Patent ID: 7303190

Claim:
An automatic feeding mechanism operable to pick up one of recording media placed on a feed tray one by one and to feed said recording medium, said automatic feeding mechanism comprising: said feed tray on which a predetermined number of recording media are able to be placed; a hopper operable to push said recording media on said feed tray toward a feed roller; and a separator located in a downstream of said hopper near said hopper, wherein said automatic feeding mechanism picks up one of said recording media one by one in an order from an uppermost recording medium to a lowermost recording medium and feeds said recording medium thus picked to its downstream by an action of said feed roller and said hopper to sandwich and transfer said recording medium and an action of said separator to separate the uppermost recording medium from the predetermined number of said recording media on said feed tray, and said automatic feeding mechanism is rotatable around a fulcrum of rotation to be foldable, such that said hopper, said feed tray, and said separator revolve around said fulcrum.