MULTIPLE TRAY ROTARY PAPER FEED SYSTEM FOR AN IMAGE REPRODUCTION MACHINE

摘要

A paper feed system for an image reproduction machine, representatively a printer, has a shelf member disposed within the machine housing and rotatably carrying a turntable on its upper side. Two transversely oriented pairs of diametrically opposite upper and lower paper trays are removably supported on the turntable, with portions of the upper trays overlying the lower trays. The turntable may be rotated to vertically interpose a selected one of the four trays between a stationary picker roller and a lifter structure positioned beneath the picker roller. The lifter structure has a portion which moves upwardly through a shelf opening, and a turntable opening aligned therewith, to engage the selected tray and lift it toward the picker roller to bring a paper stack held in the tray into engagement with the picker roller which operates to successively remove sheets from the stack and deliver them to the machine's paper feed path. The lifter structure may then be lowered to return the selected tray to its initial position on the turntable and permit another tray to be selected for rotation into a position from which it may be lifted to the picker roller. When a lower tray is selected, a shift mechanism is operated to move the upper trays out of the lift path of the selected lower tray. The trays may be accessed by operating a drive motor which drives the turntable shelf horizontally outwardly through a housing side wall access opening.