A manual sheet feeding device includes: a sheet feeding rotary body configured to separate and feed recording media placed on a manual sheet feeding unit one by one; a shielding unit configured to cover an outer side surface of the sheet feeding rotary body, the shielding unit having an aperture for exposing at least a part of the sheet feeding rotary body to an outside; and an opening and closing unit configured to open and close the aperture of the shielding unit.

A supply device includes: a loading portion where recording media are loaded; a transport unit to transport the media; a contact portion provided on the loading portion, the contact portion being in contact with a side end portion of the media having a first size in a direction intersecting with a transport direction, the contact portion having a blowing portion to blow air to the side end portion; a guide portion detachably attached to the contact portion when media having a second size smaller than the media having the first size are loaded, the guide portion being configured to guide a side end portion of the media having the second size; and a duct provided in the guide portion, the duct including a discharge port to blow the air from the blowing portion to an upper end portion of the media having the second size loaded on the loading portion.

An image forming apparatus has an image carrier that carries a toner image; a transfer member that is opposed to the image carrier, a transfer voltage being applied to the transfer member so that the toner image is transferred from the image carrier to a print medium passing between the transfer member and the image carrier; a first voltage application device that applies the transfer voltage to the transfer member; a separation member to which a separation voltage is applied so that the print medium is separated from the image carrier; a second voltage application device that applies the separation voltage to the separation member; a sensing device that senses an image density of the toner image; and a control section that controls a magnitude of the separation voltage based upon the image density of the toner image.

A manual sheet feeding device includes: a sheet feeding rotary body configured to separate and feed recording media placed on a manual sheet feeding unit one by one; a shielding unit configured to cover an outer side surface of the sheet feeding rotary body, the shielding unit having an aperture for exposing at least a part of the sheet feeding rotary body to an outside; and an opening and closing unit configured to open and close the aperture of the shielding unit.

A sheet feeding apparatus is provided with a pick-up roller that contacts sheets loaded on a load tray to pick up, a paper feed roller that feeds a picked-up sheet, and a separation roller brought into press-contact with the paper feed roller to separate the sheet, where the sheets are separated from the pick-up roller, the separation roller is rotated in a sheet return direction different from a sheet feed direction, and subsequently, the paper feed roller is separated from the separation roller. It is possible to prevent damage to a sheet and sheet jam from occurring in pulling out the load tray loaded with sheets to the front side.

An image recording device is provided, having a recording unit configured to record an image on a sheet, and a tray disposed below the recording unit. The tray includes a sheet holding surface configured to hold the sheet. Additionally, the image recording device includes a sheet feeder disposed between the recording unit and the tray. The sheet feeder includes a roller for feeding the sheet from the tray. The roller is configured to move between a first roller position in which the roller contacts the sheet holding surface of the tray and a second roller position in which the roller is separated from the sheet holding surface. A return guide, disposed between the recording unit and the sheet feeder, defines a second conveying path to guide the sheet having an image recorded on one side thereof back to the feed guide. The return guide has a first opening configured to accommodate the roller of the sheet feeder when the roller is in the second roller position.

A recording-material-transporting device includes an attracting part to which a recording material is attracted from below, and a blowing device that blows air from a position higher than the attracting part to an edge of the recording material attracted to the attracting part.

A medium conveyance device includes: a plurality of roller pairs arranged in a width direction of a recording medium, the plurality of roller pairs including at least two end-side roller pairs respectively located near two ends of the recording medium in the width direction and at least one center-side roller pair located near a center of the recording medium in the width direction, the plurality of roller pairs each including a pair of rollers that convey the recording medium while nipping the recording medium and are individually contactable with and separable from each other; and a contact and separation mechanism that moves a first roller of the pair of rollers of the at least one center-side roller pair in a thickness direction of the recording medium or moves a first roller of the pair of rollers of each of the at least two end-side roller pairs in the thickness direction of the recording medium, to make a difference in separation timing.

An apparatus for stripping light weight and ultra-light weight media from a photoreceptor that is tacked thereto by electrostatic or vacuum force includes a set of low-tip stripper fingers configured to strip the light weight and ultra-light weight media from the photoreceptor. The low-tip stripper fingers are adjustable both in the cross process and in attack angle with respect to the photoreceptor in order to change the height at which the tip of each stripper finger is in relation to the photoreceptor and thereby prevent jams due to miss-strips. Additionally, dual stripper fingers are disclosed that support inboard and outboard edges of larger media in order to reduce dog ears and jams.

Provided are: a sheet feed device that is capable of suppressing the occurrence of a sheet feeding fault by changing the pressing contact force of a retard roller against a feed roller; and an image formation device equipped with the same. This sheet feed unit (50) is provided with: a pickup roller (29); a feed roller (31); a retard roller (32); a holding member (40) that holds the retard roller (32); a first biasing member (42) that biases the holding member (40); and a pressing contact force changing mechanism (60) that changes the pressing contact force of the retard roller (32) against the feed roller (31). The pressing contact force changing mechanism (60) has: a rotary shaft (61) disposed parallel to the axial direction of the retard roller (32); a cam member (70) that rotates with the rotary shaft (61); and a movable member (80) that contacts the cam member (70), moves in the axial direction in conjunction with the rotation of the cam member (70), and changes the biasing force generated by the first biasing member (42).