Patent ID: 7748711
Filing Date: 2010-07-06
Classification: B65H

Abstract:
1. An image forming apparatus, comprising: an image forming section that forms an image onto a sheet; a first sheet conveying passage that conveys the sheet through said image forming section; a sheet-discharging roller provided on an outlet side of said first sheet conveying passage and capable of rotating in both normal and reverse directions; a second sheet conveying passage having an inlet side connected to said first sheet conveying passage on a downstream side in a sheet-conveying direction from said image forming section and having an outlet side connected to said first sheet conveying passage on an upstream side in the sheet-conveying direction from said image forming section; a controller that controls, at a timing of executing a double-sided printing, said sheet-discharging roller to rotate in normal directions to convey the sheet in a forward direction so as to put out a part of the sheet to outside from said sheet-discharging roller, and then to rotate in reverse directions to execute a switch back conveyance by which the sheet is transported to an inlet side of said second sheet conveying passage in order to return the sheet back to the upstream side of said image forming section; and an assisting mechanism that assists the switch back conveyance by adjusting a posture of the sheet, wherein the inlet side of said second sheet conveying passage is so positioned as to face to a sheet nip portion of said sheet discharging roller along with a horizontal direction, said assisting mechanism is a first flexible member arranged on the upstream side from said sheet-discharging roller, and said first flexible member comes in contact with an underside surface of the sheet at least when the sheet is switched back, so as to allow the sheet to move toward the inlet side of said second sheet conveying passage in a substantially horizontal posture.