Sheet feeding or delivering – Feeding – With means to align sheet
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-08
2001-04-10
Skaggs, H. Grant (Department: 3651)
Sheet feeding or delivering
Feeding
With means to align sheet
C271S253000, C271S226000, C271S162000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06213464
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an image forming apparatus provided with a recording apparatus for recording an image on a sheet, and a sheet feeding apparatus detachably mounted on the recording apparatus for automatically feeding sheets in succession, and more particularly to a guide member for defining a conveying path of the sheet.
2. Related Background Art
There have conventionally been proposed various image forming apparatuses for forming an image on a sheet.
Among such apparatuses, there has been proposed an apparatus provided with a recording apparatus for image recording (hereinafter called “printer”) and an auto sheet feeder (hereinafter referred to as “ASF”) detachably mounted on a sheet feeding port of the printer, wherein, through such sheet feeding port:
sheets are manually fed one by one when the ASF is not mounted; and
sheets are automatically fed in succession when the ASF is mounted (see the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-183582).
In the image forming apparatus of the above-described type, the printer is provided with a guide member for guiding the sheet in case of sheet feeding with manual insert, while the ASF is provided with a guide member for guiding the sheet in case of automatic sheet feeding. These guide members are provided in approximately the same position in the transverse direction of the sheet, such that the image recording position in the transverse direction of the sheet (namely the position of image formation on the sheet, in the transverse or width direction thereof) remains the same in the sheet feeding with manual insert and in the automatic sheet feeding.
In the image forming apparatus of the above-described type, however, if the guide member of the printer is positioned at the inner side of the sheet compared to the guide member of the ASF because of the dimensional tolerance at the manufacture thereof, the guide member of the printer becomes an obstacle for the automatically fed sheets and may induce skewing or jamming of the sheet or damage to the sheet end.
Such drawback can be resolved by precisely assembling the image forming apparatus with highly precise parts, but such assembling is difficult and the use of the highly precise parts results in an increased cost.
Furthermore, even if the guide member of the printer and that of the ASF are provided in substantially the same position in the transverse direction of the sheet, a sheet eventually skewed will interfere with the guide member of the printer, thus inducing skew or jamming of the sheet or damage to the sheet end.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In consideration of the foregoing, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus for preventing skewing or jamming of a sheet or damage to an end of the sheet.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive image forming apparatus.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus for matching an image recording position in a transverse direction of the sheet, regardless of whether a sheet feeding apparatus is used or not.
The above-mentioned objects can be attained, according to the present invention, by an image forming apparatus provided with a recording apparatus having a feeding port for feeding a sheet and recording an image on the sheet fed from the feeding port, and a sheet feeding apparatus detachably mountable on the feeding port and automatically feeding the sheets in succession to the recording apparatus.
In the present invention, the recording apparatus includes a first guide member for guiding an edge of the sheet in the transverse direction of the sheet.
The sheet feeding apparatus includes a second guide member for guiding the edge of the sheet in the transverse direction of the sheet.
The second guide member is disposed and displaced toward an inner side of the sheet with respect to the first guide member.
In such a case, the image recording position in the transverse direction of the sheet is preferably displaced, in case the sheet is fed by the sheet feeding apparatus, toward the inner side of the sheet, in comparison with the case in which the sheet is not fed by the sheet feeding apparatus, by an amount substantially equal to the amount of displacement between the first guide member and the second guide member.
There may also be provided mode discrimination means for discriminating whether the sheet feeding is executed by the sheet feeding apparatus, and the image recording position in the transversal direction of the sheet may be displaced according to the result of discrimination by the mode discrimination means.
In such case, the recording apparatus and the sheet feeding apparatus may be respectively provided with connectors allowing mutual electrical connection, and the mode discrimination means may electrically detect the connection state of the connectors.
On the other hand, the recording apparatus may be provided, together with the first guide member, with a third guide member for guiding an edge of the sheet in the transverse direction thereof, while a conveying path of the sheet when the sheet feeding apparatus is connected to the recording apparatus is disposed to make a detour to avoid the third guide member.
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Asano Shinya
Hasegawa Koh
Inoue Hiroyuki
Iwasaki Takeshi
Kawasaki Noriko
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
Skaggs H. Grant
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