Patent ID: 8444137

Claim:
A recording material feeding apparatus comprising: a feeding unit configured to feed a recording material; a stacking unit configured to stack recording materials on a stacker portion thereof, lift up the stacker portion to feed the recording material using the feeding unit, and lift down the stacker portion after the recording material is fed by the feeding unit; a detection unit configured to detect periods from a time when a detection value detected by the detection unit changes from a first value to a second value to a time when the detection value changes back to the first value during a period from a time when the stacker portion is lifted up to a position to feed the recording material from a lifted-down state and to a time when the stacker portion is lifted down from a lifted-up state, the periods being different in detection results; and a control unit configured to acquire a stacking amount of the recording materials stacked on the stacker portion based on the detection results of detection by the detection unit.