, a cover unit, a first movable assembly, which rotatably supports the cover unit to be rotatable with respect to the image reader unit, and a second movable assembly, which rotatably supports the image reader unit to be rotatable with respect to the main chassis. The first movable assembly includes a support member, which supports the cover unit to be vertically movable with respect to the image reader unit, and a frame, which is arranged on the image reader unit and accommodates the support member. The first movable assembly is arranged to have a lower end thereof to be in a lower position with respect to a lower end of the image reader unit. The second movable assembly is arranged in a lower position with respect to the first movable assembly.

Movable assemblies for an image reader unit and a cover unit in an image formation apparatus

In an image reading apparatus, cables may be used to connect reading units (e.g., scanning devices) to a controller or control circuit board configured to execute certain instructions and perform various functions. The cables may be routed between the reading units and the controller so as to reduce and/or eliminate noise. For example, the cables may be routed through contact prevention devices that may include ferrite cores. The cables may also be routed in a manner so as to maintain a predefined distance therebetween and to minimize interference. For example, the cables may extend downward from a corresponding reading portion, change course to a horizontal direction parallel to the rotation axis of an openable unit of the image reading apparatus and such that the cable extends toward the controller, and subsequently extend downward such that the flexible flat cable is insertable into a corresponding connector of the controller.

Image reading apparatus

In a printer, a scanner unit is formed into a taper shape having a thinner thickness on a side of a pick-up roller in a removing direction of a process unit, to allow the process unit to be removed from the printer. A part of a sheet feeding path is formed in an area between the process unit and a sheet cassette. An image forming position on the sheet feed path is set lower than an upper end of the pick-up roller. Thus, removal of the process unit can be readily performed. Further, the height of the printer at a position of the pick-up roller can be reduced as compared with a case where the scanner unit is not formed into a taper shape.

Image forming apparatus having lowered image forming position and recessed sheet stacking portion

An image-forming device includes: an image-forming unit; a sheet discharge unit; a sheet support unit; and a reading unit. The image-forming unit forms images on a recording sheet. The sheet discharge unit discharges, in a sheet discharging direction, a recording sheet formed with an image by the image-forming unit. The sheet support unit is disposed above the image-forming unit, and supports sheet discharged from the sheet discharge unit. The reading unit is disposed above the sheet support unit, with an underside surface of the reading unit opposing a top surface of the sheet support unit. The sheet discharge unit is configured to discharge the sheet diagonally upwardly so that sheet discharged by the sheet discharge unit contacts the underside surface of the reading unit.

Image-forming device

An image reading apparatus, which may be used in an image forming apparatus includes a document table including a flat surface for receiving a document, and a document cover that can be moved between a first position covering the flat surface and a second position exposing the flat surface. The image reading apparatus may further include an automatic document feeder disposed on the document cover that can automatically feed a document toward the flat surface. The automatic document feeder includes a gear train, and a gear cover covering a portion of the gear train, wherein the gear cover includes a protrusion that protrudes downward below the flat surface of the document table.

Growing community of inventors

Kitanagoya, Japan

Sakae Ito