Patent ID: 8505905

Claim:
A sheet feeding device comprising: a supply roller for feeding sheets loaded on a tray for loading sheets, a drive shaft for supporting the supply roller and rotationally driving the same, a first supporting arm which is swingably supported on the drive shaft, a second supporting arm which is swingably supported on the drive shaft, a feed roller which is rotatably supported on the first supporting arm and second supporting arm, a feed roller transmission mechanism for rotating the feed roller in conjunction with rotation of the supply roller, a first transmission mechanism for swinging the first supporting arm, a second transmission mechanism for swinging the second supporting arm, a first resilient retaining member which is capable of retaining the first supporting arm, and a second resilient retaining member which is capable of retaining the second supporting arm, the feed roller being capable of being positioned in a retracted position where the first supporting arm is retained by the first resilient retaining member, and the second supporting arm is retained by the second resilient member, during feeding of the sheet, moving from the retracted position to a feeding position where it comes into contact with the sheets mounted on the tray by swinging of the first supporting arm against the first resilient retaining member by the drive shaft via the first transmission mechanism and by swinging of the second supporting arm against the second resilient retaining member by the drive shaft via the second transmission mechanism, and feeding the sheets to the supply roller with the top sheet first, when retracted, moving from the feeding position to the retracted position by swinging of the first supporting arm against the first resilient retaining member by the drive shaft via the first transmission mechanism and by swinging of the second supporting arm against the second resilient retaining member by the drive shaft via the second transmission mechanism, the first transmission mechanism and the second transmission mechanism shifting the timing that the first supporting arm is swung against the first resilient retaining member and the timing that the second supporting arm is swung against the second resilient retaining member either when the feed roller is moved from the retracted position to the feeding position or when the feed roller is moved from the feeding position to the retracted position.