Patent ID: 7931266

Claim:
A sheet feeding device to feed a sheet in a sheet stack into a sheet feeding path along a sheet feeding direction, comprising: a sheet holder to hold the sheet in a position to be fed; a feed roller to be rotated to pick up the sheet from the sheet stack and arranged in a position, in which the sheet comes in contact with the feed roller; a first lifter, having a front end and a rear end, to move a first portion of the sheet holder, which is closer to the feed roller, by one of the front end and the rear end, the first lifter being pivotable about the other one of the front end and the rear end; a second lifter, having a front end and a rear end, to move a second portion of the sheet holder, which is further from the feed roller than the first portion, by one of the front end and the rear end, the second lifter being pivotable about the other one of the front end and the rear end; and a coordinating system to move the first lifter and the second lifter in cooperation with each other at different rates of speed to move the overall sheet holder in a direction to be closer to the feed roller; wherein the first lifter moves the sheet holder at a rate of speed, which is greater than a rate of speed that the second lifter moves the sheet holder so that an amount of the sheet holder to be moved by the first lifter is greater than an amount of the sheet holder to be moved by the second lifter, and wherein the coordinating system moves the first lifter to pivot about the other one of the front end and the rear end at a rate of speed that is greater than a rate of speed that the coordinating system moves the second lifter to pivot about the other one of the front end and the rear end.