Patent ID: 8302956

Claim:
A sheet feeding apparatus, comprising: a feed roller positioned to feed sheets supported by a sheet supporting portion; a separation claw positioned to separate one by one the sheets, which are fed by the feed roller, by restraining both side ends in a width direction orthogonal to a sheet feeding direction of leading edges of the sheets, a deflection of a sheet fed by the feed roller being formed between the feed roller and the separation claw, whereby the deflected sheet climbs over the separation claw; a drive motor that drives rotation of the feed roller; a drive transmission portion positioned between the drive motor and the feed roller, and that transmits a drive force from the drive motor to the feed roller; and a control portion that controls one of the drive motor and the drive transmission portion to cause the feed roller to perform an intermittent drive of iterating the drive and a stop more than once during contact with the sheet while the sheet is deflected.