Patent ID: 7885596

Claim:
A feeder for documents or other sheet materials, comprising: an inlet; an outlet; a transfer path that guides a document during transfer from the inlet via a scanning point to the outlet; a transfer system that moves a document or other material along the transfer path; a first transfer element included in the transfer system at a position downstream of the scanning point; a second transfer element included in the transfer system at a position downstream of the first transfer element, the second transfer element configured to be rotatable in a normal direction and a reverse direction; a third transfer element included in the transfer system at a position upstream of the scanning point; and a controller configured to set a transfer force of the second transfer element that rotates in the normal direction to be greater than that of the first transfer element, the controller configured to set a transfer force of the second transfer element that rotates in the reverse direction to be greater than that of the third transfer element, wherein the second transfer element is disposed in a position in the feeder higher than a position in which the third transfer element is disposed in a direction perpendicular to a line intersecting the scanning point when the feeder is configured to be utilized with an image scanner, and the position in which the third transfer element is disposed in the feeder is higher than a position in which the first transfer element is disposed, and wherein the third transfer element and the second transfer element are configured in the transfer system to nip the document simultaneously when the second transfer element rotates in the reverse direction.