Planar-media-feed method
View Patent ↗A method of feeding a planar medium, includes providing a host tray having a feed edge adjacent to which the medium is extracted by a feeder, and having a spring plate for lifting the medium; nesting a media carrier in the host tray, wherein the media carrier includes a print biasing edge which forms an acute angle with the spring plate through the travel of the spring plate, so that the print biasing edge and the feeder together impose an angular acceleration on a planar medium disposed between the print biasing edge and the spring plate, so that the medium is rotated away from the print biasing edge; disposing a planar medium in the host tray over the spring plate; and extracting the planar medium at the feed edge using the feeder.
1. A method of feeding a planar medium, comprising:
a) providing a host tray having a feed edge adjacent to which the medium is extracted by a feeder, and having a spring plate for lifting the medium;
b) nesting a media carrier in the host tray, wherein the media carrier includes two spaced-apart print biasing edges which form respective acute angles with the spring plate through the travel of the spring plate, so that each print biasing edge, together with the feeder, imposes a force having a positive magnitude in the direction of a feed force and having a lateral component away from that print biasing edge on a planar medium disposed between that print biasing edge and the spring plate, so that the medium is rotated away from that print biasing edge;
c) disposing the planar medium in the host tray over the spring plate, so that the spring plate exerts a force on the medium towards the media carrier, the planar medium having a width substantially equal to the distance between the print biasing edges; and
d) extracting the planar medium at the feed edge by exerting the feed force on the planar medium using the feeder.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the media carrier is not attached to the host tray.
3. The method of claim 1 , further including disposing multiple sheets of planar media in the host tray over the spring plate and extracting one at a time, wherein the media carrier is lifted by the spring plate as the sheets are extracted.