Paper feeding device and paper feeding method

A paper feeding method for feeding paper sheets, comprising:

• loading paper sheets, wherein the paper sheets are loaded in a thickness direction aligned with an up-down direction, by use of a paper feeding device, the paper feeding device comprising:
• a paper feeding table onto which a bundle of the stacked paper sheets is loaded;
• a guide plate that is vertically provided above the paper feeding table, to abut on a leading edge of the paper sheets in the bundle;
• a back guide having an abutting surface that abuts on a trailing edge of the paper sheets in the bundle;
• a suction hole through which each loaded paper sheet is suctioned downward;
• a suction pump that supplies a negative pressure to the suction hole;
• a paper feeding conveyor comprised in the paper feeding table and comprising one of a paper feeding roll or a belt conveyor that moves each paper sheet loaded onto the table one of forward or rearward in a paper feeding direction;
• a servo motor that rotationally drives the paper feeding conveyor;
• a support piece that supports a lower edge of a front side of the bundle of the stacked paper sheets in a state where the lower edge is separated from the paper feeding table, and a paper trailing edge storing part comprising a gap provided between a lower end of the abutting surface of the back guide and the paper feeding table;
• and
• retracting, by the servo motor, the paper sheet that is in a lowermost layer of the stacked paper sheets in the bundle so as to store a trailing edge of the lowermost layer paper sheet in the paper trailing edge storing part, and then advancing the lowermost layer paper sheet through the gap to feed the lowermost layer paper sheet to the another device, while suctioning, by the suction pump, the lowermost layer paper sheet of the loaded paper sheets.