Patent ID: 8038141
Filing Date: 2011-10-18
Classification: B65H

Abstract:
1. A document feeder configured to feed a document sheet in a sheet carrying direction, comprising: a sheet tray configured to be loaded with sheets stacked thereon in a predetermined direction; a pickup unit configured to pull in sheets loaded on the sheet tray and feed the sheets forward in the sheet carrying direction; a separation unit configured to separate a sheet from the sheets fed through the pickup unit from the sheet tray and feed the separated sheet, so as to convey the sheets sequentially on a sheet-by-sheet basis; and a guide unit configured to form a carrying path which extends from the sheet tray to the separation unit, the guide unit having an entrance portion provided upstream in the sheet carrying direction relative to the pickup unit and the separation unit, the entrance portion being configured as an entrance of the sheets loaded on the sheet tray into the carrying path, and the carrying path having a first length in the predetermined direction within a range from a downstream side relative to the entrance portion to the pickup unit in the sheet carrying direction, the first length being longer than a second length in the predetermined direction at the entrance portion, one end of the first length in the predetermined direction being defined by the guide unit.