Patent ID: 7661674

Claim:
A feeding device for feeding a sheet in a feeding direction, comprising: a drive roller that is configured to be driven by a drive source; and a driven roller that is opposed to said drive roller in a radial direction thereof and is biased toward said drive roller, such that said driven roller and said drive roller cooperate with each other to feed the sheet while holding the sheet therebetween, wherein said driven roller includes a toothed wheel portion and a contactable portion having a diameter smaller than that of said toothed wheel portion, wherein said drive roller includes a first portion and a second portion, such that a radially outer end of said second portion is more distant from an axis of said drive roller than a radially outer end of said first portion, wherein said drive and driven rollers are positioned relative to each other during absence of the sheet therebetween, such that said contactable portion of said driven roller is held in contact at a circumferential surface thereof with a circumferential surface of said second portion of said drive roller, and such that a radially outer end of said toothed wheel portion is not in contact with a circumferential surface of said first portion, and wherein said first portion of said drive roller is provided by at least one annularly grooved portion of an outer circumferential surface of said drive roller while said second portion of said drive roller is provided by at least one non-grooved portion of said outer circumferential surface of said drive roller, such that said toothed wheel portion is received at least at a peripheral portion thereof in said at least one annularly grooved portion.