Patent ID: 8495665

Claim:
A medium transporting unit for transporting a top medium from a stacker in which a plurality of media are stacked, the medium transporting unit comprising: a holding mechanism operable to hold the top medium; a movable transport arm provided with the holding mechanism; and a separation mechanism provided in the transport arm and including a rotatable first pressing lever, wherein the holding mechanism is configured to selectively apply one of a first pressing force and a second pressing force greater than the first pressing force to an upper surface of the top medium, the holding mechanism applies the first pressing force to the upper surface of the top medium when the holding mechanism holds the top medium stored in a place where a single medium is stored, the holding mechanism applies the second pressing force to the upper surface of the top medium when the holding mechanism holds the top medium stored in a place where the plurality of media are stored, and when the holding mechanism holds the top medium stored in the place where the plurality of media are stored and the transport arm moves up, an operation piece of the first pressing lever comes in contact with an inner circumferential surface of a center hole of a second medium and separates the second medium from the top medium.