A reusable media shell has a frame to hold sheets of media in an interior. A removable cap connects to the frame and its manipulation unveils the media for picking by an imaging device. The cap resides on a terminal end of the frame so the frame covers a majority of the media. A lift plate in the interior forces upward the sheets for picking. Two magnets on the frame magnetically secure the frame to magnets in a base of the imaging device and position the sheets in the base. Upstanding walls, a lid and bottom define the interior of the frame. Inserts attached to the walls allow adjustment to accommodate various sizes of the media.

The sheet feeding cassette includes a cassette frame, a first lift plate and a second lift plate. The cassette frame includes a bottom plate and side plates extending in the feeding direction. The bottom plate and the side plates form a sheet placement space. The first lift plate is disposed on the bottom plate, configured to rotate up and down around a first axis extending along a width direction perpendicular to the feeding direction, and configured to lift a leading end portion in the feeding direction of the sheet. The second lift plate is configured to rotate up and down around a second axis extending along the feeding direction and to lift a side end portion along the feeding direction of the sheet.

A sheet loader includes a housing and a fence. The housing has a bottom face. The fence is movable in a fence moving direction and configured to regulate a position of an end face of the sheet to be loaded in the housing. The fence includes a sliding face and a bend. The sliding face is configured to slide on the bottom face of the housing as the fence moves. The bend is disposed at an end of the sliding face in the fence moving direction and bent in a direction away from the bottom face of the housing.

An image forming apparatus is provided which forms an image on a recording medium. The image forming apparatus includes a housing; a plurality of photosensitive members which bear respective toner images; a scanning unit which scans surfaces of the plurality of photosensitive members by laser light in accordance with image information; and a recording medium container which contains the recording medium and is detachably mounted in the housing. The scanning unit is disposed under the plurality of photosensitive members and over the recording medium container in the vertical direction, and other components are not interposed between the scanning unit and the recording medium container in the vertical direction.

An image forming apparatus includes: a photosensitive drum; a developing roller; a separation mechanism for moving the developing roller between a contacting position contacting the photosensitive drum and a separated position separated from the photosensitive drum; a first tray; a first sheet feed mechanism for feeding a sheet from the first tray toward the photosensitive drum; a first sheet sensor for detecting passage of the sheet at a prescribed position; and a controller configured to perform: when a printing operation is performed onto the sheet fed from the first tray, feeding the sheet in the first tray to the prescribed position and maintain the sheet; moving, on or after the first sheet sensor detects the sheet, the developing roller to the contacting position; and feeding, after a prescribed time period has elapsed since the first sheet sensor detects the sheet, the sheet from the prescribed position toward the photosensitive drum.

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit, a storage portion to which a heating unit configured to heat the sheet stored in the storage portion is detachably attached, a conveyance unit, a detection unit configured to detect attachment of the heating unit to the storage portion, and a control unit configured to control the conveyance unit such that a standby time by which conveyance of the sheet fed from the storage portion is stopped is shorter when the detection unit detects the heating unit than when the detection unit does not detect the heating unit.

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit to form an image on a sheet conveyed from a sheet storing unit by a sheet conveying unit, and a registering unit that registers detected sheet thickness information and detected sheet surface characteristics information. Based on information, distinct front and back surfaces of a conveyed predetermined sheet and a type of the conveyed predetermined sheet is determined. If the predetermined sheet type matches a type of an upcoming sheet on which the image will be formed and the determined front and back surfaces matches front and back surfaces of the upcoming sheet, an image is formed on the predetermined sheet. If the predetermined sheet type matches the upcoming sheet type and the determined front and back surfaces do not match the upcoming sheet front and back surfaces, information is displayed conveying that the predetermined sheet front and back surfaces are inverted.

An image forming apparatus includes an exterior housing, an image forming unit in the exterior housing, the image forming unit, to form an image on a sheet, a scanner to read the image on a document, a first region in the exterior housing, the image forming unit being disposed in the first region in view from a front side of the exterior housing, a second region arranged side by side with the first region in a lateral direction in the exterior housing in view from the front side of the exterior housing, the scanner being disposed in the second region, and an opening defining a space in a front face of the exterior housing. The opening extends across the first region and the second region in a lower part of the exterior housing below the image forming unit and the scanner.

A sheet stacking apparatus includes a sheet stacking unit on which sheets are stacked, a sheet regulating unit, and a cover member. The sheet regulating unit includes a main body having a regulating surface regulating a position of the sheet on the sheet stacking unit, and an operating portion movably supported on the main body and having an operating surface. The operating portion is movable from a first to a second position by operating the operating surface. The sheet regulating unit is locked to the sheet stacking unit when the operating portion is in the first position, and unlocked when in the second position. The cover member includes a first surface covering the operating surface and a second surface covering an upper surface of the operating portion, and covers the operating portion with at least the first surface and the second surface so that the operating portion is not visible.

A sheet feed device includes: a stacking tray on which sheets are stacked in such a manner as to be capable of being lifted and lowered; and a position restricting member configured to come into contact with a sheet end portion to restrict a position of the sheets. The position restricting member is provided to an opening/closing member capable of being opened and closed. When the opening/closing member is closed, the position restricting member restricts a position of the sheet end portion in an opening/closing direction of the opening/closing member.