Slide rail, and sheet feeder and image forming apparatus including same

A sheet feeder comprising:

• a sheet tray for containing sheets of recording media;
• and
• a slide rail to which the sheet tray is mounted slidably between a retracted position and a drawn-out position,
• the slide rail comprising:
• an outer rail including a first rail board and a pair of rims projecting from long sides of the first rail board, forming a pair of first grooves positioned on an inner side of the first rail board with opening sides of the first grooves facing each other;
• an inner rail inserted between the first grooves of the first rail board to be drawn out from the first rail board, the inner rail including:
• a second rail board shorter than the first rail board in a width direction perpendicular to the long side thereof, and
• a pair of rims projecting from long sides of the second rail board, forming a pair of second grooves positioned on an inner side of the second rail board with opening sides of the second grooves facing each other;
• a large-diameter roller held between the first grooves of the outer rail, and attached to a leading side of the second rail board in a direction in which the inner rail is inserted into the first grooves of the outer rail;
• and
• a small-diameter roller held between the second grooves of the inner rail, and attached to a leading side of the first rail board in a direction in which the inner rail is drawn out from the first grooves of the outer rail,
• wherein the first rail board includes a protruding portion extending along the long side thereof and protruding to an outer side opposite the inner side of the first rail board on which the large-diameter roller is disposed, and
• the second rail board includes a protruding portion extending along the long side thereof and protruding to an outer side opposite the inner side of the second rail board on which the small-diameter roller is disposed.

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• an image forming unit for forming images on sheets of recording media;
• and
• a sheet feeder including a sheet tray for containing sheets of recording media fed to the image forming unit and a slide rail to which the sheet tray is mounted slidably between a retracted position and a drawn-out position,
• the slide rail comprising:
• an outer rail including a first rail board and a pair of rims projecting from long sides of the first rail board, forming a pair of first grooves positioned on an inner side of the first rail board with opening sides of the first grooves facing each other;
• an inner rail inserted between the first grooves of the first rail board to be drawn out from the first rail board, the inner rail including:
• a second rail board shorter than the first rail board in a width direction perpendicular to the long side thereof, and
• a pair of rims projecting from long sides of the second rail board, forming a pair of second grooves positioned on an inner side of the second rail board with opening sides of the second grooves facing each other;
• a large-diameter roller held between the first grooves of the outer rail, and attached to a leading side of the second rail board in a direction in which the inner rail is inserted into the first grooves of the outer rail;
• and
• a small-diameter roller held between the second grooves of the inner rail, and attached to a leading side of the first rail board in a direction in which the inner rail is drawn out from the first grooves of the outer rail,
• wherein the first rail board includes a protruding portion extending along the long side thereof and protruding to an outer side opposite the inner side of the first rail board on which the large-diameter roller is disposed, and
• the second rail board includes a protruding portion extending along the long side thereof and protruding to an outer side opposite the inner side of the second rail board on which the small-diameter roller is disposed.