JP2020200129A - Sheet feeding device and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a sheet feeding device capable of avoiding collision between a shuffling guide and a pickup roller when attaching/detaching a paper feeding cassette.SOLUTION: A sheet feeding device includes a pickup roller 61, a feed roller, a retard roller forming a separation nip with the feed roller 65, and a handling guide 51 guiding the sheet to the separation nip, wherein the pickup roller 61 has a pair of rollers 67 which is provided on both sides of the pickup roller 61 in the width direction, has an outer diameter larger than that of the pickup roller 61, is prevented from rotating on a rotary shaft 75 of the pickup roller 61, and is supported movably in the vertical direction, and when the paper feed cassette is pulled out, the pair of rollers 67 comes into contact with the handling guide 51 to avoid a collision between the handling guide 51 and the pickup roller 61.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5B

Description

The present invention relates to a sheet feeding device for feeding sheets from a paper cassette and an image forming apparatus including a sheet feeding device.

In the image forming apparatus, the sheet on which the image is formed is sent out from the paper feed cassette by the paper feeding mechanism and conveyed to the image forming unit. The paper feed mechanism includes a pickup roller that feeds a sheet from a paper cassette, a feed roller provided on the downstream side of the pickup roller, and a retard roller that forms a separation nip between the feed rollers. Further, when a large number of sheets are sent out by the pickup roller, a handling guide for reducing the number of sheets may be provided.

The transport path of the sheet sent out from the paper feed device differs depending on the specifications of the image forming device. As one of the configurations of the transport path, as described in Patent Document 1, there is a back surface C path path in which a substantially C-shaped inverted transport path is provided along the back surface of the apparatus main body.

In the case of such a rear C path path, it is common that a paper feed mechanism is provided in the main body of the device and the paper feed cassette is attached to and detached from the main body of the device. Depending on the paper feeding state of the sheet, the sheet may be left in a state of being sandwiched between the separation nips. Since the separation nip is located on the back side of the main body of the device, it is difficult for the user to visually check the sheet sandwiched between the separation nips. For this reason, if the paper cassette is pulled out while the sheet is sandwiched between the separation nips, the sandwiched sheet is sandwiched between the paper cassettes when the paper cassette is attached, and a paper feed failure occurs. There is a problem.

Further, since the feed roller and the retard roller are in contact with the sheet, wear occurs due to friction with the sheet. As the wear progresses, poor paper feeding occurs, so it is preferable that these rollers can be easily maintained or replaced. However, in the case of the rear C path path, since each roller is arranged on the rear side of the apparatus main body, there is a problem that maintenance and replacement are not easy.

JP-A-2017-197383

To solve the above problem, there is a method of providing a retard roller and a handling guide in a paper cassette attached to and detached from the main body of the apparatus. In this case, the retard roller can be easily maintained or replaced by pulling out the paper feed cassette from the main body of the apparatus.

In the rear C-pass path, the paper cassette is generally attached to and detached from the device body along the front-back direction. Further, the sheet feeding direction from the paper feed cassette is a direction toward the downstream side (rear side of the apparatus main body) in the mounting direction of the paper feed cassette. Therefore, the pickup roller is arranged on the upstream side in the delivery direction (upstream side in the mounting direction, front side of the apparatus main body) from the separation nip.

On the other hand, the paper cassette is provided with a sheet loading plate on which a sheet is placed. The seat loading plate is supported so as to be able to move up and down so as to incline upward toward the downstream side (rear side of the apparatus main body) in the delivery direction. Then, the pickup roller abuts on the downstream end of the sheet in the feeding direction, and feeds the sheet diagonally upward toward the back side. Therefore, the highest portion of the separation nip and the handling guide that separates the sent out sheets is higher than the contact position (paper feed position) between the pickup roller and the sheet.

Then, there is a problem that the retard roller and the handling guide collide with the pickup roller when the paper cassette is attached to and detached from the apparatus main body. In particular, since the handling guide is immovable with respect to the paper feed cassette, there is a risk of damaging the pickup roller when it collides with the pickup roller.

In consideration of the above circumstances, the present invention takes into consideration the above circumstances, and when the paper feed cassette is attached or detached, a sheet feeding device and a sheet feeding device capable of avoiding a collision between the handling guide provided in the paper feed cassette and the pickup roller provided in the apparatus main body It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus provided with the apparatus.

In order to solve the above problems, the sheet feeding device of the present invention includes a paper feed cassette that is detachably attached to the cassette storage unit and a sheet that is provided in the cassette storage unit and is stored in the paper feed cassette. A feeding unit for feeding is provided, and the feeding unit comes into contact with a sheet housed in the paper feed cassette and moves the sheet in a feeding direction toward the downstream side in the mounting direction of the paper feed cassette. The paper cassette has a pickup roller that feeds along the pick-up roller, a feed roller provided on the downstream side of the pickup roller in the feeding direction, and a paper feed holder that swingably holds the pick-up roller. The pickup roller has a retard roller that comes into contact with the feed roller to form a separation nip, and a handling guide that guides the sheet to the separation nip, and the pickup roller has the pickup in a width direction orthogonal to the feeding direction. The pair includes a pair of rollers provided on both sides of the roller, having an outer diameter larger than that of the pickup roller, being stopped by the rotation axis of the pickup roller, and being supported so as to be movable in the vertical direction. The roller is characterized in that when the paper feed cassette is pulled out, it comes into contact with the handling guide to avoid collision between the handling guide and the pickup roller.

In the sheet feeding device of the present invention, the width of the handling guide may be longer than the distance between the pair of rollers.

In the sheet feeding device of the present invention, the pair of rollers has elongated holes along the vertical direction through which the rotation axis of the pickup roller penetrates, and in the standby state, the lower end surfaces of the pair of rollers are the said. The elongated hole moves downward with respect to the rotation axis so as to be lower than the lower end surface of the pickup roller, and in the feeding state, the lower end surface of the pair of rollers is below the pickup roller. It may be characterized in that the elongated hole moves upward with respect to the rotation axis so as to have the same height as the end face.

In the sheet feeding device of the present invention, when the paper feed cassette is pulled out, the paper feed holder is brought into contact with the pair of rollers and pushed up by the paper feed guide to retract upward. It may be characterized by allowing the passage of the retard roller.
The image forming apparatus of the present invention is characterized by including the sheet feeding device and an image forming unit that forms an image on the sheet fed by the sheet feeding device.

According to the present invention, when the paper feed cassette is pulled out, the rollers come into contact with the handling guides and rotate the paper feed holder via the rollers, so that the handling guides pass under the pickup rollers without colliding with the pickup rollers. Can be made to. Therefore, the paper cassette provided with the handling guide can be attached and detached without colliding with the pickup roller.

It is a front view which shows typically the internal structure of the image forming apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a side view which shows the paper feed cassette and the paper feed device of the sheet feeding device which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 5 is a view of a pickup roller and a roller in a state where they are not in contact with a sheet in a sheet feeding device according to an embodiment of the present invention as viewed from the front side. It is a figure which looked at the pickup roller and the roller in the state which were not in contact with a sheet in the sheet feeding device which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention from the right side. It is a perspective view which shows the roller in the sheet feeding device which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a side view which shows the state which the handling guide is in contact with a roller in the sheet feeding device which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a side view which shows the state which the paper feed holder is rotated by the handling guide in the sheet feeding apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which looked at the pickup roller and the roller in the state of being in contact with a sheet from the front side in the sheet feeding device which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which looked at the pickup roller and the roller in the state of being in contact with a sheet from the right side in the sheet feeding device which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

Hereinafter, the sheet feeding device and the image forming device according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, the overall configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the internal structure of the image forming apparatus. In the following description, the left side of the paper surface in FIG. 1 is the front side (front side) of the color printer. Fr, Rr, L, and R in each figure indicate the front side, the rear side, the left side, and the right side of the image forming apparatus, respectively.

The image forming apparatus 1 is configured to include a substantially C-shaped inverted transport path 5 (rear C path path) in a side view along the back surface of the apparatus main body 3. The reversing transport path 5 is formed between a rear cover 7 that opens and closes an opening 3a opened on the back surface of the apparatus main body 3 and a transport unit 9 arranged inside the rear cover 7. The rear cover 7 and the transport unit 9 are each rotatably supported by the apparatus main body 3 about the lower end portion. By rotating the rear cover 7 downward, the reversing transport path 5 is opened. Further, a main transport path 11 is formed between the transport unit 9 and the apparatus main body 3. The main transport path 11 is opened by rotating the transport unit 9 downward together with the rear cover 7.

The sheet is transported along the main transport path 11 along the transport direction from the bottom to the top. The reverse transport path 5 branches at a branch point B on the downstream side in the transport direction of the main transport path 11, and merges at a confluence point J on the upstream side of the main transport path 11. Further, a manual feed path 13 is formed in the device main body 3. The manual feed path 13 is formed substantially horizontally from the manual feed port 15 formed on the front surface of the apparatus main body 3 toward the merging point J, and joins the main transport path 11 at the merging point J.

In the device main body 3, a cassette accommodating portion 17 is formed below the manual feed path 13. The cassette accommodating portion 17 is open to the front surface of the apparatus main body 3. The cassette accommodating portion 17 is provided with a sheet feeding device 18. The sheet feeding device 18 includes a paper feed cassette 19 in which the sheets are stored, and a feeding unit 21 for feeding the sheets from the paper feed cassette 19.

The paper feed cassette 19 is detachably attached to the cassette accommodating portion 17. That is, the paper feed cassette 19 is mounted on the cassette accommodating portion 17 along the mounting direction from the front side to the rear side, and is pulled out from the cassette accommodating portion 17 along the pull-out direction from the rear side to the front side. The paper feed unit 21 is arranged above the rear end portion of the cassette accommodating portion 17. The paper feed unit 21 feeds the sheet from the paper feed cassette 19 toward the main transport path 11.

The apparatus main body 3 is provided with an image forming unit 23 above the manual feed path 13. The image forming unit 23 forms an image on the sheet by, for example, an electrophotographic method. The sheet sent out from the paper feed cassette 19 by the paper feed device 21 or the sheet conveyed along the manual feed path 13 is conveyed along the main transfer path 11, and an image is formed on the sheet in the image forming unit 23. Will be done.

Next, the paper feed cassette 19 and the paper feed unit 21 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a side view showing a paper cassette and a paper feed device.

The paper feed cassette 19 includes a main body 31, a sheet loading plate 33 on which a sheet is loaded, a lift plate 35 that tilts the sheet loading plate 33 upward toward the rear, and a retard roller 37.

The main body 31 has a shallow box shape with an open upper surface, and has a bottom plate 31a, a front side plate 31b, a rear side plate 31c, and left and right side plates 31d. A roller accommodating portion 39 accommodating the retard roller 37 is formed so as to project rearward at the central portion in the left-right direction of the rear side plate 31c. The upper surface and the front surface of the roller accommodating portion 39 are open, and a rectangular parallelepiped accommodating space is formed by a bottom plate, a rear side plate, and left and right side plates. This accommodation space is formed so as to be the same as the maximum height of the main body 31 or lower than the maximum height of the main body 31. That is, the rear side plates and the left and right side plates of the roller accommodating portion 39 have the same height as the rear side plates 31c of the main body portion 31, and are lower than the sheet feeding position P by the pickup roller 61 described later. Is formed in.

The seat loading plate 33 is arranged on the bottom plate 31a of the main body 31. The seat loading plate 33 is rotatably supported around a pin 41 provided at the front end portion of the left and right side plates 31d of the main body portion 31.

The lift plate 35 is arranged between the bottom plate 31a of the main body 31 and the seat loading plate 33. The lift plate 35 is rotatably supported around a rotation shaft 43 provided at the rear end of the bottom plate 31a of the main body 31. When the rotating shaft 43 is driven by the motor 45 and rotates, the lift plate 35 rotates upward and tilts the seat loading plate 33 upward toward the rear.

Next, the retard roller 37 will be described. The retard roller 37 is held in the retard holder 49. The retard holder 49 has a box shape with an open upper surface, and has a bottom plate that is convexly curved downward in a side view, and left and right side plates. A handling guide 51 extending diagonally upward from the central portion in the left-right direction toward the inside of the retard holder 49 is formed on the front end edge of the bottom plate.

Both ends of the rotating shaft 53 are supported at the center of the left and right side plates of the retard holder 49 in the left-right direction. The retard roller 37 is pivotally supported on the rotating shaft 53 via a torque limiter (not shown).

The retard holder 49 is rotatably supported in the vertical direction about a fulcrum pin 55 provided on the left and right side plates of the roller accommodating portion 39. The retard holder 49 is urged by the urging member 57 so that a part of the retard roller 37 rotates in a posture of protruding upward from the roller accommodating portion 39.

Next, the paper feed unit 21 will be described. The paper feed unit 21 includes a pickup roller 61, a feed roller 63, a paper feed holder 65 that supports the pickup roller 61 and the feed roller 63, and two rollers 67 (not shown in FIG. 2, FIGS. 3A and 3B). (See FIG. 4). The roller 67 will be described later.

The paper feed holder 65 is a substantially rectangular parallelepiped box-shaped member having an open lower surface, and has a top plate and left and right side plates. The paper feed holder 65 is rotatably supported by the drive shaft 71 of the feed roller 63. The drive shaft 71 penetrates one end of the left and right side plates of the paper feed holder 65 and is connected to a motor 73 provided in the cassette accommodating portion 17. The drive shaft 71 is driven by the motor 73 to rotate. The feed roller 63 is rotatably fixed to the drive shaft 71 between the left and right side plates of the paper feed holder 65.

The pickup roller 61 has the same width as the retard roller 37, and is rotatably supported by a rotating shaft 75 provided between the left and right side plates of the paper feed holder 65. On one inner surface of one of the left and right side plates of the paper feed holder 65, a gear provided on the rotating shaft 75 of the pickup roller 61 (not shown) and a gear provided on the drive shaft 71 of the feed roller 63 (not shown) are provided. The meshing idle gear (not shown) is rotatably supported. As a result, when the feed roller 63 rotates integrally with the drive shaft 71, the pickup roller 61 rotates in the same direction as the feed roller 63 via the idle gear.

A one-way clutch is interposed between the pickup roller 61 and the rotating shaft 75, and between the feed roller 63 and the drive shaft 71, respectively. As a result, when the connection between the drive shaft 71 and the motor 73 is released, the pickup roller 61 and the feed roller 63 can rotate in a driven manner. Therefore, when the sheet is transported by the transport roller on the downstream side, the pickup roller 61 and the feed roller 63 rotate in a driven manner to reduce the transport load.

The paper feed holder 65 is supported by a regulation unit (not shown) provided in the cassette accommodating portion 17 via a spring (not shown) so that the pickup roller 61 is at the proper paper feed position P, and is supported at the paper feed position. The range of rotation upward from P is defined.

Next, the roller 67 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 4. FIG. 3A is a front view of the pickup roller and the roller, FIG. 3B is a view of the roller viewed from the right, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the roller.

The two rollers 67 are formed in a disk shape larger than the outer diameter of the pickup roller 61 (for example, about 0.5 to 1 mm). As shown in FIG. 4, a long hole 81 through which the rotation shaft 75 of the pickup roller 61 can be inserted is formed at the center of each roller 67. Further, an annular rib 83 along the outer periphery is formed on one surface of the roller 67. Further, on one surface of the roller 67, a regulation piece 85 parallel to the longitudinal direction of the elongated hole 81 is formed between the opposing inner peripheral surfaces of the rib 83. The height of the regulation piece 85 (the height of protrusion from one surface of the roller 67) is higher than the height of the rib 83. The rollers are made of an elastic material such as rubber.

As shown in FIG. 3A, the two rollers 67 are arranged on both sides of the pickup roller 61 so that one surface (the surface on which the rib 83 and the regulation piece 85 are formed) is outward and is formed in the elongated hole 81. The rotating shaft 75 is inserted. The distance between the two rollers 67 is narrower than the width of the handling guide 51. In this state, the roller 67 hangs down from the rotating shaft 75 due to its own weight. That is, the roller 67 has a lower position in which the upper edge of the elongated hole 81 is locked to the rotating shaft 75 and the lower edge of the elongated hole 81 is locked to the rotating shaft 75, as shown in FIG. 3B. It is possible to move in the vertical direction with respect to the rotation axis 75 between the upper position and the rotation shaft 75. As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, at the lower position, the outer circumference of the roller 67 projects below the outer circumference of the lower portion of the pickup roller 61.

On the other hand, stopper pieces 91 along the vertical direction are formed on the left and right side plates of the paper feed holder 65. Since the roller 67 hangs down from the rotation shaft 75 and the regulation piece 85 is along the vertical direction, when the roller 67 is supported by the rotation shaft 75, one surface (front surface) of the regulation piece 85 of the roller 67 becomes It contacts one surface (rear surface) of the stopper piece 91 of the paper feed holder 65. As a result, the roller 67 is stopped by the rotation shaft 75, and the rotation of the roller 67 with respect to the paper feed holder 65 is restricted. On the other hand, as described above, the roller 67 can move between the upper position and the lower position with respect to the rotation shaft 75 in the direction (vertical direction) along the elongated hole 81.

In the image forming apparatus 1 having the above configuration, a state in which the paper feed cassette 19 is mounted on the cassette accommodating portion 17 will be described with reference to FIG. In this state, the retard holder 49 is urged by the urging member 57, and the retard roller 37 rotates in a posture in which the retard roller 37 protrudes upward from the roller accommodating portion 39 to regulate the amount of protrusion. As a result, the retard roller 37 abuts on the feed roller 63 from below to form a separation nip N between the two rollers. The separation nip N is formed at a position higher than the paper feed position P (contact position between the pickup roller 61 and the sheet). Further, the maximum height of the handling guide 51 provided in the retard holder 49 is also higher than the paper feed position P. Therefore, when the paper feed cassette 19 is pulled out from the cassette accommodating portion 17, the handling guide 51 and the retard roller 37 collide with the pickup roller 61. In particular, the handling guide 51 collides with the pickup roller 61 before the retard roller 37.

Next, the operation of pulling out the paper feed cassette 19 from the cassette accommodating portion 17 will be described with reference to FIGS. 5A and 5B. FIG. 5A is a view of the pickup roller and the roller viewed from the front, and FIG. 5B is a view of the roller viewed from the right.

As described above, when the paper feed cassette 19 is pulled out from the cassette accommodating portion 17, the handling guide 51 collides with the pickup roller 61. Here, as described above, the width of the handling guide 51 is wider than the distance between the rollers 67, and the outer circumference of the lower portion of the roller 67 projects outward from the outer circumference of the lower portion of the pickup roller 61. As shown in the above, the handling guide 51 does not abut on the pickup roller 61 but abuts on the roller 67. As a result, a force is applied to the roller 67 in the pulling direction (see the white arrow in FIG. 5A, forward), and the roller 67 tries to rotate in the clockwise direction in FIG. 5A about the rotation shaft 75. However, since the restricting piece 85 of the roller 67 engages with the stopper piece 91 of the paper feed holder 65 and the rotation of the roller 67 with respect to the paper feed holder 65 is restricted, the roller 67 does not rotate and is shown in FIG. 5B. It is pushed up by the handling guide 51 so as to be. As a result, the paper feed holder 65 is pushed up by the handling guide 51 via the roller 67, and rotates upward about the drive shaft 71 (see FIG. 2) as shown by the arrow in FIG. 5B. While the paper feed holder 65 is rotating upward in this way, the handling guide 51 and the retard roller 37 pass below the pickup roller 61. That is, the pickup roller 61 does not collide with the handling guide 51.

When mounting the paper feed cassette 19 on the cassette accommodating portion 17, first, the retard roller 37 comes into contact with the roller 67, pushes up the paper feed holder 65, and rotates it upward about the drive shaft 71. While the paper feed holder 65 is rotating upward, the handling guide 51 passes below the pickup roller 61. At this time, the retard roller 37 hits the pickup roller 61, but since the retard roller 37 and the pickup roller 61 are made of elastic members (for example, rubber), the contact between the rollers does not have a large effect. Further, since the pickup roller 61 is driven to rotate in the paper feeding direction (counterclockwise direction), the impact is buffered.

Next, the paper feeding operation of the sheet will be described with reference to FIGS. 2, 6A and 6B. FIG. 6A is a view of the pickup roller and the roller viewed from the front, and FIG. 6B is a view of the roller viewed from the right.

When the paper feeding operation is started, as shown in FIG. 2, the rotating shaft 43 of the lift plate 35 is driven by the motor 45 to rotate to rotate the lift plate 35, and the seat loading plate 33 is pinned 47. Is rotated around the center and tilted upward toward the rear. As a result, the uppermost sheet of the sheet placed on the sheet loading plate 33 comes into contact with the pickup roller 61. At this time, since the outer circumference of the lower portion of the roller 67 projects outward from the outer circumference of the lower portion of the pickup roller 61, the roller 67 first comes into contact with the sheet S. Then, as shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the roller 67 is pushed up by the sheet S, and the rotating shaft 75 moves downward relative to the elongated hole 81. As a result, the pickup roller 61 comes into contact with the seat.

After that, the drive shaft 71 of the feed roller 63 is driven by the motor 73 to rotate, and the pickup roller 61 rotates together with the feed roller 63. As a result, the top sheet is fed out along the predetermined feeding direction by the pickup roller 61, and is conveyed toward the separation nip N by the feed roller 63. Although the roller 67 is also in contact with the sheet, the load due to the weight of the roller 67 is only applied to the sheet and does not affect the paper feeding performance.

When the number of sheets delivered is one, the retard roller 37 is driven to rotate with respect to the feed roller 63 at the separation nip N to feed the sheets. When a plurality of sheets are fed out, the uppermost sheet is sent out by the feed roller 63, but the frictional force between the uppermost sheet and the sheet below it is the frictional force between the lower sheet and the retard roller 37. Since the retard roller 37 is smaller than the above and the torque limiter does not apply a predetermined torque or more, the retard roller 37 does not rotate due to the action of the torque limiter, and the lower sheet is not conveyed. In this way, the feed roller 63 and the retard roller 37 separate the sheets, and only the top one sheet is sent out.

When the number of sheets sent out is large (for example, 10 sheets), the number of sheets sent out is reduced (for example, reduced to a few sheets) by the handling guide 51.

As described above, according to the present invention, the image forming apparatus 1 is provided with a rear C-pass path and has a configuration in which the highest portion of the handling guide 51 is higher than the paper feed position P of the pickup roller 61. When the paper cassette 19 is pulled out, the roller 67 comes into contact with the handling guide 51, and the paper feed holder 65 is rotated via the roller 67. Therefore, the handling guide 51 can be moved below the pickup roller 61 without colliding with the pickup roller 61. Can be passed. Therefore, the paper feed cassette 19 provided with the handling guide 51 can be attached to and detached from the cassette accommodating portion 17 without colliding with the pickup roller 61. By pulling out the paper feed cassette 19, maintenance and replacement of the retard roller 37 can be easily performed.

On the other hand, at the time of feeding paper, the roller 67 moves relative to the pickup roller 61 so that the lower end surface of the roller 67 is at the same height as the lower end surface of the pickup roller 61, so that the pickup roller 61 comes into contact with the sheet. , Does not affect the paper feed operation.

Although the present invention has been described for specific embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. Those skilled in the art can modify the above embodiment without departing from the scope and gist of the present invention.

1 Image forming device 17 Cassette accommodating unit 19 Paper feed cassette 18 Sheet feeding device 21 Paper feeding unit 23 Image forming unit 37 Retard roller 51 Handling guide 61 Pickup roller 63 Feed roller 65 Paper feed holder 67 Roller 75 Rotating shaft 81 Long hole

Claims (5)

A paper cassette that is detachably attached to the cassette housing and
A feeding unit provided in the cassette accommodating portion for feeding the sheets stored in the paper feed cassette is provided.
The feeding unit is
A pickup roller that comes into contact with a sheet housed in the paper cassette and feeds the sheet along the feeding direction toward the downstream side in the mounting direction of the paper cassette.
A feed roller provided on the downstream side of the pickup roller in the feeding direction, and
It has a paper feed holder that holds the pickup roller swingably.
The paper cassette is
A retard roller that contacts the feed roller to form a separation nip,
It has a handling guide that guides the sheet to the separation nip.
The pickup roller
It is provided on both sides of the pickup roller in the width direction orthogonal to the feeding direction, has an outer diameter larger than that of the pickup roller, is stopped by the rotation axis of the pickup roller, and can move in the vertical direction. Including a pair of rollers supported by
The pair of rollers
A sheet feeding device characterized in that when the paper feed cassette is pulled out, it comes into contact with the handling guide to avoid a collision between the handling guide and the pickup roller. The sheet feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the width of the handling guide is longer than the distance between the pair of rollers. The pair of rollers has elongated holes along the vertical direction through which the rotation axis of the pickup roller penetrates.
In the standby state, the elongated hole moves downward with respect to the rotation axis so that the lower end surfaces of the pair of rollers are lower than the lower end surfaces of the pickup roller.
In the feeding state, the elongated hole moves upward with respect to the rotation axis so that the lower end surface of the pair of rollers has the same height as the lower end surface of the pickup roller. The sheet feeding device according to claim 1. The paper feed holder
The first aspect of the present invention is that when the paper feed cassette is pulled out, the handling guide abuts on the pair of rollers and is pushed up by the handling guide to retract upward to allow the retard roller to pass through. The sheet feeding device according to any one of 3 to 3. The sheet feeding device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
An image forming apparatus comprising: an image forming section for forming an image on a sheet fed by the sheet feeding apparatus.

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