Patent ID: 7891657

Claim:
A sheet feeder for an image forming apparatus, comprising: a sheet tray on which is loaded first and second sheets; a feed roller picking up and feeding the first and second sheets; a separating pad separating the first sheet from the second sheet, together with the feed roller; a feed motor driving the feed roller; a conveying roller pair provided downstream from the feed roller in a sheet conveyance direction, and conveying the first sheet fed by the feed roller; and a deformation prevention member preventing deformation of a head of the second sheet caused by the feed roller and the separating pad nipping the second sheet, wherein when the conveying roller pair nips and conveys the first sheet and a tail of the first sheet is still nipped by the feed roller and the separating pad, the deformation prevention member applies a load to the feed roller to prevent the feed roller from being rotated by the tail of the first sheet nipped and conveyed by the conveying roller pair before the second sheet separated by the feed roller and the separating pad is fed a predetermined distance or greater by the feed roller, the predetermined distance being greater than 0 mm, and wherein the second sheet is prevented from being conveyed to a downstream position downstream from a nip formed between the feed roller and the separating pad, the load applied by the deformation prevention member to the feed roller to prevent the feed roller from being rotated by the tail of the first sheet nipped and conveyed by the conveying roller pair is set to a level that is enough to prevent the second sheet from being conveyed to the downstream position downstream from the nip formed between the feed roller and the separating pad, and the sheet feeder feeds the first sheet followed by the second sheet successively, to a gap between an image forming device of the image forming apparatus and a conveyer of the image forming apparatus, the gap being greater than 0 mm.