Tray with Adjustable Support Surface for Mixed Sheet Sizes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional facsimile machines with sheet feed cassettes have limited capacity to accommodate various sheet sizes due to the small size of the cut sheet placement part in the moving direction.
Innovation Solution
The tray and image recording apparatus feature a second accommodating part that can adjust its length in the moving direction to accommodate multiple sheet sizes by sliding the first and second bottom walls forward and rearward, allowing for both extended and contracted states.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If the cut sheet placement part is made small in the moving direction to accommodate the tray entirely within the facsimile body, then the tray size is reduced, but the variety of sheet sizes that can be accommodated is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The support surface length in the moving direction is made variable rather than fixed. The second accommodating part can switch between a first state with a first length and a second state with a second length shorter than the first length, allowing the tray to adapt its size to accommodate different sheet varieties while maintaining compact integration within the facsimile body
Solution Approach 2:
The physical parameter of the support surface length is changed between two discrete values (first length and second length). By adjusting this parameter, the tray can accommodate either larger sheets requiring more space or smaller sheets allowing compact configuration, thus resolving the contradiction between tray size and sheet size variety
Data Source
AI summary
A tray includes: a first accommodating part configured to accommodate a rolled first sheet medium; and a second accommodating part disposed side by side with respect to the first accommodating part in a first direction and having a support surface configured to support a second sheet medium. The second accommodating part is configured to accommodate a plurality of sheets of the second sheet medium in a stacked state. The second accommodating part is configured to be either in a first state where a length of the support surface in the first direction is a first length, or in a second state where the length of the support surface in the first direction is a second length shorter than the first length.