Discharge Tray Protrusion for Compact Document Retrieval
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional image reading apparatuses with automatic document feeders face challenges in maintaining a compact discharge tray height while allowing easy retrieval of both wide and narrow documents, often requiring increased height due to recessed portions for narrow documents.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a discharge tray with a first support portion for wide documents and a second support portion for narrow documents, featuring a protruding portion that contacts the lower surface of the narrow documents to facilitate easy removal without increasing the tray's height, by separating the leading end of the documents from the support surface.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a recessed portion is formed in the narrow support portion to enable easy retrieval of narrow documents, then ease of operation is improved, but the height of the discharge tray increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of forming a recessed portion that goes downward from the narrow support portion surface, the invention forms a protruding portion that extends upward from the narrow support portion surface. This inverted approach provides the necessary clearance for finger insertion to retrieve narrow documents without increasing the overall height of the discharge tray structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from a two-dimensional recessed design (going down from the support surface) to a three-dimensional protruding structure (extending up from the support surface). This dimensional change allows the retrieval function to be achieved while maintaining a compact vertical profile of the discharge tray.
2Ease of operation
If a protruding portion is formed upward from the narrow support portion to enable easy retrieval, then ease of operation is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The protruding portion is integrated directly into the narrow support portion as a unified structure, rather than being a separate component. This merging of the support function and the retrieval assistance function reduces the number of parts and simplifies the overall device structure while maintaining ease of document retrieval.
Solution Approach 2:
The protruding portion serves multiple functions: it provides clearance for finger insertion to retrieve narrow documents, and it also acts as part of the support structure for narrow documents. This multi-functionality reduces the need for additional components, thereby reducing device complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A sheet conveyance apparatus includes a discharge tray that includes first, second, and third support portions. The first support portion includes first and second portions separately disposed in a width direction orthogonal to a discharge direction, and supports a first sheet that is wider than an interval between the first and second portions in the width direction. The second support portion is disposed between the first and second portions in the width direction at a position lower than the first support portion in a vertical direction, and supports a second sheet that is narrower than the interval between the first and second portions in the width direction. The protruding portion protrudes upward from the second support portion, and contacts a lower surface of a sheet supported by the second support portion to separate upward a leading end of the sheet in the discharge direction from the second support portion.