Mita Industrial Co., Ltd.

Yoko Nishi

Katsuhiro Yoshiuchi

Hiroshi Kageyama

An image forming apparatus having a structure in which it is judged whether or not the trailing end of a continuous sheet is fixed to a feeding reel. The continuous sheet wound around the feeding reel is pulled out, and is conveyed through a conveying path passing through an image forming section. When the continuous sheet is conveyed, the rotation or the stop of the feeding reel is detected. When the stop of the rotation of the feeding reel is detected while the continuous sheet is being conveyed, it is judged that the continuous sheet has been used up. The continuous sheet is further conveyed for a predetermined time period after the judgment. It is judged whether or not the trailing end of the continuous sheet is fixed to the feeding reel depending on whether or not the continuous sheet exists in a predetermined position of the conveying path.

Image forming apparatus which detects rotation of a continuous sheet

An image forming apparatus capable of cutting a strip-shaped continuous sheet on which an image is formed to a desirable cutting length. A rolled-sheet is conveyed by registration rollers and the like. The rolled-sheet is further led to the vicinity of a photosensitive drum through pre-transfer rollers. The rolled-sheet to which a toner image has been transferred is subjected to toner fixing processing by a fixing device. When the leading end of the rolled-sheet reaches the pre-transfer rollers, the rotational speed of a sheet feeding motor is increased during a predetermined time. Consequently, the sheet conveying speed on the upstream side of the pre-transfer rollers in a direction of sheet conveyance is increased, thereby forming slack in a sheet portion between the registration rollers and the pre-transfer rollers. Consequently, tension exerted on a sheet portion between the fixing device and the pre-transfer rollers does not affect the conveyance of the sheet by the registration rollers. If operation timing of a cutting mechanism is determined on the basis of the number of output pulses of a pulse output unit for detecting rotation of the sheet feeding motor, therefore, the rolled-sheet can be reliably cut to a desirable length.

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Osaka, Japan

Yoko Nishi