A dispenser having a feed roller that at least partially engages sheet material to facilitate dispensing thereof, and a cutting mechanism disposed within a chamber defined by a body of the feed roller. The cutting mechanism including a cutting blade and at least one movable support connected thereto. The at least one support further is operatively connected to the body of the feed roller and is actuated with rotation thereof to move the cutting blade into and out from one or more openings defined along the body of the feed roller to at least partially cut or perforate a selected portion of the sheet material as the sheet material is dispensed.

A sheet post-processing apparatus (1) includes a processing tray (5), a sheet discharge port (7), a conveyance rollers pair (4), lower and upper discharge rollers (81), (82) and a discharge tray (9). When the sheet having a folded portion is stacked on the processing tray (5) with the folded portion downward, a controller rotates the lower and upper discharge rollers (81), (82) to advance the folded portion to the sheet discharge port (7), stops the lower discharge roller (81) before the folded portion passes the sheet discharge port (7), rotates the conveyance rollers pair (4) and the upper discharge roller (82) so as to convey the rear half portion to the downstream side until the sheet passes the conveyance rollers pair (4) and to form a deflection on the sheet, rotates the lower and upper conveyance rollers (81), (82) and then to stack the sheet on the processing tray (5).

Provided is a conveyance apparatus capable of detecting the presence or absence of multi feeding with high accuracy even when a received waveform varies due to a noise from the circuit and an influence due to vibrations being fixedly generated noise components. The conveyance apparatus includes: an original conveying motor configured to convey an original; an ultrasonic transmitter, which is arranged at one of positions sandwiching a conveyance path along which the original is conveyed, and transmits an ultrasonic wave toward the conveyance path; and an ultrasonic receiver, which is arranged at the other one of the positions sandwiching the conveyance path, and receives the ultrasonic wave transmitted from the ultrasonic transmitter. The conveyance apparatus compares a received wave amplitude exhibited with sheet-presence against a threshold value determined based on a received wave amplitude exhibited with sheet-absence to determine whether the original is conveyed by the multi feeding.

A drive device includes a plurality of gears; and a grease composition that is held on a tooth flank of at least one gear of the gears. The at least one gear is made of a resin. The grease composition contains a hydrocarbon base oil, lithium soap serving as a thickener, and olefin resin powder. A weight ratio between the hydrocarbon base oil and the lithium soap in the grease composition is in a range of 94.5:5.5 to 96.0:4.0. A consistency of the grease composition is in a range of 360 to 400.

A printer includes an apparatus body having a recording head for performing recording onto a sheet of paper. The printer also includes a unit body that is accommodated inside the apparatus body and has a path-forming surface formed at least on a portion of the periphery of the unit body. The path-forming surface forms a medium transport path. The unit body includes a plurality of openings that are in communication with a sound absorber disposed inside the unit body. The plurality of the openings are provided at least on a portion of the path-forming surface.

A sheet conveyer having a tray, a feed roller, a separator roller, a holder, an arm, a load applier unit, and a cam member is provided. The load applier unit includes a contacting member, a lever, and a contractive spring. One of the contacting member and the arm has one of a protrusion and a hole section, and the other of the contacting member and the arm has the other of the protrusion and the hole section. The holder is maintained in a second holder-position when the protrusion contacts one end of the hole section and applies a weight of the load applier unit to the arm and maintained in the first holder-position when the protrusion contacts the other end of the hole section and applies a load from the contractive spring acting in a direction to press the feed roller against sheets to the arm.

An apparatus for singling sheet goods which comprises a suction device with a stator and a rotor movable relative to the stator. The stator has at least one first opening and the rotor at least one second opening which overlap upon a rotation of the rotor and thereby define an opening area with a first end and a second end. The opening area extends starting from the first end up to the second end, wherein a section of the opening area between the first end and the second end forms a suction area in which sheet goods to be singled can be sucked by the suction device. The first end of the opening area is arranged spaced from the suction area so that arising noise can be dampened.

A sheet conveying device includes: a sheet discharge roller disposed in a conveying path of sheets so as to discharge a sheet being conveyed to a sheet discharge tray; a conveying unit that conveys sheets on a side of the conveying path closer to an upstream side than the sheet discharge roller; a motor that rotates at a constant system speed during conveying of sheets to drive the conveying unit; a transmission mechanism that transmits power of the motor to the sheet discharge roller to rotate the sheet discharge roller; and a controller that controls an operation of the transmission mechanism, wherein the transmission mechanism changes a circumferential speed of the sheet discharge roller, and the controller performs speed reduction control of controlling the operation of the transmission mechanism to temporarily reduce the circumferential speed of the sheet discharge roller when a sheet is discharged to the sheet discharge tray.

A drive device includes a gear having a hole; a shaft that passes through the hole; and a grease composition that is held in a clearance between the shaft and an inner peripheral surface of the hole. The gear rotates on a peripheral surface of the shaft. At least one of the gear and the shaft is made of a resin. The clearance is in a range of 10 to 110 m. The grease composition contains a hydrocarbon base oil and lithium soap serving as a thickener. A weight ratio of the hydrocarbon base oil to the lithium soap is in a range of 94.5:5.5 to 96.0:4.0. A consistency of the grease composition is in a range of 360 to 400.

A sheet conveying device, which is included in an image reading device and an image forming apparatus, includes a passage forming body and a sound absorber. The passage forming body is configured to define a sheet conveying passage through which a sheet passes. The sound absorber includes a hollow portion and a communication portion configured to communication the hollow portion and the sheet conveying passage. A position of the communication portion of the sound absorber is changeable in the sheet conveying passage. The sheet conveying device included in the image reading device includes an original document conveying device configured to convey an original document having an image on a surface. The sheet conveying device included in the image forming apparatus includes a recording medium conveying device configured to convey the recording medium accommodated in a recording medium container to the image forming device.