There is provided an image forming apparatus including a casing which includes one side wall extending in a vertical direction and has a first opening; and a discharge portion which receives a recording medium having a developer image formed thereon, and a cassette which accommodates recording media and is removably mounted to the casing. The casing further includes a tray which is disposed near the one side wall and receives a recording medium to be transported into the casing through the first opening. The tray is rotatable between a first position where the tray is bent so as to cover at least part of the one side wall and the discharge portion and a second position where the tray extends so as to be separated from the one side wall and receives a recording medium to be supplied into the casing through the first opening.

A manual tray device comprises a tray storage body; a tray main body rotatably supported on the tray storage body with a lower end side as a rotation fulcrum; an assistance tray arranged at an upstream side of the tray main body in a sheet feed direction; a rotation regulation link, one end part side of the rotation regulation link being rotatably supported on the tray storage body, the other end part side being slidably supported on the tray main body in a predetermined stroke range; and an interlocking mechanism configured to interlock displacement of the other end part side of the rotation regulation link with forward and backward displacement of the assistance tray. The assistance tray protrudes from the tray main body in a state where rotation of the tray main body in the opening direction is regulated by the rotation regulation link.

A separation device is usable for separating portions of a material web. The separation device has at least one front clamping device, with at least one front clamping point, and at least one rear clamping device, with at least one rear clamping point, and at least one first stretching element. The separation device can be switched between at least one traversing mode and at least one separation mode by the movement of at least the at least one first stretching device between at least one first traversing position and at least one first separation position. A transport line is the shortest connection between the at least one front clamping point and the at least one rear clamping point, that connection line completely on a vertical reference plane and traversing or running at a tangent to any component of the separation device on the respective same side as one of a transport path provided for the material web and the portions to be separated. The transport line, in the at least one separation mode, is 2 mm longer than in the at least one traversing mode and has the smallest radius of curvature in the at least one separation mode of at least 0.05 mm. A first reference plane and a second reference plane are mutually spaced apart in an axial direction and a first transport line, lying on the first reference plane, and a second transport line, lying on the second reference plane, have different lengths when the first stretching element is located in the at least one first separation position.

A separation device is usable for separating portions of a material web. The separation device has at least one front clamping device, with at least one front clamping point, and at least one rear clamping device, with at least one rear clamping point, and at least one first stretching element. The separation device can be switched between at least one traversing mode and at least one separation mode by the movement of at least the at least one first stretching device between at least one first traversing position and at least one first separation position. A transport line is the shortest connection between the at least one front clamping point and the at least one rear clamping point, that connection line completely on a vertical reference plane and traversing or running at a tangent to any component of the separation device on the respective same side as one of a transport path provided for the material web and the portions to be separated. The transport line, in the at least one separation mode, is 2 mm longer than in the at least one traversing mode and has the smallest radius of curvature in the at least one separation mode of at least 0.05 mm. A first reference plane and a second reference plane are mutually spaced apart in an axial direction and a first transport line, lying on the first reference plane, and a second transport line, lying on the second reference plane, have different lengths when the first stretching element is located in the at least one first separation position.

There is provided an image forming apparatus including a casing which includes one side wall extending in a vertical direction and has a first opening; and a discharge portion which receives a recording medium having a developer image formed thereon, and a cassette which accommodates recording media and is removably mounted to the casing. The casing further includes a tray which is disposed near the one side wall and receives a recording medium to be transported into the casing through the first opening. The tray is rotatable between a first position where the tray is bent so as to cover at least part of the one side wall and the discharge portion and a second position where the tray extends so as to be separated from the one side wall and receives a recording medium to be supplied into the casing through the first opening.

A sheet conveyance apparatus includes a housing configured to store a sheet conveyance unit for conveying a sheet, an opening/closing unit configured to be openably and closably provided with respect to the housing, and pivotable between a closed position and an opened position, and a damping unit that is included in the opening/closing unit and configured to damp a movement of the opening/closing unit from the closed position to the opened position, wherein when the opening/closing unit is in the closed position, the opening/closing unit is not subjected to a resistance force of applying a load to the movement of the opening/closing unit by the damping unit, and wherein when the opening/closing unit is pivoted from the closed position to the opened position, the opening/closing unit is subjected to the resistance force of applying the load to the movement of the opening/closing unit by the damping unit.

A sheet conveyance apparatus includes a housing configured to store a sheet conveyance unit for conveying a sheet, an opening/closing unit configured to be openably and closably provided with respect to the housing, and pivotable between a closed position and an opened position, and a damping unit that is included in the opening/closing unit and configured to damp a movement of the opening/closing unit from the closed position to the opened position, wherein when the opening/closing unit is in the closed position, the opening/closing unit is not subjected to a resistance force of applying a load to the movement of the opening/closing unit by the damping unit, and wherein when the opening/closing unit is pivoted from the closed position to the opened position, the opening/closing unit is subjected to the resistance force of applying the load to the movement of the opening/closing unit by the damping unit.

Examples include: a leveling system for a top feeder of a printer, where the top feeder includes a media positioning arrangement. The leveling system has a detector for detecting reflected light and generating a three-dimensional image comprising at least one media positioning region corresponding to the media positioning arrangement on a top sheet of a media stack installed into the top feeder. Also, the leveling system has an actuator configured to adjust heights of different points of the bottom of the media stack. Further, it has a controller for selecting, based on the three-dimensional image, adjustments to the heights for improving leveling of at least one of the at least one media positioning region; and controlling the actuator to implement the adjustments.

Examples include: a leveling system for a top feeder of a printer, where the top feeder includes a media positioning arrangement. The leveling system has a detector for detecting reflected light and generating a three-dimensional image comprising at least one media positioning region corresponding to the media positioning arrangement on a top sheet of a media stack installed into the top feeder. Also, the leveling system has an actuator configured to adjust heights of different points of the bottom of the media stack. Further, it has a controller for selecting, based on the three-dimensional image, adjustments to the heights for improving leveling of at least one of the at least one media positioning region; and controlling the actuator to implement the adjustments.

A media bypass for a printer, the media bypass comprising a convertible media support to hold a substrate and to switch between an active and an inactive configuration, wherein the convertible media support pivots from the inactive configuration towards the active configuration to extend into the printer and to guide the substrate into the printer.