Patent ID: 7677550

Claim:
A sheet feeding apparatus comprising: a sheet tray in which a plurality of sheets are to be stacked; a sheet feeding section which lifts a sheet upward by vacuum from the plurality of sheets stacked in the sheet tray and feeds the sheet to an image forming apparatus; a first sheet separator which comprises, an advance resisting member movable between a separation position where the advance resistance member comes in contact with the sheet vacuumed at the sheet feeding section and separates each sheet from the plurality of sheets when the sheet feeding section feeds the plurality of sheets and a retreat position where the advance resisting member is retreated from contact with the sheet; and a second sheet separator downstream of the first sheet separator in a conveyance path of the sheet, the second sheet separator comprises, a forward roller rotated in a sheet transport direction, which feeds the sheet to the image forming apparatus, a parallel retard roller which rotates in an opposite direction so as to separate each sheet from the plurality of sheets; and a sheet separator controller section which controls movement of the advance resisting member between the separation position and the retreat position.