Patent ID: 8002270

Claim:
A media tray, comprising: a housing having first and second housing parts interfitted with one another and slidably movable toward and away from one another along a first direction to form respective floor portions of said housing parts into a floor of said housing adapted to support a stack of sheets of media thereon of different sheet lengths; and a media restraint assembly including a position selection mechanism for placing said respective floor portions of the housing parts in a selected one position with respect to one another of a multiplicity of closely spaced apart positions corresponding to different sheet lengths, said position selection mechanism including an actuator having opposite first and second ends and being mounted on said floor portion of said first housing part for undergoing movement relative to said floor portion of said first housing part along said first direction between extended and retracted positions, said actuator including at said second end a track defined on a bottom of said actuator such that a pair of first portions of said track diverge from one another along said first direction going away from said second housing part and merge into a second portion of said track along said first direction going toward said second housing part, and a position securement arrangement on said floor portions of said first and second housing parts for undergoing conversion along a second direction transverse to said first direction between engaged and disengaged conditions in response to movement of said actuator along said first direction between said extended and retracted positions to correspondingly select and de-select said selected one position of said floor portions and accordingly set said floor portions at and release said floor portions from said selected one position, the position securement arrangement comprising a first set of interengageable elements immovably mounted on said floor portion of said second housing part, and a second set of interengageable elements mounted on said floor portion of said first housing part for undergoing movement along said second direction between said engaged and disengaged conditions with a portion of said first set of interengageable elements in response to contact with and release by said actuator as said actuator is moved between said extended and retracted positions, said second set of interengageable elements engaging with said track so as to follow said movement along said second direction between said engaged and disengaged conditions.