Sheet feeding apparatus
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsAtsushi Ikeda, Yasuhito Tsubakimoto, Masaaki Ishihara
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A sheet feeding apparatus includes a detection unit provided to be movable with respect to a sheet stacking portion and configured to detect a sheet by causing a contact portion to come into contact with an uppermost sheet stacked on a stacking surface. A bottom portion of the sheet stacking portion forms a part of a bottom portion of the sheet feeding apparatus, the sheet stacking portion is provided with a through-hole configured to be exposed in the case where no sheet is stacked on the stacking surface, the through-hole penetrates the stacking surface to a bottom surface of the sheet stacking portion, and the contact portion is positioned inside the through-hole in the case where no sheet is stacked on the stacking surface.
Claims13
A sheet feeding apparatus comprising:
- a housing having a first bottom surface of the sheet feeding apparatus;
- a sheet stacking portion, fastened to the housing, having a stacking surface on which one or more sheets are stacked and a second bottom surface of the sheet feeding apparatus and provided with a through-hole penetrating the stacking surface to the second bottom surface of the sheet feeding apparatus, the first and second bottom surfaces both being disposed on an exterior of the sheet feeding apparatus;
- a feeding unit configured to come into contact with an uppermost sheet of the one or more sheets placed in the sheet stacking portion and to feed the uppermost sheet to a conveyance path;
- a detection unit including a sensor and a lever which rotates about a rotation shaft provided in the housing and configured to detect the one or more sheets by causing a contact portion of the lever to come into contact with the uppermost sheet stacked on the stacking surface, the lever interacting with the sensor to detect presence and absence of the uppermost sheet;
- and
- a stop provided in the housing and configured to regulate a movement of the contact portion such that the contact portion does not move below a predetermined position disposed between the stacking surface and an installation surface for the sheet feeding apparatus due to a part of the lever coming into contact with the stop in a case in which no sheets are stacked on the stacking surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.