A feeding device includes a loading portion, a lifting mechanism, a conveying unit, a sheet detector, a near-end detector, and process circuitry. The loading portion stacks a plurality of sheets. The lifting mechanism lifts the loading portion. The conveying unit conveys the sheets on the loading portion. The sheet detector detects presence or absence of the sheets on the loading portion at a specified height position. The sheet count detector detects a number of sheets conveyed by the conveying unit. The near-end detector detects a near-end state in which a stack height of the sheets on the loading portion is a specified value or less. The process circuitry controls the lifting mechanism based on a detection result of the sheet detector before the near-end state is detected, and controls the lifting mechanism based on a detection result of the sheet count detector after the near-end state is detected.

A sheet feeding apparatus includes a sheet stacker, an air blower, a suction feeder, a lifting mechanism, an elevation detection sensor, an elevation detection sensor, a feed detection sensor, and processing circuitry. The air blower blows air to float an uppermost sheet of sheets stacked on the sheet stacker. The processing circuitry drives the lifting mechanism such that the sheet stacker is lifted by an elevation amount determined based on a sheet thickness of the sheets stacked on the sheet stacker, each time a sheet is detected when a number of sheets detected is smaller than a threshold number of sheets, and stops lifting of the sheet stacker until a sheet is not detected when the number of sheets reaches the threshold number of sheets, while repeatedly feeding the uppermost sheet and counting the number of sheets.

A feeder includes: a mount board that moves vertically while allowing sheet-shaped media to be stacked thereon; a transport device that allows an uppermost one of the sheet-shaped media stacked on the mount board to be sucked by a suction portion to transport the uppermost sheet-shaped medium to a transporter and to feed the uppermost sheet-shaped medium to a destination; left and right edge air blowers that blow air to left and right edge portions, when viewed from an upstream side in a transportation direction, of upper ones of the sheet-shaped media stacked; and left and right detectors that are disposed on left and right sides of the suction portion at the same position in the transportation direction, and that individually detect downward or upward bend amounts of left and right edge portions of the uppermost sheet-shaped medium.

An image recording apparatus including: a recording unit; an accommodation part configured to accommodate therein a plurality of recording media including first and second recording medium and having a support surface on which the plurality of the recording media is supported; a conveying path; a feeder roller contacting the recording medium in the accommodation part from above; a reversing path; a recording medium detection unit located above the support surface and between the feeder roller and a downstream end of the support surface in the conveying direction; and a controller configured to control the feeder roller so as to feed the second recording medium in a manner that a front end portion of the second recording medium overlaps a rear end portion of the first recording medium, when the recording medium detection unit detects the rear end portion of the first recording medium fed by the feeder roller.

An image forming apparatus includes a paper feeding cassette, a first conveying unit, a lift mechanism, a motor, a second conveying unit, and a control unit. The controller drives the motor and, if a value indicating a movement amount of the tray moving from when the lift mechanism starts the lifting of the tray until when a position of the top part reaches a first position is a first value, matches a position of the first conveying unit, which comes into contact with the top part to thereby rise together with the tray, with a second position and, if the value indicating the movement amount is a second value larger than the first value, matches the position of the first conveying unit, which comes into contact with the top part to thereby rise together with the tray, with a third position lower than the second position.

A sheet processing device sandwiches a sheet-shaped medium in a two-ply sheet in which two sheets are overlaid and partially bonded. The sheet processing device includes a separator, a conveyor, and a switching member. The separator separates the two sheets of the two-ply sheet. The conveyor is disposed downstream from the separator in a sheet conveyance direction and conveys the two-ply sheet. The switching member is disposed downstream from the conveyor in the sheet conveyance direction. The switching member switches a conveyance path of the two-ply sheet to convey the two-ply sheet to a fixing path on which fixing processing is performed on the two-ply sheet or a non-fixing path on which no fixing processing is performed on the two-ply sheet.

According to one embodiment, a sheet conveying device includes a placement tray, a presence detection sensor, and a control unit. The placement tray places a sheet thereon. The presence detection sensor detects the presence or absence of the sheet on the placement tray. The control unit delays a determination timing of the presence or absence of the sheet placed on the placement tray to a predetermined timing when a condition indicating that the remaining sheets placed on the placement tray are only a few is satisfied.

When a discharge count has exceeded a specified number of sheets, a sheet discharge device executes a process of moving down a discharge tray by a specified quantity and thereafter moving up the discharge tray until a top-surface detection part outputs a top-surface detection signal, while clocking a move-up time lasting from a move-up start of the discharge tray until output of the top-surface detection signal by the top-surface detection part. When the move-up time is equal to or less than a reference time, the sheet discharge device makes a next sheet discharged while the top-surface detection part outputs the top-surface detection signal; on the other hand, when the move-up time is more than the reference time, the sheet discharge device executes a correction process of moving down the discharge tray before making the next sheet discharged.

When a discharge count has exceeded a specified number of sheets, a sheet discharge device executes a process of moving down a discharge tray by a specified quantity and thereafter moving up the discharge tray until a top-surface detection part outputs a top-surface detection signal, while clocking a move-up time lasting from a move-up start of the discharge tray until output of the top-surface detection signal by the top-surface detection part. When the move-up time is equal to or less than a reference time, the sheet discharge device makes a next sheet discharged while the top-surface detection part outputs the top-surface detection signal; on the other hand, when the move-up time is more than the reference time, the sheet discharge device executes a correction process of moving down the discharge tray before making the next sheet discharged.

A printing apparatus includes a feeding unit, a pair of rollers, a printing unit, and a control unit. The control unit can execute skew correction. The control unit can execute control to convey a preceding printing medium and a succeeding printing medium by the pair of rollers in a state in which a trailing edge portion of the preceding printing medium and a leading edge portion of the succeeding printing medium overlap. The control unit sets an execution timing of the skew correction for the succeeding printing medium based on positions of the preceding printing medium and the succeeding printing medium if a predetermined condition is met. The predetermined condition is that the preceding printing medium reaches a position at which a remaining print range for the preceding printing medium equals a predetermined print range.