A bi-directional paper pickup mechanism includes a pickup roller, a fastening structure, an input shaft, a first ratchet element, a second ratchet element, an actuating unit, a first transmission rotor and a second transmission rotor. The pickup roller has an inner space. The fastening structure is disposed in the inner space. The input shaft is accommodated in the inner space, and one end of the input shaft is pivotally connected to the fastening structure. The first ratchet element is mounted around the input shaft. The second ratchet element is mounted around the one end of the input shaft. The actuating unit is fastened around a middle of the input shaft to synchronously rotate with the input shaft. The first transmission rotor is mounted around the one end of the input shaft. The second transmission rotor is mounted around the other end of the input shaft.

A feeding device includes a stacking member, a raising device, a feeding member, an interlocking device including a sheet contact portion, a switching device, a holding member, and a movement device. The feeding member is movable between contact and retracting positions, and rotates in contact with a sheet stacked on the stacking member in a state of being located at the contact position. The sheet contact portion contacts the stacked sheet, and moves by being pressed against the stacked sheet where the raising device raises the stacking member. The switching device switches the raising device between a permitted state and a regulated state. The movement device moves the feeding member to the retracting position above the contact position by moving the holding member. The raising device does not change from the regulated state to the permitted state when the movement device moves the feeding member to the retracting position.

An automatic document feeding device includes a conveyance unit, an image reading unit, a color reference member, a moving assembly, and a drive source. The drive source includes a rotation output shaft to drive the conveyance unit and the moving assembly. The drive source changes the rotation output shaft from a forward rotation direction to a reverse rotation direction to reversely rotate the rotation output shaft to a set reverse rotation angle set in advance, according to a condition of conveyance of the document. In a rotation transmission route from the rotation output shaft to the moving assembly, the movement regulator is disposed in a first reverse rotation drive region from when a rotation direction of the rotation output shaft is changed to the reverse rotation direction to when a rotation angle of the rotation output shaft after the change in the reverse rotation direction reaches the set reverse rotation angle.

A removable media handling module includes a body that is horizontally slidable into and removable from an imaging apparatus. The media handling module includes a lower media guide extending between a front and a rear of the body. With the media handling module inserted into the imaging apparatus, the lower media guide is positioned parallel to and spaced from a corresponding upper media guide mounted in the imaging apparatus to form at least a portion of a duplex media path therebetween. A drive mechanism including a clutched gear is operably connected to a feed roll assembly of the media handling module. The clutched gear is freely rotatable in a first direction that causes the feed roll assembly to rotate in a media process direction for feeding a printed media sheet along the duplex media path and is restrained from rotating in a second direction opposite the first direction.

A sheet conveyance device includes a first conveyance member, and a drive transmission mechanism. The first conveyance member is configured to convey a sheet toward a second conveyance member. The drive transmission mechanism is configured to transmit a driving force of a driving source to the first conveyance member. The drive transmission mechanism includes a first drive transmitter and a second drive transmitter disposed coaxially with the first drive transmitter. The driving force is transmitted from the first drive transmitter to the second drive transmitter. The second drive transmitter is rotatable relative to the first drive transmitter within at least a predetermined angular range.

A printing apparatus includes a feeding roller configured to feed a printing sheet stacked on a stacking unit, a conveyance roller configured to convey the printing sheet fed by the feeding roller, a printing unit configured to print the printing sheet conveyed by the conveyance roller, a conveyance control unit configured to control conveyance of printing sheets so that the trailing edge of a preceding sheet as a printing sheet precedingly fed from the stacking unit and the leading edge of a succeeding sheet as a printing sheet succeedingly fed from the stacking unit overlap each other, and a determination unit configured to determine whether to convey the succeeding sheet to a position facing the printing unit while keeping an overlap state between the preceding sheet and the succeeding sheet.

An expansible chuck for holding hollow cylindrical cores used for winding and unwinding sheet material. A portion of the chuck body nearest the flange is stepped up so that the diameter of the chuck near the flange is slightly larger than the diameter of the rest of the chuck. The stepped up portion centers the chuck within the core which helps the expanding elements to uniformly grip the core.

A finisher assembly of a multifunction peripheral includes a vertically oriented stapler and a paper transport motor. When the paper transport motor rotates in the forward direction, printed pages from the print engine of the multifunction peripheral are received via a paper chute and a feed assist roller urges the printed pages into a vertical paper accumulation cache basin. Rotation of the paper transport motor also opens a biasing plate allowing the pages to freely enter the cache basin. Once all of the pages of the print job are in the cache basin, the paper transport motor rotates in the reverse direction causing the biasing plate to bias the printed pages, in the cache basin, against a registration surface of the vertically oriented stapler unit. The pages of the print job are stapled together the stapled print job is moved to the paper tray for collection by a user.

A document-collecting apparatus of an automated transaction can include a document-retaining spool, a document-retaining-spool shaft, a web-supply spool, a web-supply-spool shaft, a web, and a single motor. The document-retaining-spool shaft can extend through an orifice in a center of the document-retaining spool. The web-supply-spool shaft can extend through an orifice in a center of the web-supply spool. The web can have a first end wound around the document-retaining spool and a second end opposite to the first end and wound around the web-supply spool. The single motor can be operatively connected to and can selectively drive the document-retaining-spool shaft and the web-supply-spool shaft.

A sheet feeding device includes a conveyance rotator, a separation rotator, a torque applier, a torque control circuit, and a torque transmission switcher. The conveyance rotator conveys a sheet in a sheet feeding direction. The separation rotator sandwiches the sheet together with the conveyance rotator. The torque applier applies a reverse torque to the separation rotator in a sheet reversing direction to reverse the sheet. The torque control circuit controls the reverse torque applied to the separation rotator to be equal to or less than a given value. The torque transmission switcher switches, between a transmission state and a non-transmission state, a state of a torque transmission path between the torque applier and the separation rotator. The transmission state is a state in which the reverse torque is transmitted. The non-transmission state is a state in which the reverse torque is not transmitted.