Sheet Cassette Rail Structure to Prevent Sagging and Feed Skew
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Solution Overview
Problem
Sheet storage cassettes made of resin warp under the weight of paper, leading to sagging side surfaces and reduced positional accuracy, causing paper skew and feed failures, especially with larger paper sizes.
Innovation Solution
Integrally forming metal inner rails with the cassette base to enhance strength and stability, combined with metal outer and middle rails using ball bearings for smooth sliding engagement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the sheet storage cassette is made of resin to reduce weight and cost, then manufacturing cost and weight are reduced, but the cassette base warps under paper load causing side surfaces to sag inward
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines resin and metal materials to create a composite structure. The cassette base is made of resin for cost-effectiveness, while metal rails are integrally formed with the resin base. This composite approach allows the lightweight, inexpensive resin to support the overall structure while the rigid metal rails prevent warping and maintain positioning accuracy under paper load.
2Area of moving object
If the sheet storage cassette is enlarged to handle large-size paper, then paper size capacity is increased, but the paper weight increases causing more conspicuous sag of side surfaces
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of making the entire cassette structure heavier to prevent sagging, the patent applies local reinforcement by integrally forming metal rails at critical locations where positioning accuracy is needed. This allows the cassette to handle large-size paper while maintaining structural stability only where required, rather than uniformly increasing the strength of the entire structure.
3Manufacturing precision
If metal rails are integrally formed with the resin cassette base, then positioning accuracy is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the metal rails and resin cassette base into a single integrated component through integral formation. This combining of materials and functions into one piece eliminates the need for separate assembly steps and fasteners, thereby improving positioning accuracy while actually reducing manufacturing complexity compared to using separate metal and resin parts that would need to be assembled.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enhances cassette positioning accuracy, preventing sagging and paper-feed failures, ensuring reliable operation even with heavy or large paper sizes.
Implementation Method 1
metal outer and middle rails using ball bearings for smooth sliding engagement
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a sheet feeding device including: a cassette housing section; a sheet storage cassette; and a sheet feeding unit. The sheet storage cassette includes a cassette base which is configured to store recording media that have a sheet form, and can be inserted into and removed from the cassette housing section. The sheet feeding unit is provided in the cassette housing section, and is configured to feed the recording media to be stored in the sheet storage cassette. A pair of fixed-side rails that are made of metal and are attached to the cassette housing section. The cassette base is made of a resin. A pair of inner rails that are coupled to the pair of fixed-side rails so that the pair of inner rails are slidable are formed integrally with side surfaces of the cassette base.