Paper feeding device for recording apparatus

Claim 1

In a paper feeding device of the type used for feeding stacked paper to an electrophotographic copying machine, a frame including a pair of vertically extending spaced side members, a subframe comprising a pair of interconnected end plates, a shaft extending between said side members and swingably supporting the end plates of said subframe for vertical reciprocal motion relative to said frame, a paper feeding roller, a second shaft extending between said end plates supporting said paper feeding roller, a platform holding a stack of paper, lift means for raising and lowering said platform and in its raised position urging the top paper of said stack into contact with said paper feeding roller, a movable plate having a seating surface, means urging said plate so that said seating surface contacts said paper feeding roller forward of its contact with said paper in the direction of travel of the latter, whereby said paper is fed forwardly by said roller into the nip between said roller and said seating surface, means on said frame detecting the vertical position of said swingable subframe and the feeding roller supported thereby, and means controlling the movement of said lift means for raising said platform and the stacked papers thereon in accordance with an output signal from said detecting means whenever a decrease in the height of the stacked papers results in a lowering of said subframe and the feeding roller carried thereby.