Patent ID: 7665725

Claim:
A method of providing a registration surface for the leading edge of sheet stack in a sheet feeder comprising: (a) latching a gate of a receptacle in a closed position by moving a locking member with a cam during loading of a sheet stack to be fed; (b) disposing the gate for pivotal movement about an axis positioned at a right angle perpendicular to the direction of sheet feed; and (c) rotating the gate by rotating the cam, moving an adjoining cam follower, and moving the locking member by engaging a locking surface on the gate, where the gate is rotated between a closed position blocking sheet feed from the stack and serving as a registration surface for user sheet loading and an open position permitting sheet feed, wherein the rotating includes rotating the gate in one direction by rotating a cam and rotating the gate in the opposite direction with continued cam rotation in one direction; and (d) latching the cam to prevent movement during sheet feeding.