Patent ID: 8628077

Claim:
A paper feeding device comprising: a pickup roller that performs a paper feeding operation of sending a sheet substance off by rotating while maintaining contact with the sheet substance; an arm, of which a first end portion is supported at shaft thereof by an apparatus frame and of which a second end portion supports the pickup roller at shaft thereof, capable of being swung between a lowered position at which the pickup roller comes into contact with the sheet substance and a predetermined raised position at which the pickup roller is separate from the sheet substance; a drive motor supplying a driving force for the swing to the arm; a regulatory member constraining the arm from moving upward across the raised position; and a control section that sets a setting-speed of the drive motor to a first predetermined speed when a first driving factor occurs that causes the arm to move from a position adjacent to the raised position to the raised position, and that sets setting-speed to a second predetermined speed when a second driving factor occurs that causes the arm to move from the lowered position to the raised position, wherein the control section changes an excitation mode of the drive motor from a first excitation mode when the arm is moved downward to a second excitation mode when the arm is moved upward, and the first excitation mode is a two-phase excitation mode and the second excitation mode is a one-two-phase excitation mode.