Image forming apparatus having a substantially vertical sheet transport path and a relaying mechanism that cooperate to transfer a sheet to a sheet discharge section
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorsYasuhisa Kato, Hidenobu Endo, Masaaki Yoshikawa, Motokazu Yasui
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An image forming apparatus of the type having a sheet transport path extending substantially vertically upward from a sheet feed section to a sheet discharge section is disclosed. The apparatus allows different kinds of finishers to be mounted thereto without lessening the advantages particular to the substantially vertical path configuration. A relay unit intervenes between the sheet discharge section and the finisher. A sheet jamming the relay unit or the sheet discharge section during usual sheet discharge mode operation can be removed with ease.
Claims29
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a sheet discharge section provided in an upper portion of said apparatus, for allowing a sheet carrying an image thereon and discharged by usual sheet discharge to be stacked on a top of said apparatus via said sheet discharge section;
- and
- a relay unit extending horizontally on the top of said apparatus, and comprising a sheet transport path communicable to said sheet discharge section, and conveying means wherein said relay unit comprises a plurality of trays and a sorting function for sorting sheets.
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a sheet discharge section provided in an upper portion of said apparatus, for allowing a sheet carrying an image thereon and discharged by usual sheet discharge to be stacked on a top of said apparatus via said sheet discharge section;
- and
- a relay unit extending horizontally on the top of said apparatus, and comprising a sheet transport path communicable to said sheet discharge section, and conveying means, wherein said relay unit comprises at least one tray, wherein sheet finishing means is located downstream of said relay unit with respect to a direction of sheet transport in said sheet transport path, and wherein said tray and said sheet finishing means are cooperative to sort sheets sequentially driven out via said sheet discharge section.
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a sheet discharge section provided in an upper portion of said apparatus, for allowing a sheet carrying an image thereon and discharged by usual sheet discharge to be stacked on a top of said apparatus via said sheet discharge section;
- and
- a relay unit extending horizontally on the top of said apparatus, and comprising a sheet transport path communicable to said sheet discharge section, and conveying means, wherein said relay unit further comprises a switch-over path independent of said sheet transport path.
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a sheet discharge section provided in an upper portion of said apparatus, for allowing a sheet carrying an image thereon and discharged by usual sheet discharge to be stacked on a top of said apparatus via said sheet discharge section;
- and
- a relay unit extending horizontally on the top of said apparatus, and comprising a sheet transport path communicable to said sheet discharge section, and conveying means, further comprising an image forming section and a sheet feed section located below said image forming section, wherein the sheet is conveyed from said sheet feed section to said sheet discharge section substantially vertically, wherein the top of said apparatus is lower in level than a sheet outlet formed in said sheet discharge section, and a recess is formed between the top of said apparatus and said sheet discharge section and accommodates said relay unit.
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a sheet discharge section provided in an upper portion of said apparatus, for allowing a sheet carrying an image thereon and discharged by usual sheet discharge to be stacked on a top of said apparatus via said sheet discharge section;
- and
- a relay unit extending horizontally on the top of said apparatus, and comprising a sheet transport path communicable to said sheet discharge section, and conveying means, further comprising an image forming section and a sheet feed section located below said image forming section, wherein the sheet is conveyed from said sheet feed section to said sheet discharge section substantially vertically, wherein said relay unit comprises a plurality of trays and a sorting function for sorting sheets.
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a sheet discharge section provided in an upper portion of said apparatus, for allowing a sheet carrying an image thereon and discharged by usual sheet discharge to be stacked on a top of said apparatus via said sheet discharge section;
- and
- a relay unit extending horizontally on the top of said apparatus, and comprising a sheet transport path communicable to said sheet discharge section, and conveying means, further comprising an image forming section and a sheet feed section located below said image forming section, wherein the sheet is conveyed from said sheet feed section to said sheet discharge section substantially vertically, wherein said relay unit comprises at least one tray, wherein sheet finishing means is located downstream of said relay unit with respect to a direction of sheet transport in said sheet transport path, and wherein said tray and said sheet finishing means are cooperative to sort sheets sequentially driven out via said sheet discharge section.
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a sheet discharge section provided in an upper portion of said apparatus, for allowing a sheet carrying an image thereon and discharged by usual sheet discharge to be stacked on a top of said apparatus via said sheet discharge section;
- and
- a relay unit extending horizontally on the top of said apparatus, and comprising a sheet transport path communicable to said sheet discharge section, and conveying means, further comprising an image and a sheet feed section located below said image forming section, wherein the sheet is conveyed from said sheet feed section to said sheet discharge section substantially vertically, wherein said relay unit further comprises a switch-over path independent of said sheet transport path.
An image forming apparatus for conveying a sheet substantially vertically from a sheet feed section positioned below an image forming section to a sheet discharge section positioned above said image forming section to thereby form an image on the sheet, and stacking, when the sheet is discharged by usual sheet discharge, the sheet on a top of said apparatus, said apparatus comprising:
- sheet receiving means located above said sheet discharge section and including at least one tray forming a bin;
- and
- relaying means provided in an upper portion of said apparatus, for conveying the sheet driven out via said sheet discharge section to sheet finishing means for finishing the sheet;
- wherein at least the tray of said sheet receiving means closest to said relaying means is supported to be rotatable in an up-and-down direction.
An image forming apparatus for conveying a sheet substantially vertically from a sheet feed section positioned below an image forming section to a sheet discharge section positioned above said image forming section to thereby form an image on the sheet, and stacking, when the sheet is discharged by usual sheet discharge, the sheet on a top of said apparatus, said apparatus comprising:
- either document reading means or sheet receiving means located above said sheet discharge section, said sheet receiving means including at least one tray forming a bin;
- and
- relaying means provided in an upper portion of said apparatus, for conveying the sheet driven out of said sheet discharge section to sheet finishing means for finishing the sheet, wherein said relaying means being configured to lie pulled out toward a front of said apparatus.
An image forming apparatus for conveying a sheet substantially vertically from a sheet feed section positioned below an image forming section to a sheet discharge section positioned above said image forming section to thereby form an image on the sheet, and stacking, when the sheet is discharged by usual sheet discharge, the sheet on a top of said apparatus, said apparatus comprising:
- sheet receiving means located above said sheet discharge section and including at least one tray forming a bin;
- and
- relaying means provided in an upper portion of said apparatus, for conveying the sheet driven out via said sheet discharge section to sheet finishing means for finishing the sheet;
- wherein said relaying means comprises a transport cover covering a top of said apparatus and divided into a plurality of cover parts in an intended direction of sheet transport, and wherein at least one of said plurality of cover parts has one end thereof supported by a shaft so as to be rotatable in an up-and-down direction.
An image forming apparatus for conveying a sheet substantially vertically from a sheet feed section positioned below an image forming section to a sheet discharge section positioned above said image forming section to thereby form an image on the sheet, and stacking, when the sheet is discharged by usual sheet discharge, the sheet on a top of said apparatus, said apparatus comprising:
- sheet receiving means located above said sheet discharge section and including at least one tray forming a bin;
- relaying means provided in an upper portion of said apparatus, for conveying the sheet driven out via said sheet discharge section to sheet finishing means for finishing the sheet;
- a usual sheet feed section constructed integrally with an upper portion of said relaying means, for discharging the sheet;
- and
- a discharge cover included in said sheet discharge section and rotatable in an up-and-down direction;
- wherein a lowest tray of said sheet receiving means is constructed integrally with said discharge cover.
An apparatus as claimed in claim 26, wherein said stationary portion and said movable portion have a ratio selected such that when said discharge cover is opened, the sheet remains on said movable portion due to friction derived from a weight of the sheet.
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- an image forming section;
- a sheet feed section and a sheet discharge section respectively located below and above said image forming section such that a sheet is fed from said sheet feed section to said sheet discharge section substantially vertically via said image forming section to thereby form an image on the sheet;
- and
- a relay unit extending along a top of said apparatus and communicating said sheet discharge section to a finisher mounted on said apparatus;
- said relay unit comprising:
- a stack section for stacking the sheet driven out via said sheet discharge section;
- first conveying means for conveying the sheet driven out via said sheet discharge section to said stack section;
- second conveying means for conveying the sheet to said finisher;
- path selecting means for selectively steering the sheet to said first conveying means or to said second conveying means;
- and
- control means for controlling said path selecting means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.