Paper feeding apparatus for printer

A paper feeding apparatus for a printer, comprising:

• a feed roller, said feed roller being a constituent of a paper feeding mechanism, adapted to come into abutment with the topmost paper held in a paper holding portion of a paper tray for feeding the topmost paper in said paper holding portion to a paper feeding path;
• a paper setting mechanism, said paper setting mechanism including said paper tray, said paper tray having said paper holding portion for holding plural sheets of paper, said paper setting mechanism having means for rotating said paper tray so that said paper holding portion of said paper tray is moved toward, and away from, said feed roller;
• a fulcrum for rotatively supporting said paper tray;
• a single motor rotatable both in normal and reverse directions and serving as the drive source of said paper setting mechanism and said feed roller;
• drive control means for selectively controlling said single motor to rotate either in the normal direction or in the reverse direction;
• and
• a drive gear mechanism for selectively transmitting the normal or reverse rotation of said single motor either to said paper setting mechanism or to said paper feeding mechanism,
• wherein said drive gear mechanism includes a selective engagement gear selectively engaged either with a gear portion on the side of said paper setting mechanism or with a gear portion on the side of said feed roller, a selection mechanism for selectively engaging said selective engagement gear either with said gear portion on the side of said paper setting mechanism or with said gear portion on the side of said feed roller, and a power transmission mechanism for transmitting the rotating power of said single motor to said selective engagement gear,
• wherein said power transmission mechanism includes a sun gear to which the rotating power of said single motor is transmitted, said selection mechanism includes a swing arm attached to the same shaft as that of said sun gear for swinging in accordance with the rotation of said sun gear, and said selective engagement gear includes a planet gear rotatably attached to the swinging end portion of said swing arm and normally engaged with said sun gear, and
• wherein said swing arm has bifurcated swinging end portions and to each of said swinging end portions a said planet gear is attached.

A paper feeding apparatus for a printer, comprising:

• a feed roller, said feed roller being a constituent of a paper feeding mechanism, adapted to come into abutment with the topmost paper held in a paper holding portion of a paper tray for feeding the topmost paper in said paper holding portion to a paper feeding path;
• a paper setting mechanism, said paper setting mechanism including said paper tray, said paper tray having said paper holding portion for holding plural sheets of paper, said paper setting mechanism having means for rotating said paper tray so that said paper holding portion of said paper tray is moved toward, and away from, said feed roller;
• a fulcrum for rotatively supporting said paper tray;
• a single motor rotatable both in normal and reverse directions and serving as the drive source of said paper setting mechanism and said feed roller;
• drive control means for selectively controlling said single motor to rotate either in the normal direction or in the reverse direction;
• and
• a drive gear mechanism for selectively transmitting the normal or reverse rotation of said single motor either to said paper setting mechanism or to said paper feeding mechanism,
• wherein said drive gear mechanism includes a selective engagement gear selectively engaged either with a gear portion on the side of said paper setting mechanism or with a gear portion on the side of said feed roller, a selection mechanism for selectively engaging said selective engagement gear either with said gear portion on the side of said paper setting mechanism or with said gear portion on the side of said feed roller, and a power transmission mechanism for transmitting the rotating power of said single motor to said selective engagement gear, and
• wherein said power transmission mechanism includes a sun gear to which the rotating power of said single motor is transmitted and said selection mechanism and said selective engagement gear include, on one side, a first one-way gear normally engaged with both said sun gear and said gear portion on the side of said paper setting mechanism and, on the other side, a second one-way gear of which the rotation transmitting direction is opposite to that of said first one-way gear and which is normally engaged with both said sun gear and the gear portion on the side of said feed roller.