Image forming apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9625867-B2
Application number	US-201514731875-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 5, 2015
Priority date	Jun 10, 2014
Publication date	Apr 18, 2017
Grant date	Apr 18, 2017

Abstract

An image forming apparatus includes: a conveyance section configured to convey a sheet along a sheet feeding path; an image forming section configured to transfer and fix a toner image on a sheet conveyed by the conveyance section to form an image; and a plurality of cutting sections configured to cut a sheet that is conveyed through the sheet feeding path in a sheet width direction.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image forming apparatus comprising:
a main body including:
a conveyance section configured to convey a roll sheet along a sheet feeding path,
an image forming section configured to transfer and fix a toner image on the roll sheet conveyed by the conveyance section to form an image,
a cabinet that includes the conveyance section and the image forming section,
a jam detection section configured to detect occurrence of a jam in the sheet feeding path, and
a plurality of cutting sections configured to cut the roll sheet that is conveyed through the sheet feeding path in a sheet width direction when occurrence of a jam is detected by the jam detection section;

a sheet feeding apparatus that feeds the roll sheet to an upstream side of the main body; and
a winding apparatus arranged at a downstream side of the main body that winds up the roll sheet on which the image has been formed by the main body, wherein
the conveyance section includes a sheet conveyance unit that is detachably mounted in the main body so that the sheet conveyance unit can be removed in its entirety as a single unit,
in a conveyance direction of the roll sheet, and upstream-side end portion of the sheet conveyance unit is adjacent to an upstream-side surface of the cabinet, and a downstream-side end portion of the sheet conveyance unit is adjacent to a downstream-side side surface of the cabinet,
the plurality of cutting sections include a first cutting section disposed proximate the upstream-side end portion of the sheet conveyance unit and a second cutting section disposed proximate the downstream-side end portion of the sheet conveyance unit.

2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the plurality of cutting sections are disposed near a boundary between the sheet conveyance unit and the main body part.

3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
the conveyance section includes a plurality of conveyance roller sections configured to convey a sheet in a sandwiching manner, wherein
the conveyance roller sections include:
a sheet feeding roller disposed at the most upstream side in the sheet conveyance direction in the apparatus; and
a sheet ejection roller disposed at the most downstream side in the sheet conveyance direction in the apparatus, and

the plurality of cutting sections are disposed between the sheet feeding roller and the sheet ejection roller.

4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the sheet feeding roller and the sheet ejection roller hold the sheet-feeding side end portion and the sheet-ejection side end portion of a cut sheet respectively.

5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the conveyance section includes a plurality of conveyance roller sections configured to convey a sheet in a sandwiching manner, and,
at least one of the plurality of conveyance roller sections holds a sheet-feeding side end portion and a sheet-ejection side end portion of a cut sheet.

6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein
the conveyance section conveys a sheet until the sheet-feeding side end portion and the sheet-ejection side end portion are ejected out of the apparatus on a sheet feeding side or a sheet ejection side of the apparatus.

7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the conveyance section conveys a sheet in a sheet conveyance direction of image formation.

8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5 further comprising a work stand on which to place the sheet-feeding side end portion and the sheet-ejection side end portion to join the end portions on an outside of the apparatus.

9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a fixing section configured to fix the toner image on the sheet conveyed by the conveyance section, wherein the fixing section and the conveyance section are incorporated together in the sheet conveyance unit that is detachably mounted as a unit in the main body part of the image forming apparatus.

10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the sheet conveyance unit can be pulled out of the main body.

11. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the upstream side of the main body and the downstream side of the main body are opposing sides of the main body.

12. An image forming apparatus comprising:
a main body including:
a conveyance section configured to convey a roll sheet along a sheet feeding path,
an image forming section configured to transfer and fix a toner image on the roll sheet conveyed by the conveyance section to form an image,
a cabinet that includes the conveyance section and the image forming section,
a jam detection section configured to detect occurrence of a jam in the sheet feeding path, and
a plurality of cutting sections, each being a cutting area for cutting the roll sheet that is conveyed through the sheet feeding path in a sheet width direction when occurrence of a jam is detected by the jam detection section;

a sheet feeding apparatus that feeds the roll sheet to an upstream side of the main body; and
a winding apparatus arranged at a downstream side of the main body that winds up the roll sheet on which the image has been formed by the main body, wherein
the conveyance section includes a sheet conveyance unit that is detachably mounted in the main body so that the sheet conveyance unit can be removed in its entirety as a single unit,
in a conveyance direction of the roll sheet, and upstream-side end portion of the sheet conveyance unit is adjacent to an upstream-side surface of the cabinet, and a downstream-side end portion of the sheet conveyance unit is adjacent to a downstream-side side surface of the cabinet,
the plurality of cutting sections include a first cutting area disposed between the upstream-side end portion of the sheet conveyance unit and the upstream-side side surface of the cabinet, and a second cutting area disposed between the downstream-side end portion of the sheet conveyance unit and the downstream-side surface of the cabinet.

Assignees

• Konica Minolta Inc

Inventors

• Fukai Shougo

Classifications

• G03G15/6523 Primary

  Cutting · CPC title

• G03G15/70

  Detecting malfunctions relating to paper handling, e.g. jams · CPC title