The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 20, 2018
Filed:
Mar. 30, 2017
Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, Nagoya-shi, Aichi-ken, JP;
Noritaka Iwama, Ichinomiya, JP;
Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, Nagoya-shi, Aichi-ken, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus, including: a sheet cassette; an image former; a fixer; a discharge tray; a conveyor configured to convey a sheet along a conveyance passage; a return conveyor configured to convey the sheet from a branch position between the fixer and the discharge tray to a merge position between the sheet cassette and the image former along a return passage which is branched from the conveyance passage at the branch position, passes below the sheet cassette, and merges with the conveyance passage at the merge position; a switchback roller disposed between the branch position and the discharge tray in the conveyance passage and configured to convey the sheet to the discharge tray when it rotates forwardly and to the return passage when it rotates backwardly; and an intermediate conveyance roller disposed in the return passage at a height level intermediate between the fixer and the sheet cassette.