An image forming apparatus, including a main chassis having a discharge tray and a switchback tray in an upper position with respect to the discharge tray; an image forming unit; a discharge roller to discharge a recording sheet conveyed through the image forming unit onto the discharge tray; a duplex conveyer to invert the sheet and convey the inverted sheet to return to the image forming unit; and a switchback roller being rotatable in a normal direction to convey the sheet toward the switchback tray and a reverse direction to convey the sheet to the duplex conveyer; is provided. The main chassis includes a pair of walls, each of which extends in a vertical direction and in a conveying direction of the sheet and is arranged in adjacent to the switchback tray such that the switchback tray is interposed between the pair of walls.

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit and a re-conveyor. The re-conveyor includes a first bevel gear, a second bevel gear, a first re-conveying roller, a shaft member, a first engaged member, a second engaged member, and an engaging member. When the second bevel gear is rotated in a rotational direction by a driving force transmitted from the first bevel gear, the engaging member is moved to a second position and engaged with the first and second engaged members to rotate the shaft member in a rotational direction. When the shaft member is rotated in the rotational direction by a driving force transmitted from the first re-conveying roller, the engaging member is moved to a first position, disengaged from the second engaged member, and engaged with the first engaged member to interrupt transmission of the driving force from the shaft member to the second bevel gear.

An image forming apparatus, including a main chassis having a discharge tray and a switchback tray in an upper position with respect to the discharge tray; an image forming unit; a discharge roller to discharge a recording sheet conveyed through the image forming unit onto the discharge tray; a duplex conveyer to invert the sheet and convey the inverted sheet to return to the image forming unit; and a switchback roller being rotatable in a normal direction to convey the sheet toward the switchback tray and a reverse direction to convey the sheet to the duplex conveyer; is provided. The main chassis includes a pair of walls, each of which extends in a vertical direction and in a conveying direction of the sheet and is arranged in adjacent to the switchback tray such that the switchback tray is interposed between the pair of walls.

An image forming apparatus includes: an image forming unit; a first re-conveyance guide that guides a sheet on which an image is formed in a re-conveying direction; a second re-conveyance guide that guides the sheet from the first re-conveyance guide toward the image forming unit; a side guide provided at one end portion of the second re-conveyance guide in a widthwise direction to regulate the sheet; a side chute provided at one end portion of the first re-conveyance guide in the widthwise direction; and an engaging portion provided on the second re-conveyance guide. The engaging portion is engaged with a first engaging portion extending downward from an upstream end portion of the side guide in the re-conveying direction and is engaged with a second engaging portion provided on a downstream end portion of the side chute in the re-conveying direction.

A first feeding unit is configured that is provided in a first printing unit that includes a first recording unit that executes a recording operation for a long strip-like recording medium pulled out from a first holding unit that holds the recording medium in a wound state. The first feeding unit further includes a pair of feeding rollers that sort the recording medium discharged from the first printing unit, to the side of a second printing unit stacked on the first printing unit or to the side opposite to that of the second printing unit. The first feeding unit temporarily accommodates the sorted recording medium and thereafter, feeds the recording medium to a guide path, and sorts the recording medium fed by the pair of feeding rollers, to the side of the second printing unit using a sorting part.

A medium after recording is more effectively dried in a recording apparatus and improvement of throughput is achieved.

This sheet feeding device includes a paper transport path, a first paper pass detection unit, a second paper pass detection unit, a transport processing mechanism, an actuation determining section, and a detection control section. The first paper pass detection unit detects that the paper passes through a first point on the paper transport path. The second paper pass detection unit detects that the paper passes through a second point on the paper transport path. The transport processing mechanism performs predetermined transportation processing on the paper traveling on the paper transport path. The actuation determining section determines whether the transport processing mechanism has been actuated. The detection control section controls the first paper pass detection unit to constantly perform detection, and, if the actuation determining section detects that transport processing mechanism has been actuated, controls the second paper pass detection unit to perform detection except for a certain time period.

Disclosed herein is an image forming system enabling size reduction of apparatus. In the system, a sheet drying unit and a sheet post-processing unit are arranged, respectively above and below a sheet holding section to which sheets are ejected from an image forming apparatus A. Further, a relay transporting unit is provided, which is configured to transport a sheet from the sheet drying unit to a sheet post-processing unit. The relay transporting unit is formed, surrounding the sheet holding section.

An image forming apparatus, including: an image forming portion configured to form an image on a sheet; a pair of conveyance rotary members arranged downstream of the image forming portion in a sheet conveyance direction and configured to convey the sheet, on which the image is formed, by a conveyance nip; and a guide portion configured to guide the sheet to the conveyance nip, the guide portion including: a first guide member formed into a sheet shape and having a first stiffness and an abutment surface configured to abut the sheet; and a second guide member formed into a sheet shape and having a second stiffness higher than the first stiffness and arranged on a side opposite to the abutment surface of the first guide member, wherein a downstream edge of the first guide member is closer to the conveyance nip than a downstream edge of the second guide member.

For a printing apparatus, a first conveyance speed for a first printing medium is determined according to first print data to be printed on the first printing medium and a second conveyance speed for a second printing medium is determined according to second print data to be printed on the second printing medium that follows the first printing medium along a conveying path. In a case where the second conveyance speed is equal to the first conveyance speed, a conveyance operation of the second printing medium is started before the first printing medium is discharged from the conveying path. In a case where the second conveyance speed is different from the first conveyance speed, the conveyance operation of the second printing medium is started after the first printing medium is discharged from the conveying path.