Patent ID: 7509088

Claim:
A sheet reverse conveyance device for temporarily conveying a sheet which has entered a reverse conveyance path from an entry path into said reverse conveyance path, thereafter, conveying the sheet to a discharge path, and reversing the sheet, comprising: a pair of forward conveyance rotation members which are provided on said reverse conveyance path, rotate in such a direction as to convey the sheet into said reverse conveyance path, and can touch and detach; a pair of reverse conveyance rotation members which are provided on said reverse conveyance path, rotate in the direction opposite to the rotating direction of said pair of forward conveyance rotation members in order to convey the sheet conveyed into said reverse conveyance path by said pair of forward conveyance rotation members to said discharge path, and can touch and detach; and a control part adapted to control the touch/detach operations of said pair of forward conveyance rotation members and said pair of reverse conveyance rotation members, and to control a rotation of said pair of reverse conveyance rotation members, wherein said control part controls in such a manner that said pair of forward conveyance rotation members are set into a contact condition and said pair of reverse conveyance rotation members are set into a detachment condition until a rear edge of the sheet which has entered said reverse conveyance path and is conveyed by said pair of forward conveyance rotation members passes through an entrance of said discharge path, and in order to convey the sheet to said discharge path by said pair of reverse conveyance rotation members, said pair of forward conveyance rotation members are set into the detachment condition and said pair of reverse conveyance rotation members are set into the contact condition after the rear edge of the sheet conveyed by said pair of forward conveyance rotation members passed through the entrance of said discharge path, and said control part controls so that, after said pair of reverse conveyance rotation members grasp the sheet or at a time when said pair of reverse conveyance rotation members grasp the sheet, said pair of reverse conveyance rotation members start to rotate.