A conveying mechanism has a pair of nipping members configured to nip a sheet from both sides thereof at a nipping position and to convey the sheet from upstream to downstream side. The pair of nipping members includes a conveying roller. A controller performs: a motor controlling process of controlling the motor to perform a conveying operation of the sheet by rotation of the conveying roller; a reaction-force calculating process of calculating a reaction-force inference value which corresponds to reaction force that acts on the motor, by removing a friction component generated due to rotation of the motor from a disturbance inference value, the disturbance inference value being calculated from both a control input to the motor and a control output relative to the control input; and a warning process of outputting warning in response to occurrence of multiple feeding of the sheet, based on the reaction-force inference value.

A document conveyance apparatus includes a loading portion having a loading surface for a document, a rotating member, a detection unit, a feeding roller, and a support portion. The rotating member includes a front end portion protruding from the loading surface and rotates about a rotary shaft by being in contact with the loaded document. The detection unit detects rotation of the rotating member and detects presence or absence of the loaded document. The feeding roller feeds the document by being in contact with the document loaded on the loading surface. The support portion rotatably supports the rotary shaft. When the rotary shaft is viewed from an axial direction, the rotary shaft includes a recessed portion recessed from an outer periphery section of the rotary shaft toward a shaft center of the rotary shaft. The support portion is in contact with the recessed portion to rotatably support the rotating member.

A sheet conveying apparatus includes: a conveyor configured to convey a sheet along a conveyance path; and a discharge tray having a support surface for supporting the sheet discharged from the conveyor. The conveyor includes a discharge unit for discharging the sheet conveyed along the conveyance path, onto the discharge tray. The discharge tray is provided with a projection protruding upward from the support surface and elongated in a direction along a discharge direction in which the sheet is conveyed. At least a portion of the projection which has a downstream edge of the projection in the discharge direction is a movable portion changeable between a first position at which an upper end portion of the projection is farthest from the support surface and a second position which is nearer to the support surface than the first position.

A multifunctional printer comprising a printer section, an auto-document feeder, a scanner section, and a finisher, wherein a finisher path leads from the auto-document feeder into the printer section and converges with a print path into a shared finisher path leading to the finisher, such that documents scanned with the auto-document feeder can be conveyed to the finisher such that it can perform a finishing operation on the documents.

A feeding device includes a roller configured to feed an uppermost sheet of a plurality of sheets stacked in a stacking unit, and an inclined separator located downstream of the roller in a feed direction and configured to separate one sheet from another sheet. The inclined separator includes a first separator and a second separator that are arranged along the feed direction. Resistance imparted to each sheet by the first separator is greater than resistance imparted to each sheet by the second separator.

An image reading device includes a plurality of driven roller holders arranged in a direction orthogonal to a sheet conveying direction. Some of the driven roller holders have a distal end portion extended downstream beyond outer peripheral surface of a driven roller, and some of the driven roller holders do not have the distal end portion extending downstream beyond the outer peripheral surface of the driven roller in the conveying direction.

A roller drive transmission device includes a drive input gear, a drive transmission gear, a roller unit and a ratchet mechanism. When a rotational drive force is input to the drive input gear and the drive transmission gear is slid to a first position, the drive input gear, the drive transmission gear and the roller unit are integrally rotated in a first rotational direction. When the input of the rotational drive force to the drive input gear is cut off and the roller unit is rotated, following a sheet, the drive transmission gear is slid to a second position and the roller unit and the drive transmission gear are decoupled. The ratchet mechanism includes a load adjustment mechanism configured to make a rotational load in the first rotational direction of the drive transmission gear arranged at the second position larger than a movement load in an axial direction.

A sheet conveying apparatus, including a conveyer to convey a sheet in a predetermined conveying direction along a predetermined conveyer path, and a discharger forming a part of the conveyer to discharge the sheet from the conveyer path, is provided. The discharger includes a driving roller, a pinch roller arranged to confront the driving roller across the conveyer path, and an urging member to urge the pinch roller against the driving roller. The conveyer includes a chute member. The chute member includes a guiding face defining a part of the conveyer path, a supporting face to support one end of the urging member, and a contact face located on a particular face of the chute member opposite from the supporting face. The sheet conveying apparatus includes a plate member made of metal arranged to extend in a direction intersecting with the conveying direction and to contact the contact face.

A sheet feeding apparatus includes a document tray configured to support a document, a pickup roller configured to feed the sheet supported on the document tray, a separation roller pair configured to separate the sheets fed by the pickup roller one by one, a paddle arranged between the pickup roller and the separation roller pair in a sheet feeding direction and feeding the sheet supported on the document tray, and a drive motor capable of driving the pickup roller, the separation roller pair and the paddle. The paddle feeds the sheet supported on the document tray with a conveyance force weaker than the pickup roller.

A sheet conveying apparatus includes a discharge tray having a support surface supporting a sheet discharged by a discharge unit of a conveyor. A first stopper is provided on the support surface. A movable member is provided on the support surface between the discharge unit and the first stopper. The first stopper is changeable between a first position at which the first stopper protrudes from the support surface and a second position at which the first stopper is stored in the discharge tray. The movable member is changeable between a third position at which the movable member protrudes from the support surface and a fourth position located nearer to the support surface than the third position. The first stopper is changed from the first position to the second position in conjunction with a change of the movable member from the third position to the fourth position.