Patent ID: 6902161

Claim:
An imaging device comprising a sheet feed for feeding sheets to be imaged; an entrance slot in a non-horizontal side of said imaging device for receiving a sheet to be imaged from outside of said imaging device, said entrance slot having a width dimension and a height dimension, said width dimension being somewhat greater than a width of said sheet, said height dimension being much greater than a thickness of said sheet; an entrance guide in a said non-horizontal side of said imaging device for moving a sheet to be imaged from outside of said imaging device into said sheet feed, wherein said entrance guide comprises a pair of curved guide structures positioned on opposite sides of said entrance slot, and positioned such that the pair of curved guide structures are spaced-apart from one another, so as to allow said sheet to pass therebetween; said entrance guide being configured to permit said sheet to move to said sheet feed only when said sheet is bowed as viewed along the sheet's direction of travel, wherein said pair of curved guide structures each have an upper protruding member that curves toward a middle portion of said entrance slot, so as to contact a top surface of said sheet, thus forcing said sheet to bow downward in a direction toward a middle portion of said sheet, and thereby impart the bowed shape in said sheet.