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:
Apr. 23, 2002
Filed:
Apr. 03, 2000
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A sheet feed roller is urged into contact with the upper surface of a sheet at the top of a stack of sheets supported on a sheet support and an inclined separation plane separates a sheet, fed forward by the sheet feed roller, from the other sheets of the stack of the sheets. A rotatable separation roller is disposed between the inclined separation plane and the sheet feed roller such that the separation roller is urged into contact with the upper surface of the sheet fed forward by the sheet feeding roller. The separation roller is movable depending on the rigidity of the sheet so that when the sheet being fed forward has low rigidity, the sheet is bent starting from a line where the sheet is in contact with the separation roller, but when the sheet being fed forward has high rigidity, the separation roller is moved upward thereby allowing the sheet is bent starting from a line where the sheet is in contact with the sheet feed roller.