Sheet stacking tray with stacking guides system for a wide range of sheet sizes

Abstract

A sheet stacking tray system for stacking different sizes of copy sheets on a stack supporting tray to be fed upstream to a reproduction apparatus for printing, on which tray the stack is registered against a side registration edge. An upstanding stack rear edge guide is track mounted for movement at an angle to that side registration edge to provide a large repositioning movement in the upstream direction together with automatic lateral movement toward or away from that side registration edge, so as to engage the rear edge of a stack of larger sheets further from the registration edge, more centrally of the downstream edge of those sheets, and to engage smaller sheets closer to the registration edge and thus more towards their centers. Two independent upstanding stack side edge guides may be repositionable towards the registration edge independently of, and not overlapping, any position of the angulary moving rear edge guide. The rear edge guide may be linearly track mounted at approximately 18 degrees to the registration edge. All three stack edge guides may extend through and move along separate elongated apertures in the tray. The downstream edge guide may be repositionable substantially closer to the registration edge than the upstream side edge guide due to the angular track of the rear side guide.