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US 12,319,527 B2Granted
Feed mechanism, image forming apparatus, and feed tray
AssigneeBrother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsKengo Noda, Gakuro Kanazawa, Satoshi Miyase, Yuki Tsujimura
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A feed mechanism includes: a feed tray accommodating a roll body, a first sheet-shaped medium being rolled in a roll shape as the roll body, the feed tray including: a first accommodation portion accommodating the roll body; a pair of side walls respectively provided on both sides of the first accommodation portion in an axial direction of the roll body that is accommodated in the first accommodation portion; and a side guide disposed inside the pair of side walls.
Claims11
A feed tray comprising:
- a first accommodation portion configured to accommodate a roll body from which a first sheet-shaped medium is to be unrolled;
- a side guide movable in an axial direction of the roll body accommodated in the first accommodation portion;
- and
- a second accommodation portion configured to accommodate a second sheet-shaped medium in a stackable manner,
- wherein the side guide is contactable with an end of the first sheet-shaped medium unrolled from the roll body in the axial direction,
- wherein the second accommodation portion comprises a support member configured to support the second sheet-shaped medium from below,
- wherein the side guide comprises a first side guide located on one side of the support member in the axial direction and a second side guide located on another side of the support member in the axial direction, the side guide comprises:
- a first side contact surface contactable with the end of the first sheet-shaped medium unrolled from the roll body;
- a second side contact surface contactable with the end of the second sheet-shaped medium in the axial direction;
- and
- a lower contact surface that is connected to the first and second side contact surfaces and is contactable with a lower surface of the first sheet-shaped medium and a lower surface of the second sheet-shaped medium,
- wherein the first sheet-shaped medium is to be unrolled from the roll body below the support member, and
- wherein the side guide is movable from a first position to a second position, the lower contact surface not overlapping with the support member when viewed from a top in a case the side guide is located in the first position, at least a part of the lower contact surface being located below the support member in a case the side guide is located in the second position.
10 more elements
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a housing;
- and
- a feed tray insertable into and removable from the housing, the feed tray further comprising:
- a first accommodation portion configured to accommodate a roll body from which a first sheet-shaped medium is to be unrolled;
- a side guide movable in an axial direction of the roll body accommodated in the first accommodation portion;
- a second accommodation portion configured to accommodate a second sheet-shaped medium in a stackable manner and including a support member configured to support the second sheet-shaped medium from below;
- and
- a convex portion protruding upward, the convex portion being provided on a conveying surface on which the first sheet-shaped medium unrolled from the roll body is conveyed, and
- wherein the image forming apparatus further comprises:
- a feed roller configured to feed the second sheet-shaped medium by contacting the second sheet-shaped medium located at the uppermost position among a plurality of the second sheet-shaped medium on the support member in the second accommodation portion;
- and
- a separation piece located on a downstream side of the support member with respect to a conveyance direction of the second sheet-shaped medium by the feed roller, the separation piece being configured to separate the second sheet-shaped medium that contacts the feed roller from the rest of the plurality of the second sheet-shaped medium by contacting a central portion of the second sheet-shaped medium in the axial direction,
- wherein a notch is formed in a central portion in the axial direction of a first end portion of the support member, the first end portion being an end portion on the downstream side of the support member in the conveyance direction,
- wherein the convex portion is located in the notch of the support member when viewed from the top, and
- wherein a height position of an upper surface of the convex portion is higher than a height position of the upper surface of the support member and a height position of a lower contact surface of the side guide.
12 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.