Patent ID: 8544839

Claim:
A sheet feeder configured to feed sheets, comprising: a friction member configured to contact a bottom one of the sheets to be fed and apply a frictional resistance to the sheets; a feed roller disposed to face the friction member, the feed roller configured to provide a feeding force to the sheets by rotating while contacting a top one of the sheets and applying to the sheets a pressing force for pressing the sheets against the friction member; a supporting member attached to a main body of the sheet feeder, the supporting member being configured to support the friction member and receive the pressing force from the feed roller via the friction member; and a separation roller configured to separate a plurality of sheets fed by the feed roller on a sheet-by-sheet basis, the friction member comprising: a contact pressure surface configured to contact the feed roller in a situation where there is no sheet between the friction member and the feed roller, the contact pressure surface being disposed closer to the feed roller than an upper surface of the supporting member, such that a virtual tangential plane does not intersect with the supporting member, the virtual tangential plane of the contact pressure surface extending toward an upstream side and a downstream side in a sheet feeding direction; and a slanted guide surface disposed upstream relative to the contact pressure surface in the sheet feeding direction, the slanted guide surface being slanted with respect to the virtual tangential plane so as to be farther away down from the virtual tangential plane toward the upstream side in the sheet feeding direction; wherein the contact pressure surface is parallel to the upper surface of the supporting member.