Importance

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Abstract

A sheet feeder for a printer selectively feeds a continuous sheet and a cut sheet to a printing mechanism including a platen and a print head. The continuous sheet is fed by a pair of pin tractors and the platen while the cut sheet is fed only by the platen. At least one sheet presser roller is provided for guiding the feeding of the cut sheet, which moves toward the platen when the cut sheet is fed so as to hold the latter against the platen, and moves away from the platen when the continuous sheet is fed. A switching lever sets the sheet feed mode, which when moved to a first position causes to feed the cut sheet by rotating the platen and when moved to a second position causes to feed the continuous sheet by rotating both the pin tractors and the platen. In order to prevent the sheet from jamming or tearing off due to erroneous operation of the switching lever, a buzzer alerts the operator of the erroneous operation if the switching lever is eventually moved from the first to the second position or vice versa when a relevant sheet has been loaded in the printing mechanism. A paper bail is provided for retaining the sheet onto the platen, with which the cut sheet is retained with a stronger force so that the bottom portion of the cut sheet may be appropriately printed by the print head.

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First Claim