Patent ID: 8251364

Claim:
A sheet feeding apparatus comprising: a feeding unit which abuts on a sheet and feeds the sheet; a pressure plate having sheets stacked thereon, and turnably supported so that a sheet on the uppermost layer among the stacked sheets abuts on the feeding unit; a biasing unit which biases the pressure plate in order to bring the sheets stacked on the pressure plate into pressure contact with the feeding unit; a separating unit which depresses the pressure plate against the biasing force of the biasing unit and separates the sheet from the feeding unit by a predetermined distance; a separation driving unit which drives the separating unit; a measuring unit which measures the driving load applied to the separation driving unit when the separation driving unit drives the separating unit; and a load imparting unit which imparts load to at least any one of the pressure plate, the separating unit, and the separation driving unit, wherein the load imparting unit imparts load when the sheet is separated from the feeding unit by the separating unit, and the load imparting unit changes the load to be imparted, according to the turning angle of the pressure plate, and wherein the separation driving unit includes a DC motor, and the measuring unit calculates the driving load applied to the separation driving unit from a PWM duty at the time of the driving of the DC motor.