US 2010/0148431 A1 · SHEET FEEDING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS PROVIDED WITH THE SHEET FEEDING DEVICE

Abstract

A sheet feeding device that is suited to be employed in an image forming apparatus having a printing section for printing an image on a sheet. The sheet feeding device has feed rollers for feeding a sheet at a speed “Va” and timing rollers for feeding a sheet fed by the feed rollers to the printing section at a speed “Vb”. Sensors are provided between the feed rollers and the timing rollers, so that the gap between a foregoing sheet and a following sheet can be detected at a plurality of detection points while the foregoing sheet is being fed by the timing rollers and the following sheet is being fed by the feed rollers. When one of the sensors detects that there is a gap between the sheets, a control unit controls the feed rollers such that the speed “Va” will be higher than the speed “Vb”.

Claims14

Dependent claims

A sheet feeding device that is suited to be used in an image forming apparatus comprising a printing section for printing an image on a sheet;

a first feeder for feeding the sheet at a first speed;
a second feeder for feeding the sheet fed by the first feeder to the printing section at a second speed;
a detector, which is located between the first feeder and the second feeder, for detecting a gap between a first sheet and a second sheet at a plurality of detection points while the first sheet is being fed by the second feeder and the second sheet is being fed by the first feeder;
and
a controller for controlling the first feeder or the second feeder,
wherein when the detector detects that there is a gap between the first sheet and the second sheet, the controller controls the first feeder or the second feeder such that the first speed will be higher than the second speed.

3 more elements

An image forming apparatus comprising a printing section for printing an image on a sheet, said image forming apparatus comprising:

a sheet feeding device comprising:
a first feeder for feeding the sheet at a first speed;
a second feeder for feeding the sheet fed by the first feeder to the printing section at a second speed;
a detector, which is located between the first feeder and the second feeder, for detecting a gap between a first sheet and a second sheet at a plurality of detection points while the first sheet is being fed by the second feeder and the second sheet is being fed by the first feeder;
and
a controller for controlling the first feeder or the second feeder,
wherein when the detector detects that there is a gap between the first sheet and the second sheet, the controller controls the first feeder or the second feeder such that the first speed will be higher than the second speed.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Sheet feeding device and image forming apparatus provided with the sheet feeding device

Life of this patent

Sheet feeding device and image forming apparatus provided with the sheet feeding device

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims14