Detachable transfer unit used for image forming apparatus and operation method of the transfer unit
AssigneesKabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorMasahiro Doi
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Abstract
In an image transferring apparatus of the invention, a transfer roller which comes in press contact with a sheet sent through a sheet conveyance path and transfers a toner image formed by an image forming section onto the sheet is constructed to be capable of being pulled out from a main body frame, and after pulling from the main body frame, when it is again mounted to the main body frame, it can be easily mounted to the main body frame without receiving a reaction force caused by a pressing force to bring the transfer roller into press contact with the sheet.
Claims14
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a main body frame including a sheet conveyance path to convey a sheet as a print object one by one;
- a unit that is mounted to a side surface of the main body frame to be capable of parallel movement in a lateral direction relative to the main body frame and can be pulled out from the main body frame from a mounted state by the parallel movement, and includes a transfer roller that comes into press contact with the sheet sent through the sheet conveyance path and transfers a toner image formed by an image forming section onto the sheet when the unit is in the mounted state;
- a holding mechanism that is provided on a side of the unit and holds the transfer roller to enable displacement between a transfer position to the sheet and a separated position separate from the transfer position;
- a transfer roller moving mechanism that causes the transfer roller held by the holding mechanism to be positioned at the separated position as a home position and can move the transfer roller to the transfer position;
- and
- an operation mechanism that is directly mounted on a side of the main body frame, and actuates the transfer roller moving mechanism to move the transfer roller from the separated position to the transfer position when the unit is in the mounted state.
An operation method of an image forming apparatus, comprising the steps of:
- pulling out a transfer roller, which is attached to a unit that is mounted to a side surface of the main body frame to be capable of parallel movement in a lateral direction relative to a main body frame and can be pulled out from the main body frame from a mounted state by the parallel movement, and which comes into press contact with a sheet sent through a sheet conveyance path in the main body frame and transfers a toner image formed by an image forming section onto the sheet when the unit is in the mounted state, to outside of the main body frame by pulling the unit from the main body frame by the parallel movement;
- mounting the unit to the main body frame in a state where a separated position is maintained as a home position, the transfer roller being held by a holding mechanism provided on a side of the unit to enable displacement between a transfer position to the sheet and the separated position separate from the transfer position and having the separated position as the home position by a transfer roller moving mechanism provided on the side of the unit;
- and
- moving the transfer roller from the separated position to the transfer position by actuating the transfer roller moving mechanism by an operation mechanism directly mounted on a side of the main body frame when the unit is in the mounted state.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.