Patent ID: 7988143

Claim:
A sheet feeder comprising: a cassette for accommodating sheets; a feed roller that feeds the sheets accommodated in the cassette to an image forming unit; a sloping separation plate that is provided on a downstream side of the cassette in a sheet feeding direction; and a separation member that is attached in the sloping separation plate, the separation member including a first separation claw and second separation claw, and the first separation claw being closer to a bottom surface of the cassette than the second separation claw, the separation member and the feed roller cooperating with each other to separate and feed the sheets, sheet by sheet; wherein the sloping separation plate has openings so as to allow distal projecting portions of the first separation claw and second separation claw to project through the sloping separation plate, respectively, wherein, a first angle formed between the distal projecting portion of the first separation claw and the sloping separation plate is larger than a second angle formed between the distal projecting portion of the second separation claw and the sloping separation plate, and wherein, a number of rows of separation claws on an upstream side of the feeding direction is greater than a number of rows of separation claws on the downstream side of the feeding direction.