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US 7,451,973 B2Granted
Sheet feeding unit, sheet feeding apparatus, and image forming apparatus
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsHiroto Koga, Yusuke Imai, Hiroshi Hiura
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A feeding unit is detachably attached to a sheet cassette in which sheets are loaded. The feeding unit includes a sheet tray on which sheets are loaded, and a fan for blowing air against the side surface of a stack of sheets loaded on the sheet tray, the sheet tray and the fan being held in a case.
Claims14
A sheet feeding apparatus for feeding sheets comprising:
- a sheet cassette adapted to load sheets;
- a cassette tray attached to the sheet cassette and adapted to support the sheets;
- a sheet feeding assisting unit detachably attached to the sheet cassette and including an air blowing mechanism operable to blow air against edges of the sheets to be fed, wherein the sheet feeding assisting unit includes a sheet tray supporting the sheets to be fed and a case defining a sheet loading space where the sheet tray is disposed and an air blowing mechanism disposed in the case and blows air against the sheets supported by the sheet tray;
- and
- a lifter mechanism configured to rotate the sheet tray so as to maintain the position of the top surface of the sheets supported by the sheet tray when the sheet feeding assisting unit is attached to the sheet cassette,
- wherein the cassette tray is attached to the sheet cassette and supports the sheets when the sheet feeding assisting unit is detached from the sheet cassette, and the cassette tray is detached from the sheet cassette when the sheet feeding assisting unit is attached to the sheet cassette.
3 more elements
An image forming apparatus that forms an image on a sheet, the apparatus comprising:
- a sheet cassette adapted to load sheets;
- a cassette tray attached to the sheet cassette and adapted to support the sheets;
- a sheet feeding member configured to feed the sheets loaded in the sheet cassette;
- a sheet feeding assisting unit detachably attached to the sheet cassette, wherein the sheet feeding assisting unit includes a sheet tray supporting the sheets to be fed and a case defining a sheet loading space where the sheet tray is disposed and an air blowing mechanism disposed in the case and blows air against edges of the sheets supported by the sheet tray;
- a lifter mechanism configured to rotate the sheet tray so as to maintain the position of the top surface of the sheets supported by the sheet tray when the sheet feeding assisting unit is attached to the sheet cassette;
- and
- an image forming section configured to form an image on a sheet fed by the sheet feeding member,
- wherein the cassette tray is attached to the sheet cassette and supports the sheets when the sheet feeding assisting unit is detached from the sheet cassette, and the cassette tray is detached from the sheet cassette when the sheet feeding assisting unit is attached to the sheet cassette.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.