Sheet feeding apparatus, and image forming apparatus, image reading apparatus and communication apparatus using the sheet feeding apparatus

A sheet feeding apparatus comprising:

• an apparatus body for inserting sheets fed thereto and discharging the sheets;
• a feed sheet stacking section, mounted to the apparatus body, for stacking sheets to be fed to the apparatus body;
• and
• a discharged-sheet stacking section, mounted to the apparatus body, for stacking sheets discharged from the apparatus body,
• wherein the feed sheet stacking section includes a feed sheet stack plate on which the sheets to be fed are stacked so that an almost entire bottom surface of the stack of the sheets is supported by the feed sheet stack plate,
• the discharged-sheet stacking section includes a discharged-sheet stack plate which extends substantially parallel to the feed sheet stack plate and on which the discharged sheets are stacked so that an almost entire bottom surface of the stack of the sheets is supported by the discharged-sheet stack plate, and
• a common sheet guide is provided on an upstream side from the feed sheet stack plate in a sheet insert direction and on a downstream side from the discharged-sheet stack plate in a sheet discharge direction, the common sheet guide being movable in the sheet insert direction and the sheet discharge direction, for guiding sheets by coming in contact with edges of the sheets stacked in the feed sheet stacking section and edges of the sheets stacked in the discharged-sheet stacking section.