A sheet feeding device, which is included in an image forming apparatus, includes a sheet container to accommodate a recording medium, a sheet feeding body to press a surface of the recording medium in the sheet container and feed the recording medium in a sheet conveying direction, a pair of sheet position regulators to regulate a position of the recording medium in a sheet width direction perpendicular to the sheet conveying direction, and a load applier to contact the surface of the recording medium and apply a load to the recording medium at the surface. The recording medium is brought to move toward one of the pair of sheet position regulators while the recording medium is being fed. A lower face position in a standby state of the sheet feeding body is lower than a lower face position in a standby state of the load applier.

A method and apparatus for processing documents are provided. The apparatus includes a feeder for receiving a packet of a plurality of documents and separating the documents to serially feed the documents to a scanner. A retard adjacent the feeder is operable in first and second positions. In the first position the retard forms a nip with the feeder so that the retard is operable to impede the progress of one or more documents in the packet while the feeder feeds one of the documents in the packet. In the second position, the retard is spaced apart from the feeder to form a gap between the feeder and the retard. The system further includes a sensor for detecting a characteristic of the documents in a packet indicative of whether the number of documents in the packet exceeds a predetermined threshold. A drive mechanism automatically drives the retard pad between the first and second positions in response to the detected characteristic

A method and apparatus for processing documents are provided. The apparatus includes a feeder for receiving a packet of a plurality of documents and separating the documents to serially feed the documents to a scanner. A retard adjacent the feeder is operable in first and second positions. In the first position the retard forms a nip with the feeder so that the retard is operable to impede the progress of one or more documents in the packet while the feeder feeds one of the documents in the packet. In the second position, the retard is spaced apart from the feeder to form a gap between the feeder and the retard. The system further includes a sensor for detecting a characteristic of the documents in a packet indicative of whether the number of documents in the packet exceeds a predetermined threshold. A drive mechanism automatically drives the retard pad between the first and second positions in response to the detected characteristic

A sheet feeder, which is incorporated in an image forming apparatus, includes an endless attraction belt that is rotatably disposed facing a top surface of a sheet stack, a belt charger to attract an uppermost sheet of the sheet stack, and a sheet separator to press the attraction belt against the sheet stack, bend a contact region to which the uppermost sheet is attracted and contacted to the attraction belt, and separate the uppermost sheet from a subsequent sheet or other sheet of the sheet stack. In this configuration, a curvature of a contact surface of the sheet separator with respect to the attraction belt is changeable.

A sheet feeder, which is incorporated in an image forming apparatus, includes an endless attraction belt that is rotatably disposed facing a top surface of a sheet stack, a belt charger to attract an uppermost sheet of the sheet stack, and a sheet separator to press the attraction belt against the sheet stack, bend a contact region to which the uppermost sheet is attracted and contacted to the attraction belt, and separate the uppermost sheet from a subsequent sheet or other sheet of the sheet stack. In this configuration, a curvature of a contact surface of the sheet separator with respect to the attraction belt is changeable.

A feeder includes a pressing section that presses a medium after a feeding force is applied on the medium in a direction in which a leading edge of the medium set in a setting section in a feeding direction abuts on an abutment section during feeding of the media by a feed roller.

A feeder includes a pressing section that presses a medium after a feeding force is applied on the medium in a direction in which a leading edge of the medium set in a setting section in a feeding direction abuts on an abutment section during feeding of the media by a feed roller.

Apparatus for separating workpieces which preferably consist at least in sections of wood, wood-based materials, plastic or the like, having a workpiece magazine with a magazine area for holding a plurality of workpieces, in particular a stack of workpieces, a discharge device for discharging a workpiece out of the workpiece magazine, characterised in that the apparatus has a feed device which is set up to feed at least one workpiece held in the workpiece magazine to the discharge device.

A feeding mechanism comprises a base body, a feeding roller and a linkage assembly. The base body has a feeding channel. The feeding roller is disposed on the base body, and a part of the feeding roller is located in the feeding channel. The linkage assembly comprises a guiding component and a pressing component. The guiding component is pivotally coupled to the base body. Two ends of the pressing component are respectively and slidably disposed on the base body and the guiding component. The guiding component is rotatable relative to the base body so as to drive the pressing component to move along an extension direction of the feeding channel relative to the guiding component.

A sheet storage device includes: an accommodation unit that accommodates a sheet in a manner stacking on a certain surface; a sheet sliding unit that is positioned on a first end side of a sheet accommodated in the accommodation unit and sequentially slides a sheet from a sheet positioned in a lowermost layer; and a supporting unit that is positioned on a second end side opposite to the first end side of a sheet accommodated in the accommodation unit and supports an area around the second end of the sheet in a manner separating from the certain surface by being pressed by a weight of the sheet and an own weight.