Paper feeder and a printer employing the same

Abstract

A paper feeder of a printer has a plurality of paper feeding paths to feed a printing paper, and a main fed roller feeding the printing paper to an image forming unit of an image forming apparatus. The paper feeding paths are disposed along an outer circumference of the main fed roller and confluent along a connecting conveyance path by the main feed roller. The connecting conveyance path is connected with a main conveyance path which guides the printing paper to the image forming unit of the image forming apparatus. By a single feed roller, the printing paper from the paper feeding cassette in an automatic paper feeding mode, the printing paper from a manual paper feeding tray in a manual paper feeding mode, and the printing paper being inverted and returned in double-sided printing, can be fed to the paper conveyance path efficiently. Because there is no need to prepare a separate feeding apparatus to convey the printing paper according to the respective printing modes, a structure of the printer can be simplified, and an internal space of the printer is reduced. As a result, a compact-sized printer requiring less manufacturing costs can be provided.

Description

[0001] The present invention claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No. 2002-61822 filed with the Korean Intellectual Property Office on October 10, 2002, and the contents disclosed in the above application are incorporated herein by reference. technical field [0002] The present invention relates to a printer, in particular to a paper feeder of the printer, which sends the paper fed in by the paper feeding box or the paper fed in by the manual paper feeding tray to the paper conveying channel in the printer, or on the double-sided In printing (duplex printing), the paper printed on one side is returned to the paper conveying path in the printer. Background technique [0003] Generally, the printer prints an image on the paper input from the outside, and then outputs the printed paper. The printing image is formed and developed by the image forming unit on the printing paper with toner. Therefore, printers typically have a paper feed unit that feeds paper into a p...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0011] Therefore, whether it is the paper feed roller used for automatic paper feeding, the paper feed roller used for manual paper feeding, or the return device used for double printing, it needs to be installed on a printer, which makes the structure of the printer complicated and unnecessary. The volume is huge, and it also causes an increase in manufacturing costs

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