1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile apparatus, a composite machine which has functions of copying, facsimile, and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an image forming apparatus includes a paper feeding cassette which selectively stores at least two kinds of paper sheets having different size with respect to a paper feeding direction. However, in a conventional image forming apparatus disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. HEI 05-330674 and HEI 06-135571, for example, a cursor which restricts a posterior end of paper sheets stacked in the paper feeding cassette with respect to the paper feeding direction is held at a fixed height.
Image forming apparatuses of the prior art listed above need a paper feeding cassette which stores a large number of small-sized paper sheets since small-sized paper sheets are frequently used. Such paper feeding cassette is made to store large-sized paper sheets as well. In this case, the height of the paper feeding cassette is made to be the same as in the case of storing small-sized paper sheets. Consequently, the size of the apparatus inevitably becomes larger. However, since large-sized paper sheets are not used frequently and its number used in one time is small, the necessity of storing large-sized paper sheets as many as small-sized paper sheets is small. Further, since the total weight of the paper feeding cassette becomes larger if a maximum number of large-sized paper sheets are stacked, attaching and detaching operations of the paper feeding cassette becomes difficult.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds