Patent ID: 7694950

Claim:
A sheet feed device comprising: a first sheet cassette comprising an accommodating portion configured to accommodate a first plurality of sheets; a second sheet cassette disposed on the first sheet cassette and comprising a holding portion configured to hold a second plurality of sheets; a sheet feeder configured to selectively feed the first plurality of sheets and the second plurality of sheets in a sheet feed direction toward a sheet feed path; and a sheet separator configured to separate, one by one, the sheets fed by the sheet feeder, wherein the second sheet cassette is configured to move on the first sheet cassette with respect to the sheet feeder from a first position to a second position and from the second position to the first position, and the sheet feeder selectively feeds the first plurality of sheets and the second plurality of sheets, and wherein the sheet feeder comprises a first sheet feed roller configured to move between a first sheet feed position in which the first sheet feed roller contacts the holding portion of the second sheet cassette when the second sheet cassette is in the first position, and a second sheet feed position in which the first sheet feed roller contacts the accommodating portion of the first sheet cassette when the second sheet cassette is in the second position, wherein the sheet separator comprises an inclined separation plate disposed at a downstream end of the first sheet cassette in the sheet feed direction, and wherein the sheet feed device further comprises a positioning unit configured to position the second sheet cassette relative to the inclined separation plate such that the second sheet cassette is received by the inclined separation plate when the second sheet cassette is in the first position.