Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100183339 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes: an image carrier that carries an electrostatic latent image; plural developing devices that store respective developers of different colors and visualize the electrostatic latent image with the developers; a developing device switching mechanism that switches among the developing devices to allow one of the developing devices to visualize the electrostatic latent image carried by the image carrier; a transfer unit that transfers a developer image visualized by the one of the developing devices to a recording medium; a fixing device that fixes the developer image transferred by the transfer unit onto the recording medium; a first transporter that transports in a first direction the recording medium with the developer image fixed thereon by the fixing device; a second transporter that transports in a second direction the recording medium with the developer image fixed thereon by the fixing device; and a transporter switching mechanism that switches between the first transporter and the second transporter in conjunction with an operation of the developing device switching mechanism for switching among the developing devices. | 07-22-2010 |
20100209135 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes: a first unit including at least a development unit that develops an electrostatic latent image and a first developer container containing a developer; an image carrier that holds an electrostatic latent image to be developed by the development unit; a transfer unit that transfers a developer image developed by the development unit onto a recording medium; a fixing device that fixes a developer image transferred to the recording medium by the transfer unit onto a recording medium; and an image forming apparatus main body in which the first unit is installed, the image forming apparatus main body being configured such that a second unit including at least plural second developer containers respectively containing developers of different colors and development units for respective colors is installable instead of the first unit and, when the second unit is installed, a loop transport path is provided to allow the recording medium having the developer image fixed thereon by the fixing device to be transported around the second unit and toward the transfer unit. | 08-19-2010 |
20100226667 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit that forms an image on a recording medium; a fixing unit that fixes the image formed on the recording medium by the image forming unit by applying heat; a first detector unit that detects a length of the recording medium in a transport direction, the first detector unit being disposed upstream of the fixing unit in the transport direction; and a second detector unit that detects the length of the recording medium in the transport direction, the second detector unit being disposed downstream of the fixing unit in the transport direction. | 09-09-2010 |
20100247177 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes: an image carrier; a development unit that develops an electrostatic latent image present on the image carrier with a developer; a transfer member that transfers a developer image developed by the development unit from the image carrier to a recording medium by transporting while nipping the recording medium in a transfer position in contact with the image carrier; a corrective guide member that contacts the recording medium which is simultaneously caught by the transfer member for a period and that corrects placement of the recording medium with respect to the transfer member, thus guiding the recording medium toward the transport position; and a transport unit that transports the recording medium toward the transfer position while exerting a force on the recording medium in a direction causing a side edge of the recording medium along a transport direction to abut the corrective guide member. | 09-30-2010 |
20100247197 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes: an image forming apparatus main body, an image forming unit that is provided in the image forming apparatus main body and forms an image on a recording medium, and a transport unit transporting the recording medium, wherein the image forming apparatus main body has a forward port for forwarding the recording medium having the image thereon by the image forming unit to outside of the image forming apparatus main body, and further has a guide unit by which the recording medium forwarded to the outside of the image forming apparatus main body is guided to be retrieved into the image forming apparatus main body, and to be led to the transport unit. | 09-30-2010 |
20110044744 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier; a transferring unit; a fixing unit; a conveying unit; and a sheet shape detecting unit as defined herein, and a discharge position where the sheet is discharged from the conveying path, a feed position where the sheet is fed to the sheet conveying path and a detection position where the shape of the sheet is detected by the sheet shape detecting unit are arranged in this sequence along a sheet conveying direction to be close to one another, immediately downstream in the sheet conveying direction from a fixing position where the toner image is fixed to the sheet. | 02-24-2011 |
20110318067 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND METHOD OF IMAGE FORMING - An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier that is rotatable; a transfer member that is rotatably disposed so as to face the image carrier, the transfer member transferring an image carried by the image carrier to a sheet; a leading end gripping member that is attached to the transfer member, the leading end gripping member gripping a leading end of the sheet in the transport direction on an outer peripheral surface of the transfer member; a trailing end holding member that holds a trailing end of the sheet in the transport direction between the trailing end holding member and the outer peripheral surface of the transfer member; and a controller that changes a distance between the leading end gripping member and the trailing end holding member when holding the sheet on the basis of a length of the sheet in the transport direction. | 12-29-2011 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090269115 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes: an image carrier; a developing device that supplies one of plural color developers to the image carrier and forms a developer image; a transfer unit that transfers the developer image to a recording medium; a fixing unit that fixes the developer image; a transport path for transporting the recording medium from a supply position to an exit port; a return path for transporting the recording medium subjected to the fixing process to a position upstream of the transfer unit for performing subsequent processes on a developer image of another color developer; and a plane, including a junction of the transport path and the return path and a center of rotation of the developing device, being provided at a 90°—or wider angle with respect to a plane including a transfer position and the center of rotation of the developing device, on an upstream side of the another plane in a transport direction of the recording medium. | 10-29-2009 |
20090295077 | TRANSPORT DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A transport device includes: a positioning member provided in a sheet transport path, used for positioning of a print sheet in a direction orthogonal to a sheet transport direction; and a skewed roller that transports the print sheet while skewing the print sheet toward a direction of the positioning member, a transport roller being provided in a position different from the skewed roller in the sheet transport direction. | 12-03-2009 |
20100124450 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes: an image carrier that rotates; a developing unit that visualizes an electrostatic latent image carried on the image carrier with a color developer into a developer image; a transfer unit that transfers the developer image carried on the image carrier to a sheet in a predetermined transfer position; a fixing unit that fixes the developer image transferred by the transfer unit to the sheet; a transport unit that transports the sheet to which the color developer image has been fixed by the fixing unit, and returns the sheet to the transfer position for transferring a developer image of another color developer to be superposed on the developer image having been fixed to the sheet; and an adjustment unit that performs adjustment to reduce a time difference between time for returning the sheet by the transport unit and time for an integer number of rotations of the image carrier. | 05-20-2010 |
20110194878 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes: an image carrier; a transfer member transfers the image carried on the outer circumferential surface of the image carrier onto a recording medium; a holding member that holds, on an outer circumferential surface of the transfer member, the recording medium fed to the transfer member; and a control unit that performs control so that in first image formation operation in which images of plural colors carried by the image carrier are sequentially transferred onto a single recording medium one color at a time, the holding member holds the recording medium on the transfer member, and in second image formation operation in which an image of a single color carried by the image carrier is transferred onto a single recording medium, the holding member does not hold, the recording medium on the transfer member. | 08-11-2011 |
20110236081 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes: an image carrier; a transfer member that transfers an image onto a recording medium; a leading-end holding member that holds a leading-end side of the recording medium, which is fed to the transfer member, between the leading-end holding member and an outer circumferential surface of the transfer member, in such a way to restrict displacement of the recording medium and to restrict movement of the recording medium in a direction away from the transfer member; and a rear-end holding member that holds a rear-end side of the recording medium, in the transporting direction thereof, between the rear-end holding member and the outer circumferential surface of the transfer member, in such a way to allow displacement of the recording medium in the transporting direction and to restrict movement of the recording medium in the direction away from the transfer member. | 09-29-2011 |