Image forming apparatus and receiver tray capable of automatically accommodating receiver sheets of various sizes and method of assembling same

Abstract

Image forming apparatus and receiver tray capable of automatically accommodating receiver sheets of various sizes, and method of assembling same. The tray includes a housing having a lateral sidewall and a rear sidewall. The tray also includes a resilient first alignment member disposed adjacent the lateral sidewall of the housing for abutting a lateral marginal edge of the stack. The tray further includes a resilient second alignment member and a resilient third alignment member both adjacent the rear wall of the housing. If a sheet of a first size (e.g., “A4-sized”) is loaded onto the platen, the lateral marginal edge of the sheet will abut the first alignment member and a rearwardly-facing marginal edge of the sheet will rest atop and compress the second alignment member; however, the rearwardly-facing marginal edge of the sheet will abut the third alignment member. Similarly, if a sheet of a second size (“letter-sized”) is loaded onto the platen, the lateral marginal edge of the sheet will rest atop and compress the resilient first alignment member; however, the rearwardly-facing marginal edge of the sheet will compress the second alignment member and abut the third alignment member. For most commonly used sizes of receiver sheets, mere placement of a stack of receiver sheets onto the platen achieves automatic alignment of the stack with a picker mechanism belonging to the image forming apparatus without manual adjustment of any other component of the tray.