Against Temporarily-stopped Conveyer Patents (Class 271/242)
  • Patent number: 11130645
    Abstract: A medium transporting device includes a driving roller that transports a medium and that is driven to rotate, a driven roller that nips the medium between the driving roller and the driven roller and rotates in accordance with the rotation of the driving roller, a rotary shaft of the driven roller, a first pressing member that presses the rotary shaft in a direction in which the driven roller comes into contact with the driving roller, a second pressing member that presses the rotary shaft in a direction in which the driven roller comes into contact with the driving roller, and a spacer member that is integrally provided with a first spacer interposed between the rotary shaft and the first pressing member and a second spacer interposed between the rotary shaft and the second pressing member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2021
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Akira Anami, Naoki Sakamoto
  • Patent number: 10800624
    Abstract: The present invention provides an image forming apparatus that reduces image artifacts caused by the back tension of a separating unit. A control unit decreases the number of rotations (the rotational speed) of a resist roller pair after the leading edge of a sheet reaches a transfer position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Takashi Kuwata, Motoyasu Muramatsu
  • Patent number: 10710829
    Abstract: A paper conveyance device includes: an upstream roller and a downstream roller being arranged at an interval in a paper conveyance path; paper conveyance guides being arranged between the upstream and downstream roller in the paper conveyance path to guide both surfaces of paper along the paper conveyance path during paper conveyance; drivers that drive the upstream and downstream roller independently; and a processor that measures the load torques on the upstream and downstream roller, that judges whether or not the paper is rubbing against one of the paper conveyance guides with reference to the load torques on the upstream and downstream roller, the load torques being obtained by the processor, and that performs controlled paper conveyance with reference to the load torques on the upstream and downstream roller depending on the result of the judgment being obtained by the processor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2020
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Yamaguchi, Hitoshi Asano, Toshikazu Higashi, Tomonobu Tamura
  • Patent number: 10696054
    Abstract: In a printer, an upstream side transport path for transporting a paper sheet to a recording region in which recording is performed by a recording head from a tube for supplying ink to a recording head from a liquid accommodation body stored in the liquid storage unit and a medium accommodation unit in a state where a recording unit, the liquid storage unit, and a medium accommodation unit are stacked, is configured, and the liquid storage unit includes a liquid storage unit inner transport path including a supply connection section which connects the liquid accommodation body and the tube to each other, and a first transport section which forms a part of the upstream side transport path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2020
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Masaki Shimomura, Koji Shimizu
  • Patent number: 10645244
    Abstract: An image reading apparatus includes a medium support section that supports a medium before feeding, a reading section that reads the medium that feeds from the medium support section, a transport roller that is disposed upstream of the reading section and transports the medium to the reading section, and a load applying device that applies a load against rotation of the transport roller. The transport roller is disposed on a rotating shaft that extends in a medium width direction that intersects the medium transport direction, and the load applying device imparts the load by pressing a transport roller driving gear that is disposed at one end of the rotating shaft in a direction from the one end of the rotating shaft to the other end thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Shintaro Miyamoto, Kohei Kozaki
  • Patent number: 10065440
    Abstract: An image recording apparatus, comprising: a recording device; a cassette; a discharge tray; a conveying path; a conveyor; an electrical power supply; a cooling air flow path; an air blower configured to apply a wind-force to air so as to cause the air to flow through the cooling air flow path; and a casing, wherein: the electrical power supply and the cooling air flow path are arranged in a lower region in a vertical direction with respect to the cassette, the conveying path and the recording device; the recording device is located, in regard to the vertical direction, at a position higher than or equal to the cassette; and the electrical power supply and the cassette overlap each other in the vertical direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2018
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Tetsuya Kitajima
  • Patent number: 9884492
    Abstract: A first feeder contacts a first surface of a first sheet held in a first tray and feeds the first sheet toward a recording unit. A second feeder contacts a first surface of a second sheet held in a second tray and feeds the second sheet toward the recording unit. An inner member is disposed above a standing plate. An outer member comprises an upstream portion opposing the standing plate, and a downstream portion opposing the inner member. The inner member guides the first surface of the first sheet and the first surface of the second sheet. The standing plate guides the first surface of the second sheet. The upstream portion of the outer member guides a second surface of the second sheet, and the downstream portion guides a second surface of the first sheet and the second surface of the second sheet. The standing plate moves relative to the outer member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2018
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tetsuo Asada, Kensuke Hirate, Yoshiyuki Washino
  • Patent number: 9873580
    Abstract: A sheet conveyer device, including a transmitter to transmit ultrasonic waves arranged on a conveyer path to face a first side of a sheet; a receiver to receive the ultrasonic waves arranged on the conveyer path to face a second side of the sheet; a measurement unit to measure an intensity of the received ultrasonic waves; and a determination unit to determine a condition of a range in the conveyer path between the transmitter and the receiver among a first condition, wherein no sheet is present in the range, a second condition, in which a sheet is present in the range, and a third condition, in which a plurality of sheets are present in the range, based on intensities of the ultrasonic waves measured by the measurement unit in a plurality of periods separately after transmission of the ultrasonic waves, is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2018
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masayoshi Hayashi, Yuji Hori
  • Patent number: 9624054
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus including an image forming unit, a conveyance roller, a registration roller disposed on a conveyance path extending from the conveyance roller to the image forming unit, the registration roller being configured to perform skew correction for a sheet by contacting a leading end of the sheet in a conveyance direction while rotation of the registration roller is being stopped, and rotating after a lapse of a particular period of time since the rotation of the registration roller has been stopped, a driving source configured to supply a driving force to the conveyance roller and the registration roller, and a controller configured to determine the particular period of time based on a cumulative number of sheets conveyed by the conveyance roller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hikaru Iino
  • Patent number: 9487370
    Abstract: A sheet material conveying device includes: a sheet material housing unit; a sheet material conveying unit that conveys each sheet material to a predetermined conveyance target position; a separating/feeding unit that separates a sheet material from sheet materials in the sheet material housing unit and conveys the separated sheet material alone to the sheet material conveying unit; a multi-feed detecting unit that detects whether multi-feed occurs in which a plurality of sheet materials are fed from the separating/feeding unit to the sheet material conveying unit; and an internal sheet material detecting unit that detects presence of the sheet material in the sheet material conveying unit. The sheet material conveying device performs multi-feed failure detection control for detecting whether a failure occurs in the multi-feed detecting unit before notification of a detection result of the internal sheet material detecting unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2016
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: Hiroaki Utagawa, Takanori Ohta, Takashi Nakano, Takashi Fukumoto, Kenji Hayasaka, Joji Akiyama, Masataka Fukuchi
  • Patent number: 9457600
    Abstract: A conveyance device including an upstream roller that supplies a sheet medium to be processed to a conveyance path; a downstream roller that conveys the supplied medium to a processing position; and a control unit that, in order to convey the sheet medium at a constant speed, controls driving the upstream roller and the downstream roller using the constant speed as a target speed. The control unit changes the target speed of the upstream roller to eliminate a conveyance difference, which is the difference between the length of media conveyed by the upstream roller and the length of media conveyed by the downstream roller from the start of the conveyance operation, based on the conveyance difference in each conveyance operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2016
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Norio Horaguchi
  • Patent number: 9365374
    Abstract: A sheet transport device includes first to third rotating members, a sheet position detector, and a controller. The first member transports a sheet at a first speed. The second member transports the sheet at a second speed that is lower than the first speed. The third member in a stopped state receives the sheet and subsequently resumes transporting to perform positional correction thereon. The detector detects positions of leading and trailing edges of the sheet. The controller performs control such that, when a preset time elapses after the detector detects that the leading edge has reached the third member, the third member is caused to resume transporting at the second speed, and when the detector detects that the leading edge has passed the second member, the third member is increased in speed from the second speed to the first speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2016
    Assignee: FUJI XEROX CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hajime Yoshii, Nooun Lee, Inho Kang, Taeil Byeon, Woojin Ha, Jeman Shin, Hyunsu Shin, Yongho Choi
  • Patent number: 9146519
    Abstract: A sheet conveying device includes upstream side rollers; discharge rollers located downstream from the upstream side rollers in the feeding direction of sheets, to discharge sheets to a discharge tray; a reflective optical detector located between the discharging rollers and the upstream side rollers, to emit light and to receive light reflected off of the sheets; and a recognizing unit to detect, based on output of the detector, whether or not a sheet is present at a detection region of the detector. When a sheet is fed over a conveying path inclined with respect to a detection face of the detector, the discharge rollers feed the sheet in a bent state between the upstream side rollers and the discharge rollers, so that the sheet is close to the detector or the sheet is close to being perpendicular to an optical axis of the detector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2015
    Assignee: Kyocera Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Yoji Isogai
  • Patent number: 9139391
    Abstract: A sheet conveyor, which is incorporated in an image forming apparatus and in which a method of preventing sheet skew is performed, includes a sheet conveying path through which a sheet is conveyed, a first conveying unit disposed in a sheet conveying direction and including a shaft extending in a lateral direction, multiple rollers attached to the shaft along the shaft, and a rotation regulator disposed between each of the multiple rollers and the shaft to idly rotate each of the multiple rollers in a given range about the shaft, a second conveying unit disposed along the sheet conveying path and downstream from the first conveying unit in the sheet conveying direction, and a sheet abutting part provided at the second conveying unit, against which a leading edge of the sheet abuts to form a slack of the sheet to correct skew of the sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2015
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Mitsutaka Nakamura, Masanori Namba, Toshikane Nishii, Haruyuki Honda, Munekazu Hirata
  • Patent number: 9061846
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a registration roller pair, which is arranged on a downstream side in a sheet feeding direction with respect to a nip portion of a sheet feeding roller and a separation roller, configured to cause a leading edge of a sheet, the sheet is conveyed while being nipped by the sheet feeding roller and the separation roller, to abut against the stopped registration roller pair to form warping in the sheet. And, a backup sheet is deformed toward a separation roller side by abutting against the sheet, which has been warped by abutting the leading edge of the sheet against the registration roller pair, from the separation roller side in a vicinity of the downstream side in the sheet feeding direction with respect to the nip portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hiroshige Inoue
  • Patent number: 9056735
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus including: first to third rotators, rotated in accordance with an image forming operation of an image forming section; a first motor driving the first and third rotators; a second motor driving the second rotator; a first switch switching between a connected state in which a driving force from the first motor is transmitted to the third rotator, and a disconnected state in which the driving force from the first motor is not transmitted to the third rotator; and a control device performing a first rotating process of rotating the first rotator by rotating the first motor in the disconnected state, performing a second rotating process of rotating the second rotator by rotating the second motor, and performing a start timing process of providing a difference between start timings of the first and second rotating processes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2015
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yuji Tokoro, Yohei Hashimoto
  • Patent number: 9027923
    Abstract: A sheet conveying apparatus includes: a conveying unit nipping a sheet in a nip portion to convey the sheet; a shutter unit rotated in a predetermined rotation direction by being pushed by the conveyed sheet to correct a skew of the sheet; a rotation transmitting unit configured to transmit a rotational driving force to the shutter unit to rotate the shutter unit in the predetermined rotation direction; and an urging unit configured to apply an urging force to the shutter unit so that the shutter unit comes into contact with a surface of the sheet, thereafter the shutter unit is returned to a waiting position along with the passage of a rear end of the sheet through the shutter unit after the shutter unit is rotated by the rotational driving force of the rotation transmitting unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yohei Suzuki
  • Patent number: 9004488
    Abstract: A conveying apparatus includes a first pair of rollers having a drive roller and a pinch roller driven by the drive roller, a second pair of rollers provided downstream of the first pair of rollers, and an arm member supporting the drive roller and adapted to be swingable such that a force for pressing the drive roller against the pinch roller increases as a conveyance resistance of the sheet increases. The force for pressing the drive roller against the pinch roller decreases if driven by the moving sheet. The conveying speed of the second pair of rollers is set to be higher than the conveying speed of the drive roller so as to cause the drive roller to be driven by the sheet in the case where a skew of the sheet has been corrected and the sheet having the skew corrected is conveyed by the second pair of rollers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hideyuki Terashima
  • Patent number: 9004489
    Abstract: A medium conveyance device includes a pressed member, a first retention member retaining the pressed member and including a first bias-member retention portion, a press member provided facing the pressed member, a second retention member being provided movable relative to the first retention member and retaining the press member wherein the second retention member includes a second bias-member retention portion, and a bias member provided between the first bias-member retention portion and the second bias-member retention portion and supported at one end thereof by the first bias-member retention portion and at another end thereof by the second bias-member retention portion, thereby pressing the press member against the pressed member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 14, 2015
    Assignee: Oki Data Corporation
    Inventor: Manabu Imai
  • Patent number: 8985577
    Abstract: A sheet conveyor device includes a registration roller, an intermediate roller, a first sheet detection section, a first drive controller, a second drive controller, and a third drive controller. The registration roller conveys a sheet toward an image forming section for image formation. The intermediate roller conveys the sheet toward the registration roller. The first sheet detection section is used for optically detecting the sheet between the registration roller and the intermediate roller. The first drive controller drives the intermediate roller, while suspending driving of the registration roller. The second drive controller drives the registration roller when a predetermined conveyance wait period elapses from detection of a sheet by the first sheet detection section. The third drive controller drives the registration roller when a predetermined forced conveyance period elapses from a start of conveyance of the sheet loaded on a sheet loading section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2015
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Masaaki Maruta
  • Patent number: 8955839
    Abstract: A paper feed apparatus is capable of correcting the skew of a sheet irrespective of a differential conveyance distance. The paper feed apparatus is provided with a first large volume paper feed apparatus 100A having a control unit 130 which performs first correction control to correct the skew of a sheet by controlling a first conveyance unit 110 and forming a loop of the sheet P before a paper stop rollers 110d, and also performs second correction control to correct the skew of a sheet by controlling a second conveyance unit 120 and forming a loop of the sheet before a paper stop rollers 110d. In this case, the control unit 130 controls the first conveyance unit 110 and the second conveyance unit 120 in order that the skew correcting ability of the second correction control becomes greater than the skew correcting ability of the first correction control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2015
    Assignee: Konica Minolta, Inc.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Oyama, Kenji Izumiya, Kiyoto Kojima, Atsushi Takahashi
  • Patent number: 8950747
    Abstract: A recording paper conveying device includes a registration roller pair and a conveyor roller pair adjacent to the registration roller pair. By rotating the conveyor roller pair, a sheet of recording paper is fed until leading edge of the sheet abuts the registration roller pair in stationary state so that the sheet is deflected by a prescribed amount. Then, conveyor roller pair is rotated at the constant velocity, and while the sheet is kept deflected, rotation of the registration roller pair is started, to start feeding of the sheet by the registration roller pair. While the registration roller pair is kept rotating, rotation of the conveyor roller pair is suspended, and then, the conveyor roller pair is returned to the state of rotation before suspension. Thus, unnecessary deflection of the sheet just in front of the registration roller pair can be prevented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2015
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yoshiteru Kikuchi, Kohji Aoki, Shinichi Azumi, Norichika Katsura, Yoshinori Shiraishi
  • Patent number: 8925911
    Abstract: A sheet feeding device includes: a feeding mechanism having a first roller and a second roller provided downstream in a sheet feeding path from the first roller and feeding a sheet by rotations of the first and second rollers; a control section executing a butting control by controlling the first and second rollers to feed the sheet from the first roller so as to butt against the second roller at an intake position, and executing an intake feeding control by controlling the second roller to feed the sheet downstream in the feeding path from the intake position; an obtaining section obtaining information indicating a rotation amount of the second roller in a period after the butting control to the start of the intake feeding control; and a target setting section setting a target rotation amount of the second roller that should be achieved in the intake feeding control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2015
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Mitsuhiro Nozaki
  • Patent number: 8910940
    Abstract: An image forming system of one aspect of the present invention includes a first image forming apparatus arranged on the upstream side in a sheet conveyance direction, a second image forming apparatus arranged on the downstream side in the sheet conveyance direction, and an intermediate apparatus arranged between the first image forming apparatus and the second image forming apparatus and having a registration roller on the sheet conveyance path through which a sheet conveyed from the first image forming apparatus is conveyed to the second image forming apparatus. The intermediate apparatus has a path opening mechanism configured to release a pressure contact of the registration roller arranged on the sheet conveyance path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 16, 2014
    Assignee: Konica Minolta, Inc.
    Inventor: Hideo Isohara
  • Patent number: 8820738
    Abstract: A sheet conveyance apparatus includes a conveyance roller pair and a mechanism. While following movement of the sheet nipped by the conveyance roller pair, the mechanism moves the conveyance roller pair from a home position, and, in response to a trailing edge of the sheet passing through a conveyance roller pair nip portion, the mechanism returns the pair to the home position. The mechanism includes a movement supporting portion, a cam, a pressing member, and an urging member. The pressing member urges the conveyance roller pair toward the home position by exerting an urging force to the cam. In response to the conveyance roller pair and one of the cam and the pressing member moving in the width direction from the home position, the pressing member exerts the urging force to the cam in a direction reverse to a direction in which the conveyance roller pair has moved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2014
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kouhei Deno
  • Patent number: 8807559
    Abstract: A sheet conveying apparatus including: a conveying roller pair conveying a sheet by a nip portion; a shutter portion which is rotatably supported on a rotary shaft of the first conveying roller; a same radius portion, provided in the shutter portion, which is formed to have substantially the same radius as a radius of the first conveying roller; an abutment portion, provided in the shutter portion, and against which the leading edge of the sheet is abutted; and a boundary portion, provided in a boundary of the abutment portion and the same radius portion, which guides the leading edge of the sheet to the nip portion when the shutter portion is rotated by abutting the leading edge of the sheet against the boundary portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2014
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Takehito Osada, Minoru Kawanishi, Kenji Watanabe, Motohiro Furusawa
  • Patent number: 8794625
    Abstract: A sheet supply device includes registration rollers for feeding a print sheet to a print unit, feed rollers for feeding a print sheet to the registration rollers, and a controller for controlling the registration rollers and the feed rollers. The controller starts first rotation of the feed rollers to contact a leading edge of the print sheet to the registration rollers to form a slack with a predetermined slack amount, stops the first rotation after the slack is formed, starts rotation of the registration rollers after the first rotation is stopped to reduce a slack amount of the slack, and starts second rotation of the feed rollers after the rotation of the registration rollers is started so as to make the slack remained until a trailing edge of the print sheet passes through the feed rollers. According to the sheet supply device, noises during feeding print sheets can be reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 5, 2014
    Assignee: Riso Kagaku Corporation
    Inventor: Akihiro Yamagata
  • Patent number: 8777219
    Abstract: A sheet conveyance apparatus includes a control unit which controls the operation of a registration roller shift motor so as to perform positional deviation correction based on the detection result of a contact image sensor (CIS) configured to detect positional deviation in the width direction of a sheet. When the amount by which the registration roller shift motor moves the registration roller in the width direction exceeds an upper limit value, the control unit limits the movement amount by which the registration roller shift motor moves the registration roller in the width direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 15, 2014
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kouhei Deno
  • Patent number: 8770581
    Abstract: A skew correcting device includes a first roller pair configured to nip and convey a sheet, a second roller pair disposed upstream of the first roller pair and configured to nip and convey the sheet, a contact portion disposed downstream of the first roller pair, the contact portion being a portion that the leading edge of the conveyed sheet comes into contact to correct skew of the sheet, a switching mechanism configured to change a nipping force of the first roller pair before the leading edge of the conveyed sheet comes into contact with the contact portion to form a loop in the sheet, and a control unit configured to make a determination on the basis of sheet information as to whether the nipping force of the first roller pair is to be changed, the control unit being configured to control the switching mechanism on the basis of the determination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2014
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kohei Deno
  • Patent number: 8764003
    Abstract: When conveying an envelope, a posture of the envelope is corrected by hitting a closed portion of the envelope, which is opposite side of an opened portion of the envelope, against a nip portion between upper and lower rollers of the pre-registration rollers and the envelope is then conveyed with the envelope being nipped by the upper and lower rollers of the pre-registration rollers. The upper and lower rollers of the pre-registration rollers nip the envelope to remove air from the envelope. When setting an envelope mode to control a conveying speed of the envelope based on a coverage rate of an image to be formed on the envelope, the conveying speed of the envelope is controlled by adjusting a rotation speed of the registration rollers based on the coverage rate of the set envelope mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2014
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Icn.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Oyama, Kenji Izumiya, Kiyoto Kojima, Atsushi Takahashi
  • Patent number: 8752828
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit, a sheet feeding unit for feeding a sheet, a registration roller for transporting the sheet toward the image forming unit, a rotational member for transporting the sheet toward the registration roller, at least one detection member provided on an upstream side of the registration roller, and a sheet size detection unit configured to receive an output from the detection member. The rotational member is configured to continue rotation until transportation of the sheet is completed. The registration roller is configured to rotate when a predetermined waiting time period has elapsed since the detection member detects sheet arrival. The sheet size detection unit is configured to detect a size of the sheet using a time period from a time when the detection member detects the sheet arrival to a time when the detection member detects sheet passage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2014
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventors: Satoru Nakamura, Masaaki Maruta
  • Patent number: 8712314
    Abstract: A method of a sheet alignment includes carrying a sheet from a sheet discharging port; transferring the sheet on a tray device toward a sheet end regulating device; moving the sheet on the tray device in a width direction orthogonal to the sheet discharging direction for widthwise alignment; and abutting again the sheet on the tray device against the sheet end regulating device while the sheet is in the widthwise alignment. When the sheet on the tray device is transferred toward the sheet end regulating device, the sheet is transferred at a predetermined speed. Before the sheet abuts against the sheet end regulating device, the speed is reduced to provide a conveying force to the sheet without stopping. While the conveying force is continuously applied to the sheet, the sheet is aligned in the width direction to thereby prevent skewing of the sheet relative to the sheet end regulating device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2014
    Assignee: Nisca Corporation
    Inventors: Eiichi Kubo, Masato Hosaka
  • Patent number: 8690152
    Abstract: When a sheet is transported as passed through a first roller pair equipped with a torque limiter and through a second roller pair, a loop formed in the sheet between the first roller pair and the second roller pair is cleared by a method wherein the amount of sheet loop is decreased by driving the second roller pair and disabling the first roller pair and wherein at the time when the sheet loop is decreased to a predetermined amount, a velocity of clearing the loop is lowered by rotating the first roller pair at a lower peripheral velocity than that of the second roller pair.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2014
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Takayuki Ito, Shigeru Tashiro, Naotoshi Kawai, Hiroaki Umemoto
  • Patent number: 8678382
    Abstract: A sheet conveyance apparatus includes a conveyance roller pair, a conveyance roller driving unit, a registration roller pair, a registration driving unit, a separation and press-contact unit configured to set the registration roller pair to a separated state and to a press-contact state, and a control unit. After a sheet has stopped at a stop position immediately before the registration roller pair, the registration roller pair having been set to the separated state is set to the press-contact state. The registration roller pair is rotated backward during formation of a loop in the sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2014
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kouhei Deno
  • Patent number: 8641041
    Abstract: A printing medium supplying apparatus for an image forming apparatus includes an apparatus main body, and a printing medium aligning unit which is disposed on the apparatus main body to move between an aligning position at which the printing medium aligning unit aligns a printing medium and a distanced position at which the printing medium aligning unit is distanced from the aligning position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2014
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
    Inventors: Jin-soo Lee, Jae-yong Kim
  • Patent number: 8641043
    Abstract: A paper feed unit for a printer to form an image on a print paper by an image former, the paper feed unit including: a paper feed tray that stacks print papers to be fed; a paper transfer route that transfers print papers; a register roller that is provided upstream of the image former in a paper transfer direction in the paper transfer route and holds a fed print paper to adjust a timing to transfer the fed print paper to the image former; a pick-up roller that transmits a print paper stacked in the paper feed tray to the register roller, the pick-up roller being smaller in width than a width of a print paper to be transmitted; and a regulator that comes into contact with a loose portion of a print paper loosened in a paper feed route in between the pick-up roller and the register roller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2014
    Assignee: Riso Kagaku Corporation
    Inventor: Naoya Masuda
  • Patent number: 8590884
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus comprises an image-forming part; a paper feeding part; a resist part; a rotating body; a detector for detecting the arrival of paper at the resist part; a timer part for measuring a measurement time from when feeding of a second sheet of paper from the paper feeding part is begun to when the detector detects the arrival of the second sheet of paper, and a sheet interval time from when the detector detects the passage of a first sheet of paper immediately preceding the second sheet of paper to when the arrival of the second sheet of paper is detected; and an identifier part for referring to the measurement time, a reference measurement time, the sheet interval time and a reference sheet interval time, and deciding the paper feeding part advancing or delaying the paper feed start timing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2013
    Assignee: Kyocera Document Solutions, Inc.
    Inventors: Masaaki Maruta, Satoru Nakamura
  • Patent number: 8585038
    Abstract: In an image-forming device the first sensor detects a recording sheet manually inserted from a manual sheet insertion opening. The sheet-skew correction roller is provided downstream side of the first sensor in the conveying direction. The controller is configured to control the sheet-skew correction roller to begin rotating if a stopping time has elapsed from a moment when the first sensor detects the recording sheet. The stopping time is initially set to a first stopping time. The controller is configured to function as a determining unit and a changing unit. The determining unit is configured to determine whether the recording sheet is properly conveyed. The changing unit is configured to change the stopping time to a second stopping time from the first stopping time if the determining unit determines that the recording sheet is not properly conveyed, the second stopping time being longer than the first stopping time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2013
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Tetsuya Okano
  • Patent number: 8550457
    Abstract: A paper feeding module and multi-function printer using the same are provided. The multi-function printer includes a body, a paper transferring passage and a paper feeding module. The paper transferring passage includes an entrance. The paper feeding module includes a photoreceptor axle, a transferring axle and a skew correction axle. The photoreceptor axle is disposed on the paper transferring passage. The transferring axle is disposed next to the photoreceptor axle and contacts the photoreceptor axle. The skew correction axle is disposed between the entrance of the paper transferring passage and the photoreceptor axle. The skew correction axle contacts the transferring axle. The axes of the photoreceptor axle, the transferring axle and the skew correction axle are parallel to one another.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2013
    Assignees: Cal-Comp Electronics & Communications Company Limited, Kinpo Electronics, Inc.
    Inventor: Kuo-Ming Wang
  • Patent number: 8544843
    Abstract: A first resist roller (72) and a second resist roller (75) are disposed in a transport path of paper on an upstream side and a downstream side in the transport direction of the paper, and the rotational speeds of the first resist roller (72) and the second resist roller (75) are controlled so that the leading edge of the paper butts against and stops at the first resist roller (72) and the second resist roller (75), after which the paper is transported by the first and second resist rollers (72, 75) and the angled travel of the paper is corrected. An angled travel detection unit (81, 82) that detects angled travel in the paper is disposed upstream from the first resist roller (72) in the transport direction of the paper.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2013
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kazutaka Matsumoto
  • Patent number: 8540240
    Abstract: A sheet conveying apparatus has an upstream roller and a registration roller configured so that the sheet conveyed by the upstream roller abuts the registration roller to form a loop in the sheet to correct for skew. The skew of the sheet is corrected for by the leading edge of the sheet abutting the registration roller to bend the sheet so as to form the loop in the sheet. A resist sensor detects a time difference of passing time between the advanced leading edge and the retarded leading edge in the downstream leading edge of the sheet conveyed by the upstream roller, detects the skew amount of the sheet based on the time difference, and changes the backward rotation time of the registration roller depending on the skew amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kohei Deno, Masaki Maeno
  • Patent number: 8500119
    Abstract: A sheet conveying device includes a conveying path along which a sheet is conveyed. First and second conveying roller pairs are arranged on the conveying path at a predetermined distance from each other. Overlapping conveyance sensing devices are located between the first and second conveying roller pairs and include opposing transmission device and reception device. A distance between the first and second conveying roller pairs is shorter than a length of a minimum size sheet in a conveying direction. In the conveying path between the conveying roller pairs, guide members are disposed to sandwich the transmission device and reception device. The guide members are configured to project upward or downward from a sheet conveying line by a predetermined amount with respect to the conveying path, the sheet conveying line extending through nip points of the first and second conveying roller pairs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2013
    Assignee: Nisca Corporation
    Inventors: Masataka Hamada, Kazuhisa Mochizuki, Tetsuya Noda, Seiji Nishizawa, Osamu Jinza
  • Patent number: 8480082
    Abstract: A sheet is fed to a registration roller pair by a separation-feeding unit formed by a sheet feeding roller and a separation portion, and is caused to abut a nip portion of the registration roller pair at rest to form a loop in the sheet. Then, when the registration roller pair rotates at a predetermined timing to convey the sheet, a pressurization plate is raised again to bring the sheet into press contact with the sheet feeding roller to thereby impart a conveyance force to the sheet, making it possible to feed the sheet reliably to the registration roller pair.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Isao Kannari, Takeshi Suga
  • Patent number: 8480071
    Abstract: A recording device that includes a feed roller for feeding a first and a second sheets sequentially, a first and a second conveying devices that convey the sheets in synchronization, a recording device that records image on the sheets, and a controller, that, after image recording on the first sheet is complete, stops the first and second conveying devices when a trailing end of the first sheet reaches a particular position between the first and the second conveying devices. The controller further controls the feed roller to feed the second sheet, such that a leading end of the second sheet contacts a nip of the first conveying device. After the leading end of the second sheet contacts the nip, the controller rotates the first conveying device in a reverse direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2013
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tetsuo Asada, Hirotaka Aoki, Yasuhira Ota, Shingo Ito
  • Patent number: 8465015
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus for which a control method is performed includes a recording unit, a conveying device conveying a recording medium to the recording unit, a feeding device supplying the recording medium to the conveying device, a recording medium conveying pathway along which the recording medium travels, and a control device controlling the conveying device and the feeding device. A first partial length of the recording medium conveying pathway extending from the feeding device to the recording unit is shorter than a conveyance direction length of a maximum usable size recording medium. When the leading end of the recording medium is located between the conveying device and the recording unit after the conveying device is driven to convey the recording medium, the control device switches the feeding device from a driven state to a non-driven state to move the feeding device by the recording medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2013
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Fujiwara, Tomoyoshi Yamazaki, Haruyuki Honda, Toshikane Nishii, Mizuna Tanaka
  • Patent number: 8459640
    Abstract: A transporting device includes steering rollers, a center roller which is disposed between the steering rollers and deflection-detecting sensors that are positioned downstream from the steering rollers. When a sheet of paper has a width which is narrower than a width of a reference sheet of paper, the positional deflection of the sheet of paper is corrected by transporting the sheet of paper to a shift roller with the sheet of paper being nipped by the center roller and thrusting a forward end of the sheet of paper against a shift roller. When a sheet of paper has a width which exceeds the width of the reference sheet of paper, the positional deflection of the sheet of paper is corrected by rotating the steering rollers separately based on a detected result of the sensors with the sheet of paper being nipped by the steering rollers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2013
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Makoto Ui
  • Patent number: 8454011
    Abstract: A sheet feeder incorporatable in an image forming apparatus includes a sheet container to accommodate a sheet, a sheet feeding unit, a sheet conveyance member, a sheet conveying unit disposed downstream from the sheet feeding member in a sheet conveyance direction, and a controller to stop the sheet feeding unit before the sheet abuts against the sheet conveying unit and to resume the driving, and to drive the sheet conveying unit to start while rotating the sheet feeding unit. The controller adjusts a temporary stop period for the driving of the sheet feeding unit before the sheet abuts against the sheet conveying unit, according to a period in which the sheet passes first and second points determined optionally between a standby position determined prior to feeding of the sheet and a temporary stop position located before the sheet abuts against the sheet conveying unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2013
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Mizuna Tanaka, Tatsuo Fukushima
  • Patent number: 8439345
    Abstract: An image forming device including a pickup roller and a scraper roller configured to send out a print sheet to a feed route, a before-registration roller configured to send out a print sheet to a registration roller, and a control unit configured to independently control the transfer speed of the print sheet at each point based on operation patterns relating to the pickup roller and the scraper roller, and an intermediate transfer roller configured to transfer the print sheet between the before-registration roller and itself, wherein the operation pattern is set based on a relationship between a distance from the intermediate transfer roller to the before-registration roller or a distance from the intermediate transfer roller to the registration roller and a length of the print sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2013
    Assignee: Riso Kagaku Corporation
    Inventors: Hideaki Inoue, Hirokazu Yabune, Masaaski Saitou
  • Patent number: 8430401
    Abstract: A paper deskew device for an automatic document feeder includes a transport roller assembly, a deskew roller assembly, and a power transmission mechanism. The transport roller assembly includes a first gear. The deskew roller assembly includes a second gear. Before a front edge of a paper is contacted with the deskew roller assembly, the first gear links the power transmission mechanism and the second gear, so that the transport roller assembly and the deskew roller assembly are respectively rotated in a first direction and a second direction. Once the front edge of the paper is contacted with the deskew roller assembly, the deskew roller assembly is continuously rotated in a second direction for a second direction for correcting the skew phenomenon of the paper. Afterwards, the second gear and the deskew roller assembly are driven by the first gear to be rotated in the first direction to transport the paper.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2013
    Assignee: Primax Electronics, Ltd.
    Inventor: Ping-Hung Kuo
  • Patent number: 8430392
    Abstract: In order to provide a sheet conveying apparatus and an image forming apparatus capable of alleviating a bumping noise generated between a sheet and an inner guide member when the sheet passes through a curved sheet conveying path, a pair of intermediate conveying rollers is arranged in positions corresponding to both lateral sides in a width direction of the feeding roller and subsidiary feeding roller in a sheet conveyance direction. In addition, the subsidiary intermediate conveying roller abuts on the intermediate conveying roller with an inclination such that the sheet conveyance force is directed to the center of the sheet conveying path in a width direction. As a result, the sheet makes contact with the inner guide member of the facing guide member of the sheet conveying path by undulating the sheet in a width direction when the sheet is extracted and conveyed by the pair of intermediate conveying rollers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Takao Nada, Atsushi Kawarago, Taku Nishikawa