Guide roller unit, guiding device, and image forming apparatus

A guiding device for guiding a sheet being conveyed, comprising:

• a guide main body having a guiding surface for guiding a sheet;
• and
• a guiding roller unit mounted on the guiding surface, the guiding roller unit including a holder mounted on the guiding surface, and a guiding roller having a rotary shaft rotatably supported by the holder, wherein:
• the holder includes:
• a base part mounted on the guiding surface,
• a pair of bearing parts standing from one end and the other end of the base part to face each other and engaged with opposite ends of the rotary shaft of the guiding roller from outsides to rotatably support the guide roller, and
• widening preventing parts attached to the pair of bearing parts in such a manner as to extend in directions opposite to facing directions of the respective bearing parts, each of the widening preventing parts having a contact portion that is disposed for contacting the guide main body, the bearing parts and the widening preventing parts being integral to each other;
• the guide roller being able to be attached and detached while leading ends of the bearing parts are elastically widened with respect to base ends of the bearing parts connected with the base part when the holder is detached from the guiding surface, and the widening of the leading ends of the bearing parts being prohibited by direct contact between the contact portions of the widening preventing parts and the guide main body when the holder is mounted on the guiding surface.

An image forming apparatus, comprising:

• a sheet storing section for storing sheets;
• an image forming assembly for forming an image on a sheet;
• a sheet conveyance path for conveying the sheet via the image forming assembly;
• and
• a guiding roller unit arranged in the sheet conveyance path downstream of the image forming assembly for guiding the sheet, the guiding roller unit including a holder mounted on a specified mount portion, and a guiding roller including a rotary shaft rotatably supported by the holder, wherein:
• the holder includes:
• a base part mounted on the mount portion,
• a pair of bearing parts standing from one end and the other end of the base part to face each other and engaged with opposite ends of the rotary shaft of the guiding roller from outsides to rotatably support the guide roller, and
• widening preventing parts attached to the pair of bearing parts in such a manner as to extend in directions opposite to facing directions of the respective bearing parts, wherein each of the widening preventing parts has a contact portion that is disposed for directly contacting the mount portion, the base part, the bearing parts and the widening preventing parts being integral to each other;
• the guide roller being able to be attached and detached while leading ends of the bearing parts are elastically widened with respect to base ends of the bearing parts connected with the base part when the holder is detached from the mount portion, and the widening of the leading ends of the bearing parts being prohibited by direct contact between the contact portions of the widening preventing parts and the mount portion when the holder is mounted on the mount portion.