Patent ID: 8087664

Claim:
A sheet feeding apparatus comprising: a housing unit in which sheets are stacked; a pickup roller which feeds the sheet stacked in the housing unit in a conveyance direction; a regulator provided in the housing unit including a regulator body having a surface at which trailing-ends of the sheets in the housing unit are regulated, the regulator is moved in the conveyance direction and in an opposite direction to the conveyance direction; a stopper provided in the regulator body of the regulator includes a rack having a plurality of stopper teeth; a retainer in the housing unit includes a rack having a plurality of retainer teeth, the regulator is locked to the housing unit by the stopper teeth engaged with the retainer teeth; a lock-releasing mechanism including a release lever and configured to release an engagement of the retainer with the stopper, and when the release lever is pushed in the opposite direction to the conveyance direction, the stopper is moved in a release direction away from the retainer to disengage the stopper and the retainer teeth; and a movement mechanism provided in the regulator body including a depression provided in one of the stopper and the regulator body and a projection provided on the other of the stopper and a guide surface, and at least one of a surface of the depression and a surface of the projection that are in contact with each other is sloped, wherein when the regulator body is pushed in the conveyance direction, one of the projection and the depression is moved along the other and the stopper is moved in the release direction away from the retainer to disengage the teeth of the rack of the stopper and the retainer.