An automatic document feeding device having a main body, a stopping assembly, an actuating assembly and a controller. The main body has a sheet conveying channel of a curvature shape. A sheet feeding roller assembly and a sheet conveying roller assembly are arranged on the sheet conveying channel. The stopping assembly is arranged between the sheet feeding roller assembly and the sheet conveying roller assembly. The stopping assembly is capable of being located in or out of the sheet conveying channel. A buffering channel is located between the stopping assembly and the sheet feeding roller assembly. The controller is electrically connected with the actuating assembly and the sheet feeding roller assembly. The controller controls the actuating assembly to hold the stopping assembly in the sheet conveying channel to block the sheet conveying channel in a predetermined period, and then controls the actuating assembly to stop holding the stopping assembly.

A sheet conveying apparatus including: a locking member having an abutment surface abutting a sheet to correct skew feed of the sheet; a holding member configured to hold the locking member to rotate from a waiting position when the locking member is pushed by the sheet; a roller pair configured to nip the sheet abutting the abutment surface; a first urging portion configured to urge the holding member to the waiting position; a movable support portion configured to support the locking member in a manner that the locking member is located a retracted position where the locking member contacts a surface of the sheet and allows the sheet to pass; and a second urging portion configured to urge the locking member to a position where the abutment surface abuts a succeeding sheet.

A sheet detection unit includes a photo-interrupter, a shutter holder, and shutter members held to be movable relative to the shutter holder. The shutter members include a sheet rear end detection portion capable of switching an optical axis between a light-interrupted state and a light-transmitted state and each are supported to be movable to an abutment position where the shutter member causes an abutment surface to protrude, and also movable to a retracted position where the shutter member is retracted from a sheet conveyance path. Based on a detection signal output from the photo-interrupter by the sheet front end detection portion and the sheet rear end detection portion moving relative to the optical axis, a control unit determines the presence or absence of a sheet.

To provide a sheet conveying apparatus and an image forming apparatus that can accurately detect a position of a rear end of a sheet regardless of rigidity of the sheet. A rotation axis is positioned to one of a plurality of stop positions by a positioning mechanism, an applied force of a torsion coil spring provided between the rotation axis and a first sensor flag, and an applied force of a torsion coil spring provided between the rotation axis and a second sensor flag are made smaller than an applied force of a pressing spring provided in the positioning mechanism.

According to one embodiment, a paper conveyance apparatus includes: a paper feed section on which paper is placed; a first roller configured to be arranged at the upstream side of a reading position where the paper is read to convey the paper at a first speed; a second roller configured to be arranged between the first roller and the paper feed section to convey the paper at a second speed faster than the first speed; a motor; a fourth roller configured to be arranged between the first roller and the reading position and driven by the motor to convey the paper to the reading position at the first speed; and a transmission section configured to always transmit a rotation driving force of the motor to the first roller and the fourth roller.

A sheet separation device that conveys a two-ply sheet in a state where the one side joined is located on an upstream side or a downstream side of the two-ply sheet in a conveyance direction, separates the two-ply sheet into the two sheets, and inserts an inner sheet from a non-joined side opposite the joined side in the sheet conveyance direction so that the inner sheet is sandwiched between the two sheets overlaid with each other includes a conveying roller pair including a pair of rollers and circuitry. The conveying roller pair conveys the two-ply sheet and holds a joined portion of in the two-ply sheet at which the two sheets are joined, at a nip portion of the conveying roller pair when the inner sheet is inserted into the two-ply sheet. The circuitry contacts the inner sheet against the joined portion of the two-ply sheet to perform skew correction.

A sheet conveying apparatus including: a locking member having an abutment surface abutting a sheet to correct skew feed of the sheet; a holding member configured to hold the locking member to rotate from a waiting position when the locking member is pushed by the sheet; a roller pair configured to nip the sheet abutting the abutment surface; a first urging portion configured to urge the holding member to the waiting position; a movable support portion configured to support the locking member in a manner that the locking member is located a retracted position where the locking member contacts a surface of the sheet and allows the sheet to pass; and a second urging portion configured to urge the locking member to a position where the abutment surface abuts a succeeding sheet.

A buffer unit receives a sheet and temporarily holds a predetermined number of sheets so as to be overlaid on one another. A stacking unit stacks the predetermined number of sheets conveyed toward a first direction. A moving unit comes into contact with an uppermost sheet among the predetermined number of sheets stacked on the stacking unit and moves the uppermost sheet further toward the first direction. A regulating unit comes into contact with an end portion of the stack of sheets on the stacking unit to regulate the position of the stack of sheets. A control unit controls the predetermined number of sheets.

A sheet conveying device, which is incorporated in an image forming apparatus, includes a pair of sheet holding rollers and a regulator. The pair of sheet holding rollers disposed along a sheet conveying path rotates and conveys the recording medium while holding a recording medium in a nip region thereof. The pair of sheet holding rollers includes a stopper that rotates with the pair of sheet holding rollers between a closing position at which the sheet conveying path is closed and an opening position at which the sheet conveying path is open. The regulator is movably disposed between a contact position and a retracted position with respect to the pair of sheet holding rollers. The pair of sheet holding rollers corrects a positional shift of the recording medium in the sheet conveying direction with the stopper at the closing position, and further conveys the recording medium after correction.

A paper feed device having regulation plates that are movable on a paper feed tray for loading paper and regulate edges of the paper, includes: a driver that moves the regulation plates; and a hardware processor that acquires paper information corresponding to a characteristic of the loaded paper, and causes the driver to move the regulation plates according to the acquired paper information.