Image forming apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12050419-B2
Application number	US-202318462197-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 6, 2023
Priority date	Dec 7, 2020
Publication date	Jul 30, 2024
Grant date	Jul 30, 2024

Abstract

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit, a fixing unit, first and second rotating members, and a discharge unit to discharge a recording material to an outside. The fixing unit fixes an image from the image forming unit onto the recording material. The first rotating member comes into contact with and guides the image bearing recording material, and is driven to rotate by conveyance of the recording material. The second rotating member comes into contact with the image bearing recording material more on a downstream side than the first rotating member in a conveyance direction of the recording material, guides the recording material, and is driven to rotate by conveyance of the recording material. The first rotating member does not perform swinging motion by coming into contact with the recording material, and the second rotating member performs swinging motion by coming into contact with the recording material.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image forming apparatus comprising:
an image forming unit configured to form an image on a recording material;
a fixing unit configured to fix the image that has been formed by the image forming unit onto the recording material;
a rotating member configured to come into contact with the recording material onto which the image has been fixed and guide the recording material, and configured to be driven to rotate by conveyance of the recording material; and
a first guide unit arranged more on a downstream side than the rotating member in a conveyance direction of the recording material and configured to guide the recording material to a discharge unit configured to discharge the recording material to an outside of the image forming apparatus,
wherein the rotating member is configured to perform swinging motion by coming into contact with the recording material,
wherein the first guide unit includes a first guide surface on an upstream side and a second guide surface on the downstream side in the conveyance direction of the recording material, and
wherein the first guide surface is inclined upward downstream in the conveyance direction of the recording material, and the second guide surface is inclined downward downstream in the conveyance direction of the recording material.

2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a second guide unit configured to come into contact with the recording material onto which the image has been fixed by the fixing unit and to change the conveyance direction of the recording material from a first conveyance direction in which the recording material is conveyed to the fixing unit to a second conveyance direction in which the recording material is conveyed to the rotating member.

3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a support unit configured to support the rotating member,
wherein the support unit is capable of performing swinging motion about a pivot axis on a circular arc.

4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the rotating member performs swinging motion and moves to the downstream side in the conveyance direction by coming into contact with the recording material.

5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the rotating member performs the swinging motion by a first movement amount and moves to a first position upon coming into contact with a first recording material having a first thickness, and the rotating member performs the swinging motion by a second movement amount smaller than the first movement amount and moves to a second position upon coming into contact with a second recording material having a second thickness smaller than the first thickness.

6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a detection unit configured to detect presence or absence of the recording material depending on swinging motion of the rotating member.

7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a support unit configured to support the rotating member,
wherein the rotating member and the support unit perform swinging motion on a straight line.

8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the rotating member performs the swinging motion by a third movement amount and moves to a third position upon coming into contact with a first recording material having a first thickness, and the rotating member performs the swinging motion by a fourth movement amount smaller than the third movement amount and moves to a fourth position upon coming into contact with a second recording material having a second thickness smaller than the first thickness.

Assignees

• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Suzuki Ai
• Sasaoka Osamu
• Umeda Kensuke
• Kobayashi Shinsuke

Classifications

• G03G15/2064

  combined with pressure · CPC title

• G03G2215/00548

  Jam, error detection, e.g. double feeding · CPC title

• G03G15/2028 Primary

  with means for handling the copy material in the fixing nip, e.g. introduction guides, stripping means · CPC title