| 摘要 |
PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a paper feeder having a braking mechanism capable of preventing the occurrence of impact noise, deformation of the bottom plate of a paper feed tray, and fluttering of paper by properly controlling the lowering speed of the bottom plate when the bottom plate is lowered, formed in a simple structure, and manufactured at low cost. SOLUTION: This paper feeder is formed such that the bottom plate 2 is lowered by withdrawing the paper feed tray 1 from an image forming apparatus and, after paper is supplemented onto the bottom plate 2, the bottom plate 2 is raised to a paper feed position to feed the paper to the image forming apparatus. The paper feeder comprises a driven shaft 3 drivingly engaged with the drive shaft of the image forming apparatus, a gear 11 installed on the driven shaft 3, and a gear train braking mechanism 9 formed of a plurality of braking gears 12, 13, and 14 meshed with the gear 11 and imparting a braking load torque for the rotation of the driven shaft 3 caused by the lowering of the bottom plate 2. COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO
|
