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US 2008/0174065 A1Published application
Paper feeder and image forming apparatus
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorsNobuhiko Kita, Sei Onuma, Ryoh Idehara, Kazuyoshi Kondo, Yuusuke Furuichi, Genta Hagiwara, Kaoru Tada
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In a paper feeder, a signal switching unit switches a paper present signal output from a paper detector to a paper absent signal indicative of absence of a paper in the second paper cassette if a first paper cassette is pulled out from a specific position.
Claims10
A paper feeder comprising:
- a first paper cassette where paper can be stacked, the first paper cassette configured to be set at a specific position;
- a second paper cassette located upstream of the first paper cassette in a paper feed path and where paper can be stacked;
- a paper detector that detects whether paper is present in the second paper cassette and outputs a paper present signal upon detecting presence of a paper in the second paper cassette;
- and
- a signal switching unit configured to switch a paper present signal output from the paper detector to a paper absent signal indicative of absence of a paper in the second paper cassette, wherein, if the first paper cassette is pulled out from the specific position, the signal switching unit switches a paper present signal to a paper absent signal irrespective of presence or absence of paper in the second paper cassette.
2 more elements
A paper feeder comprising:
- a first paper cassette where paper can be stacked, the first paper cassette configured to be set at a specific position;
- a cassette detecting member configured to be displaced depending on whether the first paper cassette is in the specific position;
- a second paper cassette located upstream of the first paper cassette in a paper feed path and where paper can be stacked;
- a paper detecting member configured to be displaced in accordance with number of papers stacked in the second paper cassette;
- and
- a displacement detecting sensor configured to detect amounts of displacement of the cassette detecting member and the paper detecting lever.
3 more elements
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a first paper cassette supported on an image-forming-apparatus main body in a manner that allows the first paper cassette to be pulled out from a specific position;
- and
- an additional paper-feed unit that can be connected to a lower portion of the image-forming-apparatus main body, wherein
- a cassette detector provided on the additional paper-feed unit detects whether the first paper cassette is in the specific position when the additional paper-feed unit is connected to the image-forming-apparatus main body.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.