Minolta Company, Ltd.

Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.

Yoshiki Ohmichi

Kuniaki Ishiguro

Akiyoshi Johdai

Tatsuya Shinno

Masayoshi Kuroda

Keiko Toyoda

Kunihiko Katsuta, Deceased

Kazuyuki Tomishige

Kenichi Yasuda

A development apparatus has a casing, a regulation plate, a smoky dust prevention sheet and a backup member which are fixed together onto the casing with a screw. The backup member sandwiches a fixed end portion of the smoky dust prevention sheet with the regulation plate. Therefore, the backup member suppresses detachment of the smoky dust prevention sheet from the regulation plate. Thus, the smoky dust prevention sheet is prevented from being detached from the regulation plate when the smoky dust prevention sheet is used in contact with a development roller in the state of being bended.

Development apparatus, process cartridge and image formation apparatus, including dust prevention sheet

In an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, curling occurs in the sheet when it passes through the thermal fixing device. The invention equips the apparatus with a decurling path having a decurling mechanism and a path without any such mechanism, as well as an alternating claw that guides the sheet to either of the paths, such that the alternating claw,alternates between the paths based on the settings for each sheet supply unit that supplies the sheets. The sheets from a sheet supply unit that requires decurling are guided to the decurling path and decurling is performed. On the other hand, sheets from a manual paper tray in which special types of paper, such as transparencies, are often placed are guided to the path without any decurling mechanism and no decurling is performed. Consequently, a sheet decurling apparatus that appropriately decurls the curling of plain paper only and does not perform decurling on special types of paper, such as thick paper or transparencies, may be realized without an increase in cost.

Sheet decurling apparatus

A sheet handling apparatus which stores sheets ejected from an image forming apparatus in a bin, staples the sheets if necessary, takes the stapled or unstapled set of sheets out of the bin and transports the set of sheets up to a large-capacity tray nipping the set of sheets between rollers of a conveying gate to deliver the set of sheets onto the tray. While the conveyer gate is transporting the set of sheets upward, the set of sheets hangs down from the nipped portion, and the hanging-down portion is guided by a guide plate. A limit is set to the number of stapled sets of sheets which can be stacked on the large-capacity tray, and transportation of stapled sets of sheets to the tray by the conveyer gate over the limit is canceled. When a set of sheets is delivered onto the tray, pressing sticks press sets of sheets which have been stacked on the tray.

Stack transport for a sorter with pressing device

A document feeder which has a feed roller for feeding a document picked up from a tray toward a reading position, a first pair of rollers which is located immediately before the reading position, a second pair of rollers which is located immediately after the reading position, and a document sensor. After the leading edge of the document transported by the feed roller comes to the first pair of rollers, the feed roller keeps rotating for a specified time, whereby, registration of the document is carried out. In response to a signal which is generated when the document sensor detects the trailing edge of the document, feeding of a next document is started.

Document feeder for a copying machine

A finisher distributes image-formed sheets into bins while sorting and stapling the sorted and stacked sheets. The bins are movable vertically pitch by pitch, and the image-formed sheets are distributed so that each bin will store a set from the first page to the last page (sort mode). Further, chucking units are provided to take stacks of sheets on bins set in specified levels out of the bins. The chucking units pinch the respective stacks of sheets and move along the bins in the same direction. The stack of sheets pinched by the lower chucking unit is taken out of the bin for stapling, and then the stapled stack of sheets is moved back onto the bin. The stack of sheets (stapled stack of sheets) taken out of the bin by the upper chucking unit is received by rollers of a convener gate, and the convener gate moves upward to convey the stack of sheets to a non-sort tray.

Finisher with a stapling function

A sheet sorting apparatus of a moving bin type for sorting sheets received successively from a sheet delivery station into collated sets, which apparatus comprises. This sheet sorting apparatus includes a plurality of trays stacked one above the other in a vertical direction, and vertically movably supported by a frame structure, first and second camming members extending in a direction parallel to a direction of movement of the trays and having helically continuing threads each having an upwardly oriented camming face engageable with any one of the trays, a sheet delivery mechanism for successively discharching the sheets towards the delivery station, and a drive motor drivingly coupled with the first and second camming members for driving the camming members about respective longitudinal axes of the camming members to move the trays up and down therealong. The helicatly continuing threads is divided into a low pitch region in which each neighboring threads are spaced a small pitch and a high pitch region in which the neighboring threads are spaced an increased pitch. The first and second camming members are so supported with their high pitch regions confronting the sheet delivery station, one of the trays supported on the thread in the high pitch region being permitted.

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Toyokawa, Japan

Yoshiki Ohmichi