Patent ID: 8500117

Claim:
A sheet feeding apparatus comprising: a cassette body that is detachably attached to an apparatus body; a sheet stacking portion, provided in the cassette body, that supports sheets thereon, the sheet stacking portion being able to perform a lifting and lowering operation; a sheet feeding portion that feeds the sheet stacked on the sheet stacking portion; a lifting and lowering device that includes a driving source and performs lifting and lowering operations of the sheet stacking portion by driving the driving source; a controller that controls the driving source; a locking portion, provided in the cassette body, that can move to a locked position in which the sheet stacking portion is locked in the cassette body and to an unlocked position in which the sheet stacking portion is unlocked, wherein the locking portion engages with the sheet stacking portion at the locked position to lock the stacking portion in the cassette body attached to the apparatus body; a holding portion that holds the locking portion in the unlocked position; and an actuation portion that moves the locking portion from the locked position to the unlocked position by a driving force of the driving source in order that the locking portion is held by the holding portion in advance of the lifting operation of the sheet stacking portion.