Sheet feeding apparatus and image forming apparatus

A sheet feeding apparatus, comprising:

• a sheet stacking portion on which sheets are stacked;
• a pickup roller that feeds an uppermost one of the sheets stacked on the sheet stacking portion;
• a feed roller that feeds the sheet conveyed by the pickup roller;
• a retard roller that is pressed against the feed roller and that receives a driving force in a direction opposite to a feeding direction through a torque limiter to separate the sheets one by one at a nip position between the feed roller and the retard roller;
• a conveying portion, disposed downstream of the feed roller, that conveys the sheet separated by the retard roller;
• a drive motor that drives the feed roller;
• and
• a control unit that controls such that, while the sheet feeding apparatus feeds the sheet successively, after the sheet fed out by the feed roller and the retard roller reaches the conveying portion, a transmission of the driving force from the drive motor to the feed roller is stopped and the feed roller and the retard roller are rotated in the sheet feeding direction by a movement of the sheet conveyed by the conveying portion, and such that when the retard roller is rotating in the feeding direction by the movement of the sheet conveyed by the conveying portion, the pickup roller feeds a sheet on the sheet stacking portion so that a leading end of the sheet to be fed next from the sheet stacking portion is at the nip position between the feed roller and the retard roller.