FEEDER DEVICE HAVING INCREASED MEDIA CAPACITY AND MULTIPLE MEDIA THICKNESS FEED CAPABILITY AND ASSOCIATED METHOD

摘要

A feeder device is provided, comprising a drive mechanism for driving a media unit in a feed direction, the media unit being provided from a stack of media units by a hopper including upstream and downstream hopper members. A directing member associated with the upstream hopper member engages the trailing edge of the media unit to direct the same to the drive mechanism, reduces an adhesive force between the media unit and remaining media units in the stack, and engages the trailing edge of one other media unit to direct the same toward the downstream hopper member and to partially support the weight of the remaining media units. A biased member urges the media unit against the drive mechanism, thereby increasing a driving force on the media unit, and prevents remaining media units from being fed to the receiving apparatus, also reducing the adhesive force. Associated methods are also provided.