PAPER FEEDING CASSETTE

A paper feeding cassette includes a cassette body detachably mounted to an image forming apparatus, and an alignment unit disposed on an inner surface of the cassette body to pressurize a plurality of stacked sheets of recording medium from one side thereof when the cassette body is mounted in the image forming apparatus. Accordingly, the sheets of recording medium can be more accurately picked up and a stable image quality can be obtained.

Skip to: Description  ·  Claims  · Patent History  ·  Patent History
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119 (a) of Korean Patent Application No. 2005-113568 filed on Nov. 25, 2005, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present general inventive concept relates to a paper feeding device to feed a printing medium into an image forming apparatus. More particularly, the present general inventive concept relates to a paper feeding cassette of a paper feeding device.

2. Description of the Related Art

An image forming apparatus, such as a copier, a printer and a facsimile, for forming a certain image on a printing medium may typically be classified as an electrophotographic type that uses a photosensitive body, an inkjet type that directly ejects a developer onto the printing medium, a thermal transfer type, a bubble jet type, a dye sublimation type, a dot matrix type, etc.

Since digital cameras have recently gained widespread popularity, an increased number of users desire to directly output an image photographed by a digital camera onto the printing medium as well as store the image in a storage medium such as a hard disk drive. To this end, a photo printer has been developed. The photo printer is a printer that is dedicated to printing digital photos from images stored in the digital camera connected by a PictBridge, or that prints images stored in a memory card. The photo printer may be classified as the bubble jet type, the thermal transfer type, and the dye sublimation type.

The photo printer is designed to have a compact size so that it is portable and easy to carry and a photographed image can be directly printed at an outdoor place. The printing medium includes a special paper dedicated to printing a photo (i.e., photo paper), and the size of the photo paper is typically either 4×6 inches or A4 size.

The image forming apparatus has a paper feeding device which supplies a printing medium such as a paper into the image forming apparatus. The paper feeding device includes a paper feeding cassette having a plurality of printing medium (i.e., sheets) stacked therein and a pick-up unit to pick up the printing medium sheet by sheet from the paper feeding cassette to feed the printing medium into a printing part of the image forming apparatus.

The paper feeding cassette is detachably mounted to the image forming apparatus such that the plurality of sheets of printing medium can be easily stacked in the paper feeding cassette.

When stacked in the paper feeding cassette, the plurality of sheets of printing medium should be accurately aligned therein. If the printing medium stacked in the paper feeding cassette is not accurately aligned, various errors occur when the image forming apparatus performs printing or the printing medium is fed. These errors result in a paper jam or a curl of the printing medium.

Accordingly, it is very important to align the printing medium stacked in the paper feeding cassette in order to increase the operability and durability of the image forming apparatus.

The alignment of the printing medium in the paper feeding cassette is especially important for an image forming apparatus such as the photo printer which uses a high-priced paper dedicated to printing photos (e.g., the photo paper), or an image forming apparatus from which a paper feeding cassette can be separated such that the image forming apparatus has a compact size.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present general inventive concept provides a paper feeding cassette which can perform an accurate picking-up operation so that a stable image quality can be obtained.

The present general inventive concept also provides a paper feeding cassette which can easily and accurately align sheets of a printing medium.

The present general inventive concept also provides a paper feeding cassette to prevent sheets of a printing medium from overlapping when being picked up, not by an individual sheet such that the printing medium can be properly picked up from a paper feeding cassette.

Additional aspects of the present general inventive concept will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the general inventive concept.

The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present general inventive concept are achieved by providing a paper feeding cassette including a cassette body detachably mounted to an image forming apparatus, and an alignment unit disposed on an inner surface of the cassette body to pressurize a plurality of stacked sheets of recording medium from one side thereof when the cassette body is mounted in the image forming apparatus.

The alignment unit may include at least one biasing member to be biased toward an inner space of the cassette body when the cassette body is mounted in the image forming apparatus.

The alignment unit may include a guide member to guide the biasing of the biasing member, and the guide member and the biasing member may be aligned to be movable relative to each other.

The biasing member may be formed at an inner surface of the cassette body to form a guide recess between the inner surface of the cassette body and the biasing member to receive the guide member therein. The biasing member may be formed of an elastic body having a first end fixed on the inner surface of the cassette body and a second end which is elastically biased toward the inner space of the cassette body, and the guide recess to receive the guide member is formed between the first and second ends of the biasing member.

The cassette body may have a reference surface at a first inner surface and an alignment unit at a second surface opposite to the reference surface.

The reference surface may have a plurality of contacting surfaces protruding toward an inner space of the cassette body by the same lengths.

The paper feeding cassette may further include a cover slidingly disposed at a top portion of the cassette body.

The guide member may be fixedly connected to the cover.

The cover and the cassette body may include a guide protrusion and a guide groove at a contacting portion therebetween.

The cover may further include an elastic rib to elastically pressurize a top side of the sheets of recording medium stacked in the cassette body.

The cassette body may further include a protrusion portion at the top portion to incline the cover at a slight angle when the cassette body is mounted in the image forming apparatus.

The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present general inventive concept are achieved by providing a paper feeding cassette usable in an image forming apparatus, the cassette including a cassette body to accommodate recording media and being mountable in a mounting part of the image forming apparatus, and an alignment unit disposed on a side of the cassette body to push the recording media against a reference surface in the cassette body as the cassette body is being mounted in the mounting part.

The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present general inventive concept are achieved by providing a paper feeding cassette usable in an image forming apparatus, the cassette including a body having top and bottom portions slideably coupled to one another to accommodate sheets of recording media therebetween, and an alignment unit having complementary projecting parts disposed on the top and bottom portions of the body such that the complementary projecting parts engage each other as the top and bottom portions are moved with respect to each other into a mounting position such that the engagement of the complementary projecting parts pushes the recording media into an aligned position.

The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present general inventive concept are achieved by providing a paper feed cassette, including a tray part to accommodate sheets of printing media and having a biasing member extending along an inner sidewall thereof, and a cover part coupled to the tray part and having a guide member extending from a side bottom portion thereof such that the biasing member engages the guide member when the cover part is moved with respect to the tray part into a mounting position.

The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present general inventive concept are achieved by providing a paper cassette mountable in an image forming apparatus, the cassette including a bottom part to accommodate printing media, and a top part movably coupled to the bottom part between a first position with respect to the bottom part when the cassette is dismounted from the image forming apparatus, and a second position with respect to the bottom part when the cassette is mounted in the image forming apparatus.

The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present general inventive concept are achieved by providing an image forming apparatus including a paper feeding cassette having a body with top and bottom portions slideably coupled to one another to accommodate sheets of recording media therebetween, and an alignment unit having complementary projecting parts disposed on the top and bottom portions of the body such that the complementary projecting parts engage each other as the top and bottom portions are moved with respect to each other into a mounting position such that the engagement of the complementary projecting parts pushes the recording media into an aligned position. The image forming apparatus further includes a mounting part having a receiving space to receive the paper feeding cassette into the mounting position.

The foregoing and/or other aspects of the present general inventive concept are achieved by providing an image forming apparatus, including a mounting part and a paper cassette mountable in the mounting part. The cassette includes a body to accommodate recording media therein, and a cover slidably coupled to the body to cover the recording media and to slide from a first end of the body to a second end of the body as the cassette is inserted in the mounting part.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects of the present general inventive concept will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a paper feeding cassette in a state in which the paper feeding cassette is not mounted in an image forming apparatus, according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating the paper feeding cassette of FIG. 1 in a state in which the paper feeding cassette is mounted in an image forming apparatus, according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept;

FIG. 3A is a transverse cross-sectional view illustrating the paper feeding cassette of FIG. 1 in the state in which the paper feeding cassette is not mounted in the image forming apparatus, according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept;

FIG. 3B is an enlarged view illustrating an alignment unit of the paper feeding cassette of FIG. 3A at reference point IIIA;

FIG. 4A is a transverse cross-sectional view illustrating the paper feeding cassette of FIG. 1 in the state in which the paper feeding cassette is mounted in the image forming apparatus, according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept;

FIG. 4B is an enlarged view illustrating the alignment unit of the paper feeding cassette of FIG. 4A at reference point IVA;

FIG. 5 is a sectional side view illustrating the paper feeding cassette of FIG. 1 along reference line V-V;

FIG. 6 is a sectional side view illustrating the paper feeding cassette of FIG. 2 along reference line VI-VI; and

FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating a paper feeding cassette according to another embodiment of the present general inventive concept.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present general inventive concept, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present general inventive concept by referring to the figures.

FIGS. 1 through 6 are views illustrating a paper feeding cassette according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 6, the paper feeding cassette includes a cassette body 10, which has an inner space in which to stack a plurality of sheets of recording medium P. The cassette body 10 is detachably mounted in an image forming apparatus 100.

Referring to FIGS. 3A and 4A, a plurality of contacting surfaces 11 protrude toward the inner space of the cassette body 10 at one side thereof (e.g., the left side of FIGS. 3A and 5). The contacting surfaces 11 have protruding lengths that are the same.

The plurality of contacting surfaces 11 protrude such that a friction force that occurs when the recording medium P contacts an entire side of the cassette body 10 can be decreased. In other words, the contacting surfaces 11 decrease an area of contact between the side of the cassette body 10 and the recording medium P. Therefore, a pick-up roller 55 (see FIGS. 4A and 6) can more easily pick up the recording medium P.

An inside of the plurality of contacting surfaces 11 serves as a reference surface when the sheets of the recording medium P are aligned.

An alignment unit 20 is disposed at an opposite surface (i.e., the right side of FIGS. 3 and 5) to the reference surface of the cassette body 10 to align the stacked sheets of recording medium P.

The alignment unit 20 includes a biasing member 22 and a guide member 21. The biasing member 22 is biased toward the inner space of the cassette body 10 as the cassette body 10 is mounted to a mount part 110 of the image forming apparatus 100, and the guide member 21 guides the biasing of the biasing member 22.

As the biasing member 22 is biased toward the inner space of the cassette body 10 by the guide member 21, the biasing member 22 presses one side of the recording medium P stacked in the cassette body 10 to align the widths of the sheets of the recording medium P against the reference surface defined by the contacting surfaces 11.

The guide member 21 is aligned in a line with the biasing member 22 and is connected to the image forming apparatus 100 or a cover 30 of the paper feeding cassette.

The biasing member 22 and the guide member 21 are formed to be movable relative to each other. In other words, if the guide member 21 is fixed, the biasing member 22 is movable toward the guide member 21, and if the biasing member 22 is fixed, the guide member 21 is movable toward the biasing member 22.

The biasing member 22 may be formed of an elastic body having a first end 22a fixed to the inside of the cassette body 10 and a second end 22b which is elastically biased toward the inner space of the cassette body 10. A guide recess 22c is formed between the first end 22a and the second end 22b to receive and guide a leading end of the guide member 21.

A penetrating hole 18 of a predetermined size may be formed at a bottom surface of the cassette body 10 such that the recording medium P can be separated. For example, a user may insert and object or finger through the penetrating hole 18 to separate the sheets of recording medium P, which are stacked in the cassette body 10.

The cover 30 is formed on a top surface of the cassette body 10 to prevent foreign material from outside the cassette body 10 from entering the cassette body 10, and the cover 30 and the cassette body 10 are slidingly formed with respect to each other. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the cover 30 may have an area to partially cover the top surface of the cassette body 10. However, it should be understood that other types of covers may alternatively be used, and the cover 30 illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3A and 4A to 6 is not intended to limit the scope of the present general inventive concept. For example, the cover 30 may have an area that fully covers the top surface of the cassette body 10.

Referring to FIGS. 3A and 4A, the sliding structure of the cover 30 and the cassette body 10 can be implemented using a guide protrusion 35 and a guide groove 15 which are formed at a contacting portion between the cover 30 and the cassette body 10 to correspond to each other.

In the present embodiment, the guide member 21 can be fixedly connected to a bottom surface of the cover 30. Accordingly, the guide member 21 and the cover 30 move together in the same direction with each other. Since the cover 30 and the cassette body 10 slidingly engage with each other, the guide member 21 fixed on the cover 30 and the biasing member 22 fixed on the cassette body 10 also slidingly engage with each other. For example, the guide member 21 on the cover 30 may engage the biasing member 22 on the cassette body 10, as the cassette body 10 is mounted in the mount part 110 of the image forming apparatus 100.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, an elastic rib 31 is formed at one side of the bottom surface of the cover 30 to be downwardly biased. A leading end portion of the elastic rib 31 presses an upper most sheet of the recording medium P stacked in the cassette body 10 to flatten the recording medium P.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating the paper feeding cassette according to another embodiment of the present general inventive concept. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the cover 30 may further include a pivot cover 40, which is pivotably coupled to a front side of the cover 30. Therefore, the sheets of the recording medium P can be more easily stacked into the cassette body 10 and foreign material from outside into the cassette body 10 can be more effectively prevented from entering the cassette body 10.

Referring back to FIGS. 5 and 6, the cassette body 10 has protrusion portions 14, which are curved with a predetermined radius, on top surfaces of opposite left and right sidewalls. When the cover 30 slides toward a front of the cassette body 10, the cover 30 contacts the protrusion portions 14 to incline to a slight angle, and accordingly a pressurizing force of the elastic rib 31 is increased by the inclined angle.

Referring to FIG. 3A, the mount part 110 of the image forming apparatus 100 into which the paper feeding cassette of the present embodiment is detachably mounted includes a receiving recess 111 to receive the cover 30 and a receiving space 112 to receive a rear side of the cassette body 10.

A plurality of dams 113 are disposed at a rear side of the receiving space 112 to respectively sit in a plurality of penetrating openings 16 formed at the rear side of the cassette body 10. Here, the dams 113 have general structures to prevent a feeding of overlapping sheets of the recording medium P, while the plurality of stacked sheets of recording medium P in the cassette body 10 are picked up by the pick-up roller 55 (see FIGS. 4A and 6).

Referring to FIGS. 3A and 4A, hook devices 114 are symmetrically and movably disposed at opposite sides of the receiving space 112. The hook devices 114 are disposed at the rear side of the receiving space 112 to engage a plurality of protrusions 17 disposed on the right and left rear sides of the cassette body 10.

The operation of the paper feeding cassette according to the embodiments of the present general inventive concept will now be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6. However, it should be understood that this description can also be applied to the embodiment of FIG. 7.

The plurality of sheets of recording medium P are stacked in the cassette body 10 to contact the plurality of contacting surfaces 11 formed at one inner side of the cassette body 10 to form the reference surface.

The cassette body 10 and the cover 30 are then inserted into the mount part 110 of the image forming apparatus 100.

As the paper feeding cassette is inserted into the mount part 110, the cover 30 is held by the receiving recess 111 to prevent the cover 30 from being inserted further into the receiving space 112 such that the cassette body 10 is slid with respect to the cover 30 to the rear side of the receiving space 112.

As the cassette body 10 is inserted in the mount part 110 toward the rear side of the receiving space 112, the protrusions 17 on the cassette body 10 move toward the hook devices 114 such that each protrusion 17 engages each hook device 114 and the cassette body 10 is fixedly mounted to the image forming apparatus 100.

As described above, since the cassette body 10 and the cover 30 are slid relative to each other, the guide member 21 fixedly connected to the cover 30 is inserted into the guide recess 22c (see FIGS. 3B and 4B) of the biasing member 22 disposed at the inside of the cassette body 10. Accordingly, the second end 22b of the biasing member 22 is elastically biased to press one side of the stacked sheets of recording media P so that widths of the sheets of recording medium P can be aligned against the reference surface.

In other words, according to the present embodiment, the stacked sheets of recording medium P can be automatically aligned simultaneously with a mounting of the paper feeding cassette to the image forming apparatus 100.

Therefore, the alignment operation is very easily performed to provide convenience to users of the image forming apparatus 100. Additionally, the sheets of recording medium P are accurately aligned so that the aligned sheets of recording medium P can be accurately and minutely supplied to an image forming part of the image forming apparatus 100. Therefore, a printing quality can be enhanced.

If the paper feeding cassette has a structure in which the recording medium P are pressurized from only one side in the cassette body 10, the pressurizing force for aligning the sheets of recording medium P is not too excessive so as to cause overlapped sheets of the recording medium P to be picked up by the pick up roller 55.

According to the various embodiments of the present general inventive concept, sheets of recording medium can be more accurately picked up and a stable image quality can be obtained.

According to the various embodiments of the present general inventive concept, sheets of a recording medium can be easily and accurately aligned.

Additionally, according to the embodiments of the present general inventive concept, sheets of a recording medium are prevented from overlapping when being picked. Additionally, individual sheets are properly picked up from the paper feeding cassette.

Although a few embodiments of the present general inventive concept have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the general inventive concept, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A paper feeding cassette, comprising:

a cassette body detachably mounted to an image forming apparatus; and
an alignment unit disposed on an inner surface of the cassette body to pressurize a plurality of sheets of recording medium from one side thereof when the cassette body is mounted in the image forming apparatus.

2. The paper feeding cassette as claimed in claim 1, wherein the alignment unit comprises at least one biasing member to be biased toward an inner space of the cassette body as the cassette body is mounted in the image forming apparatus.

3. The paper feeding cassette as claimed in claim 2, wherein the alignment unit comprises a guide member to guide the biasing of the biasing member, and the guide member and the biasing member are aligned to be movable relative to each other.

4. The paper feeding cassette as claimed in claim 3, wherein the biasing member is formed at an inner surface of the cassette body to form a guide recess between the inner surface of the cassette body and the biasing member to receive the guide member therein.

5. The paper feeding cassette as claimed in claim 4, wherein the biasing member is formed of an elastic body having a first end fixed on the inner surface of the cassette body and a second end which is elastically biased toward the inner space of the cassette body, and the guide recess to receive the guide member is formed between the first and second ends of the biasing member.

6. The paper feeding cassette as claimed in claim 3, further comprising:

a cover slidingly disposed at a top portion of the cassette body.

7. The paper feeding cassette as claimed in claim 6, wherein the guide member is fixedly connected to the cover.

8. The paper feeding cassette as claimed in claim 7, wherein the cover and the cassette body comprise a guide protrusion and a guide groove at a contacting portion therebetween.

9. The paper feeding cassette as claimed in claim 8, wherein the cover further comprises an elastic rib to elastically pressurize a top side of the sheets of the recording medium stacked in the cassette body.

10. The paper feeding cassette as claimed in claim 9, wherein the cassette body further comprises a protrusion portion at a top portion thereof to incline the cover at a slight angle when the cassette body is mounted in the image forming apparatus.

11. The paper feeding cassette as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cassette body has a reference surface at a first inner surface and the alignment unit at a second inner surface opposite to the reference surface.

12. The paper feeding cassette as claimed in claim 11, wherein the reference surface has a plurality of contacting surfaces protruding into an inner space of the cassette body by same lengths.

13. A paper feeding cassette usable in an image forming apparatus, the cassette comprising:

a cassette body to accommodate recording media and being mountable in a mounting part of the image forming apparatus; and
an alignment unit disposed on a side of the cassette body to push the recording media against a reference surface in the cassette body as the cassette body is being mounted in the mounting part.

14. The cassette as claimed in claim 13, wherein the alignment unit is disposed on a first inner side of the cassette body and the reference surface is disposed at a second inner side opposite to the first inner side.

15. The cassette as claimed in claim 13, further comprising:

a cover slidably engaged with the cassette body to cover a top surface of the cassette body.

16. The cassette as claimed in claim 15, wherein the alignment unit comprises:

a biasing member extending from the side of the cassette body; and
a guide member extending from the cover to engage the biasing member as the cover slides over the top surface of the cassette body.

17. The cassette as claimed in claim 16, wherein the guide member pushes the biasing member to extend further from the side into an inner space of the cassette body such that the biasing member contacts a side edge of the recording media.

18. The cassette as claimed in claim 16, wherein the cover is disposed at a first end of the cassette body and slides over the top surface of the cassette body toward a second end thereof as the cassette body is mounted in the mounting part.

19. The cassette as claimed in claim 16, wherein the cover is coupled to outer sides of the cassette body, and as the cassette body is being mounted in the mounting part, an outer portion of the cover engages an inner portion of the mounting part such that the cover is prevented from moving further therein, while the cassette body is moved further into the mounting part.

20. The cassette as claimed in claim 15, wherein the cassette body comprises at least one protrusion portion extending upward from at least one side wall on the top surface thereof to engage the cover as the cover slides over the top surface such that the cover is maintained at a predetermined non-horizontal angle when the cassette body is mounted in the image forming apparatus.

21. The cassette as claimed in claim 15, wherein the cover comprises:

a parallel portion arranged to be parallel to the top surface of the cassette body and being slidable with respect thereto; and
a pivotable portion coupled to the parallel portion and pivotable about an axis with respect thereto.

22. The cassette as claimed in claim 15, wherein the alignment unit comprises:

a biasing member extending from the side of the cassette body; and
a guide member extending from the cover to engage the biasing member as the cover and the cassette body are moved relative to one another.

23. The cassette as claimed in claim 15, wherein the cover comprises an elastic rib extending from a bottom side thereof to apply a downward force on an uppermost sheet of recording media disposed in the cassette body.

24. A paper feeding cassette usable in an image forming apparatus, the cassette comprising:

a body having top and bottom portions slideably coupled to one another to accommodate sheets of recording media therebetween; and
an alignment unit having complementary projecting parts disposed on the top and bottom portions of the body such that the complementary projecting parts engage each other as the top and bottom portions are moved with respect to each other into a mounting position such that the engagement of the complementary projecting parts pushes the recording media into an aligned position.

25. The cassette as claimed in claim 24, wherein the complementary projecting parts comprise:

an elastic biasing member extending along an inner surface of the bottom portion of the body and forming a guide recess with the inner surface of the body; and
a guide member extending along an inner surface of the top portion of the body to be received in the guide recess to push the elastic biasing member inward in the body.

26. The cassette as claimed in claim 24, wherein the top portion comprises a rib extending from a bottom surface thereof to apply a force to an uppermost sheet of the recording media.

27. A paper feed cassette, comprising:

a tray part to accommodate sheets of printing media and having a biasing member extending along an inner sidewall thereof; and
a cover part coupled to the tray part and having a guide member extending from a side bottom portion thereof such that the biasing member engages the guide member when the cover part is moved with respect to the tray part into a mounting position.

28. The cassette as claimed in claim 27, wherein the biasing member and guide member push the sheets of printing media against a reference surface in the tray part as the biasing and guide members engage each other.

29. A paper cassette mountable in an image forming apparatus, the cassette comprising:

a bottom part to accommodate printing media; and
a top part movably coupled to the bottom part between a first position with respect to the bottom part when the cassette is dismounted from the image forming apparatus, and a second position with respect to the bottom part when the cassette is mounted in the image forming apparatus.

30. The cassette as claimed in claim 29, wherein the top part engages the image forming apparatus when the cassette is mounted such that the top part is moved from the first position to the second position as the cassette is mounted in the image forming apparatus.

31. The cassette as claimed in claim 29, further comprising:

an alignment unit disposed between the top and bottom parts operable by relative movement between the top and bottom parts to push the printing media into an aligned position as the top part is moved to the second position.

32. An image forming apparatus, comprising:

a paper feeding cassette including a body having top and bottom portions slideably coupled to one another to accommodate sheets of recording media therebetween, and an alignment unit having complementary projecting parts disposed on the top and bottom portions of the body such that the complementary projecting parts engage each other as the top and bottom portions are moved with respect to each other into a mounting position such that the engagement of the complementary projecting parts pushes the recording media into an aligned position; and
a mounting part having a receiving space to receive the paper feeding cassette into the mounting position.

33. The apparatus as claimed in claim 32, further comprising:

a pick up unit installed adjacent to the receiving space to pick up the recording media from the body sheet by sheet.

34. The apparatus as claimed in claim 32, wherein the mounting part comprises a receiving recess to stop the top portion of the body from moving as the body is slidably inserted into the receiving space while the bottom portion continues to slide toward a rear side of the receiving space.

35. The apparatus as claimed in claim 34, wherein the top and bottom portions slide with respect to each other as the body is slidably inserted in the receiving space such that the complementary projecting parts engage each other as the body is moved into the receiving space.

36. The apparatus as claimed in claim 32, wherein:

an inner portion of the mounting part includes one or more hook parts, and a leading end of the bottom portion includes one or more protrusions extending laterally therefrom to engage the one or more hook parts to be stably mounted in the receiving space.

37. The apparatus as claimed in claim 32, wherein as a leading end of the cassette is inserted into the receiving space the top portion is slid with respect to the bottom portion away from the leading end toward a trailing end of the cassette.

38. An image forming apparatus, comprising:

a mounting part; and
a paper cassette mountable in the mounting part, the cassette including a body to accommodate recording media therein, and a cover slidably coupled to the body to cover the recording media and to slide from a first end of the body to a second end of the body as the cassette is inserted in the mounting part.
Patent History
Publication number: 20070120319
Type: Application
Filed: Apr 7, 2006
Publication Date: May 31, 2007
Inventor: Ju-hyun PARK (Suwon-si)
Application Number: 11/278,991
Classifications
Current U.S. Class: 271/162.000
International Classification: B65H 1/00 (20060101);