Patent ID: 7077396

Claim:
A sheet feeding apparatus comprising: rotatable feeding means for feeding a sheet by rotation thereof; supporting means, having a supporting portion movable toward and away from the rotatable feeding means, for supporting a plurality of stacked sheets from a side opposite from the rotatable feeding means, and for elastically causing one sheet closest to the rotatable feeding means to contact the rotatable feeding means; separating means, having an abutting portion movable toward and away from the rotatable feeding means, for elastically holding the sheets between the abutting portion and the rotatable feeding means, and for separating the sheets so as to allow only the one sheet closest to the rotatable feeding means to be fed out with the rotation of the rotatable feeding means, the separating means being disposed downstream of the supporting means in a sheet feeding direction; sheet separating means for displacing remaining sheets in a direction away from the rotatable feeding means when the one sheet has been advanced to a target position reaching sheet transporting means disposed downstream in the sheet feeding direction; abutting portion separating means for moving the abutting portion in a direction away from the rotatable feeding means so as to release the holding of the sheets between the abutting portion and the rotatable feeding means when the one sheet has reached the target position; and limiting means for preventing the remaining sheets, excluding the one sheet, from moving downstream in the sheet feeding direction when the one sheet has reached the target position; wherein the sheet separating means and the limiting means are integrally disposed.