Sheet feeding device and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus, comprising:

• an image forming unit to form an image on a surface of a recording sheet;
• and
• a sheet feeding device to feed the recording sheet in a sheet feeding path,
• wherein the sheet feeding device is provided with:
• a sheet separator member to separate the recording sheet from a stack of sheets;
• a plurality of feeding rollers to feed the recording sheet in the sheet feeding path;
• and
• a dust remover unit to remove dust adhered onto a surface of the sheet being fed,
• wherein the dust remover unit is provided with:
• a dust absorber roller to absorb dust from the surface of the recording sheet being fed;
• a dust remover member arranged to be in contact with a surface of the dust absorber roller to remove the dust from the surface of the dust absorber roller;
• a conveyer member, arranged to be opposed to the dust remover member, to convey the dust removed by the dust remover member;
• and
• a cutter member, arranged in an intervening position between the dust remover member and the conveyer member, to cut the dust removed by the dust remover member into smaller pieces;
• wherein the dust remover member is formed to have a predetermined width, which extends in a direction perpendicular to the sheet feeding path;
• wherein the conveyer member is formed to extend to be wider than the predetermined width of the dust remover member, and is an auger screw, which includes a rotatable shaft and spirals with edges to coil around the shaft;
• wherein the dust removed by the dust remover member is conveyed by rotation of the conveyer member along the spirals;
• and
• wherein the cutter member is formed to have a width which is at least equivalent to the predetermined width of the dust remover member, and includes a plurality of blade portions, which are arranged at predetermined intervals on a base plate, the predetermined intervals corresponding to intervals between edges of the spirals.