Patent ID: 7080833

Claim:
A paper feeding apparatus comprising: a sheet base mounted with a sheet; a base portion for supporting a sheet end of the sheet mounted on the sheet base; and a paper feeding roller unit including: a paper feeding roller for being brought into contact with the sheet mounted on the sheet base at an operating position upward from the base portion to rotate to thereby exert a force of feeding the sheet; and a rotation transmitting mechanism cooperatively connected to the paper feeding roller, wherein: the sheet base is divided into a fixed inclined portion inclinedly raised from the base portion, and a movable portion erected and fallen between a fallen attitude covering the paper feeding roller unit from an upper side thereof and an erected attitude extended to an upper side of the fixed inclined portion for supporting a portion of the sheet mounted on the fixed inclined portion projected from the fixed inclined portion, the movable portion is erectably and fallably supported by a lateral shaft arranged at a constant position, further, the rotation transmitting mechanism of the paper feeding roller unit includes an input ring member arranged upward from the paper feeding roller, and a position of operating the paper feeding roller is determined at a position opposed to the fixed inclined portion; the movable portion operates simultaneously with an arm pivotally supported by the lateral shaft, the input ring member is rotatably supported by a shaft member provided to the paper feeding roller unit, the shaft member is extended in a side direction of the paper feeding roller unit and pivotally attached to the arm at an eccentric portion relative to an axis line of the lateral shaft to thereby displace the shaft member in an up and down direction around the lateral shaft by operating to erect and fall the movable portion; the paper feeding roller unit is moved down by operating to change an attitude of the movable portion from the erected attitude to the fallen attitude and the paper feeding roller is moved from the operating position to a containing position at which the paper feeding roller rides over the base portion and by operating to change the attitude of the movable portion from the fallen attitude to the erected attitude, the paper feeding roller unit is moved up and the paper feeding roller is moved from the containing position to the operating position; and the lateral shaft is attached with a drive gear driven to rotate by a motor and the shaft member is attached with a driven gear for transmitting rotation of the drive gear to the input ring member by being brought in mesh with the drive gear when the movable sheet base is brought into the erected attitude.