Paper feed arrangement

Claim 1

In a duplicating machine, the combination comprising sheet advancing means for advancing a sheet from a feeding position, said sheet advancing means being fixedly located at an operating station, a paper feed tray having a floor for supporting a stack of sheets, said paper feed tray having a side wall connected to said floor for aligning a stack of sheets in one horizontal direction on said floor, a shelf for supporting said paper fEed tray at the operating station in vertically spaced relation to said sheet advancing means, said shelf being laterally movable from the operating station beneath said sheet advancing means to a loading station remotely spaced from said operating station to facilitate the loading of a stack of sheets onto said floor of said paper feed tray, and said side wall having a relief formed therein to enable said side wall to move laterally past said sheet advancing means upon movement of said shelf from said operating station to said loading station with said sheet advancing means passing through the relief formed in said side wall, a corner separator for separating the topmost sheet from the remainder of the stack upon advancement of the topmost sheet from the feeding position by said sheet advancing means, said corner separator being fixedly connected to said floor in vertically spaced relation thereto, locating means for locating said paper feed tray on said shelf with said corner separator being horizontally spaced in operative relation to said sheet advancing means, a plate mounted on the floor of said paper feed tray for supporting the portion of the stack of sheets beneath said corner separator and said sheet advancing means, and said plate being movable upwardly to lift the portion of the stack supported thereon upwardly to bring the topmost sheet into engagement with said sheet advancing means at the feeding position with a forward corner of the topmost sheet in operative relation with said corner separator.