Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Tatsuo Hamada

Takeshi Niimura

Ken Murooka

Nobukazu Adachi

Akira Kuroda

Yoshinori Sugiura

Jun Azuma

Takeshi Kubota

Noriyoshi Ishikawa

Takeshi Setoriyama

Yoshiro Tsuchiya

Takeshi Sugita

Akira Yuza

Chitose Tenpaku

Yoshiya Nomura

Shinya Noda

Yoshihiro Matsuo

Yasuzumi Taba

Hideki Miyazaki

Takaaki Kawade

Hiroshi Goto

Ryukichi Inoue

Atsushi Oguni

Yoshiyuki Yamazaki

Seietsu Miura

Yoshihisa Ibaraki

An image forming apparatus includes: a conveying unit for conveying a recording material on which an image is to be formed; and a pair of side members provided on both sides of the recording material conveyed by the conveying unit, in which the pair of side members each have a first surface portion and a second surface portion that extends in a direction different from the first surface portion, the first surface portion of one of the pair of side members being opposed to that of the other, and in which the conveying unit is attached to the second surface portion of each of the pair of side members, whereby the maintenance property of the conveying unit for conveying the recording material is improved.

Main frame construction for an image forming apparatus

A sheet supply portion is disposed in the lowermost portion of a printer so as to be substantially horizontal. A main conveying path for guiding a sheet from a transferring roller to a fixing device is disposed in a substantially vertical direction so as to be along the back of the printer. The guide surface of a sheet delivery guide constituting a conveying path leading from the fixing device to a pair of sheet delivery rollers is a flat surface.

Image forming apparatus

The present invention provides an image forming apparatus including a sheet supply device having a detachable sheet supply roller for feeding stacked sheets, an image forming device having a process cartridge for forming an image on the sheet fed by the sheet supply device, a cartridge containing portion for detachably containing the process cartridge within a body of the image forming apparatus, and a sheet discharge device for discharging and stacking the sheets on which the images were formed by the image forming device. The sheet supply roller and the process cartridge are disposed adjacent to each other, and, after the process cartridge is disengaged from the cartridge containing portion, the sheet supply roller is mounted and dismounted through the cartridge containing portion.

Image forming apparatus having a detachably mounted sheet supply roller

An image processing apparatus having an image recording portion for recording an image on a sheet, and an image reading portion for reading the image of a sheet to be read, characterized in that the image reading portion is disposed in the lower portion of the image recording portion, and a sheet conveying path on the image reading portion side is disposed in a direction substantially orthogonal to a sheet conveying path on the image recording portion side.

Image processing apparatus having a reading apparatus

A frame structure usable in an image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording material using a laser source, the apparatus includes a first wall; a second wall opposed to the first wall; first and second connecting members bridging between the first wall and the second wall; a scanner supporting member for supporting an optical device between the first connecting member and the second connecting member; a motor supporting member for supporting a motor between the scanner supporting member and the first wall; wherein the walls, connecting members, scanner supporting member and motor supporting member are integrally molded.

Frame structure and an image forming apparatus using such a frame

An exhaust mechanism for use in an image development apparatus exhausts air from within the apparatus, taking advantage of an air flow generated by the heating of a fixing unit without the need for an air blower. The apparatus includes a transport path for allowing a recording medium, to which a toner image formed on a photoconductive body, is transferred, to pass therethrough, a transfer unit disposed below the photoconductive body for transferring the toner image to the recording medium, the fixing unit having a heater, and a partitioning plate which separates a space formed below the transfer unit from a space that accommodates the photoconductive body, a toner image forming unit, and the fixing unit, and which is provided with an opening for permitting air to flow near the transfer unit. With this arrangement, a ventilation path for exhausting air outwardly from within the apparatus is formed without the need for the air blower, in which a rising air flow is exhausted, passing through the opening in the partitioning plate, near the transfer unit, and through an opening formed in the cabinet of the body of the apparatus.

Image forming apparatus with ventilation

An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording material includes an image bearing member; and optical mechanism for projecting light corresponding to image information onto the image bearing member; a developer for developing a latent image formed on the image bearing member into a toner image; a transfer mechanism for transferring the toner image onto a recording material; a fixer for fixing the toner image transferred onto the recording material; a first support for supporting the recording material to be fed to the transfer mechanism; and a second support for supporting the recording material which has been subjected to a fixing operation of the fixer. Air ducts are provided along the back side supporting surfaces of the first support and the second support which overlap in a horizontal direction with the optical mechanism therebetween. A sheet feeding position, an image transfer position, and an image fixing position take lower positions in the order named.

Image forming apparatus having arrangement of sheet support members and

A gear unit usable with an image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording material, the image forming apparatus including an image bearing member, an image fixing unit for fixing on a recording material a toner image formed on the image bearing member and transferred to the recording material from the image bearing member, and a feeder for feeding the recording material, the gear unit includes an image bearing member driving gear for transmitting a driving force to the image bearing member; fixing device driving gear for transmitting a driving force to the fixing unit; a feed drive gear for transmitting a driving force to the feeder: a supporting member for supporting the image bearing member driving gear, the image fixing device driving gear and the feed driving gear.

Gear unit, image forming apparatus and gear unit mounting method

An assembling method of an image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording material includes preparing a frame, a feeding unit having a feeding roller, electrical component unit having electrical components and an outer cover; mounting the feeding unit and the electrical component unit to the frame from a position of the frame which takes a bottom position upon installation of the image forming apparatus; and then overturning of the frame; mounting the outer cover to the frame from a position which takes a top position upon installation of the frame.

Image forming apparatus, assembling method of image forming apparatus,

An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording material, to which a process cartridge is detachably mountable, the image forming apparatus including a mounting device for mounting a process cartridge having an image bearing member comprising a helical gear, and a process device actable on the image bearing member; a feeder for feeding the recording material; and projection device for projecting image information light onto the image bearing member in a direction from a projection reference disposed at one side of an axis of the image bearing member to the other side; a positioning reference for positioning the image bearing member in its axial direction; feed guide reference for guiding the recording material fed by the feeder; and wherein the positioning reference, the feed guide reference and the projection reference are disposed in a same side of a main assembly of the image forming apparatus.

Image forming apparatus with helical gear drive train

An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member, a transfer unit for transferring an unfixed image on the image bearing member onto recording material, and a fixing rotating member for fixing the unfixed image while grasping and conveying the recording material supporting the unfixed image. The apparatus further includes a first detector, provided at a side downstream from a grasping portion of the fixing rotating member in the moving direction of the recording material, for detecting the recording material, and a second detector, provided at a side upstream from the grasping portion of the fixing rotating member in the moving direction of the recording material, for detecting the recording material. The distance between the first and second detectors is less than the minimum length in the conveying direction of ordinary recording material used in the apparatus.

Image forming apparatus which detects a jam of a wound sheet

A sheet discharging apparatus having a curl generating device wherein a curl is generated in a sheet while the sheet is passing through the curl generating device, and a first guide disposed downstream of the curl generating device and switchingly movable between a first position where the sheet is directed toward a curved sheet path and a second position where the sheet is directed toward a direction the same as a sheet feeding direction from the curl generating device. The apparatus further has a sheet discharge guide disposed between the curl generating device and the first guide and switchingly movable in synchronism with the switching movement of the first guide to change its posture, between a position where the sheet discharged from the curl generating device is curled reversely and a position where the sheet discharged from the curl generating device is not further curled.

Growing community of inventors

Kawasaki, Japan

Tatsuo Hamada