Patent ID: 8262080

Claim:
A sheet feeding apparatus comprising: a sheet stacking portion capable of lifting and lowering, on which sheets are stacked; an air blowing portion which blows air on the sheets stacked on the sheet stacking portion to loosen the sheets; a suction conveyance portion which suctions and conveys the sheets loosened by the air blowing portion; a driving portion which drives the sheet stacking portion to lift and lower with respect to the suction conveyance portion; a back end regulating member which regulates a position of a back end in a conveying direction of the sheets stacked on the sheet stacking portion; a back end detecting portion which is arranged on the back end regulating member and detects a back end side in the conveying direction of a topmost sheet of the sheets stacked on the sheet stacking portion; a front end detecting portion which detects a front end side in the conveying direction of the topmost sheet of the sheets stacked on the sheet stacking portion; and a controlling portion which performs control to disable start of a sheet feeding operation of the suction conveyance portion in a case where the back end detecting portion and the front end detecting portion do not detect the sheets when the driving portion is controlled so that the sheet stacking portion lifts toward the suction conveyance portion and stops in a predetermined position.