Sheet conveying apparatus with displaceable guide between cassette and feed roller

A sheet conveying apparatus, comprising:

• sheet accommodating means for accommodating a plurality of sheets;
• sheet feeding means for feeding sheets from said sheet accommodating means;
• separation pawls for individually separating the sheets fed from said sheet feeding means;
• conveying means for conveying the sheets separated by said separation pawls;
• guiding means, disposed substantially parallel to the sheets accommodated in said sheet accommodating means and in close proximity to said separation pawls, for guiding sheets fed between said sheet accommodating means and said sheet feeding means to said conveying means,
• wherein said guiding means is displaceable an amount sufficient to allow formation of a loop in a sheet during the separation by said separation pawls.

An image forming apparatus, comprising:

• sheet accommodating means for accommodating a plurality of sheets;
• sheet feeding means for feeding sheets from said sheet accommodating means;
• separation pawls for individually separating the sheets fed from said sheet feeding means;
• a manual feeding port for manually feeding a sheet to a position between said sheet accommodating means and said sheet feeding means;
• manually-fed-sheet guiding means disposed between said sheet accommodating means and said sheet feeding means for guiding the sheet manually fed from said manual feeding port;
• and
• image forming means for forming an image on sheets fed from said sheet accommodating means and said manual feeding port,
• wherein said manually-fed-sheet guiding means is displaceable an amount sufficient to allow formation of a loop in a sheet during the separation by said separation pawls.