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. 03, 2009
Filed:
Mar. 16, 2006
Tadashi Kusumi, Kawasaki, JP;
Tadashi Kusumi, Kawasaki, JP;
Ricoh Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes image forming and sheet feeding mechanisms. The sheet feeding mechanism includes a bottom plate, a first roller, a separator including second and third rollers, and a sensor. The bottom plate loads sheets. The first roller feeds an uppermost sheet of the sheets loaded on the bottom plate. The separator separates the uppermost sheet from the other sheets when a plurality of sheets are fed by the first roller. The sensor is disposed between heads of the sheets loaded on the bottom plate and the separator and detects the uppermost sheet fed by the first roller. The image forming apparatus further includes a controller for driving the first roller to feed a next uppermost sheet loaded on the bottom plate when the sensor does not detect the next uppermost sheet when a tail portion of the previous sheet passes the separator.