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. 17, 2013
Filed:
Jul. 02, 2012
Shintaroh Yamada, Kanagawa, JP;
Shintaroh Yamada, Kanagawa, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A sheet tray for feeding a sheet toward an image forming part of an image forming apparatus. The sheet tray is detachably attachable to the image forming apparatus in a sheet feeding direction and includes a tray portion, a detachable cover member provided apart from the tray portion with a gap interposed therebetween through which the sheet passes in an engaged state in which the tray portion and the cover member are engaged with each other, a lock assembly that engages the tray portion and the cover member with each other in the engaged state and disengages the cover member and the tray portion from each other in a disengaged state, and a switching mechanism that puts the lock assembly into the engaged state in absence of the sheet within the gap and into the disengaged state at presence of the sheet within the gap.