Patent ID: 7600752

Claim:
A sheet feeding device, comprising: a stacking plate for stacking sheets thereon, the stacking plate being supported, movably up and down, inside the sheet feeding device; a moving mechanism for moving the stacking plate up and down; a pick-up device for sending a top one of sheets stacked on the stacking plate, out in a sheet feeding direction from a sheet feeding position set within a predetermined level range; a detection plate mounted above the sheet feeding position and below a top inner surface of the sheet feeding device with a lower surface of the detection plate facing an object other than the sheets placed on the stacking plate, the detection plate being supported, movably up and down, at a support portion provided at a predetermined location in an upper surface of the detection plate, the lower surface of the detection plate making contact with the object when the object moves upward by a predetermined distance; a detecting device for detecting upward and downward displacement of the detection plate; and a control section for controlling operation of the moving mechanism according to detection result of the detecting device.