Patent ID: 8602409

Claim:
A sheet feeding apparatus comprising; a sheet accommodating portion which can be drawn from an apparatus body; a sheet stacking portion, provided on the sheet accommodating portion, on which is stacked sheets; a lift mechanism which pushes up the sheet stacking portion to a range where an uppermost one of the sheets stacked on the sheet stacking portion can be fed by a sheet feeding portion; a driving portion provided in the apparatus body, which drives the lift mechanism, and an engagement between the lift mechanism and the driving portion is releasable to lower the sheet stacking portion in connection with a drawing of the sheet accommodating portion; and a damper gear, provided on the sheet accommodating portion, which is engaged with the lift mechanism, and as the engagement of the lift mechanism and the driving portion is released, the damper gear exerts a damper effect on the lift mechanism to reduce a lowering speed of the sheet stacking portion, wherein the damper gear includes: a gear portion which is engaged with the lift mechanism and rotates; a sliding member which can slide with respect to the gear portion; a frictional resistance member which is provided between the gear portion and the sliding member, and which generates resistance by a frictional force between the sliding member and the gear portion; and an idling region where the gear portion rotates without exerting the damper effect to the lift mechanism, and when the engagement between the lift mechanism and the driving portion is released, the sheet stacking portion is lowered by a constant amount at the idling region, and after the sheet stacking portion is lowered by the constant amount at the idling region, the gear portion slides with respect to the sliding member against the frictional force of the frictional resistance member to exert the damper effect on the lift mechanism.