Image forming apparatus with jam removal mechanism

An image forming apparatus for forming images on a single sheet a plural number of times by feeding the sheet again to an image forming unit after an image is formed on one side of the sheet by said image forming unit, said image forming apparatus including:

• an apparatus body in which said image forming unit is incorporated, said apparatus body having a feeding unit which stores sheets to be fed into the image forming unit;
• a sheet reversing unit, assembled with said apparatus body, having a discharge section, which receives sheets with images formed thereon;
• a primary passage to guide each sheet from said feeding unit to said discharge section through said image forming unit;
• a secondary passage branching from a downstream end of said primary passage in said sheet reversing unit and extending up to an upstream end of the said primary passage to guide each sheet which has passed said image forming unit again up to said image forming unit, said secondary passage in said sheet reversing unit having a sheet removing area which includes a guide plate capable of being opened to expose the interior of the secondary passage to the exterior of the sheet reversing unit to permit the removal of the sheet present in the interior;
• a detecting means disposed in said secondary passage to detect a jammed sheet present in the secondary passage;
• a re-feed unit disposed within said apparatus body, forming a port of said secondary passage and provided with a drive means for driving each sheet present in the secondary passage forward toward the upstream end of said primary passage and also driving it backward toward the downstream end of the primary passage;
• and
• a control means which controls said drive means so that when said detecting means detects a jam in the secondary passage of said re-feed unit, the jammed sheet is moved backward up to said sheet removing area in the said sheet reversing unit.