Patent ID: 11971677
Assignee: KYOCERA DOCUMENT SOLUTIONS INC.
Field: Handling (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC G  B | IPC B  G

Claim 0:
1. A sheet feeder comprising:
a sheet rack;
a pair of side plates movable in a widthwise direction of a sheet loaded on the sheet rack and abuttable against both widthwise ends of the sheet;
a widthwise drive device that moves the pair of side plates in the widthwise direction of the sheet;
a pair of end detecting devices provided one for each of the pair of side plates and capable of detecting both the respective ends of the sheet abutting the pair of side plates, respectively; and
a control device that includes a processor, controls the widthwise drive device through the processor executing a control program to allow the widthwise drive device to move, based on detected outputs of the pair of end detecting devices, the pair of side plates until abutment of the pair of side plates against both the ends of the sheet, acquires respective travel distances of the pair of side plates moved by the widthwise drive device, and determines a size of the sheet based on the travel distances of the pair of side plates, wherein
the sheet rack includes: a pair of cutaways formed one in each of portions of the sheet rack located under both the ends of the sheet loaded on the sheet rack; and a narrow portion defined between the pair of cutaways,
the pair of side plates are movable in the widthwise direction of the sheet within regions of the pair of cutaways,
when in absence of any sheet on the sheet rack, the control device controls the widthwise drive device to move the pair of side plates toward each other, and when the pair of side plates abut both ends of the narrow portion based on the detected outputs of the pair of end detecting devices, the control device controls the widthwise drive device to move the pair of side plates away from each other by respective predetermined distances to position the pair of side plates at respective reference positions, and
when in presence of the sheet on the sheet rack, the control device controls the widthwise drive device to move the pair of side plates toward each other, and when the pair of side plates abut both the ends of the sheet based on the detected outputs of the pair of end detecting devices, the control device determines the respective travel distances of the pair of side plates moved from the respective reference positions by the widthwise drive device, and determines the size of the sheet based on the travel distances of the pair of side plates.