Automatic sheet stack loading mechanism of sheet feeding apparatus

An automatic sheet stack loading mechanism of a sheet feeding apparatus, comprising:

• a main lift adapted to support thereon a stack of sheets to be fed;
• a sheet separator disposed over the main lift to act on the uppermost sheet of the stack of sheets so as to separate the sheets one by one from the stack, said main lift being movable upwardly to bring the uppermost sheet of the stack thereon to a predetermined height position relative to the sheet separator;
• horizontally extending parallel spits for insertion under the stack of sheets supported by the main lift to support the load of the stack from below thereby to enable the main lift to be lowered to receive a new stack of sheets thereon while the uppermost sheet of said first stack is held at said predetermined height;
• a pair of vertically movable carriages disposed at both sides of the main lift with respect to the direction transverse to the direction of feed of the sheets from said first stack, each of said carriages carrying thereon the parallel spits so that the parallel spits extend in said transverse direction and are shiftable toward and away from the stack on the main lift;
• shifting means for shifting the spits toward and away from the stack on the main lift;
• sheet stack aligning means disposed at both transverse sides of the main lift for aligning the side faces of the stacks;
• and
• motive power means for moving the aligning means towards and away from the stacks, said aligning means and said motive power means being mounted on the carriages.