| Patent application number | Description | Published |
| 20080317498 | Image forming apparatus - An image forming apparatus including an image forming section; an upper unit located over the image forming section with a space therebetween and slidable in a direction of from the front side to the rear side of the apparatus and the opposite direction; a sheet discharger configured to discharge a sheet bearing an image in the first or opposite direction; a sheet stacker receiving the sheet from the sheet discharger; a support arranged outside of both side ends of the sheet stacker in the first direction and slidably supporting the upper unit; and at least one of a release preventing member for preventing releasing of the upper unit from the support, and a covering member movable from a first position to a second position in conjunction with sliding of the upper unit and covering an opening formed at an end portion of the support when acquiring the first position. | 12-25-2008 |
| 20090074495 | Compact image forming apparatus with post-processing - In an image forming apparatus, when a first sheet discharger discharges a sheet bearing an image in a first direction from a proximal end to a distal end of the image forming apparatus, a post-processing device performs post-processing including at least one of stapling, punching, stamping, and sorting of the sheet discharged from the first sheet discharger. After a second sheet discharger discharges the processed sheet in a second direction opposite to the first direction in which the first sheet discharger discharges the sheet bearing the image, a sheet stacker stacks the sheet discharged from the second sheet discharger. A sheet conveyance path is provided between the first sheet discharger and the second sheet discharger. An opening is provided between the sheet stacker and an image reader so that the sheet discharged from the second sheet discharger can be retrieved from the sheet stacker in the second direction. | 03-19-2009 |
| 20090162082 | Image forming apparatus - An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit, a first sheet stack portion, a sheet output section, and a post processing unit. The image forming unit forms an image on a sheet. The first sheet stack portion is provided at an upper face of the image forming unit. The sheet output section outputs the sheet on which the image is formed by the image forming unit from one side of the image forming apparatus to the first sheet stack portion. The post processing unit is provided adjacent to a lateral side of the image forming unit at an upstream side of the sheet output section to execute post processing on the sheet. A sheet subjected to post-processing by the post-processing unit is output to the first sheet stack portion from the same direction as a sheet not subjected to post-processing by the post-processing unit. | 06-25-2009 |
| 20100225977 | Sheet feeding unit, image reading device including same, and image forming apparatus including the image reading device - A sheet feeding unit has a main body, a sheet stack portion attached to the main body to accommodate a stack of sheets, a sheet feeding device disposed substantially above the sheet stack portion to feed the sheet onward, movable between a sheet feeding position at which the sheet feeding device contacts the sheet and feeds the sheet onward and a separating position at which the sheet feeding device separates from the sheet and does not feed the sheet onward, a separation unit to separate the sheets, a restriction member disposed between the sheet feeding device and the separation unit and switchable between a sheet feeding state when the sheet feeding device is at the sheet feeding position and a sheet restriction state when the sheet feeding device is at the separation position, and a cover openably closable relative to the main body and constituted as an independent member. | 09-09-2010 |