Device for preventing the transport of poorly aligned copy paper

Claim 1

A paper detection device for preventing the incorrect transport of copy paper along a transport path comprising: a transport path for transporting paper thereon in a forward direction; a rotatable shaft extending across said transport path; paper detection means comprising a detection lever supported in an unrotatable manner by said rotatable shaft, wherein a free end of said detection lever is located within the transport path in a perpendicular manner at a first detection position which is offset from the center of said transport path, said detection lever moving to a second detection position out of said transport path and causing said rotatable shaft to rotate when a front edge of properly aligned paper being transported in a forward direction on said transport path pushes said detection lever to said second detection position; and paper prevention means comprising at least one right angle lever supported in an unrotatable manner by said rotatable shaft, said right angle lever having an arm portion which extends from said rotatable shaft parallel to said forward direction and claw portion which extends into said transport path in a perpendicular manner at a first prevention position which is located forward of said detection lever in said first detection position, wherein contact by a front edge of paper properly aligned on said transport path causes said paper detection means to move to said second detection position thereby causing said rotatable shaft to rotate and said paper prevention means to move to a second prevention position out of said transport path, and wherein paper improperly aligned on said transport path which fails to contact said paper detection means is prevented from being transported past said paper prevention means which remains in said first prevention position.