Tray selection in printing may involve checking for the availability of paper trays which may provide increased paper throughput, and by postponing a switch to use such trays to help avoid excessive tray switching that could adversely affect paper throughput. When a higher ranked tray is unavailable, tray selection may involve checking the availability of lower ranked trays before the present tray is empty, and by postponing a switch to such trays to help avoid excessive tray switching. A change in printing condition may provide a convenient and opportune time to switch between trays without adversely affecting paper throughput.

A paper sheet stacking mechanism 50 includes a stacking wheel 52, a roller 54 that is disposed outward from the stacking wheel 52 so as to be coaxially aligned with the stacking wheel 52 and that is rotatable about a shaft 53 at a greater angular velocity than that of the stacking wheel 52, and a transport unit that is configured to transport a paper sheet to the gap between two adjacent vanes 52b of the stacking wheel 52. The transport unit is located such that a discharge position is disposed outward from the outer periphery of the base 52a of the stacking wheel 52 and inward of the circular region defined by the tips of the vanes 52b of the stacking wheel 52 during the rotation of the stacking wheel 52, when viewed in the axial direction of the shaft 53 of the stacking wheel 52.

A medium transport device includes a base frame which includes an outer edge forming portion which configures an outer edge of a device top surface, a medium support tray which is capable of switching between a horizontal posture, and a sub-tray which is capable of being displaced between a storage position and a pulled-out position, and supports the medium at the pulled-out position, in which the sub-tray includes a convex portion which configures a portion of the flat device top surface together at the storage position, and in which the sub-tray is capable of being displaced along a direction that is parallel to the device top surface in a state in which the medium support tray takes the horizontal posture.

An image reading apparatus includes a document support portion, a cover portion which is capable of opening and closing, a first surface of which forms an apparatus top surface, and a second surface of which forms a support surface which supports the document, and a base frame which forms the apparatus top surface, in which the document support portion is provided to be capable of rotational movement and is capable of switching between a first posture and a second posture, in which the first surface of the cover portion forms the apparatus top surface which runs along a horizontal direction together with a top surface of the base frame in the closed state, and in which, in the first posture, a portion of the document support portion is at a height position running along the second surface of the cover portion in the closed state.

There is provided a conveyance apparatus including a main body, a feed tray, and a discharge tray. The discharge tray includes a first projecting portion, and the main body includes a supporting portion, first and second contacting portions. With the installed discharge tray rotating by a first amount or more about a fulcrum in a direction for such a part of the discharge tray as positioned on one side in a second direction from the fulcrum to move away from the first contacting portion, the first projecting portion is positioned below the second contacting portion. The part of the installed discharge tray as positioned on the one side in the second direction from the fulcrum is lighter in weight than the part of the installed discharge tray as positioned on the other side in the second direction. The conveyance apparatus includes a regulating portion.

There is provided a sheet tray including: first, second and third trays. The second tray moves between a first position and a second position in which an overlapping area is smaller than that obtained in the first position. The third tray includes a third support surface and a fourth support surface. The third support surface includes a protrusion which protrudes upward to be positioned above the first support surface in a state that the third tray is in the first pivoting position. The third tray overlaps with the first support surface in a state that the second tray is in the first position and that at least a part, of the third tray, except for the protrusion is positioned below the first support surface, and the third tray does not overlap with the first support surface in a state that the second tray is in the second position.

An automatic document feeding device includes a document tray, an ejection tray, and a document takeout port. The document tray is rotatably attached to a rotation fulcrum provided in a body of the automatic document feeder, to load a document. The document tray includes a first positioner and a second positioner. The first positioner is disposed at a front side of the body in a direction perpendicular to a document feed direction. The second positioner is disposed at a depth side of the body in the direction perpendicular to the document feed direction. The first positioner is disposed upstream from the rotation fulcrum in the document feed direction and above the document takeout port in the body. An upper portion and side surfaces of the first positioner in the direction perpendicular to the document feed direction are surrounded by the document tray in a closed state of the document tray.

In a case where a skew of a document being conveyed is detected by a detection unit, an image reading apparatus notifies that documents having different sheet widths may be included in documents stacked on a stacking unit.

A media processing device includes: a hopper for supporting a stack of media units (e.g. cards), the hopper including (i) a gate wall configured to abut leading edges of the media units and (ii) an outlet defined at an end of the gate wall; a pick roller at the outlet for engaging an outer one of the media units in the stack and dispensing the outer media unit from the hopper to a media processing path; the gate wall including a flexible gate at the outlet, the flexible gate configured to deflect toward the media processing path responsive to the outer media unit being driven into the flexible gate by the pick roller, wherein the outer media unit deflects when passing by the flexible gate, permitting the outer media unit to be dispensed from the hopper.

A sheet conveying device includes a conveyor for conveying a sheet along a predetermined conveyance path and a feeder unit for supporting the sheet to be fed to the conveyor. The conveyor includes a first guide part for guiding the sheet toward a downstream side in the conveying direction in a direction inclined at a downward gradient, a second guide part for guiding the sheet from the first guide part toward a further downstream side in a direction inclined at an upward gradient, a suction roller arranged at the first guide part for conveying the sheet supported by the feeder unit toward the downstream side, and a first conveyance roller arranged at the second guide part and for conveying the sheet conveyed by the suction roller toward the downstream side one at a time.