Sheet guiding apparatus and an image forming apparatus using same
AssigneeMinolta Camera Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorYoshinobu Hara
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A sheet guiding apparatus and an image forming apparatus incorporating same. The copy sheet being transported to the transfer station by a pair of feed rollers is guided by a pair of guide panels arranged in one direction and an opposite direction. These guide panels are located in an extension state with a substantial intervening spacing at the moment transport starts, and are located in a contracted state with a narrow intervening spacing at the completion of sheet transport so as to prevent transport error and transfer dislocation. The timing by which the guide panels change form the extension state to the contraction state changing in accordance with the copy sheet size to assure guidability regardless of the size of the copy sheet.
Claims23
A sheet guiding apparatus for guiding a copy sheet sent from a pair of feed rollers to a transfer station of an image forming apparatus, said sheet guiding apparatus comprising:
- first guide means for acting on a first surface of the copy sheet sent from the pair of feed rollers and guiding the copy sheet to the transfer station;
- second guide means, confronting said first guide means, for acting on a second surface of the copy sheet sent from the pair of feed rollers and guiding the copy sheet to the transfer station;
- support means for supporting said first guide means movable from a first position to a second position, the distance between said first guide means at the second position and said second guide means is narrower than the distance between said first guide means at the first position and said second guide means;
- drive means for moving said first guide means between said first position and said second position;
- and
- control means for controlling said drive means such that said first guide means locates at said first position when the leading end of the copy sheet is coming toward an interval between said first guide means and second guide means and that said first guide means locates at said second position while the trailing end of the copy sheet is passing through the interval between said first and second guide means.
A sheet guiding apparatus for guiding a copy sheet sent from a pair of feed rollers to a transfer station of an image forming apparatus, said sheet guiding apparatus comprising:
- first and second guide means for guiding the copy sheet fed from the pair of feed rollers to the transfer station, the feeding direction of the copy sheet being changed from a line tangential to a direction of the pair of feed rollers to a direction of the transfer station by said guide means;
- support means for supporting said guide means movable from a first position to a second position, the distance between said first guide means at the second position and said tangential line is less than the distance between said first guide means at the first position and the second guide means;
- drive means for moving said guide means between said first position and the second position;
- and
- control means for controlling said drive means such that said guide means locate at said first position when the leading end of the copy sheet is coming toward said guide means and that said guide means locate at said second position while the trailing end of the copy sheet is passing through said guide means.
An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a copy sheet, said apparatus comprising:
- a photosensitive member;
- means for forming a toner image on said photosensitive member;
- means for feeding a copy sheet from a paper stack toward said photosensitive member, said feeding means including a pair of feed rollers;
- means, provided at a transfer station, for transferring the toner image from said photosensitive member onto the copy sheet fed by said feeding means;
- first guide means, provided between said pair of feed rollers and said transfer station, for acting on a first surface of the copy sheet sent from the pair of feed rollers and guiding the copy sheet to the transfer station;
- second guide means, confronting said first guide means, for acting on a second surface of the copy sheet sent from the pair of feed rollers and guiding the copy sheet to the transfer station;
- support means for supporting said first guide means movable from a first position to a second position, the distance between said first guide means at the second position and said second guide means is narrower than the distance between said first guide means at the first position and said second guide means;
- drive means for moving said first guide means between said first position and the second position;
- and
- control means for controlling said driving means such that said first guide means locates at said first position when the leading end of the copy sheet is coming toward an interval between said first guide means and second guide means and that said first guide means locates at said second position while the trailing end of the copy sheet is passing through the interval between said first guide means and the second guide means.
An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a copy sheet, said apparatus comprising:
- a photosensitive member;
- means for forming a toner image on said photosensitive member;
- means for feeding a copy sheet from one of a plurality of paper stacks toward said photosensitive member;
- means for selecting one of the plurality of paper stacks;
- means for generating a size signal corresponding to the size of the copy sheets stacked in the paper stack selected by the selecting means;
- means, provided at the transfer station, for transferring the toner image from said photosensitive member onto the copy sheet fed by said feeding means;
- first and second guide means, provided between said feeding means and said transfer station, for guiding the copy sheet sent from the feeding means to the transfer station;
- support means for supporting said guide means movable from a first position to a second position;
- drive means for moving said first guide means between said first position and said second position;
- and
- control means for controlling said drive means in accordance with the size signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.