| 摘要 |
In a sheet material feed assembly, a sheet material tray including a movable support component is provided. Also provided is a spring adapted to bias the support component in a predetermined direction. A selectively movable sheet retention member is operatively connected to the spring, whereby movement of the sheet retention member automatically affects variation in the biasing force of the spring. The spring can be provided as a pivotable cantilever spring including a central aperture. The sheet retention member can include a ramp member passing through the cantilever spring aperture. The ramp member includes an inclined portion, and a flat portion contiguous with the inclined portion. The sheet retention member can be provided in the form of a rear adjust for accommodating various sheet material lengths within the tray. The movable support component can be mounted for pivoting movement within the tray, and can be provided as a sheet material lift plate. A second spring member can be provided in biasing contact with the lift plate. Also described is a method for automatically adjusting tray force balance forces in a paper tray associated with an imaging system including a sheet material feed assembly. In a first step, a selectively movable sheet retention member is provided. Next, a bias spring, adapted and constructed to exert a selectively variable biasing force on sheet material in the paper tray, is provided. A spring adjustment mechanism is operatively connected to the sheet retention member and to the bias spring. The sheet retention member is then moved to cause the spring adjustment mechanism to selectively vary the biasing force of the bias spring. The sheet retention member can be moved forward to decrease the biasing force of the bias spring, and rearward to increase the biasing force of the bias spring.
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