Sheet feeding apparatus including sheet storage unit which can be pushed into or pulled out of apparatus body, and image forming apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10336563-B2
Application number	US-201815888272-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 5, 2018
Priority date	Feb 6, 2017
Publication date	Jul 2, 2019
Grant date	Jul 2, 2019

Abstract

The sheet feeding apparatus includes a first cursor. The first cursor comes in contact with a side face of a stack of sheets, and can move between a restriction position and a retracted position. The lift plate includes a fixed plate and a movable plate. The stack of sheets is movable together with the movable plate in the push-in/pull-out direction. When the sheet storage unit is pushed into the apparatus body, the first cursor moves by inertia of the stack of sheets, against an urging force of an urging member, toward the retracted position. After the sheet storage unit has reached the accommodated position, the first cursor pushes the stack of sheets by resilience of the urging member to move to the restriction position.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A sheet feeding apparatus comprising:
an apparatus body;
a sheet storage unit which is opened to an upper side and has a storage space for storing a stack of sheets, the sheet storage unit being able to be pushed into and pulled out of the apparatus body;
a lift plate which is disposed parallel to a bottom wall of the storage space and can be raised and lowered;
a lift unit which raises and lowers the lift plate;
a first cursor provided upright on the bottom wall at a back side with reference to a push-in direction in which the sheet storage unit is pushed into the apparatus body such that the first cursor extends along a sheet feeding direction, the first cursor restricting an end, in the back side, of the stack of sheets; and
an urging member disposed between rear wall and the first cursor to urge the first cursor, the rear wall defining an end in the back side of the storage space, the urging member being elastically deformable in a push-in/pull-out directions,
wherein the first cursor comes in contact with a first side face, which is a side face of the stack of sheets, and is movable between a restriction position where the first cursor restricts the stack of sheets from moving in the push-in direction and a retracted position to which the first cursor retracts in the back side from the restriction position,
the lift plate includes a fixed plate connected to the lift unit and a movable plate on which the stack of sheets is placed, the movable plate being movable on the fixed plate in the push-in/pull-out direction, and
by inertia force of the stack of sheets, which generates when the sheet storage unit is pushed into the apparatus body and stops at a predetermined position, the stack of sheets moves together with the movable plate to the back side of the storage space to push the first cursor, the first cursor moves, by the inertia against an urging force of the urging member, toward the retracted position and then moves, pushing back the stack of sheets, by resilience of the urging member to the restriction position.

2. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the fixed plate of the lift plate includes a pair of guide portions extending in the push-in/pull-out directions, and the movable plate includes a pair of guide plates provided on a bottom face thereof, each of the pair of the guide portions fitting in a corresponding one of the guide plates in a slidable manner.

3. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
at least one through hole is provided in the rear wall of the sheet storage unit,
the first cursor includes a guide plate with having a contact face that comes in contact with the first side face of the stack of sheets, and at least one guide pin provided on a rear face, which is a back side of the contact face, to protrude toward the rear wall of the sheet storage unit to pass through the through hole, and
the urging member is at least one coil spring disposed between the guide plate and the rear wall, the coil springs is inserted through the guide pin.

4. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein
the at least one through hole includes four through holes,
the at least one guide pin includes four guide pins, and
the at least one coil spring includes four coil springs.

5. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the rear wall of the sheet storage unit has a swell portion having a region which swells further in the back side, the through hole is formed on the swell portion.

6. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein
the first cursor further includes a retaining member attached to a distal portion of the guide pin passing through the through hole to prevent the guide pin from coming out of the through hole, and
the first cursor moves in a pull-out direction opposite the push-in direction by resilience of the urging member and stops at the restriction position by the retaining member coming in contact with an outer wall face of the rear wall.

7. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the lift unit includes wires connected to the fixed plate of the lift plate and suspended via pulleys, and a rotating shaft that rotates by a rotational driving force of a driving source to wind up and wind out the wire.

8. An image forming apparatus comprising:
a sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 1 ;
a sheet conveying unit that conveys a sheet fed by the sheet feeding apparatus; and
an image forming unit that forms an image on the sheet conveyed by the sheet conveying unit.

9. A sheet feeding apparatus comprising:
an apparatus body;
a sheet storage unit which is opened to an upper side and has a storage space for storing a stack of sheets, the sheet storage unit being able to be pushed into and pulled out of the apparatus body;
a lift plate which is disposed parallel to a bottom of the storage space and can be raised and lowered;
a lift unit which raises and lowers the lift plate;
a first cursor provided upright on the bottom wall at a back side with reference to a push-in direction in which the sheet storage unit is pushed into the apparatus body, the first cursor restricting an end, in the back side, of the stack of sheets; and
an urging member disposed between a rear wall and the first cursor to urge the first cursor, the rear wall defining an end in the back side of the storage space, the urging member being elastically deformable in a push-in/pull-out directions,
wherein the first cursor comes in contact with a first side face, which is a side face of the stack of sheets, and is movable between a restriction position where the first cursor restricts the stack of sheets from moving in the push-in direction and a retracted position to which the first cursor retracts in the back side from the restriction position,
the lift plate includes a fixed plate connected to the lift unit and a movable plate on which the stack of sheets is placed, the movable plate being movable on the fixed plate in the push-in/pull-out direction,
by inertia force of the stack of sheets, which generates when the sheet storage unit is pushed into the apparatus body and stops at a predetermined position, the stack of sheets moves together with the movable plate to the back side of the storage space to push the first cursor, the first cursor moves, by the inertia against an urging force of the urging member, toward the retracted position and then moves, pushing back the stack of sheets, by resilience of the urging member to the restriction position,
at least one through hole is provided in the rear wall of the sheet storage unit,
the first cursor includes a guide plate having a contact face that comes in contact with the first side face of the stack of sheets, and at least one guide pin provided on a rear face, which is a back side of the contact face, to protrude toward the rear wall of the sheet storage unit to pass through the through hole, and
the urging member is at least one coil spring disposed between the guide plate and the back side wall, the coil springs is inserted through the guide pin.

10. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein
the at least one through hole includes four through holes,
the at least one guide pin includes four guide pins, and
the at least one coil spring includes four coil springs.

11. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the rear wall of the sheet storage unit has a swell portion having a region which swells further in the back side, the through hole is formed on the swell portion.

12. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein
the first

Assignees

• Kyocera Document Solutions Inc

Inventors

• Fuchi Masami

Classifications

• B65H1/14 Primary

  comprising positively-acting mechanical devices {(B65H1/025 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• B65H2601/252

  Collapsing, e.g. of piles · CPC title

• B65H5/06

  by rollers {or balls, e.g. between rollers (transport by suction rollers B65H5/226)} · CPC title

• B65H1/12

  comprising spring {(B65H1/022 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• B65H2405/1122

  movable linearly, details therefor · CPC title