Paper cassette having manual paper feeder and image forming apparatus including the same

Abstract

A paper cassette having a manual paper feeder, and an image forming apparatus including the same. The image forming apparatus includes a paper cassette provided with a guide groove formed at a portion of a front surface thereof and having a multi-stepped widths corresponding to multiple width sheets of paper, and a case having a cassette attachment part to insert the paper cassette.

1 . An image forming apparatus comprising:
 a paper cassette including a guide groove formed at a portion of a front surface thereof and having a at least one width portion corresponding to at least one width of a sheet of paper; and   a case having a cassette attachment part to insert the paper cassette,   wherein a sheet of paper is manually fed through a space defined by the guide groove and the cassette attachment part.   
   
   
       2 . The image forming apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the cassette attachment part is formed at a lower part of the case. 
   
   
       3 . The image forming apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the guide groove is formed at an upper part of the paper cassette. 
   
   
       4 . The image forming apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the guide groove has a multi-stage structure to guide sheets of paper of various widths. 
   
   
       5 . The image forming apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the paper cassette comprises a resilient projection formed at an outer surface, and the cassette attachment part of the case comprises a threshold formed at a position spaced apart from the resilient projection, at which the paper cassette is fully inserted into the cassette attachment part, so that the resilient projection becomes stopped by the threshold when the paper cassette is drawn out by a predetermined distance. 
   
   
       6 . The image forming apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the cassette attachment part has a paper introduction port formed at a portion corresponding to the guide groove of the paper cassette to manually feed paper. 
   
   
       7 . The image forming apparatus according to  claim 6 , further comprising:
 guide members installed at the paper introduction port to slide along a width of the paper introduction port.   
   
   
       8 . The image forming apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the case comprises a manual feed roller to convey the sheet of paper manually fed through the space defined by the guide groove and the cassette attachment part. 
   
   
       9 . A paper cassette usable with an image forming apparatus, the paper cassette comprising:
 a cassette body having an automatic paper feeder to automatically feed paper into the image forming apparatus; and   a manual paper feeder integrally formed with a portion of the cassette body to manually feed paper into the image forming apparatus.   
   
   
       10 . The paper cassette according to  claim 9 , wherein the manual paper feeder comprises a guide groove formed at a portion of a front surface of the cassette body and having a width corresponding to the paper to enable manual feeding of the paper. 
   
   
       11 . The paper cassette according to  claim 10 , wherein the guide groove has a multi-stage structure having different widths corresponding to paper of various widths. 
   
   
       12 . The paper cassette according to  claim 10 , wherein guide members are installed adjacent to the guide groove to be adjusted to the width of the paper. 
   
   
       13 . The paper cassette according to  claim 10 , wherein the cassette body has a paper support surface formed at a portion thereof to function as a support plate to support a bottom surface of the paper manually fed into the guide groove. 
   
   
       14 . An image forming apparatus, comprising:
 a case to contain a paper cassette therein, the case including a cassette attachment part formed at a front part thereof to slidably receive a paper cassette; and   a paper cassette comprising:
 an automatic paper feeder portion to contain paper therein to be automatically fed into the image forming apparatus, and 
 a front wall portion having a grooved portion formed at an upper surface thereof and facing the cassette attachment part to receive paper manually fed therebetween. 
   
   
   
       15 . The image forming apparatus according to  claim 14 , wherein the cassette attachment part comprises a paper introduction part extending horizontally along an upper portion thereof to receive a paper having a large width to be manually fed. 
   
   
       16 . The image forming apparatus according to  claim 15 , wherein the grooved portion comprises multi-stepped portions extending upwardly and outwardly along the front wall portion to face the paper introduction part, each multi-stepped portion having a different width to receive paper of a corresponding width. 
   
   
       17 . The image forming apparatus according to  claim 16 , wherein the grooved portion is centrally disposed with respect to the front wall portion. 
   
   
       18 . The image forming apparatus according to  claim 16 , further comprising:
 a pair of guide members slidable along the paper introduction part to provide adjustable guides for papers of any width to be manually fed into the image forming apparatus.   
   
   
       19 . The image forming apparatus according to  claim 18 , further comprising:
 a lever disposed below the guide groove to pull or push the paper cassette in and out of the cassette attachment part.   
   
   
       20 . The image forming apparatus according to  claim 19 , wherein the front wall portion further comprises:
 an upper support surface extending along an upper side thereof such that when the paper cassette is pulled out of cassette attachment part by a predetermined amount, the upper support surface provides a support for a bottom of the paper being manually fed between the grooved portion and the paper introduction part.   
   
   
       21 . The image forming apparatus according to  claim 20 , wherein the case comprises a pair of feed rollers to receive and transfer the manually fed paper within the image forming apparatus. 
   
   
       22 . The image forming apparatus according to  claim 14 , wherein the cassette attachment part comprises:
 an elongated groove at opposite sides thereof to guide the sliding of the paper cassette; and   a threshold extending from one inner side of thereof to contact a portion of the paper cassette to limit the drawing out of the paper cassette with respect thereof.   
   
   
       23 . The image forming apparatus according to  claim 21 , wherein the paper cassette comprises a resilient projection to be inserted into the elongated groove to glide therein such that the resilient projection engages with and is stopped by the threshold when slid by a predetermined distance out of the cassette attachment part. 
   
   
       24 . An image forming apparatus, comprising:
 a front surface portion comprising:
 a cassette attachment part formed therein to receive a paper cassette, and 
 a paper introduction portion formed along a predetermined length of a horizontally extending portion of the cassette attachment part to receive manually fed paper therein; and 
   a paper cassette comprising:
 a body portion to contain papers to be automatically fed within the image forming apparatus, and 
 a front surface portion including a groove portion formed therein having multi-stepped grooves facing opposite the paper introduction portion to receive corresponding multiple sized manually fed paper therebetween.