In an image forming apparatus, a sheet is guided into a first conveyor path or a second conveyor path selectively when a first cover is in a closed position, and is ejected onto the first cover when the first cover is in an open position. Upon power-up, a controller causes a first conveyor roller to rotate but if the first cover is in the open position, when a sheet sensor detects a sheet, the controller does not cause a second conveyor roller to rotate, and causes a flapper to swing from a first position to a second position, and when a front end of the sheet reaches a position downstream of an upstream end of the flapper in a conveyance direction of the sheet conveyed by the first conveyor roller, the controller causes the flapper to swing from the second position to the first position.

A printer has a lower module and upper module. The lower module has a paper feed unit and a printing unit. A back of the upper module is hinged to lower module. A paper handling part holds paper after printing by the printing unit. A discharge unit in the upper module moves the paper out of the upper module while maintaining a hold on a rear portion of the paper and to draw the paper back into the upper module after an elapse of time. A container includes a support member that rotates into contact with and moves away from a lower part of the upper module. The container configured to receive and store the paper that has been drawn back by the discharge unit. The paper is stored in a region between the support member and the lower part of the upper module.

Sheet collating device for accumulating sheets from at least one hopper, comprising: a lower transport path and an upper transport path; a switchable guide for directing the sheets from the at least one hopper to the lower or the upper transport path; left and right upper drive shafts connected to a right and a left upper drive pulleys supporting a pair of upper belts, a drive direction of the pair of upper belts being changed dependent on what transport path of the upper and lower transport paths is selected; first and second lower drive shafts connected to a right and a left lower drive pulleys supporting first and second pairs of lower belts; and a first series of right paddles mounted on the first pair of lower belts and a first series of left paddles mounted on the second pair of lower belts for registering a collated set of sheets.

A document transporting device includes a main body unit that forms an inner side of an inverting path, a cover unit that exposes a portion of the inverting path, a movable unit, a transport roller, a driven roller, and a roller supporting unit that forms an outer side of the inverting path. By receiving a force from the cover unit, the roller supporting unit rotates in a direction in which the driven roller moves away from the transport roller. By receiving a force from the roller supporting unit, the movable unit rotates in a direction in which the movable unit retreats from the main body unit.

A sheet transport device includes a transport guide for guiding, along its transport surface, a sheet in a transport direction, a first transport roller pair, a second transport roller pair, a skew roller pair, a reference wall, and an actuator. The skew roller pair alone transports, in a skewed manner toward an end of the transport surface in a width direction orthogonal to the transport direction, the sheet spaced from the first transport roller and the second transport roller. The reference wall is positioned at the end of the transport surface in the width direction and extends along the transport direction. The actuator is disposed downstream of the skew roller pair and upstream of the second transport roller pair in the transport direction and between the end and a center of the transport surface in the width direction.

A sheet guiding device includes a cover unit, a swing guide, a link member, and a contact member. The cover unit is configured to be openably disposed on a housing of an image forming apparatus. The swing guide is configured to move between a guide position at which the swing guide is open to guide a sheet and a retracted position at which the swing guide is closed. The swing guide is configured to move from the retracted position to the guide position along with closing movement of the cover unit. The link member has one end configured to be held by the housing and an opposite end engaged with the swing guide. The contact member is disposed on the cover unit. The contact member is configured to contact the link member to rotate the link member in the closing movement of the cover unit.

A first transport path is put into a first state capable of transporting a paper sheet when a first portion and a second portion engage with each other, and put into a second state in which the second portion is swingable with respect to the first portion about a first swing axis extending in a direction orthogonal to a first direction and horizontal when engagement between the first portion and the second portion is released. A contact portion comes into contact with the second portion, thereby engaging the second portion with the first portion when a second unit in which the first transport path is in the second state is moved in a second direction opposite to the first direction.

A sheet transport device includes a sheet storage unit that stores a sheet and that is disposed in a housing having a bottom plate such that a gap is provided between the sheet storage unit and the bottom plate, the gap extending horizontally; a sheet transport unit that feeds the sheet from the sheet storage unit and transports the fed sheet along a transport passage including a reversing transport path along which the sheet is transported downward and then upward to reverse the sheet front to back, the reversing transport path extending vertically and being connected to the gap; and a first gate unit that prevents passage of the sheet that has entered the reversing transport path when the sheet free falls and allows passage of the sheet when the sheet receives a sheet transport driving force from the sheet transport unit.

A sheet conveying device includes a support configured to move between a storage position and a full open position and including a pair of rollers, a plurality of contact bodies, and a switching unit. The switching unit switches the pair of rollers in response to contact of the plurality of contact target bodies included in the switching unit, with the plurality of contact bodies. The plurality of contact bodies includes a first contact body closer to the storage position than the plurality of contact target bodies with the support at the full open position and closer to the full open position with the support at the storage position, and a second contact body closer to the storage position than a part of the plurality of contact target bodies with the support at a halfway position and closer to the full open position with the support at the storage position.

A turnable sheet stopper blocks and passes a sheet conveyed on a sheet guide, and includes a proximal portion, a distal portion connected to the end of the proximal portion, and a folding mechanism that connects the distal portion to the proximal portion. The sheet stopper transitions between first and second positions. In the second position, the proximal and distal portions integrally turn to the downstream side in the sheet conveyance direction to allow the sheet to pass. The sheet stopper transitions from the second position to a third position when a user draws out the sheet from an upstream side. In the third position, the distal portion folds toward the upstream side to allow the sheet to be drawn out. During transition from the second position to the third position, the edge of the distal portion is located on or away from an outer surface of the sheet guide.