Patent ID: 7364152
Filing Date: 2008-04-29
Classification: B65H

Abstract:
1. A sheet feeding apparatus comprising: a stacking plate pivotable with sheets stacked thereon; a sheet feeding roller, which feeds the sheets stacked on said stacking plate, in a sheet feeding direction; biasing means, which biases said stacking plate toward said sheet feeding roller; a sheet feeding cam, which is rotated in operative association with a rotation of said sheet feeding roller; and a depressing mechanism, which is movably supported in a moving direction along the sheet feeding direction to engage said stacking plate, and in a depressing direction in which said depressing mechanism depresses said stacking plate by a constant amount in operative association with a rotation of said sheet feeding cam against a biasing force of said biasing means, wherein either said depressing mechanism or said stacking plate is provided with a plurality of pawls along the depressing direction, and the other is provided with an engagement portion engageable with said pawls, and wherein while said depressing mechanism is moved in operative association with a rotation of said sheet feeding cam, one of said pawls and said engagement portion are engaged with each other during the sheet feeding process and said depressing mechanism subsequently depresses said stacking plate by a constant amount in the depressing direction.