Patent ID: 7000916

Claim:
A sheet-supply device for supplying sheets, one by one from a stack of sheets, in a sheet feed direction, the sheet-supply device comprising: a hopper portion that has an inclined wall for holding the stack of sheets in an inclined position and a lower edge receiving portion capable of receiving lower leading edges of sheets that form the stack of sheets; a sheet feed mechanism that includes a sheet-supply roller which separates and feeds a topmost sheet from the stack of sheets held by the hopper portion; a stopper member that is provided to a bottom plate of the hopper portion so that a position of the stopper member can be changed between a protruding position where the stopper member protrudes from an upper surface of the bottom plate and a retracted position where the stopper member retracts below the upper surface of the bottom plate, and applies a resistance to movement of the sheets in the sheet feed direction; a position change mechanism that changes the position of the stopper member between the protruding position and the retracted position and changes the position of the stopper member from the protruding position to the retracted position at least when a sheet feed operation is performed by the sheet-supply roller; and a position change control device that controls the up-and-down movement of the stopper member in accordance with a condition of the sheets held by the hopper portion.