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:
Dec. 10, 2002
Filed:
May. 31, 2001
Kazuo Otsuka, Nagano, JP;
Masafumi Furuyama, Nagano, JP;
Seiko Epson Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A paper feeding roller is provided in the vicinity of a first widthwise end of a transporting path extending to a recording apparatus. A hopper, for stacking a plurality of sheets of paper, includes an aligning face, on which leading ends of the stacked sheets are abutted to be aligned with each other. The aligning face is narrowed from a first side end thereof to a second side end thereof. Here, the first side end is in the vicinity of the first widthwise end of the transporting path, and the second side end is in the vicinity of a second widthwise end of the transporting path. The hopper includes a guide face provided on the first side end of the aligning face so as to extend parallel with the transporting path. The hopper includes a hopper member pivotably supported on the second side end of the aligning face in a cantilevered manner, so as to move on the aligning face such that distance change in accordance with the number of sheets stacked thereon in the first widthwise end side of the transporting path with respect to the paper feeding roller becomes larger than that in the second widthwise end side of the transporting path. A paper retainer is provided on a paper returner which is placed in the vicinity of an end portion of the hopper which faces the paper feeding roller. The paper retainer has a higher friction coefficient than the paper returner.