A sheet conveying device includes a sheet stacker, an air blower, and a guide. The sheet stacker stacks sheets. The air blower blows air to the sheets. The guide faces an uppermost sheet on the sheet stacker. A set height of a contact portion of the guide to contact the uppermost sheet is changeable

A transfer device includes: a transfer drum that has a groove-like recess extending in an axial direction in an outer circumferential portion thereof, rotates about an axis thereof, and comes into contact with a medium being transported at a portion thereof on an upstream side of the recess in a rotation direction; a nip member, the nip member and the transfer drum forming therebetween a nip part where the medium is nipped; an application member that applies a voltage to the nip part where the medium is nipped, so that an image is transferred to the medium; and a contact mechanism that causes the nip member to come into contact only with a portion on the upstream side of the recess in the transfer drum in the rotation direction at a transfer-start time when the transfer of the image to the medium starts.

A transport device includes a rotating member that rotates; a circulating member that is loop-shaped and wrapped around the rotating member, the circulating member being circulated by rotation of the rotating member; a pair of pinching members attached to the circulating member and circulated together with the circulating member, the pair of pinching members changing from a separated state, in which the pair of pinching members are separated from each other, to a closely positioned state to pinch a transport object that has entered a space between the pair of pinching members in the separated state; and a guide unit positioned to overlap the pair of pinching members in the separated state when viewed in one direction along a rotational axis direction of the rotating member, the guide unit guiding the transport object into the space between the pair of pinching members in the separated state.

A transport device includes a rotating body including a recessed portion on an outer surface, a rotatable heat unit that is in contact with the outer surface of the rotating body and forms an interposition region in which a recording medium is interposed between the heat unit and the rotating body, a transport unit that: (i) includes a hold member capable of holding a portion of the recording medium near a leading edge, (ii) transports the recording medium by moving the hold member in a rotational direction of the rotating body with the hold member contained in the recessed portion, and (iii) causes the hold member to pass through the interposition region, and a controller that controls rotation of the rotating body such that the recessed portion stops at a position upstream or downstream of the interposition region in the rotational direction when an anomaly is detected.

An image forming apparatus includes a fixing device including a fixing device frame, a chute rotatable between a path forming position and a path opening position, an optical sensor including a light-emitting element, and an actuator. The actuator has a shaft, a first lever configured to contact an anti-pivot rib, and a second lever configured to shield light emitted from the light-emitting element. The actuator is movable to a position where the first lever contacts the anti-pivot rib when the chute is at the path forming position, a position where the first lever and the anti-pivot rib are separated from each other when the chute is at the path forming position, and a position where the first lever and the anti-pivot rib are separated from each other when the chute is at the path opening position. The actuator and the optical sensor are supported by the fixing device frame.

A relationship 150≦Rs (Ω)/Rm (Ω)≦4000 is established in an environment of a temperature of 15° C. and a humidity of 10% in a case where a surface resistance of a transfer roller is Rs (Ω) when a current is fed between a pair of electrodes facing each other in an axial direction of the transfer roller and arranged on a surface of the transfer roller with an interval of 5 mm therebetween, the electrodes having a width of 20 mm in a circumferential direction of the transfer roller in a state of being arranged on the transfer roller, and in a case where a combined resistance of a first layer and a second layer is Rm (Ω) when the current is fed from a core portion to an outer peripheral surface of the second layer.

In a drive mechanism, a first engagement portion of a drive member includes a first contact portion capable of contacting with a second engagement portion in a case where a coupling member is at a first position and the drive member rotates in a first rotation direction, a second contact portion capable of contacting with the second engagement portion in a case where the coupling member is at a second position and the drive member rotates in the first rotation direction, and a third contact portion capable of contacting with the coupling member so as to regulate movement of the second engagement portion from the second position to the first position in a rotation axis direction when the coupling member is at the second position and the second contact portion and the coupling member are in a contact state by rotation of the drive member in the first rotation direction.

The electro-photographic sheet of paper duplex printing machine includes a sheet supply section, a sheet positioning section which positions sheets and sends out sheets to a backup roller in an electro-photographic printing section, the electro-photographic printing section transfers an image which has been transferred onto the transfer roller onto the sheet, a chain delivery section, a delivery section and a sheet carrying section for turnover. The chain delivery section selectively transfers printed sheets, which has been transferred from the backup roller to the delivery section or sheet carrying section for turnover. The sheet carrying section for turnover supplies one side printed sheet to the sheet positioning section. The sheet fed from the sheet supply section and one side printed sheet fed from the sheet carrying section for turnover are alternately carried to the sheet positioning section and the toner image on the printed sheet is fixed by the fixing device.

An image forming apparatus includes an image holding unit that holds a toner image, a transfer unit that transfers the toner image held by the image holding unit onto a medium in a transfer region, a reduction unit that is positioned further upstream than the transfer region and that reduces an electrical resistance of a first surface of the medium, the first surface being opposite to a second surface of the medium onto which an image is to be transferred, and a control unit that controls the reduction unit in accordance with a type of a medium to be used in such a manner that the electrical resistance of the first surface does not exceed a predetermined range.

An image forming apparatus includes: an image former that forms an image on a continuous paper; a fixing unit that includes a pair of rotatable members and that nips the continuous paper between the rotatable members to convey the paper and fix the image formed on the paper by the image former; a conveying member different from the rotatable members; and a hardware processor. The image forming apparatus performs a paper conveying mode in which the image former does not form an image and at least the conveying member conveys the continuous paper. In the paper conveying mode, the hardware processor determines to press the rotatable members against each other or to separate the rotatable members from each other according to a predetermined criterion and, based on the determination, conveys the continuous paper while keeping the rotatable members pressed against each other or separated from each other.