Typewriting machines – Sheet or web – For feeding sheet from stack or pack holder
Reexamination Certificate
2002-10-28
2004-08-10
Hirshfeld, Andrew H. (Department: 2854)
Typewriting machines
Sheet or web
For feeding sheet from stack or pack holder
C400S625000, C271S160000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06773182
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims the benefit of Korean Application No. 2001-70014, filed Nov. 12, 2001, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paper cassette holding printing paper and mounted in a printer body of a printer, and more particularly, to a paper cassette having a shock absorbing unit absorbing a shock generated from a supporting plate of the paper cassette which moves at a high speed or at a low speed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a printing device like a copier and a laser printer has a paper cassette holding printing paper and mounted in a body of the printing device.
FIG. 1
is a sectional view schematically showing a typical example of the paper cassette. Referring to
FIG. 1
, the paper cassette includes a cassette body
10
, a paper supporting plate
11
movably disposed within the cassette body
10
to be raised, lowered, and pivoted, a spring
12
elastically supporting the supporting plate
11
, a finger member
13
limiting a range of a rising movement of the supporting plate
11
and also separating the printing paper from a stack of the paper cassette sheet by sheet, and a locking unit
14
securing the supporting plate
11
to a bottom of the cassette body
10
.
One end of the supporting plate
11
is connected to the cassette body
10
by a hinge
15
and accordingly hinged on the hinge
15
.
In order to stack the printing paper in the cassette body
10
of the paper cassette constructed as above, a user of the printing device pushes the supporting plate
11
downward to the bottom of the cassette body
10
. Accordingly, the supporting plate
11
is pushed to be in tight contact with the bottom of the cassette body
10
and maintained in a horizontal state as indicated by two-dotted lines of
FIG. 1
by the locking unit
14
. In the horizontal state of the supporting plate
11
, the user stacks the printing paper on the supporting plate
11
and then reconnects the paper cassette to the body of the printing device by sliding the paper cassette into the body of the printing device. As the cassette body
11
is re-connected to the body of the printing device, the locking unit
14
is interfered with by inner walls of the body of the printing device to be unlocked.
Being unlocked, the supporting plate
11
springs up by elasticity (an elastic force) of the spring
12
. A speed with which the supporting plate
11
springs up is inversely-proportional to an amount of the printing paper stacked on the supporting plate
11
of the paper cassette. In other words, when there is a large amount of the printing paper stacked on the supporting plate
11
, the speed of a jumping movement of the supporting plate
11
is relatively reduced by a weight of the printing paper.
When there is a small amount of the printing paper on the supporting plate
11
, the supporting plate
11
springs up quickly and collides against the finger member
13
with an intense shock. Here, due to the intense shock, some sheets of the printing paper may be slid (released) from the finger member
13
, and sometimes there is a considerably high noise occurring from the supporting plate
11
and the finger member
13
.
In an attempt to solve the above-described problem, a suggestion has been made that the locking unit
14
should be removed from the paper cassette. In this case, the user has to stack the printing paper in a state that the supporting plate
10
is at a highest point where the supporting plate
10
has sprung up by the elasticity of the spring
12
. Otherwise, the user has to stack the printing paper with one hand while pushing down the supporting plate
10
with the other hand. This is very inconvenient for the user to stack the printing paper in the paper cassette, and this situation becomes even worse when the user has to align sides of the paper with sidewalls of the paper cassette.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made to overcome the above and other problems of the related art, and accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a paper cassette adapted for use in a printing device and having an improved structure for a user to easily stack printing paper without noise.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
The above and other objects are achieved by providing a paper cassette for use in a printing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The paper cassette includes a cassette body connected to a body of the printing device, a supporting plate having a first end pivotally disposed in the cassette body to support printing paper, a spring elastically supporting a lower side of the supporting plate relative to a bottom of the cassette body, a finger member disposed on the cassette body to limit a rising height of the supporting plate and separating the printing paper sheet by sheet, and a shock absorbing unit guiding a rising and lowering movement of the supporting plate and lessening (absorbing) a shock exerted on the finger member by reducing a rising speed of the supporting plate when the supporting plate stacked with the printing paper is raised from a lowered state by the spring.
The shock absorbing unit includes a guide pin formed on a second end of the supporting plate and a pivot member pivotally disposed on the cassette body. The pivot member includes a first guide rail that simply guides the guide pin, and a second guide rail that guides the guide pin while providing the guide pin with a frictional force so as to reduce a pivotal force of the supporting plate.
The pivot member reciprocates between a first position and a second position so that the first guide rail guides the guide pin when the pivot member is in the first position and the second guide rail guides the guide pin when the pivot member is in the second position. It is possible that the pivot member is moved to the first position when the supporting plate is at the lowered state.
During raising the supporting plate, the guide pin comes into contact with a first interference portion provided at a first entry portion of the first guide rail, and the pivot member is either maintained at the first position or forced to pivot to the second position according to the extent (an amount) of a contact force generated between the guide pin and the first interference portion.
The extent of the contact force is determined according to a rising speed of the supporting plate that is determined according to an amount of the printing paper stacked on the supporting plate. The guide pin is guided from the first entry portion of the first guide rail to a second entry portion of the second guide rail by a guide side connected between the first entry portion of the first guide rail and the second entry portion of the second guide rail.
According to an aspect of the present invention, at least a pair of elastic substances are disposed on an inner side of the second guide rail to provide the frictional force during the movement of the guide pin.
The pair of elastic substances is formed away from the second entry portion of the second guide rail by a distance corresponding to two-thirds of a length of the second guide rail.
A second interference portion protrudes from the second entry portion of the second guide rail to have a predetermined shape to interfere with the guide pin moving into and out of the second guide rail. With the supporting plate being lowered and the guide pin moving out from the second guide rail, the pivot member is forcedly pivoted from the second position to the first position by the contact force at the second interference portion.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a guide unit limits a range of pivotal movement of the pivot member and guiding the pivotal
Ghatt Dave A.
Hirshfeld Andrew H.
Samsung Electronics Co,. Ltd.
Staas & Halsey , LLP
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