There is provided a feed apparatus including a support unit, a feed roller, a swingable arm to support the feed roller, a guide unit, a movable member movable to a retracted position and a protruding position at which the movable member can abut against the sheet supported by the support unit, a driving source, driving transmission units; and a contact-separating mechanism to move the feed roller to a separated position and an abutment position at which the feed roller abuts against the sheet supported by the support unit. In a state in which the movable member is the protruding position and the feed roller is the separated position, a time required to start feeding of the sheet by the feed roller moved from the separated position to the abutment position is longer than a time required to shift the movable member from the protruding position to the retracted position.

There is provided a feed apparatus including a support unit, a feed roller, a swingable arm to support the feed roller, a guide unit, a movable member movable to a retracted position and a protruding position at which the movable member can abut against the sheet supported by the support unit, a driving source, driving transmission units; and a contact-separating mechanism to move the feed roller to a separated position and an abutment position at which the feed roller abuts against the sheet supported by the support unit. In a state in which the movable member is the protruding position and the feed roller is the separated position, a time required to start feeding of the sheet by the feed roller moved from the separated position to the abutment position is longer than a time required to shift the movable member from the protruding position to the retracted position.

Examples of stalling of operation of imaging devices are described herein. In an example, the imaging device includes an input roller assembly to transport a medium in the imaging device and a line feed roller assembly disengagably coupled to the input roller assembly to selectively drive the input roller assembly. To stall the operation of the imaging device, a line feed shaft of the line feed roller assembly can be automatically disengaged from the input roller assembly to discontinue advance of the medium along a print path.

Examples of stalling of operation of imaging devices are described herein. In an example, the imaging device includes an input roller assembly to transport a medium in the imaging device and a line feed roller assembly disengagably coupled to the input roller assembly to selectively drive the input roller assembly. To stall the operation of the imaging device, a line feed shaft of the line feed roller assembly can be automatically disengaged from the input roller assembly to discontinue advance of the medium along a print path.

A transmission device includes a pickup roller assembly, a feeding roller assembly including a feeding shaft, a paper-out roller assembly including a paper-out shaft, a driving motor, a one-way drive gear module, a first transmission gear module, a second transmission gear module and a one-way clutch. The first transmission gear module includes a plurality of transmission gears disposed to two ends of the feeding shaft and two ends of the paper-out shaft. The second transmission gear module is engaged with one of the transmission gears mounted around one end of the feeding shaft. The one-way clutch disposed between the feeding shaft and the paper-out shaft, includes a first clutch gear, a second clutch gear, a third one-way clutch gear disposed between the first clutch gear and the second clutch gear, and a compression spring disposed to one end of the second clutch gear.

A rotary arm restricts the rotation of a first sun gear or a second sun gear according to forward/reverse rotation drive of sheet discharge rollers. As a result, a rotating direction of a transmission gear coupled to the sheet discharge rollers is switched. If 1A denotes a pressure angle of gear teeth of a gear portion of the first sun gear and 2A denotes a pressure angle of gear teeth of a first planetary gear, a relationship of 2A+0.51A2A+1.5 is satisfied.

The document conveying apparatus includes a separation roller, a conveying roller, a driving force generation module configured to be capable of generating a first driving force with a rotation in a first direction, and capable of generating a second driving force with a rotation in a second direction opposite to the first direction, a driving force transmission module, a determination module for determining whether a document has passed the separation roller, and a control module for switching a driving force from the first driving force to the second driving force in accordance with a determination result. The driving force transmission module performs separation operation by transmitting the first driving force to the separation roller, and conveys the documents by transmitting the second driving force to the conveying roller and cuts off transmission of the second driving force to the separation roller, in accordance with the switching.

The document conveying apparatus includes a separation roller, a conveying roller, a driving force generation module configured to be capable of generating a first driving force with a rotation in a first direction, and capable of generating a second driving force with a rotation in a second direction opposite to the first direction, a driving force transmission module, a determination module for determining whether a document has passed the separation roller, and a control module for switching a driving force from the first driving force to the second driving force in accordance with a determination result. The driving force transmission module performs separation operation by transmitting the first driving force to the separation roller, and conveys the documents by transmitting the second driving force to the conveying roller and cuts off transmission of the second driving force to the separation roller, in accordance with the switching.

An image forming apparatus includes a tray, a casing having a first outlet, a second outlet above the first outlet, a first path, and a second path, a stack lever, a drive source, and a controller. The second path communicates with the second outlet such that a sheet conveyed along the second path is partially discharged from the second outlet and is reversed along the second path. The first outlet communicates with the first path such that the sheet conveyed along the first path is discharged from the first outlet onto the tray. The stack lever is movable between a first position where the stack lever presses a sheet on the tray and a second position higher than the first position. The controller is configured to control the drive source such that, when the sheet is discharged from the second outlet, the stack lever is at the second position.

An image forming apparatus includes a tray, a casing having a first outlet, a second outlet above the first outlet, a first path, and a second path, a stack lever, a drive source, and a controller. The second path communicates with the second outlet such that a sheet conveyed along the second path is partially discharged from the second outlet and is reversed along the second path. The first outlet communicates with the first path such that the sheet conveyed along the first path is discharged from the first outlet onto the tray. The stack lever is movable between a first position where the stack lever presses a sheet on the tray and a second position higher than the first position. The controller is configured to control the drive source such that, when the sheet is discharged from the second outlet, the stack lever is at the second position.