Patent ID: 8727339

Claim:
A sheet feeding apparatus, comprising: a sheet stacking portion on which sheets are stacked; a pickup roller that contacts with a top surface of an uppermost one of the sheets stacked on the sheet stacking portion and that feeds the sheet; a feed roller that feeds the sheet fed by the pickup roller; a retard roller that is pressed against the feed roller to separate the sheets fed by the pickup roller one by one; a sheet conveying portion that conveys the sheet separated by the feed roller and the retard roller; a drive transmission portion that transmits a driving force from a drive source to the retard roller to return the sheet in a direction opposite to a sheet feeding direction through a torque limiter; and a rotation transmission portion that connects the retard roller and the pickup roller, and that transmits a rotation of the retard roller rotated by the sheet conveyed by the sheet conveying portion to the pickup roller so as to rotate the pickup roller in a direction to feed the sheet on the sheet stacking portion.