Patent ID: 7559546

Claim:
A sheet feeding apparatus comprising: holding means for holding a sheet material; a feeding roller for feeding the sheet held by said holding means; separating means, contactable to the sheet fed by said feeding roller, for separating the sheet one by one; and a first contact portion and a second contact portion which are contactable to the sheet at respective lateral sides of said feeding roller at upstream positions with respect to a feeding direction of said separating means, wherein said first and second contact portions are contactable to the sheet at a side of the sheet opposite a side thereof to which said feeding roller contacts, and wherein distances between a rotational axis of said feeding roller and said first and second contact portions are not longer than the distance between the rotational axis of said feeding roller and an outer periphery of said feeding roller which is contactable to the sheet, wherein said first and second contact portions are contacted to the sheet at positions downstream of said holding means with respect to the feeding direction.