Patent ID: 7182330

Claim:
A sheet feeder for a printer comprising: a feeder tray for holding a plurality of sheets, the feeder tray having first end located near the printer and a second end located distant from the printer, the feeder tray being configured to pivot at a pivot point toward the second end of the tray, the feeder tray being biased upwardly toward the first end of the tray, the first end of the tray when upwardly biased being disposed in a plane above a parallel plane passing through the pivot point; and a gate defined by a gap, the gap being adjustably configurable to permit a single sheet to pass through the gap, wherein the feeder inserts one sheet aat a time from the tray through the gap into an infeeder of the printer without communicating with the printer, and wherein the gate comprises a gating bar situated above a gate post, the gating bar and the gate post spaced apart from one another forming the gap and the gate post is vertically adjustable to define a width of the gap.