Printing apparatus

Abstract

A printing apparatus is provided with a storage unit that is configured by a curved carrying route including first and second arc carrying routes which are sequentially connected to a carry-out side of a main carrying path along a sheet carrying direction, and the first and second arc carrying routes are arranged on upper and lower sides of a line component extending along a sheet carrying surface in a printing device.

1 . A printing apparatus comprising:
 a carrying device that continuously carries sheets along a main carrying path;   a printing device that prints information on the sheets which are continuously carried along the main carrying path;   a storage unit that is configured by a curved carrying route including first and second arc carrying routes which are sequentially connected to a carry-out side of the main carrying path along a sheet carrying direction; and   a pair of carrying rollers that nip and carry the sheets that are introduced sequentially in the storage unit while curving the sheets along the first and second arc carrying routes so as to be stored in an overlapped state,   wherein the first and second arc carrying routes are arranged on upper and lower sides of a line component extending along a sheet carrying surface in the printing device.   
   
   
       2 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the pair of carrying rollers are provided to be placed in contact with or separated from each other so that the carrying rollers are separated from each other when a front end portion of the sheet that is carried along the first arc carrying route passes through and after the front end portion of the sheet passes, come in contact with the sheet and nip and carry the sheet. 
   
   
       3 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 ,
 wherein a continuous concave-convex portion is formed on an outer peripheral surface of an end side of one of the pair of carrying rollers along a circumferential direction thereof, and   the concave-convex portion is brought into contact with the sheet.   
   
   
       4 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising a stopper which is provided in the second arc carrying route, moves along the sheet carrying direction depending on a length of the sheet, and comes in contact with and stops the front end portion of the carried sheet. 
   
   
       5 . The apparatus according to  claim 4 ,
 wherein the stopper is provided on a rotation end portion of a stopper arm which rotates about a spindle, and   the spindle of the stopper arm is closer to the second arc carrying route than a radial center of the second arc carrying route.   
   
   
       6 . The apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the pair of carrying rollers sequentially nip and carry the sheets and after the sheets are stored in the storage unit, are rotated in a reverse direction to send out the sheets at once. 
   
   
       7 . The apparatus according to  claim 6 , further comprising a discharge unit that discharges the sheets sent out by the pair of carrying rollers at once. 
   
   
       8 . The apparatus according to  claim 7 , wherein the pair of carrying rollers are separated from each other after the sheets are sent out through the discharge unit. 
   
   
       9 . The apparatus according to  claim 8 , wherein the sheets are nipped and carried in the reverse direction by the pair of carrying rollers so as to be carried in and recovered when the sheets sent out through the discharge unit are left for a predetermined time. 
   
   
       10 . The apparatus according to  claim 9 , further comprising a recovery unit that accommodates the recovered sheets.