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US 6,612,763 B1Granted
Image forming apparatus
AssigneeBrother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorHideo Yoshihara
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A laser beam printer includes a front face. The front face defines an opening for allowing attaching/detaching a paper feed cassette, an opening for allowing attaching/detaching a process unit, and an opening allowing manual paper feed. Accordingly, the laser beam printer has excellent operability since it allows the user to perform any operation from its front side. At the same time, valuable space at the lateral and upper sides of the laser beam printer is available for effective use.
Claims35
An image forming apparatus, comprising:
- a housing having a front face at a front side of the image forming apparatus;
- a feed cassette that accommodates a recording medium;
- a process unit that forms an image on the recording medium supplied from the feed cassette;
- a transport unit that transports the recording medium from the feed cassette to the process unit;
- a front cover movable between a first position and second position, the front cover pivotally provided at the front face of the housing;
- and
- a slit being formed integrally at the front cover,
- wherein the housing is configured to receive the feed cassette and the process unit, the front face defining a first opening that enables attachment and detachment of the feed cassette and a second opening that enables attachment and detachment of the process unit so that both the feed cassette and the process unit are attachable and detachable through the front face, the first position of the front cover reveals the second opening to an exterior of the image forming apparatus and the second position of the front cover conceal the second opening, and manually fed recording medium is transported from the slit to the processing unit when the front cover is at the second position.
5 more elements
An image forming apparatus, comprising:
- a housing having a front face;
- a feed cassette that accommodates a recording medium;
- a process unit that forms an image on the recording medium supplied from the feed cassette;
- a transport unit that transports the recording medium from the feed cassette to the process unit;
- and
- a front cover movable between a first position and a second position, the front cover pivotally provided at the front face of the housing, a slit being formed integrally with the front cover;
- wherein the housing is configured to receive the feed cassette and the process unit, the front face defining a first opening that enables attachment and detachment of the feed cassette and a second opening that enables attachment and detachment of the process unit so that both the feed cassette and the process unit are attachable and detachable through the front face and the first position of the front cover reveals the second opening to an exterior of the image forming apparatus and the second position of the front cover conceal the second opening, and manually fed recording medium is transported from the slit to the processing unit when the front cover is at the second position.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.