Patent ID: 8141865

Claim:
A sheet feeding device, comprising: an air separating unit that blows air to a stacked bundle of sheets to separate each of sheets in the bundle; an air suctioning unit that suctions air to suction a top sheet having been separated from the stacked bundle of sheets; and a sheet feeding unit that feeds the sheet, which is suctioned to and retained by the air suctioning unit in a separating and suctioning operation performed by the air separating unit and the air suctioning unit, in a sheet feeding direction, wherein the air separating unit includes: a floating air blowing unit that blows air to leading edges of the bundle of sheets in the sheet feeding direction to float upper sheets including at least the top sheet in the bundle; a separating air blowing unit that blows air to the leading edges of the bundle of sheets in the sheet feeding direction, which are floated by the floating air blowing unit, to separate each sheet in the bundle; and side air blowing units that blow air to both side edges of the bundle of sheets to separate each of the sheets in the bundle, which are floated, from both side edges of the bundle of sheets; and wherein the sheet feeding device further includes a control unit that controls to cause the floating air blowing unit to blow the air, to cause the separating air blowing unit to blow the air, to cause the side air blowing units to blow the air, and to cause the air suctioning unit to suction the air all at different operational timings and in an exact order of operational timings in the separating and suctioning operation.