Patent ID: 8177217

Claim:
A sheet feeding device, comprising: a sheet carrying unit to carry a sheet stack thereon; an attraction separation device to electrostatically attract an uppermost sheet of the sheet stack and separate the uppermost sheet from the sheet stack, the attraction separation device including a plurality of rollers; an endless dielectric belt stretched over the plurality of rollers; and an elastic member provided inside a loop of the endless dielectric belt and configured to bring the endless dielectric belt into contact with the uppermost sheet, the elastic member being a non-rotatable member, wherein the elastic member is divided into a plurality of elastic member pieces, and the plurality of elastic member pieces are disposed in a direction perpendicular to a conveying direction of the uppermost sheet; a sheet conveying device configured to convey the uppermost sheet separated by the attraction separation device; and a lifting and lowering device configured to lift and lower the sheet stack carried on the sheet carrying unit, the lifting and lowering device lifting the sheet stack to a lift position at which the uppermost sheet contacts with the attraction separation device, and the attraction separation device standing by for a set time to attract the uppermost sheet and starting to convey the uppermost sheet after the set time elapses in a state in which the sheet stack remains at the lift position.