The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 26, 2002
Filed:
Mar. 08, 2000
Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus is capable of detecting the presence or absence of sheets before a bottom plate moves up during a so-called initial operation, such as an operation for setting a sheet loading tray in the apparatus, and preventing the bottom plate from running wildly during, for example, an upward movement thereof. The apparatus includes an image forming unit for forming an image on a sheet transferred thereto, a sheet loading tray having a bottom plate which is loaded with sheets to be transferred to the image forming unit, and which is adapted to be vertically moved, a sheet nudging member for feeding the sheets from an upper side of the sheets stacked on the bottom plate toward the image forming unit, a first sensor provided above the sheet loading tray and adapted to detect the presence or absence of the sheets, a second sensor provided on the bottom plate of the sheet loading tray and adapted to detect the presence or absence of the sheets, and a control unit for controlling the vertical movements of the bottom plate of the sheet loading tray. The control unit is adapted to prohibit an upward movement of the bottom plate when the sheets are not detected by the second sensor at the time of setting the sheet loading tray in the apparatus.