Sheet feeder trays

Abstract

A feeder tray having movable front section to allow for loading of stock without having to load over the front section of the tray.

1 . A media feeder tray for retaining sheets comprising a bottom member, a front member and two side members, and an optional back member, each member defining a surface for contacting a quantity of sheets, said front member being configured to be capable of pivotably-moving about either/or both side members or said bottom member  
     
     
         2 . A media feeder tray in accordance with  claim 1  comprising a back member.  
     
     
         3 . A media feeder tray in accordance with  claim 1  wherein said front member is cantilevered with only one side member.  
     
     
         4 . A media feeder tray in accordance with  claim 1  wherein said front member is cantilevered with said bottom member.  
     
     
         5 . A media feeder tray in accordance with  claim 1  wherein the front member comprises two elements, one element of which is cantilevered to one side member and the other element of which is cantilevered to the other side member.  
     
     
         6 . A media feeder tray in accordance with  claim 1  wherein the front member comprises two or more elements that are pivotably-movable with respect to one another in a manner that the elements can be folded upon each other.  
     
     
         7 . A media feeder tray in accordance with  claim 1  wherein the front member is pivotably-moved with both side members so as to be movable between a vertical position with respect to the bottom member to a horizontal position with respect to the bottom member.  
     
     
         8 . A media feeder tray in accordance with  claim 1  wherein the media feeder tray further comprises a stack module slidable in and out of said media feeder tray through the front of the tray when said front member is pivotably-moved in a manner to provide an opening in said front of the tray.  
     
     
         9 . A media feeder tray in accordance with  claim 1  housed in a electrostatographic system.  
     
     
         10 . A media feeder tray in accordance with  claim 1  where the media feeder tray is operationally configured with respect to the media imaging device to be capable of sliding in and out of said media imaging device.  
     
     
         11 . A media feeder tray for retaining sheets comprising a bottom member, a front member and two side members, and a back member, at least one of said side members or bottom member comprising an insertion structure or void into which a portion of said front member may be interned.  
     
     
         12 . A media feeder tray in accordance with  claim 11  wherein the front member comprises two elements, one element of which may be interned within one of said side members, and the other element may be interned within the other said side member.  
     
     
         13 . A media feeder tray in accordance with  claim 10  wherein the front member is internable in said bottom member.  
     
     
         14 . A media feeder tray in accordance with  claim 10  wherein the insertion structure is a track on the outside of at least one member.  
     
     
         15 . A media feeder tray in accordance with  claim 10  wherein the media feeder tray further comprises a stack module slidable in and out of said media feeder tray through said front member when said front member is interned in one or more member.  
     
     
         16 . A media feeder tray in accordance with  claim 10  housed in a electrostatographic system.  
     
     
         17 . A media feeder tray in accordance with  claim 10  where the media feeder tray is operationally configured with respect to the media imaging device to be capable of sliding in and out of said media imaging device.  
     
     
         18 . A method comprising 
 loading media sheets into a tray comprising a bottom member, a front member, two side members and a back member, each member defining a surface for contacting a quantity of sheets, the front member being operatively configured to pivotably-move about either or both of said two side members and/or said bottom member;    placing the loaded tray into a media image production device having a media feeder system at a position in the media image production device such that media from the tray is feed into the media feeder system of the media image production device.    
     
     
         19 . A method in accordance with  claim 15  wherein the loading of the media into the tray is by way of the front of the tray with the front member being pivotably-moved in a manner to open the front of the tray to loading.  
     
     
         20 . A method in accordance with  claim 15  wherein the loading of media comprising loading of paper stock.