End fence, sheet feeding cassette, sheet feeding device, and image forming apparatus including the end fence

摘要

A sheet feeding cassette for use in an image forming apparatus, like a printer, a copier, a facsimile device or the like, with a bottom plate (17) which is rotatable up and down while being biased upward, and an end fence (19, 42, 54), which includes an end fence main body (21) that is attached to the sheet feeding cassette (2) and movable in a direction along a feeding direction of sheets (S) loaded on the bottom plate (17), a fixing device (22) that fixes the end fence main body (21) at any desired position in the sheet feeding cassette (2), and a sheet pressing element (23) that presses against trailing edges in a sheet feeding direction of the sheets (S) loaded on the bottom plate (17). The sheet pressing element (23) is provided to the end fence main body (21) and movable in the sheet feeding direction, and protrudes from the end fence main body (21) forward in the sheet feeding direction when the sheet pressing element (23) moves in the sheet feeding direction. The end fence (19, 42, 54) further includes a biasing device (24, 43, 55) that biases the sheet pressing element (23) in a direction in which the sheet pressing element (23) moves forward in the sheet feeding direction, and a bias force switching device (25, 44, 56) that switches between a biasing condition in which a bias force of the biasing device (24, 43, 55) is exerted on the sheet pressing element (23) and a non-biasing condition in which a bias force of the biasing device (24, 43, 55) is not exerted on the sheet pressing element (23) .