Sheet conveying device and image forming apparatus incorporating the sheet conveying device
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorTomonori Tamura
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A sheet conveying device includes a tray, a conveyor, and a guide body. The tray is configured to stack a sheet. The conveyor is configured to convey the sheet to the tray. The guide body has a space, a height of the space being greater than a thickness of the sheet. The guide body is configured to guide the sheet conveyed by the conveyor, with a leading end of the sheet being inserted in the space. The guide body is configured to separate the sheet from the space, according to a difference of a sheet conveying speed of the conveyor and a moving speed of the guide body, and to stack the sheet on the tray.
Claims14
A sheet conveying device comprising:
- a tray configured to stack a sheet;
- a conveyor including a belt, the conveyor configured to convey the sheet via the belt to the tray in a sheet conveying direction;
- a guide including a guide body mounted on a guide conveying belt;
- and
- a controller that controls drive motors to drive the guide and the conveyor, wherein
- the guide body includes a pair of prongs extending in a direction substantially opposite to the sheet conveying direction and separated from each other with a space therebetween having a fixed height that is greater than a thickness of the sheet, the guide configured to guide the sheet as the sheet is being conveyed by the conveyor to the tray by inserting a leading end of the sheet in the space between the pair of prongs such that the guide body is configured to guide the sheet without nipping the sheet between the pair of prongs, the guide body configured to separate the sheet from the space while the sheet is being conveyed by the conveyor to the tray by the controller controlling the drive motors that drive the guide and the conveyor to rotate at speeds that cause a moving speed of the guide body to accelerate relative to a rotational speed of the conveyor, and to stack the sheet on the tray.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.