Patent ID: 7367557

Claim:
A sheet material feeding apparatus comprising: a conveying device that conveys stacked sheet materials in a stacking direction in a standing state; a feed-out device that brings a feed-out roller into contact with a face of the stacked sheet materials conveyed by the conveying device and feeds the sheet materials out in a direction crossing the conveying direction of the stacked sheet materials by rotation of the feed-out roller; a guide unit that guides the sheet materials fed out by the feed-out device along a guide surface such as to project a part of the feed-out roller from the guide surface; and an inclination correcting device, provided upstream of the feed-out device in its sheet material feeding direction, that includes a roller member located at a position higher than that of the feed-out roller in order to bring an upper side of the stacked sheet materials conveyed towards the feed-out device into contact with the roller member to correct the inclination of the stacked sheet materials, wherein the inclination correcting device includes a support shaft inclined to make a predetermined angle with respect to a normal line such that an upper end of the support shaft is at a closer distance to the stacked sheet materials whereas a lower end of the support shaft is more distant to the stacked sheet materials, the support shaft configured to support the roller member and to further support a plurality of roller members having a same diameter as that of the roller member, located in a lower side of the roller member and arranged in parallel with each other at predetermined intervals, and the roller member on the upper side being arranged to project much further from the guide unit than the feed-out roller.