A sheet feeding apparatus includes a sheet supporting portion including a supporting surface, an abutment portion against which a leading edge of the sheet abuts, a feeding rotator configured to feed the sheet, a first friction member provided on the supporting surface so as to face the feeding rotator, the first friction member including a first friction surface having a static friction coefficient greater than that of the supporting surface, a trailing end supporting portion configured to support a trailing end portion of the sheet curved upward, and a second friction member disposed upstream of the first friction member in the sheet feeding direction on the supporting surface, the second friction member including a second friction surface which has a static friction coefficient greater than that of the supporting surface and is configured to be in contact with the sheet supported by the supporting surface.

An image forming apparatus includes an image former, a conveyance path, a flipping conveyance path, a conveying mechanism and a hardware processor. The flipping conveyance path includes a side path connecting a first branch point in a downstream of the conveyance path to a junction in an upstream of the conveyance path and a re-feeding path connecting a second branch point in the side path to a re-feeding point in an upstream of the conveyance path. The hardware processor controls the conveying mechanism to perform (i) a conveyance operation to convey the sheet along the conveyance path, (ii) a draw-in operation to draw the sheet with the image into the side path, and (iii) a re-feeding operation to convey the sheet in a reverse direction to re-feed the flipped sheet from the re-feeding point to the conveyance path.

A handoff mechanism for use with a media stacker of a media production apparatus comprises a plurality of kicker units (101) arranged across a width of the handoff mechanism. A common drive mechanism (103) is provided to move the plurality of kicker units (101) between a closed position and an open position. Each kicker unit (101), when in the closed position during use, applies a pressure to any media sheets that are already stacked in a stacker tray (105) while a new media sheet is being fed to the stacker tray. The pressure provided by each kicker unit (101) is independent of the pressure provided by the other kicker units (101).

A sheet feeder device that stores and sends out a transfer medium includes: a sheet feeder device main unit having an opening formed at an upper portion and including an upstream partial lid located on an upstream side and a downstream partial lid located on a downstream side, the upstream partial lid and the downstream partial lid covering at least part of the opening; a sheet feed tray provided in the sheet feeder device main unit, the transfer medium being loaded onto the sheet feed tray; an elevating unit configured to lift up and down the sheet feed tray; and a control unit configured to control the lifting up and down of the sheet feed tray, wherein the control unit senses opening and closing of the upstream partial lid and the downstream partial lid, and controls the lifting up and down being performed by the elevating unit.

A stacking apparatus, comprising a first stacking unit, for stacking sheets of a first size, configured to move vertically between an upper limit position and a lower limit position, and a second stacking unit for stacking sheets of a second size larger than the first size in cooperation with the first stacking unit, the second stacking unit being jointed to the first stacking unit at a predetermined position, moving vertically together with the first stacking unit while being jointed to the first stacking unit above the predetermined position, and being released from a joint to the first stacking unit below the predetermined position.

There is provided a stacking apparatus capable of stably conveying and stacking sheets without occurrence of damage or buckling of the sheets in the structure of discharging the curled sheets one by one. In regard to each of a plurality of clamp guides which project toward stacking trays from a conveyor to guide sheets S, the projecting position varies in accordance with a size and an amount of stacked sheets on the stack trays. The stacking tray comprises an inclined surface and a curved surface. An upper guide is located to face the inclined surface by a predetermined interval, and the upper guide is located not to face the curved surface or is located to face it by an interval larger than a predetermined interval.

A media-sheet stacking system (10) for stacking media sheets on a device output tray (OT) comprises a kicker (25) to advance a media sheet along the output tray by pushing a trailing edge of the media sheet as it exits the device, and a movable element (32a) arranged to face the output tray across a space that receives media sheets exiting the device. A drive mechanism (33) is provided to drive the movable element in the direction of advance of the media sheet along the output tray.

A printer includes a printing unit which performs printing on a sheet and which discharges a printed sheet from a discharging opening, and a pair of body-side feet disposed on both sides in a width direction of a sheet to be discharged from the discharging opening. A sheet housing apparatus includes a housing unit which houses a sheet to be discharged from the discharging opening, and a pair of housing-side feet disposed on the both sides in the width direction. The sheet housing apparatus can be mounted from a predetermined mounting direction to the printer. The body-side feet and the housing-side feet are arranged to be disposed, in a state in which the sheet housing apparatus is mounted to the printer, so as to overlap with each other in the mounting direction and not to overlap with each other in the width direction.

The invention provides a sheet storage apparatus and a printing apparatus, which include simplified mechanisms for supporting a sheet and for guiding the sheet. A sheet storage device that can store a sheet discharged from a discharge port of a printing apparatus includes: multiple flappers provided below the discharge port and arranged in a width direction of the sheet, each flapper being rotatable between a first posture in which the sheet discharged from the discharge port is guided downward in a gravitational direction by using a first surface, and a second posture in which the sheet is supported by using a second surface being different from the first surface; and a connecting unit which connects the plurality of flappers to one another.

A media stacker may comprises a stacking platform; and a pair of a guiding tracks above the stacking platform and extending from a media receiving side of the media stacker in a media advance direction along opposite sides of a media transport path; wherein at least one guiding track of the pair of guiding tracks is movable between a support position and a release position to guide and support the media sheet above the stacking platform and to release the media sheet to drop from the guiding track to the stacking platform.