A conveying apparatus includes a rotator, a driver, a measuring device, and circuitry. The rotator is configured to convey a medium. The driver is configured to apply a driving force to the rotator to rotate the rotator. The measuring device is configured to measure the driving force applied to the rotator by the driver. The circuitry is configured to: determine, according to the driving force measured, whether to change at least one of frequency and items of information to be acquired for prediction of a defective conveyance of the medium caused by the rotator; and acquire information of at least one of the items according to a result of determination, at a frequency according to the result of determination.

A sheet conveyance apparatus includes a control unit configured to execute a stop process of stopping a second sheet in a state in which the second sheet is nipped by a second conveyance portion, and a conveyance restart process of restarting conveyance of the second sheet stopped by the second conveyance portion. The control unit has a first mode in which the conveyance restart process is performed at a first timing at which a first time has elapsed since a first sheet has passed a reference position, and a second mode in which the conveyance restart process is performed at a second timing at which a second time longer than the first time has elapsed since the first sheet has passed the reference position.

A discharge tray for loading thereon sheets to be discharged at a predetermined discharge angle by a discharge roller pair is provided. The discharge tray includes a loading surface provided at a predetermined first inclination angle with respect to a discharge direction of a sheet by the discharge roller pair so that a top of the sheet discharged by the discharge roller pair comes into contact with the loading surface, and a guide unit provided on the loading surface at a second inclination angle with respect to the loading surface so as to partially lift up the loaded sheet from the loading surface.

A medium feeding apparatus includes a pickup roller that feeds a medium from a medium mount section. A support member supports a pickup roller and swings around a swing axis to switch between a feeding position and a non-feeding position. A separation roller separates the medium from other media. A feed roller feeds the medium toward the downstream end. The separation and feed rollers are disposed downstream of the pickup roller. A control section controls a position of the support member. After the pickup roller and the feed roller start rotating, when the control section determines that the separation roller stops rotating or returns the medium by rotating in a reverse direction, based on a detection signal from a rotation sensing section configured to detect rotation of the separation roller, the control section causes the support member to switch from the feeding position to the non-feeding position.

An image forming apparatus has a sheet feed portion, a conveying portion, a control portion, a first sensor having the detection position at a first position in the sheet conveying passage, and a second sensor having the detection position at a second position downstream of the first position in the sheet conveying direction. The control portion performs first sensing to sense whether the sheet's rear end has passed the first position within a first time of the start of the feeding and second sensing to sense whether the sheet's rear end has passed the second position within a second time of the start of the feeding, Even if the control portion is unable to sense passage of the sheet's rear end in the first sensing, when it senses passage of the sheet's rear end in the second sensing, it makes the conveying portion continue feeding the sheet.

A sheet conveying device includes a conveyor, a sound collector, and circuitry. The conveyor conveys a sheet. The sound collector collects an operating sound when the sheet is conveyed. The circuitry is to extract a feature amount of the operating sound collected by the sound collector, select, among multiple sets of index data serving as index to determine whether an abnormal conveyance of the sheet is to be occurred, a set of index data corresponding to a conveyance condition of the sheet, and determine whether the abnormal conveyance of the sheet is to be occurred based on the feature amount and the set of index data selected from the multiple sets of index data.

A discharge tray for loading thereon sheets to be discharged at a predetermined discharge angle by a discharge roller pair is provided. The discharge tray includes a loading surface provided at a predetermined first inclination angle with respect to a discharge direction of a sheet by the discharge roller pair so that a top of the sheet discharged by the discharge roller pair comes into contact with the loading surface, and a guide unit provided on the loading surface at a second inclination angle with respect to the loading surface so as to partially lift up the loaded sheet from the loading surface.

An image forming apparatus having a printer for printing an image on a sheet fed from an external sheet feeding apparatus sets the sheet feeding apparatus as a sheet feed source of the sheet to be used by the printer for printing and in accordance with the setting, makes a notification so as to notify a user to set a feeding parameter in the sheet feeding apparatus.

A printer includes a feeding roller, a sheet conveyer, and a handle. The feeding roller is configured to feed a single slip and a continuous sheet conveyed through first and second conveyance paths, respectively, to a printing head. The sheet conveyer is at the second conveyance path. The handle is mechanically engaged with a shaft of the feeding roller and configured to rotate the shaft. The handle is manually movable along an axis direction of the shaft between first and second positions. At the first position, the handle is mechanically disengaged with a driving mechanism of the sheet conveyer. At the second position, the handle is mechanically engaged with the driving mechanism and capable of moving the sheet conveyer. An urging mechanism is urging the handle toward the first position. A stopper is configured to prevent the handle at the second position from moving toward the first position.

A conveying apparatus includes a rotator, a driver, a measuring device, and circuitry. The rotator is configured to convey a medium. The driver is configured to apply a driving force to the rotator to rotate the rotator. The measuring device is configured to measure the driving force applied to the rotator by the driver. The circuitry is configured to: determine, according to the driving force measured, whether to change at least one of frequency and items of information to be acquired for prediction of a defective conveyance of the medium caused by the rotator; and acquire information of at least one of the items according to a result of determination, at a frequency according to the result of determination.