JPH0635262A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance productivity of an image by switching to a mode in which it is allowed to place a recording material on a joint part of an endless recording material carrying means or to a mode in which it is not placed, in accordance with an image to be formed. CONSTITUTION:In an operating part of a device main body, a mode changeover switch for switching an image forming operation to a high speed mode and a usual mode is provided. When an image to be formed is an image for which it is not allowed that a recording material is placed on a joint part of a recording material carrying belt, a device user selects the usual mode. (S1) As a result, a joint detecting means detects joint part, (S2) and from the whole peripheral length L of the belt and length (l) in the advance direction of the recording material, a distance (a) between the recording materials is calculated, (S3, S4) a first recording material is placed roughly immediately behind the joint part, and an image forming operation is started. (S5) The succeeding recording material is placed successively on the belt at an interval by a calculated distance (a). On the other hand, at the time of an image for which it is allowed that the recording material is placed on the joint part, a high speed mode is selected, the distance (a) between the recording materials is set to the minimum value aMIN which can be set and immediately the image forming operation is started.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic device for transferring a visible image formed on an image bearing member such as a photoconductor, an insulator or a magnetic substance to a recording material carried by a recording material carrying means. The image forming apparatus such as a photographic method and an electrostatic recording method is not limited, but has, for example, a plurality of image forming units.
A plurality of visible images of different colors are formed on each image carrier by these image forming means, and these visible images are
The present invention is suitable for a color image forming apparatus such as a color copying machine or a color printer in which the recording material carrying means carries and sequentially transfers the same onto the same recording material carried and conveyed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a plurality of image forming units are provided, and each image forming unit has a visible image (toner image) of a different color.
Various image forming apparatuses that form a toner image and sequentially transfer these toner images onto the same recording material, so-called color image forming apparatuses, have been proposed. Among them, electrophotographic color images are often used. It is a forming device. Such an electrophotographic color image forming apparatus includes a plurality of image forming units,
Generally, four image forming units are arranged side by side, and dedicated photoconductor drums are used as image bearing members of these image forming units.
A visible image of black, yellow, magenta, and cyan, that is, a toner image is separately formed on each photoconductor drum, and is sequentially formed on a recording material that is carried and conveyed by a recording material carrying means such as a dielectric belt. The toner images of the respective colors are superposed on each other, and the multiple toner images on the recording material are collectively heat-fixed by a fixing device to obtain a desired full-color image or multi-color image.

An example of such an electrophotographic color image forming apparatus, a color copying machine in this example, will be briefly described with reference to FIG. This color copying machine is capable of forming, for example, visible images (toner images) of black, yellow, magenta, and cyan in the main body of the apparatus.
-The fourth four image forming portions Pa, Pb, Pc and Pd are arranged linearly and each image forming portion Pa-P is arranged.
d is a dedicated photosensitive drum 1a, 1b as an image carrier,
1c and 1d, respectively, and each photosensitive drum 1a-1
Around the d, there are dedicated image forming process means, for example, latent image forming sections 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d, developing sections 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, and cleaning sections 5a, 5a.
b, 5c, 5d, etc. are provided.

On the other hand, under the photosensitive drums 1a to 1d of the image forming sections Pa to Pd, an endlessly moving recording material carrying belt 8 is arranged in a stretched state between a pair of rollers 10 and 11. Inside the transfer parts 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d
Further, a sheet feeding device including a recording material cassette 60 for storing the recording material 6 is arranged on the right side of the recording material carrying belt 8 in the drawing. Further, a registration roller pair 13 for feeding the recording material 6 at a timing is arranged between the paper feeding device and the recording material carrying belt 8,
The recording material 6 is held on a recording material carrying belt 8 from a paper feeding device via a pair of registration rollers 13 and is sequentially conveyed to the image forming portions Pa to Pd as the belt 8 moves.

In the above structure, first, the recording material 6 delivered from the recording material cassette 60 is temporarily stopped when its front end is slightly sandwiched by the pair of registration rollers 13, and the recording material 6 of the first image forming portion Pa is stopped. It is sent out at the same timing as the image forming process, and is fed onto the recording material carrying belt 8. In the first image forming portion Pa, the photosensitive drum 1 uniformly charged by the latent image forming portion 2a.
Image information of the black component color in the original image is scanned with respect to a by a laser beam or the like to form an electrostatic latent image of the black component color. Black toner is attached to the electrostatic latent image at the developing unit 3a to form a black visible image.

On the other hand, the recording material 6 is carried on the recording material carrying belt 8 and conveyed, and in the transfer area below the photosensitive drum 1a of the first image forming portion Pa, the operation of the transfer charging means of the transfer portion 4a is performed. As a result, the black visible image formed on the photosensitive drum 1a, that is, the toner image is transferred onto the recording material 6. While the black toner image is transferred onto the recording material 6 in this way, an electrostatic latent image of a yellow component color is formed in the second image forming portion Pb, and this electrostatic latent image is developed.
To form a yellow toner image, and when the recording material 6 is conveyed to the transfer area below the photosensitive drum 1b of the second image forming portion Pb, the yellow toner image moves to the transfer area,
By the action of the transfer charging means of the transfer portion 4b, the black toner image on the recording material 6 is transferred in an overlapping state.

Hereinafter, the third and fourth image forming portions Pc and Pd will be described.
In the same manner as in the first and second image forming portions Pa and Pb, toner images of magenta color and cyan color are sequentially formed, and these are sequentially formed on the recording material 6 conveyed by the recording material carrying belt 8. Toner images are multi-transferred.

When the image forming process is completed, the recording material 6 is separated from the recording material carrying belt 8 and fixed to the fixing device 7.
Then, the desired full-color image is obtained by batch fixing. Further, the residual toner is removed from the photosensitive drums 1a to 1d of the image forming portions Pa to Pd after the transfer is completed by the cleaning portions 5a to 5d to prepare for the subsequent latent image formation.

The recording material carrying belt 8 is made of polyethylene terephthalate resin, polycarbonate resin,
A film sheet made of a dielectric resin such as polyurethane resin or polyvinylidene fluoride resin. Both ends of the film sheet are overlapped and joined to each other to form an endless shape (seam) belt. Has become. This is because it is difficult to manufacture a so-called seamless type belt having no seam, and it becomes very expensive, which is very disadvantageous in terms of cost.

When a recording material carrying belt having such a seam is used, when the transfer is performed on the recording material at a position corresponding to the seam, so-called line drawing parts such as characters are not so noticeable, but solid parts, especially multicolored parts are formed. In many cases, transfer defects occur at the overlapping portion, resulting in defective images.

Therefore, a method has conventionally been adopted in which a mechanism for detecting the joint portion is provided in advance, the joint portion is detected so that the recording material does not rest on the joint portion, and the above problem is avoided.

[0012]

However, in the conventional image forming apparatus having the above-mentioned structure, the image forming operation is carried out so that the recording material is not always placed on the joint portion on the recording material carrying belt regardless of the image to be formed. Since it is performed, the image productivity, that is, the number of images formed per unit time, is greatly reduced even for images such as line images and monochromatic images in which image defects hardly occur. Was occurring.

Further, a recording material carrying belt, a device, a part, a member, etc. which operate at the same time as the recording material carrying belt operates,
For example, since the photosensitive drum, the cleaning blade, the fixing device and the like are additionally operated, there is also a drawback that the life of these devices and parts is shortened.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide at least two modes in which the recording material is placed on the joint portion of the endless recording material carrying means depending on the image to be formed, and at least two modes are provided to form the recording material. To provide an image forming apparatus capable of increasing the productivity of an image by switching the mode depending on the image and extending the life of an apparatus, a part, a member or the like which is forcibly operated in association with the image forming operation. Is.

[0015]

The above object is achieved by the image forming apparatus according to the present invention. In summary, the present invention is a recording in which a plurality of image carriers on which a visible image is formed and an endless shape having a joint portion are formed, and the visible images respectively formed on the plurality of image carriers are transferred. The recording medium carrying means carries the material and conveys it to each transfer position, and the transfer means for transferring the visible image on each image carrier to the recording material at each transfer position. In an image forming apparatus capable of mounting a plurality of recording materials on the recording material supporting means having a predetermined interval, the recording material may not be mounted in a mode in which the recording material may be mounted on the joint portion of the recording material supporting means. The image forming apparatus is characterized in that at least two modes of modes are provided and the modes are switched according to an image to be formed.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the modes are a high speed mode in which the recording material may be placed on the joint of the recording material carrying means and a normal mode in which the recording material should not be placed, depending on an image to be formed. Selected by the device user.

In another embodiment of the present invention, there are a high speed mode in which the recording material may be placed on the joint portion of the recording material holding means and a normal mode in which the recording material should not be placed. It is automatically selected depending on whether it needs to be formed.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention,
There are a high speed mode in which the recording material may be placed on the joint portion of the recording material carrying means and a normal mode in which the recording material should not be placed, and it is automatically determined according to whether the image to be formed is a character or a line image. To be selected.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following examples, the case where the present invention is applied to a color image forming apparatus of an electrophotographic system will be described. However, the present invention is an image of various configurations such as an electrophotographic system and an electrostatic recording system other than the examples. It is equally applicable to forming devices.

First, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
2 and FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 shows the overall construction of an electrophotographic color image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied. The color image forming apparatus is provided with a first, a second, a third and a fourth in a main body of the apparatus.
Four image forming sections Pa, Pb, Pc and Pd
Further, a paper feeding unit is provided on one side, that is, the right side of FIG. 2, and a fixing device 30 is provided on the other side, that is, the left side of FIG. Further, below the path from the paper feeding section to the fixing device 30 in the apparatus main body, an endless recording material carrying means for carrying and carrying a recording material, for example, a recording material carrying belt 31.
Are stretched between a plurality of rollers in a known manner. The recording material carrying belt 31 is driven in the direction shown by the arrow in FIG. 2 to electrostatically adsorb and hold the recording material P fed through the paper feeding portion, and at the same time, the image forming portions Pa, Pb, and P
It is sequentially conveyed to c and Pd.

The image forming sections Pa, Pb, Pc, and Pd have substantially the same structure, and the photoconductor drum 21a, which is an image carrier, which is normally driven to rotate in the direction of the arrow in the drawing,
Image forming means are provided around the respective photosensitive drums including 21b, 21c and 21d. These image forming means may be arbitrary means, but in this example, the primary chargers 22a, 22b, 2 for uniformly charging the photosensitive drums are used.
2c and 22d, developing devices 24a, 24b, 24c and 24d for developing the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum,
Transfer chargers 27a, 27b, 27c and 27d for transferring the developed visible image (toner image) to the recording material P, a cleaner 28a for removing the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum,
28b, 28c and 28d are sequentially arranged in the drum rotation direction. In addition, the photosensitive drums 21a, 21b, 2
Image exposure devices 23a and 23b are provided above 1c and 21d.
23c and 23d are provided.

The developing device 24a contains black toner, and the developing device 24b contains yellow toner.
4c contains magenta toner, and the developing device 24d contains cyan toner. The image exposure devices 23a, 23b, 23c and 23d are, in this example, a semiconductor laser, a polygon mirror, an fθ lens, etc.
The primary charger 22 receives the laser beam L modulated by the input of the electric digital pixel signal in response to this signal.
a, 22b, 22c and 22d and developing devices 24a and 24
b, 24c and 24d are scanned in the photoconductor drum generatrix direction to expose the drum surface, and the photoconductor drums 21a to 21c are exposed.
An electrostatic latent image is formed on d. The image exposure device 23a receives a pixel signal corresponding to a black component image of a color image, the image exposure device 23b receives a pixel signal of a yellow component image, and the image exposure device 23c receives a pixel signal of a magenta component image. Then, the pixel signals corresponding to the cyan component image are input to the image exposure device 23d.
Further, an appropriate recording material suction means (not shown) is installed between the first image forming portion Pa and the paper feeding portion, and the recording material P supplied from the paper feeding portion is transferred to the recording material carrying belt 31. Securely attract electrostatically. On the other hand, the fourth image forming unit Pd
A charge removing charger 29 is provided between the fixing device 30 and the fixing device 30, and the charge removing charger 29 has a recording material carrying belt 31.
An AC voltage is applied to separate the recording material P adsorbed on the recording medium.

The recording material carrying belt 31 is made of polyurethane resin, PVdF (polyvinylidene fluoride) resin, PET.
Since both ends of a film sheet made of a dielectric resin such as (polyethylene terephthalate) resin, polycarbonate resin, or polyethersulfone resin are endlessly joined by means of ultrasonic wave, heat, impulse fusion, etc. 31a. This recording material carrying belt 31
2 by a driving roller 32a and a driven roller 32b.
Constant speed in the direction of arrow (100 mm / sec, for example)
It is driven endlessly. The intermediate roller 33 is the belt 3
1 is a tension roller for adjusting the tension.

The recording material carrying belt 31 electrostatically attracts and holds the recording material P, and at the same time, each of the image forming portions Pa and P described above.
b, Pc, and Pd are sequentially conveyed, and toner images of respective colors of respective image forming portions formed with timing are sequentially superimposed and transferred onto the recording material P to obtain a multiple composite color image. is there.

Further, the paper feeding section has two paper feeding cassettes 34, 35 for accommodating recording materials P of different sizes, a paper feeding roller 36 for feeding the recording materials P one by one from these paper feeding cassettes, And a registration roller 37 for feeding the recording material P onto the recording material carrying belt 31 at a predetermined timing.
It consists of and.

In the color image forming apparatus having the above structure,
When the recording material P is guided by the paper feed guide and is fed onto the recording material carrying belt 31, the recording material P is electrostatically and reliably attracted onto the recording material carrying belt 31 by the action of the recording material attracting means. It Along with the movement of the recording material carrying belt 31 in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 3, a black visible image is displayed on the photoconductor drum 21a of the first image forming portion Pa and a photoconductor drum of the second image forming portion Pb. 21b shows a yellow visible image, the photosensitive drum 21c of the third image forming portion Pc has a magenta visible image, and the photosensitive drum 21d of the fourth image forming portion Pd has a cyan visible image. The images are formed separately. In the visible images, the recording material P sequentially passes under the photoconductor drums 21a to 21d of the first to fourth image forming portions Pa to Pd by the movement of the recording material supporting belt 31 toward the fixing device 30. Transfer charger 27a, 27b, 27c of each image forming unit
And 27d, the color images are composited by being sequentially transferred and superposed on the recording material P. After passing through the fourth image forming portion Pd, the recording material P is de-charged by the decharging charger 29 to which an AC voltage is applied and separated from the recording material carrying belt 31. The recording material P separated from the recording material carrying belt 31 is sent to the fixing device 30, and the multiple composite images transferred in the fixing device 30 are collectively fixed, and then the recording material is discharged from the recording material discharge port onto the discharge tray 38. Ejected, thus ending one copy cycle.

In this embodiment, the operation section of the main body of the image forming apparatus is provided with a mode changeover switch for changing over the image forming operation between the high speed mode and the normal mode, and the mode changeover switch is changed over according to the image to be formed and adapted. The mode is selected and an image is formed.

Next, in each mode, the recording material P is continuously supplied to the recording material carrying belt 31 to form an image (hereinafter, referred to as continuous mode) of the image forming apparatus of this embodiment. The operation mode will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, in step S1, it is determined whether or not the image to be formed is an image that can be sufficiently transferred even if the recording material P is placed on the joint portion 31a of the recording material carrying belt 31. If the image is judged by a person who cannot perform sufficient transfer when the recording material P is placed on the joint portion 31a (an image requiring high image quality), the normal mode is selected by the mode changeover switch. When the normal mode is selected, in step S2, for example, the LED
The seam detection means 40 including a combination of a (light emitting diode) and a phototransistor is activated to detect the seam portion 31a of the recording material carrying belt 31. At the same time, in step S3, the length l of the recording material P in the traveling direction is determined by a method such as determining the selected paper feed cassette. Next, in step S4, from the total circumferential length L of the recording material carrying belt 31 and the length 1 of the recording material P in the traveling direction,
The distance a (the distance between the previous recording material and the next recording material) a is calculated. In this case, as the distance a between recording materials,
A value is calculated so that the recording material P does not always rest on the joint portion 31a of the belt 31. However, the distance a between recording materials should be at least about 50 mm so that jamming or the like does not occur. Then, in step S5, the movement of the recording material P is controlled so that the first recording material P is placed almost immediately after the joint portion 31a of the recording material carrying belt 31, and the image forming operation is started. Subsequent recording materials are sequentially placed on the recording material carrying belt 31 at intervals of the calculated inter-recording material distance a.

On the other hand, in step S1, when it is judged that the image can be sufficiently transferred even if the recording material P is placed on the joint portion 31a, the high speed mode is selected by the mode changeover switch. When the high speed mode is selected, in step S6, the inter-recording material distance a is set to the minimum value a _MIN that can be set, for example, the above-mentioned approximately 50 mm which is the minimum interval at which jamming or the like does not occur.
Then, in step S7, the image forming operation is immediately started.

Now, in such an apparatus configuration, let us consider a case where the total circumferential length L of the recording material carrying belt 31 is L = 800 mm and an image is formed on an A3 size recording material. At this time, if the length of the A3 size recording material in the moving direction is l = 420 mm, the inter-recording material distance a must be a = (800-420 × 1) / 1 = 380 (mm) in the normal mode. . Therefore, the recording material carrying belt 31
Is 100 mm / sec, the time T ₁ required for image formation per A3 size recording material in the continuous mode is the sum of the length of the A3 size recording material in the traveling direction and the distance between the recording materials. It is divided by the moving speed of the recording material carrying belt 31. That is, T ₁ = (420 + 380) / 100 = 8 (sec). This indicates that it is possible to form an image on approximately 7.5 A3 size recording materials per minute.

On the other hand, in the high speed mode, the distance a between the recording materials may be a _MIN = 50 mm, so the time T ₂ required for image formation per A3 size recording material in the continuous mode is T ₂ = (420 + 50) /100=4.7 (sec). This indicates that it is possible to form an image on approximately 13.0 A3 size recording materials per minute.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the image to be formed is a line drawing or a single color image and a copy speed higher than the high image quality is required, the apparatus user selects the high speed mode. As a result, in continuous mode image formation of A3 size recording material, it is approximately 73.3% compared to the normal mode.
It is possible to improve the productivity of [(13.0 / 7.5-1) × 100≈73.3%]. Further, in the high speed mode, unlike the normal mode, the seam portion 3 of the belt 31 is placed before the recording material is placed on the recording material carrying belt 31.
Since it is not necessary to detect 1a, there is also an advantage that the time from the input of the image formation start signal to the discharge of the first recording material, that is, the so-called first copy time can be shortened.

Further, in the high speed mode, the time required to form the same number of images can be considerably shortened, so that the lifespan of devices, parts, members, etc., which are forced to operate during the image forming operation, can be shortened. There is also an advantage that can be lengthened.

Next, the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
Will be described with reference to.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the operation mode of the image forming apparatus of this embodiment. In this embodiment, first, in the image signal processing unit in the image forming apparatus, there are a plurality of images to be formed. It is determined whether the image forming unit is used, that is, whether the image is formed using only one of black, yellow, magenta, and cyan (single color image formation). S11).
Then, when it is determined that the image is formed by only one of the black color, the yellow color, the magenta color and the cyan color (YES in step S11), the high speed mode described in the first embodiment is used. Image forming operation,
When it is determined that the image formation of only one of black color, yellow color, magenta color, and cyan color is not performed (NO), the image forming operation is performed in the normal mode described in the first embodiment. It is the one.

With this arrangement, the high-speed mode is automatically set for a single-color image in which there is practically no problem even if the recording material is transferred onto the recording material placed on the joint portion 31a of the recording material carrying belt 31. Since the selection is made, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained more easily.

In this embodiment, the high speed mode and the normal mode are automatically switched.
A more preferable result can be obtained by combining the structure of this embodiment with the structure of switching the mode changeover switch according to the judgment of the user of the device shown in the first embodiment.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
Will be described with reference to.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the operation mode of the image forming apparatus of this embodiment. In this embodiment, first, in the image signal processing unit in the image forming apparatus, the image to be formed is a character. It is determined whether it is an image or a line image (step S21). When it is determined that the image formation is a character image or line image (YES in step S21), the image forming operation is performed in the high speed mode described in the first embodiment, and the character image or line image is formed. When it is determined that the image is not formed (NO), the image forming operation is performed in the normal mode described in the first embodiment.

With this arrangement, a character image or a line image, which has practically no problem even if the recording material placed on the joint portion 31a of the recording material carrying belt 31 is practically transferred, is automatically generated. Since the high speed mode is selected, the same effect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained more easily.

In this embodiment, the high speed mode and the normal mode are automatically switched.
The configuration of this embodiment, the configuration in which the mode changeover switch is switched according to the judgment of the user of the apparatus shown in the first embodiment, and whether the plurality of image forming units shown in the second embodiment are used or not is used. Needless to say, a more preferable result can be obtained by automatically switching the mode depending on the judgment or by combining both the structures shown in the first and second embodiments.

Although the present invention has been described in the above embodiment as being applied to an electrophotographic color copying machine having a plurality of image forming portions, the present invention is not limited to this and various other embodiments are possible. It is needless to say that the present invention is equally applicable to an electrophotographic color or monochrome (black and white) image forming apparatus having the above-mentioned configuration, and an electrostatic recording type image forming apparatus.

[0045]

As described above, according to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, depending on the image to be formed, the mode in which the recording material may be placed on the joint portion of the endless recording material carrying means and the loading mode are set. Since at least two modes which should not be set are provided and the mode is switched depending on the image to be formed, the productivity of the image, that is, the number of images formed per unit time can be significantly increased. There is an effect that the time required to form an image can be shortened. Further, since the image forming time can be shortened, there is also an effect that the life of the devices, parts, members and the like that can be forcibly operated along with the image forming operation can be extended.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flow chart for explaining an operation mode of a first embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the overall configuration of an electrophotographic color image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining an operation mode of the second embodiment of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart for explaining an operation mode of a third embodiment of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view showing an example of a conventional electrophotographic color image forming apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Pa to Pd Image forming part 21a to 21d Photoreceptor drum 22a to 22d Primary charging device 23a to 23d Image exposure device 24a to 24d Developing device 27a to 27d Transfer charging device 28a to 28d Cleaner 30 Fixing device 31 Recording material carrying belt 31a Seam part 40 Seam detection means P Recording material

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of image carriers on which a visible image is formed, and a recording material which is formed in an endless shape having a joint portion and onto which a visible image formed on each of the plurality of image carriers is transferred. A recording material holding means for transferring the visible image on each image carrier to the recording material at each transfer position, and a recording material having the seam portion. In an image forming apparatus capable of mounting a plurality of recording materials on the material supporting means at a predetermined interval, at least a mode in which the recording material may be mounted on a joint portion of the recording material supporting means and a mode in which the recording material may not be mounted Two
An image forming apparatus, characterized in that three modes are provided and the modes are switched according to an image to be formed. 2. The mode is a high speed mode in which a recording material may be placed on a joint portion of the recording material carrying means and a normal mode in which the recording material should not be placed, and depending on an image to be formed,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is selected by an apparatus user. 3. The mode is a high speed mode in which a recording material may be placed on a joint portion of the recording material holding means and a normal mode in which the recording material should not be placed, and it is necessary to form a visible image on a plurality of image carriers. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is automatically selected according to whether or not it is. 4. The mode is a high speed mode in which a recording material may be placed on a joint portion of the recording material holding means and a normal mode in which the recording material should not be placed, and whether the image to be formed is a character or a line image. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is automatically selected according to whether or not the image forming apparatus is selected. 5. When the high speed mode is selected,
3. The recording material is continuously supplied to the recording material holding means at a minimum inter-recording material interval so that jamming or the like does not occur immediately with the start of the image forming operation.
The image forming apparatus according to any one of 4 above.