Brother Kogyo Kabushiki-kaisha

Tetsuo Ito

Tsutomu Hida

Takashi Fujiwara

Masanori Hamaguchi

Kazutoshi Kuse

Hideaki Utagawa

A printer is provided with a mounting portion and an arm. A head is mounted on the mounting portion. The head discharges a liquid. The arm can move between a fixed position and a released position. In the fixed position, the arm fixes the head mounted on the mounting portion to the mounting portion in a first direction, a second direction, and a third direction. In the released state, the arm unfixes the head from the mounting portion.

Liquid discharge device

An image reading apparatus, includes: a supply tray; a discharge tray; a conveyance guide; a reading sensor; a discharge unit, which includes a discharge opening to discharge the sheet conveyed by the conveyance guide to the discharge tray and is configured to move from a third position to a fourth as the document supported by the paper feed tray is decreased, the fourth position being higher than the third position; a first drive source, which generates a drive force; a first rotation body, which moves the movable plate by transmitting the drive force from the first drive source to the movable plate; and a second rotation body, which moves the discharge unit by transmitting the drive force from the first drive source to the discharge unit, wherein a diameter of the first rotation body and a diameter of the second rotation body are different from each other.

Image reading apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes a drive unit disposed inside its housing, a support frame, a protrusion, and a support portion. The drive unit is configured to drive a conveyance unit for conveying a sheet toward an image forming unit. The support frame supports the drive unit. The protrusion has a proximal end and a distal end. The distal end is farther from the support frame than the proximal end is from the support frame. The support portion supports the proximal end of the protrusion. The drive unit further includes a torsion spring including a spiral portion engaged with the protrusion, and a first portion and a second portion each extending from the spiral portion. The first arm is pivotable about a pivot axis and includes a covering portion. The covering portion extends from the first arm and covers the distal end of the protrusion.

Image forming apparatus having a drive unit including a torsion spring

An image reading device includes: a supply tray including a movable plate which moves from a first position to a second position according to a decrease in the number of sheet to be supported by a supply tray; a discharge guide including a discharge opening for discharging the sheet conveyed by a conveyance guide to a discharge tray, and moves from a third position to a fourth position according to the decrease in the number of the sheets to be supported by the supply tray; a first drive source and a first drive train that transmits a drive force from the first drive source to a discharge roller. The discharge roller discharges a sheet through a discharge opening by receiving the drive force from the first drive source.

Image reading device

An image reading apparatus, having a housing, a feed tray, and a reader sensor, is provided. The housing includes a reversing guide, a discharge tray, and an opening. The reversing guide is configured to reverse a first face and a second face of a sheet and guide the sheet from a first position toward a second position in a direction from a rear side toward a front side at the first position and in a direction from the front side toward, the rear side at the second position. The discharge tray is arranged at a position lower than the reversing guide and is configured to support the sheet discharged from the conveyer path. The opening is formed between the reversing guide and the discharge tray and is configured to expose the sheet supported by the discharge tray so that the sheet is removed through the front side of the housing.

A sheet separating apparatus includes a stacker having a sheet supporting surface, a separation roller rotating around a first shaft center parallel to a width direction of the sheet supporting surface, contacting a sheet fed from the stacker and conveying the sheet to a downstream side in a conveyance direction perpendicular to the width direction, a separation piece facing the separation roller and separating the sheet one at a time in cooperation with the separation roller, the separation roller and the separation piece nipping the sheet at a first nip position, and a pinch roller provided on an upstream side with respect to the first nip position and abutting on the separation roller to be rotatable around a second shaft center parallel to the width direction, the pinch roller having a portion overlapping the separation piece as seen from the width direction.

Sheet separating apparatus

A sheet conveying apparatus includes: a conveyor configured to convey a sheet along a conveyance path; and a discharge tray having a support surface for supporting the sheet discharged from the conveyor. The conveyor includes a discharge unit for discharging the sheet conveyed along the conveyance path, onto the discharge tray. The discharge tray is provided with a projection protruding upward from the support surface and elongated in a direction along a discharge direction in which the sheet is conveyed. At least a portion of the projection which has a downstream edge of the projection in the discharge direction is a movable portion changeable between a first position at which an upper end portion of the projection is farthest from the support surface and a second position which is nearer to the support surface than the first position.

Sheet conveying apparatus

A sheet conveying apparatus includes a discharge tray having a support surface supporting a sheet discharged by a discharge unit of a conveyor. A first stopper is provided on the support surface. A movable member is provided on the support surface between the discharge unit and the first stopper. The first stopper is changeable between a first position at which the first stopper protrudes from the support surface and a second position at which the first stopper is stored in the discharge tray. The movable member is changeable between a third position at which the movable member protrudes from the support surface and a fourth position located nearer to the support surface than the third position. The first stopper is changed from the first position to the second position in conjunction with a change of the movable member from the third position to the fourth position.

A sheet separating apparatus includes: a stacking part including a sheet support surface; a separation roller; a flexible member; a holding member to which a second end portion of the flexible member is fixed and urging the second end portion toward the separation roller; and an abutting part abuttable on the flexible member at an intermediate position. The flexible member includes an auxiliary support surface, provided upstream from the intermediate position, configured to support a downstream end portion of a sheet supported on the sheet support surface in a conveying direction and bendable in a direction getting away from the separation roller, and a friction surface provided downstream from the intermediate position and faces the separation roller to be contactable with the separation roller for separating the sheet one at a time in cooperation with the separation roller.

An image reading device, including: a casing having a document placement surface on which a document is to be placed; a cover provided on the casing and configured to be pivotable relative to the casing about an axis between a covering position at which the cover covers the document support surface and an exposure position at which the document support surface is exposed; two hinges provided so as to be spaced apart from each other in an axis direction in which the axis extends, one end portion of each of the two hinges being inserted into the casing movably in a movement direction perpendicular to the document placement surface while the other end portion is connected to the cover; and a contact member configured to be capable of coming into contact with one of the two hinges in the axis direction.

A sheet conveyer device, including a roller to convey a sheet by rotating in a normal direction and a holder rotatably arranged on a roller shaft, is provided. The holder includes a roller gear system arranged on the roller shaft and having a roller driving gear to drive the roller, a shutter rotatably arranged on a shutter shaft to restrict access of the sheet to the roller, a shutter gear system to connect a path between the roller gear system and the shutter, a one-way clutch to disconnect the path between the roller gear system and the shutter when the roller rotates in the normal direction, and a torque limiter to allow the roller to rotate in a reverse direction. The holder rotates about the roller shaft in the same reverse direction as the roller when the roller rotates in the reverse direction.

Sheet conveyer devices, image reading apparatuses, and image forming apparatuses

An image reading apparatus may include a cable for connecting one device or component to a controller configured to perform functions and execute instructions. To prevent breakage and stress on the cable, the cable may be fixed to a guide component. For example, the cable may be fixed to the guide component on a first side and be held by the component such that the cable includes a generally U-shaped slacked portion. According to one or more arrangements, the guide component may include an escape portion that allows for the movement of an openable unit of the image reading apparatus. In yet other aspects, the guide component may be attachable/detachable from a main body of the image reading apparatus.

An image reading apparatus may include a cable for connecting a reading device to a controller configured to perform functions and execute instructions. To prevent breakage and stress on the cable, the cable may be fixed to a guide component. For example, the cable may be fixed to the guide component on a first side and be held by the component such that the cable includes a generally U-shaped slacked portion. According to one or more arrangements, the guide component may include an escape portion that allows for the movement of an openable unit of the image reading apparatus. In yet other aspects, the guide component may be attachable/detachable from a main body of the image reading apparatus.

Growing community of inventors

Nagoya, Japan

Tetsuo Ito