Patent ID: 6969063

Claim:
A paper feeding apparatus of an image forming apparatus comprising: a frame forming a paper stacker or a paper feed tray to stack papers; a pickup portion disposed above the frame and comprising a pickup roller to pick up the stacked papers; a paper separating member disposed relative to the frame to separate and feed one sheet of the picked up papers at a time while supporting a leading end of the fed sheets to enter the paper separating member at a predetermined angle; and a paper-entering angle varying portion provided to the frame to vary the angle of the leading end of the sheets entering the paper-separating member according to a thickness and stiffness of the papers when the paper is picked up, wherein the paper-entering angle varying portion comprises a paper leading end bending guide formed on a bottom surface of the frame on which the leading end of the sheets are stacked, and the pickup roller comprises a shaft and the paper leading end bending guide comprises a declining surface declined downward at a predetermined angle with respect to a horizontal plane created by the bottom surface of the frame between a position on the horizontal plane moved from a point meeting a vertical line extending from a center of the shaft of the pickup roller towards a rear side of the sheet by a predetermined distance, and a position on which the paper separating member is disposed.