Patent ID: 8736926

Claim:
A sheet conveyance device comprising: a loading section to accommodate multiple sheets stacked one on another; a sheet feeding unit disposed facing a top sheet of the multiple sheets set in the loading section to transport the top sheet from the loading section; a separation section disposed downstream in a sheet conveyance direction from the sheet feeding unit to separate at a separation position (Ab) one by one the multiple sheets transported by the sheet feeding unit; a conveyance member to transport the sheet separated by the separation section; a trailing-edge detector disposed downstream from the separation position (Ab) in the sheet conveyance direction to detect a trailing edge of the sheet, the trailing-edge detector including a rotary follower to rotate as the sheet moves, and a rotation detector to detect rotation of the rotary follower; a first leading-edge detector disposed downstream from the trailing-edge detector to detect a leading edge of the sheet; and a controller to cause the sheet feeding unit to start sheet feeding at a predetermined timing, wherein a length of the sheet in the sheet conveyance direction is detected by the trailing-edge detector, when the length of the sheet in the sheet conveyance direction detected by the trailing-edge detector equals a predetermined reference length, the controller causes the sheet feeding unit to start sheet feeding in response to detection of the leading edge of the sheet by the first leading-edge detector, and in other cases the controller causes the sheet feeding unit to start sheet feeding in response to detection of the trailing edge of the sheet by the trailing-edge detector.