Sheet feeding apparatus

A sheet feeding apparatus for intermittently feeding sheets, comprising:

• a sheet pickup roller fixed to a rotatable drive shaft and having a cross section comprising an arc portion and a chord portion to substantially form a semicylindrical configuration;
• cylindrical roller means rotatably coupled to said rotatable drive shaft and disposed at both sides of said sheet pickup roller;
• a pad biased by elastic means to be pressed against said sheet pickup roller and said cylindrical roller means;
• and
• a guide member provided at said chord portion to extend along an axis of said sheet pickup roller, said guide member has a width to come into contact with said sheet over a range from a contact point between said sheet pickup roller and said pad to one end portion of said arc portion which acts as a leading portion at which said sheet pickup roller initially comes into contact with said sheet when rotating in a predetermined direction.

A sheet feeding apparatus comprising:

• a sheet pickup roller rotatable in a predetermined direction for feeding one of sheet sheets stacked on sheet storage means, in sequence, to a given place;
• a member urged to engage said sheet pickup roller to form a nip through which one of the sheets is fed in cooperation with rotation of said sheet pickup roller through an engaging portion with said sheet pickup roller toward the given place;
• and
• sheet guiding means, provided on said sheet pickup roller, for guiding a leading edge portion of the one of the sheets stacked on the sheet storage means to the engaging portion of said member at the time of start of a sheet-feeding operation, said sheet guiding means being carried by said sheet pickup roller so as to rotate when said sheet pickup roller rotates to exert pressure on leading edge portions of the sheets stacked on the sheet storage means at a preselected level while allowing a given degree of slippage between said sheet guiding means and the one of the sheets to be guided in disengagement of said sheet pickup roller from the one of the sheets.