Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Toshikane Nishii

Haruyuki Honda

Mizuna Tanaka

Hiroshi Fujiwara

Tomoyoshi Yamazaki

Ippei Kimura

Yasuhide Ohkubo

Masafumi Takahira

Kazuyoshi Kondo

Mitsutaka Nakamura

Shigeo Nanno

Hirofumi Horita

Masanori Namba

Yasuo Matsuyama

Ikuo Fujii

Kazuhiro Wakamatsu

Tomoya Tanaka

Hiroshi Ishii

Yoshitaka Sekiguchi

Makoto Matsushita

Masayuki Hayashi

Akiyoshi Tanaka

Kohta Sakaya

Yasunari Harada

Kunihiko Nishioka

Shunsuke Hamahashi

Takayuki Andoh

Takuji Takahashi

Yoshihide Ohta

Yoshitake Shimizu

Takamasa Shiraki

Munekazu Hirata

Kimihiro Tanaka

Yuuki Shiga

Masaki Narita

Akimitsu Obana

Takashi Fujimoto

Yutaka Aso

Takaaki Hagihara

A sheet conveying device includes a sheet loader, a sheet feeder, an optical sensor, and a rotary member. The sheet loader is configured to load a sheet. The sheet feeder is configured to feed the sheet loaded on the sheet loader. The optical sensor is configured to detect the sheet at a predetermined position on the sheet loader in a width direction of the sheet and at a predetermined position in a sheet conveyance passage in the width direction of the sheet. The rotary member is configured to rotate to a first position when the sheet is not at the predetermined position on the sheet loader and a second position when the sheet is at the predetermined position. The rotary member has a detection target portion configured to be detected by the optical sensor when the rotary member is located at the first or second position.

Sheet conveying device, image reading device incorporating the sheet conveying device, and image forming apparatus incorporating the sheet conveying device

A sheet guiding device includes a cover unit, a swing guide, a link member, and a contact member. The cover unit is configured to be openably disposed on a housing of an image forming apparatus. The swing guide is configured to move between a guide position at which the swing guide is open to guide a sheet and a retracted position at which the swing guide is closed. The swing guide is configured to move from the retracted position to the guide position along with closing movement of the cover unit. The link member has one end configured to be held by the housing and an opposite end engaged with the swing guide. The contact member is disposed on the cover unit. The contact member is configured to contact the link member to rotate the link member in the closing movement of the cover unit.

Sheet guiding device and image forming apparatus incorporating the sheet guiding device

A mobile image forming apparatus includes a body, a recording device supported by the body and configured to form an image on a recording medium, a roller provided to the body and configured to rotate on the recording medium while the body is moved in a scanning direction for image formation. The mobile image forming apparatus further includes a switching device configured to switch a state of the mobile image forming apparatus during image formation between a roller contact state in which the roller is in contact with the recording medium and a roller contactless state in which the roller is contactless with the recording medium.

Image forming apparatus and image forming apparatus body

A mobile image forming apparatus includes a body; a recording device supported by the body and configured to form an image on a recording medium, and at least one roller provided to the body and configured to rotate on the recording medium while the body is moved in a scanning direction for image formation. The mobile image forming apparatus further includes at least one pressing member disposed in contact with the at least one roller and configured to press the at least one roller in a roller axial direction.

Image forming apparatus body and image forming apparatus

A sheet feeder, which is included in an image forming apparatus, includes a sheet loader on which a sheet is loaded, a sheet feeding body to feed the sheet from the sheet loader, and a sheet separator disposed to contact the sheet feeding body. The sheet is fed at a first average sheet feeding speed at which the sheet feeding body is in contact with the sheet separator without holding the sheet with the sheet separator. The sheet is fed at a second average sheet feeding speed at which the sheet feeding body is holding the sheet with the sheet separator. The first average sheet feeding speed is set smaller than the second average sheet feeding speed.

Sheet feeder and image forming apparatus incorporating the sheet feeder

A recording medium conveying device includes a guide, a shaft, and a positioner. The guide guides a recording medium along a conveyance path to a predetermined direction. The shaft is disposed near the conveyance path. The guide is disposed between the conveyance path and the shaft. The positioner positions the guide in an axial direction of the shaft. The guide is fixed by both the positioner and the shaft. The positioner is fixed separately from the shaft.

Recording medium conveying device and image forming apparatus incorporating same

A sheet feeder of a friction pad separation type, which can be included in an image forming apparatus, includes a feeder body, a rotary feed body, a separation body, a holder, and a leaf spring. The rotary feed body is disposed in the feeder body and feeds a recording medium along a sheet conveying direction. The separation body is fixed to the feeder body while facing the rotary feed body. The separation body separates the recording medium with the rotary feed body. The holder has a rotary shaft and holds the separation body while being rotatably supported by the rotary shaft. The leaf spring has a flexible deforming part that contacts an area adjacent to the rotary shaft and a line of action of a pressing force of the flexible deforming part passing close by the rotary shaft.

A sheet conveying device includes a first rotating member, a second rotating member, and a biasing unit that biases the second rotating member toward the first rotating member. The first and second rotating members pinch a sheet therebetween and convey the sheet in a sheet conveying direction. The second rotating member includes a small-diameter portion that faces a conveying portion of the first rotating member, and a large-diameter portion at a position axially displaced from the conveying portion. The second rotating member can change its orientation to an orientation where a rotating shaft of the second rotating member is tilted relative to a rotating shaft of the first rotating member as viewed in the sheet conveying direction, thereby moving a position of an end portion of the second rotating member on a side of the large-diameter portion away from the rotating shaft of the first rotating member.

Sheet conveying device, sheet discharging device, and image forming apparatus

A sheet feeder includes a feeding member to contact a sheet and feed the sheet downstream in a sheet conveyance direction, a friction pad disposed facing the feeding member to contact the feeding member, and a receiving table including a pad mount to hold a side of the friction pad opposite a nip between the friction pad and the feeding member. The friction pad includes a fixed range secured to the pad mount upstream from the nip and a movable range extending downstream the nip in the sheet conveyance direction. A first friction force of the pad mount to act on the movable range of the friction pad is smaller than a second friction force of the sheet to act on the movable range of the friction pad.

Sheet feeder and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes an apparatus body, a manual operating unit, at least a part of which being exposed to an outside of the apparatus body and a part of which included inside the apparatus body being exposed to the outside by manually operating from the outside, a condensation part to which moist air in the apparatus body contacts to dew-condense to a water droplet, and a recovery container part containing the water droplet generated by the condensation part and being disposed on an inner surface of the manual operating unit included inside the apparatus body.

Image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes an image bearer, an image forming unit, an intermediate transfer member, a secondary transfer member, an image detector, a computing device, and a conveyor device. The computing device calculates a traveling speed of the intermediate transfer member based on detection information provided by the image detector. The conveyor device continuously transports to a secondary transfer portion a plurality of recording media one by one at a predetermined interval between successive recording media. The image forming unit forms a test image at a space between successive recording-medium contact regions of the intermediate transfer member at which the recording medium contacts the intermediate transfer member. A travel distance of the intermediate transfer member from the detection position on the intermediate transfer member to the secondary transfer portion in a traveling direction thereof is shorter than the space between the successive recording-medium contact regions.

A sheet feeding device includes a feeding device and a detector. The feeding device is configured to feed a sheet to a destination. The detector is configured to detect the sheet at the destination. If the detector does not detect the sheet within a predetermined time after the start of preparation for a feeding operation by the feeding device, it is determined that the sheet is misfed. Further, the start of the feeding operation of a sheet is changed in accordance with the result of detection by the detector of the presence or absence of a sheet standing by at the destination.

Sheet feeding device, control method for the sheet feeding device, and image forming apparatus incorporating the sheet feeding device

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.

Sheet conveyor, image forming apparatus incorporating same, and method of preventing sheet skew

A guide device for guiding a recording medium discharged from a fixing device includes a first conveyance wall plate and at least one rib assembly mounted on the first conveyance wall plate. The at least one rib assembly includes a plurality of primary ribs contacting the first conveyance wall plate, each having a first thickness in a recording medium conveyance direction; and a plurality of secondary ribs mounted on selected ones of the plurality of primary ribs. Each secondary rib includes a bottom contacting the primary rib and having a second thickness in the recording medium conveyance direction that is smaller than the first thickness of the primary rib; and a top contacting the recording medium and having a third thickness in the recording medium conveyance direction that is smaller than the second thickness of the bottom of the secondary rib.

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Osaka, Japan

Toshikane Nishii