A sheet feeding unit, attached to a sheet feeding apparatus that feeds a sheet, includes an endless belt, first and second rotary members, and a holding device. The endless belt contacts a sheet stacked on a stacking device to feed the sheet. The first and second rotary members contact an inner periphery of the endless belt to support the endless belt. The second rotary member faces, via the endless belt, a separation device that separates the sheet from the endless belt. The holding device holds the first and second rotary members. The endless belt includes protruding and depressed portions on the inner periphery. The second rotary member includes protruding and depressed driving portions that mesh with the protruding and depressed portions to transmit a driving force to the endless belt to, in turn, rotate the endless belt to feed the sheet in contact with the endless belt.

A sheet housing device includes a supporting member, a driving pulley, a driven pulley, a timing belt, a driving part, a stacking tray and rotating members. The driving pulley and the driven pulley are rotatably provided at one end and another end in a longitudinal direction of the supporting member, respectively. The timing belt is windingly stretched between the pulleys. The driving part drives and rotates the driving pulley. The stacking tray is fixed to the timing belt and attached to the supporting member to move between both ends of the supporting member according to rotation of the timing belt. The rotating members are provided at another end side more than a rotational center of the driving pulley and at both outsides more than the timing belt and are rotatably attached by having a rotating shaft parallel to a rotating shaft of the driving pulley.

An image forming apparatus includes: a pair of first rollers configured to nip a paper sheet in a reference position and convey the paper sheet, the pair of first rollers being pressed against each other; and a control unit configured to control operation of the pair of first rollers to correct a positional deviation in a width direction of the paper sheet, by moving the pair of first rollers from the reference position in the width direction perpendicular to a direction of conveyance of the paper sheet, wherein, the control unit controls the operation of the pair of rollers, to complete a series of operations for the pair of rollers to separate from each other, to return to the reference position, and to be again pressed against each other, before a bottom edge of the paper sheet nipped by the pair of rollers passes through the pair of rollers.

A paper feeding device comprises a storage surface for a stack of papers and being adapted to be move vertically between a first, lower end position and a second, upper end position, and a feeding roll for feeding papers from their position on the storage surface and imparting an uppermost sheet of paper a horizontal displacement. A first mounting device comprises a first vertically movable, preferably pivotable housing adapted to mount or suspend a first end of the feeding roll, and a second mounting device comprises a second vertically movable, preferably pivotable housing adapted to mount or suspend a second end of the feeding roll opposite to the first end of the feeding roll. By providing the first and second housings pivotable independently of each other and an intermediate axle, the feeding roll adapts to a non-uniform stack of papers, improving the reliability of the feeding.

A direct thermal printer including a latch assembly, a media storage assembly, a media centering assembly, a print assembly, and a temperature sensing member. The latch assembly includes a single latch lever in mechanical communication with latch tabs disposed in the cover of the printer that are received by openings in the base of the printer to engage and disengage the cover from the base. The media storage assembly includes media guides with removable tabs having more than one available position to provide storage of different size media. The media centering assembly includes pulley assemblies that bias the media guides towards each other to secure media between the media guides. The print assembly includes a platen disposed in the base of the printer having cams on each end that are rotatable and positioned to adjust printing characteristic of a printhead disposed in the cover.

An image forming apparatus includes: a pair of first rollers configured to nip a paper sheet in a reference position and convey the paper sheet, the pair of first rollers being pressed against each other; and a control unit configured to control operation of the pair of first rollers to correct a positional deviation in a width direction of the paper sheet, by moving the pair of first rollers from the reference position in the width direction perpendicular to a direction of conveyance of the paper sheet, wherein, the control unit controls the operation of the pair of rollers, to complete a series of operations for the pair of rollers to separate from each other, to return to the reference position, and to be again pressed against each other, before a bottom edge of the paper sheet nipped by the pair of rollers passes through the pair of rollers.

A sheet housing device includes a supporting member, a driving pulley, a driven pulley, a timing belt, a driving part, a stacking tray and rotating members. The driving pulley and the driven pulley are rotatably provided at one end and another end in a longitudinal direction of the supporting member, respectively. The timing belt is windingly stretched between the pulleys. The driving part drives and rotates the driving pulley. The stacking tray is fixed to the timing belt and attached to the supporting member to move between both ends of the supporting member according to rotation of the timing belt. The rotating members are provided at another end side more than a rotational center of the driving pulley and at both outsides more than the timing belt and are rotatably attached by having a rotating shaft parallel to a rotating shaft of the driving pulley.

A transport apparatus includes: a separation roller pair which is operated when power is transmitted from a first motor; a resist roller pair which is operated when power is transmitted from a second motor; an assist roller pair which is disposed between the separation roller pair and the resist roller pair in the transport direction of the document; a first transmission mechanism portion which transmits the power from the first motor to the assist roller pair; a second transmission mechanism portion which transmits the power from the second motor to the assist roller pair; and a control portion which controls operation aspects of each roller pair.

A sheet processing apparatus includes a plurality of roller pairs, a single driving force supply source, and a drive transmission mechanism. The plurality of roller pairs include a first roller pair, a second roller pair, and a third roller pair. The single driving force supply source supplies a driving force to the first roller pair, the second roller pair, and the third roller pair. The drive transmission mechanism transmits the driving force to the first roller pair and the second roller pair in a manner such that a rotation direction of the first roller pair is not switched even in a case in which a direction of the driving force is switched such that a rotation direction of the second roller pair is switched when the first roller pair and the second roller pair are driven by the driving force from the driving force supply source.

A gripping device for gripping a sheet-material stack has at least two gripping elements for gripping a sheet-material stack disposed between the gripping elements, which gripping elements can be moved toward each other in order to grip the sheet-material stack. At least one of the gripping fingers of one of the gripping elements is tiltable from its starting position, in which it is oriented substantially parallel to the stack surface, into a tilted position, in which it is inclined toward the stack surface. With the gripping device any types of sheet-material stacks can be reliably and trouble-free removed from a container and held against gravity through grip-clamping.