Image formation apparatus, printer, copying machine, and facsimile device

An image formation apparatus comprising:

• a sheet storage section that stacks and stores sheets;
• a sheet separation/feeding unit that separates and feeds said sheets from said sheet storage section one by one;
• an image forming section that forms an image on said fed sheet;
• a sheet conveying path from said sheet storage section to said image forming section;
• a reversing path connected to some midpoint of said sheet conveying path, and into which said separated and fed sheet is fed;
• a sheet reversing unit that switches back said sheet fed into said reversing path, forwards said sheet to the downstream side of said sheet conveying path, and allows a subsequent sheet to be fed into said reversing path during forwarding of said sheet;
• an inlet roller disposed at a branching point between said sheet conveying path and said reversing path, and rotated in a direction that feeds said sheet brought into contact with its outer circumferential surface from said sheet storage section to said reversing path;
• and
• a driven roller that contacts the outer circumferential surface of said inlet roller, rotates together with said inlet roller, nips said sheet to be fed into said reversing path with the outer circumferential surface of said inlet roller at the contact point between both rollers, and rotates in a direction that feeds out said sheet from said reversing path toward said image forming section.

An image formation apparatus comprising:

• a sheet storage section that stacks and stores sheets;
• a sheet separation/feeding unit that separates and feeds said sheets from said sheet storage section one by one;
• an image forming section that forms an image on said fed sheet;
• a sheet conveying path from said sheet storage section to said image forming section;
• a reversing path connected to some midpoint of said sheet conveying path, and into which said separated and fed sheet is fed;
• a sheet reversing unit that switches back said sheet fed into said reversing path, forwards said sheet to the downstream side of said sheet conveying path, and allows a subsequent sheet to be fed into said reversing path during forwarding of said sheet;
• an inlet roller disposed at a branching point between said sheet conveying path and said reversing path, and rotated in a direction that feeds said sheet brought into contact with its outer circumferential surface from said sheet storage section to said reversing path;
• and
• a belt disposed in a direction such that said belt has a surface along a sheet to be fed into said reversing path and a surface along a sheet to be fed out of said reversing path, and which presses said sheet to be fed into said reversing path against the outer circumferential surface of said inlet roller and is rotated together with said inlet roller.

An image formation apparatus comprising:

• a sheet storage section that stacks and stores sheets;
• a sheet separation/feeding unit that separates and feeds said sheets from said sheet storage section one by one;
• an image forming section that forms an image on said fed sheet;
• a sheet conveying path from said sheet storage section to said image forming section;
• a reversing path connected to some midpoint of said sheet conveying path, and into which said separated and fed sheet is fed;
• a sheet reversing unit that switches back said sheet fed into said reversing path, forwards said sheet to the downstream side of said sheet conveying path, and allows a subsequent sheet to be fed into said reversing path during forwarding of said sheet;
• an inlet roller disposed at a branching point between said sheet conveying path and said reversing path, and rotated in a direction that feeds said sheet brought into contact with its outer circumferential surface from said sheet storage section to said reversing path;
• and
• a blade extending in a direction that feeds said sheet into said reversing path, and whose front end is pressed against the outer circumferential surface of said inlet roller.

A copying machine comprising:

• an image scanner that scans an image of an original;
• an image formation apparatus including, a sheet storage section that stacks and stores sheets, a sheet separation/feeding unit that separates and feeds said sheets from said sheet storage section one by one, an image forming section that forms an image on said fed sheet, a sheet conveying path from said sheet storage section to said image forming section, a reversing path connected to some midpoint of said sheet conveying path, and into which said separated and fed sheet is fed, a feeding unit that feeds said sheet conveyed along said sheet conveying path into said reversing path, a sheet reversing unit that switches back said sheet fed into said reversing path, forwards said sheet to the downstream side of said sheet conveying path, and allows a subsequent sheet to be fed into said reversing path during forwarding of said sheet and a branching claw disposed at a branching point between said sheet conveying path and said reversing path, and which has a first guide surface and a second guide surface and is selectable between a first switching position, that allows said sheet to be fed into said reversing path through its conveyance along said first guide surface, and a second switching position that allows said sheet to be fed out from said reversing path to the downstream side of said sheet conveying path through its conveyance along said second guide surface, and
• a control section that controls said image scanner and said image formation apparatus to allow said image formation apparatus to form an image on a sheet based on the image data for said original scanned by said image scanner.

A copying machine comprising:

• an image scanner that scans an image of an original;
• an image formation apparatus including, a sheet storage section that stacks and stores sheets, a sheet separation/feeding unit that separates and feeds said sheets from said sheet storage section one by one, an image forming section that forms an image on said fed sheet, a sheet conveying path from said sheet storage section to said image forming section, a reversing path connected to some midpoint of said sheet conveying path, and into which said separated and fed sheet is fed, a sheet reversing unit that switches back said sheet fed into said reversing path, forwards said sheet to the downstream side of said sheet conveying path, and allows a subsequent sheet to be fed into said reversing path during forwarding of said sheet, an inlet roller disposed at a branching point between said sheet conveying path and said reversing path, and rotated in a direction that feeds said sheet brought into contact with its outer circumferential surface from said sheet storage section to said reversing path and a driven roller that contacts the outer circumferential surface of said inlet roller, rotates together with said inlet roller, nips said sheet to be fed into said reversing path with the outer circumferential surface of said inlet roller at the contact point between both rollers, and rotates in a direction that feeds out said sheet from said reversing path toward said image forming section, and
• a control section that controls said image scanner and said image formation apparatus to allow said image formation apparatus to form an image on a sheet based on the image data for said original scanned by said image scanner.

A copying machine comprising:

• an image scanner that scans an image of an original;
• an image formation apparatus including, a sheet storage section that stacks and stores sheets, a sheet separation/feeding unit that separates and feeds said sheets from said sheet storage section one by one, an image forming section that forms an image on said fed sheet, a sheet conveying path from said sheet storage section to said image forming section, a reversing path connected to some midpoint of said sheet conveying path, and into which said separated and fed sheet is fed, a sheet reversing unit that switches back said sheet fed into said reversing path, forwards said sheet to the downstream side of said sheet conveying path, and, allows a subsequent sheet to be fed into said reversing path during forwarding of said sheet, an inlet roller disposed at a branching point between said sheet conveying path and said reversing path, and rotated in a direction that feeds said sheet brought into contact with its outer circumferential surface from said sheet storage section to said reversing path and a belt disposed in a direction such that said belt has a surface along a sheet to be fed into said reversing path and a surface along a sheet to be fed out of said reversing path, and which presses said sheet to be fed into said reversing path against the outer circumferential surface of said inlet roller and is rotated together with said inlet roller, and
• a control section that controls said image scanner and said image formation apparatus to allow said image formation apparatus to form an image on a sheet based on the image data for said original scanned by said image scanner.

A copying machine comprising:

• an image scanner that scans an image of an original;
• an image formation apparatus including, a sheet storage section that stacks and stores sheets, a sheet separation/feeding unit that separates and feeds said sheets from said sheet storage section one by one, an image forming section that forms an image on said fed sheet, a sheet conveying path from said sheet storage section to said image forming section, a reversing path connected to some midpoint of said sheet conveying path, and into which said separated and fed sheet is fed, a sheet reversing unit that switches back said sheet fed into said reversing path, forwards said sheet to the downstream side of said sheet conveying path, and allows a subsequent sheet to be fed into said reversing path during forwarding of said sheet, an inlet roller disposed at a branching point between said sheet conveying path and said reversing path, and rotated in a direction that feeds said sheet brought into contact with its outer circumferential surface from said sheet storage section to said reversing path and a blade extending in a direction that feeds said sheet into said reversing path, and whose front end is pressed against the outer circumferential surface of said inlet roller, and
• a control section that controls said image scanner and said image formation apparatus to allow said image formation apparatus to form an image on a sheet based on the image data for said original scanned by said image scanner.

An image formation apparatus comprising:

• a sheet storage section that stacks and stores sheets;
• a sheet separation/feeding unit that separates and feeds said sheets from said sheet storage section one by one;
• an image forming section that forms an image on said fed sheet;
• a sheet conveying path from said sheet storage section to said image forming section;
• a reversing path connected to some midpoint of said sheet conveying path, and into which said separated and fed sheet is fed;
• and
• a sheet reversing unit that switches back said sheet fed into said reversing path, forwards said sheet to the downstream side of said sheet conveying path, and allows a subsequent sheet to be fed into said reversing path during forwarding of said sheet,
• wherein said sheet reversing unit is formed with a reverse roller intermittently rotated, and a driven roller brought into contact with the outer circumferential surface of said reverse roller and rotated together with said reverse roller, and
• a low friction part, whose frictional resistance with respect to a sheet passing through between said reverse roller and said driven roller is lower than that in any other parts, is formed on the outer circumferential part of said reverse roller.

A printer comprising:

• an image formation apparatus including, a sheet storage section that stacks and stores sheets, a sheet separation/feeding unit that separates and feeds said sheets from said sheet storage section one by one, an image forming section that forms an image on said fed sheet, a sheet conveying path from said sheet storage section to said image forming section, a reversing path connected to some midpoint of said sheet conveying path, and into which said separated and fed sheet is fed and a sheet reversing unit that switches back said sheet fed into said reversing path, forwards said sheet to the downstream side of said sheet conveying path, and allows a subsequent sheet to be fed into said reversing path during forwarding of said sheet, wherein said sheet reversing unit is formed with a reverse roller intermittently rotated, and a driven roller brought into contact with the outer circumferential surface of said reverse roller and rotated together with said reverse roller and a low friction part, whose frictional resistance with respect to a sheet passing through between said reverse roller and said driven roller is lower than that in any other parts, is formed on the outer circumferential part of said reverse roller, and
• an input terminal that receives input of image data;
• and
• a control section that controls said image formation apparatus so as to form an image on a sheet based on the image data.

A copying machine comprising:

• an image scanner that scans an image of an original;
• an image formation apparatus including, a sheet storage section that stacks and stores sheets, a sheet separation/feeding unit that separates and feeds said sheets from said sheet storage section one by one, an image forming section that forms an image on said fed sheet, a sheet conveying path from said sheet storage section to said image forming section, a reversing path connected to some midpoint of said sheet conveying path, and into which said separated and fed sheet is fed and a sheet reversing unit that switches back said sheet fed into said reversing path, forwards said sheet to the downstream side of said sheet conveying path, and allows a subsequent sheet to be fed into said reversing path during forwarding of said sheet, wherein said sheet reversing unit is formed with a reverse roller intermittently rotated, and a driven roller brought into contact with the outer circumferential surface of said reverse roller and rotated together with said reverse roller and a low friction part, whose frictional resistance with respect to a sheet passing through between said reverse roller and said driven roller is lower than that in any other parts, is formed on the outer circumferential part of said reverse roller, and
• a control section that controls said image scanner and said image formation apparatus to allow said image formation apparatus to form an image on a sheet based on the image data for said original scanned by said image scanner.

A facsimile device comprising:

• an image scanner that scans an image of an original;
• an image formation apparatus including, a sheet storage section that stacks and stores sheets, a sheet separation/feeding unit that separates and feeds said sheets from said sheet storage section one by one, an image forming section that forms an image on said fed sheet, a sheet conveying path from said sheet storage section to said image forming section, a reversing path connected to some midpoint of said sheet conveying path, and into which said separated and fed sheet is fed, a sheet reversing unit that switches back said sheet fed into said reversing path, forwards said sheet to the downstream side of said sheet conveying path, and allows a subsequent sheet to be fed into said reversing path during forwarding of said sheet, wherein said sheet reversing unit is formed with a reverse roller intermittently rotated, and a driven roller brought into contact with the outer circumferential surface of said reverse roller and rotated together with said reverse roller and a low friction part, whose frictional resistance with respect to a sheet passing through between said reverse roller and said driven roller is lower than that in any other parts, is formed on the outer circumferential part of said reverse roller, and
• a transmitter/receiver that performs transmission and reception of image data with the outside through a network;
• and
• a control section that controls said image scanner, said image formation apparatus, and said transmitter/receiver, allows said transmitter/receiver to transmit the image data for said original scanned by said image scanner to the outside through the network, and allows said image formation apparatus to form an image on a sheet based on the image data received from the outside through the network.