Driving force transmitting device, sheet feeding apparatus and image forming apparatus
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsKoji Kawamura, Seiji Hara
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A drive transmitting device includes a first gear; a second gear in engagement with the first gear; wherein a first tooth which is at least one of teeth of the first gear has a tooth surface contacting a tooth of the second gear, wherein the tooth surface has such a shape that a contact point of the first tooth of the first gear to the tooth of the second gear is in a region of a first gear side with respect to a line of action which is formed by movement of a contact point between a tooth of the second gear and a second tooth of the first gear immediately before the first tooth with respect to a rotational moving direction of the first gear.
Claims12
An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a sheet, said apparatus comprising:
- a sheet feeding device including a roller configured to feed the sheet;
- a drive transmitting device configured to transmit a driving force to the roller of said sheet feeding device, the drive transmitting device comprising:
- a first gear which is a partially toothed gear, the first gear including a first tooth and a second tooth, the first tooth being at least one of teeth of said first gear, and the second tooth being at least one of the teeth of said first gear, the second tooth being adjacent to the first tooth with respect to a rotational moving direction of said first gear, the second tooth being in front of the first tooth with respect to the rotational moving direction of said first gear;
- and
- a second gear configured to engage with said first gear;
- wherein the first tooth has a tooth surface configured to contact said second gear, and the first tooth engages the second gear after the second tooth engages the second gear in a state where rotation of the first gear is continued,
- wherein when (i) a first contact point denotes a contact point between the first tooth and the second gear, (ii) a second contact point denotes a contact point between the second tooth and the second gear, and (iii) a first line of action denotes a line of action which is formed by movement of the second contact point with a rotation of the second gear, the first line of action is tangential to both a base circle of the first gear and a base circle of the second gear, said tooth surface has such a shape that the first contact point is in a region between the first line of action and the base circle of the first gear.
A sheet feeding apparatus comprising:
- stacking means configured to stack sheets;
- first feeding means configured to feed a sheet from the sheets stacked on said stacking means;
- second feeding means configured to feed the sheet fed out of said first feeding means;
- and
- a drive transmitting device configured to transmit a driving force to said stacking means or said first feeding means, the drive transmitting device comprising:
- a first gear which is a partially toothed gear, the first gear including a first tooth and a second tooth, the first tooth being at least one of teeth of said first gear, and the second tooth being at least one of the teeth of said first gear, the second tooth being adjacent to the first tooth with respect to a rotational moving direction of said first gear, the second tooth being in front of the first tooth with respect to the rotational moving direction of said first gear;
- and
- a second gear configured to engage with said first gear;
- wherein the first tooth has a tooth surface configured to contact said second gear, and the first tooth engages the second gear after the second tooth engages the second gear in a state where rotation of the first gear is continued,
- wherein when (i) a first contact point denotes a contact point between the first tooth and the second gear, (ii) a second contact point denotes a contact point between the second tooth and the second gear, and (iii) a first line of action denotes a line of action which is formed by movement of the second contact point with a rotation of the second gear, the first line of action is tangential to both a base circle of the first gear and a base circle of the second gear, said tooth surface has such a shape that the first contact point is in a region between the first line of action and the base circle of the first gear.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.