A feeder includes a body, a mount portion disposed in the body to support from below part of recording media stacked thereon, a lift that raises the mount portion, a support portion connected to the body to support from below another part of the recording media while the mount portion is raised, the support portion being located higher than a position of a mount surface of the mount portion while the recording media are stacked on the mount portion, a blowing portion that blows air between the recording media stacked on the mount portion, and a transport portion that transports the recording media stacked on the mount portion.

A paper feeder includes a processor configured to, in a case of lowering a paper feed tray on which paper is placed in an accommodation section that accommodates paper and replenishing paper, the paper feed tray being controlled to be raised/lowered in a case of replenishing paper, control a lowering amount of the paper feed tray according to a number of sheets of paper to be replenished.

A paper input module for use in a printing apparatus includes a substantially closed box for holding a stack of sheets of a print substrate; a duct in fluid connection with the closed box and arranged for transporting a sheet of the print substrate out of the paper input module; and a transport mechanism for engaging a sheet of the print substrate to exit the paper input module via the duct. A method for conditioning a stack of print substrates in such a paper input module is also disclosed.

A sheet-shaped-medium feeder includes a housing, a mount portion that is disposed to be vertically movable in the housing and that receives sheet-shaped media, a lift that vertically raises or lowers the mount portion, a discharger that transports the sheet-shaped media stacked on the mount portion in order from an upper one of the sheet-shaped media, and first air outlets that blow air to the sheet-shaped media stacked on the mount portion at left and right edges in a feed width of the sheet-shaped media. The mount portion is changeable to a long mount portion capable of receiving long sheet-shaped media by extending an end portion of the mount portion upstream from an unchanged position in a transportation direction of the sheet-shaped media, the end portion corresponding to an upstream end portion in the transportation direction. The sheet-shaped-medium feeder has a second air outlet that blows air to at least one of left and right edges of the long sheet-shaped media stacked on the extended portion of the long mount portion.

Examples include: a leveling system for a top feeder of a printer, where the top feeder includes a media positioning arrangement. The leveling system has a detector for detecting reflected light and generating a three-dimensional image comprising media positioning regions corresponding to the media positioning arrangement on a top sheet of a media stack installed into the top feeder. Also, the leveling system has an actuator configured to adjust heights of different points of the bottom of the media stack. Further, it has a controller for selecting, based on the three-dimensional image, adjustments to the heights for improving leveling of at least one of the media positioning regions; and controlling the actuator to implement the adjustments.

A sheet feeding apparatus includes an apparatus body, a drawer portion including a first contact portion, a feeding portion, and a pivot member configured to pivot between a first position and a second position, the pivot member constituting a part of a conveyance path at the first position, wherein the pivot member does not overlap a moving path of the drawer portion in a case where the pivot member is located at the first position, and overlaps the moving path in a case where the pivot member is located at the second position. The pivot member includes a second contact portion that pivots the pivot member from the second position toward the first position while being in sliding contact with the first contact portion in a case where the pivot member is located at the second position and the drawer portion is being inserted into the apparatus body.

A dish cart includes a top with a slot for receiving a lift arm that may be lifted up through the slot to raise or lower dishes. Lobe openings emanating from the slot receive lobes of a lift paddle secured to the lift arm. The cart may define a gap below the top for permitting insertion of the lift paddle and the lift arm. The cart may be adjusted to receive differently sized dishes by means of rails of different sizes or adjustable vanes. A dish drop station includes the lift arm and lift paddle and a lift mechanism for raising and lower the lift arm. The dish drop station may include a cart present sensor and include a lock for retaining the cart. The controller may be programmed to the lower the lift arm to an unlock position that disengages the cart lock.

A sheet stacker includes a housing, a fence, a first distance measurement sensor, and a second distance measurement sensor. The fence is movable in a fence moving direction on the housing and is configured to regulate a position of an end of a sheet. The first distance measurement sensor is configured to measure a distance between the fence and a first portion of the housing, the first portion being on one side of the housing with respect to the fence in the fence moving direction. The second distance measurement sensor is configured to measure a distance between the fence and a second portion of the housing, the second portion being on another side of the housing with respect to the fence in the fence moving direction.

A sheet storage device includes a housing, a sheet stacking tray, a shaft, a first pulley, a second pulley, a plurality of wires, and a driving device. The driving device includes a drive portion and a drive transfer portion. The sheet stacking tray ascends as a driving-side coupling rotates in a forward direction, and descends as the driving-side coupling rotates in a reverse direction. When a driven-side coupling stops rotating in the reverse direction, the driving-side coupling rotates idly relative to the driven-side coupling.

A stacker device includes: a discharger that discharges sheets in response to a print job; a first tray on which the discharged sheets are stacked; a second tray that serves as a delivery destination of the sheets stacked on the first tray; a shutter that covers an opening on a front side of a housing; a driver that moves the first tray in an up-down direction; and a hardware processor that shuts off power to the driver based on a height position of the shutter and a position of the second tray in a front-rear direction.