A controller determines whether, in a case where feeding of a subsequent sheet is performed in a first feed condition, a subsequent sheet contacts conveyance rollers during recording on a preceding sheet, the first feed condition being that feeding of the subsequent sheet is started at a first timing before recording on the preceding sheet ends and that the subsequent sheet is fed at a first velocity, and in response to determining that the subsequent sheet contacts the conveyance rollers during recording on the preceding sheet, controls the feed roller to perform feeding of the subsequent sheet in a second feed condition or a third feed condition, the second feed condition being that the feeding of the subsequent sheet is started at a second timing later than the first timing, the third feed condition being that the subsequent sheet is fed at a second velocity lower than the first velocity.

A sheet feed portion feeds a sheet by performing a pickup operation in a cycle in which a pickup rotary member is switched from a released state to a contact state and then switched to the released state. A detection unit detects the sheet at a position downstream of the sheet feed portion in the sheet feeding direction. A control unit is capable of executing a first feed mode in which a first feed process of carrying out a pickup operation is executed, or a second feed mode in which the first feed process is executed and then a second feed process of carrying out an additional pickup operation is executed. The mode to be executed is determined based on a time when the sheet is detected by the detection unit and a length of the sheet.

A paper pickup mechanism includes a mechanical frame, a pickup roller module, a feeding roller module, a driving device, a separation roller module and an energy storage element. The mechanical frame has a platform. The pickup roller module is pivoted to and connected to the mechanical frame. The feeding roller module is pivoted to and connected to the mechanical frame. The driving device is mounted to the mechanical frame. The separation roller module is pivoted to and connected to the mechanical frame. The energy storage element is mounted between the mechanical frame and the separation roller module. When the separation roller module rotates together with the feeding roller module in a forward direction, the energy storage element accumulates energies. When more than one piece of paper is fed into the paper pickup mechanism, the energy storage element releases the energies.

A sheet feeding apparatus includes a storage portion, a sheet supporting portion, a feed portion, a drive portion configured to output driving force that lifts the sheet supporting portion, a rotation shaft rotatably supported by the storage portion and including an engaging portion disposed on one end side in an axial direction, the engaging portion being configured to engage with the drive portion, a pressing portion fixed to the rotation shaft and configured to press the sheet supporting portion from below when the rotation shaft is rotated by the drive portion, and a rotary damper disposed so as to join with the rotation shaft on another end side of the rotation shaft and configured to reduce rotary motion of the rotation shaft.

A sheet conveying device includes a sheet pickup body, a first sheet conveyor, and a second sheet conveyor, which are disposed in this order along a sheet conveyance direction, and circuitry. The first sheet conveyor includes a first sheet feed roller, a second sheet feed roller, and a first motor. The second sheet conveyor includes a conveyance roller and a second motor. The circuitry is configured to determine a sheet conveyance state of a sheet based on at least one of torque of the first motor of the first sheet conveyor and torque of the second motor of the second sheet conveyor. The first sheet conveyor is configured to interpose the sheet between the first sheet feed roller and the second sheet feed roller and convey the sheet to the second sheet conveyor as the first sheet feed roller rotates.

A medium transport apparatus includes: a medium mounting section configured to mount a medium; a feed roller configured to feed the medium from the medium mounting section; a separation roller configured to nip and separate the medium from the feed roller; a plurality of sensors disposed at positions facing a surface of the medium and configured to detect movement of the medium; and a control unit configured to stop feeding of the medium based on detection values received from the sensors, wherein the plurality of sensors are disposed upstream of a nipping position by the feed roller and the separation roller with a gap in a width direction being a direction intersecting a medium feed direction and detect movement of the medium in the width direction.

Provided is an image forming apparatus including: a manual feed tray for placing a sheet to be subjected to image formation; a pickup roller configured to abut against the placed sheet to feed the sheet; a controller; and a human detection sensor. The controller maintains an abutment state in which the pickup roller is held in abutment against the sheet until a time period during which the abutment state is maintained reaches an abutment timeout. When a time period during which no human is detected by the human detection sensor in the vicinity of the image forming apparatus reaches a human detection timeout even before the time period during which the abutment state is maintained reaches the abutment timeout, the controller brings the pickup roller into a non-abutment state against the sheet.

A sheet conveying apparatus, including: a sheet storage portion; a roller to convey sheets by rotating about a rotation axis; an arm rotatably supporting the roller and pivotable about an arm pivot axis; a presser plate pivotable about a presser-plate pivot axis; and a pivot mechanism to pivot the presser plate such that a contact angle, which is an angle defined upstream in a sheet conveyance direction by the arm and an uppermost one of the sheets contacting the roller, is less than a maximum angle in a time period from a sheet maximally loaded state to a sheet minimally loaded state, the maximum angle being an angle defined upstream in the conveyance direction by: only one sheet assumed to be placed on the presser plate which is the presser plate in the maximally loaded state; and the arm the roller of which contacts the one sheet.

A medium feeding apparatus includes a feed roller that feeds media. A separation roller nips the media together with the feed roller to separate it and is rotated in a first direction to feed the media. A motor applies driving torque to the separation roller in a second direction opposite to the first direction. A torque limiter, when rotation torque applied to the separation roller in the first direction exceeds a preset upper torque limit, causes the separation roller to rotate at idle in the first direction independently of the driving torque. During feeding operations, including feeding of first and second media, a controller that controls the motor provides a break period in which the motor is not driven. The break period contains the timing when a rear edge of the first medium leaves a nip position between the feeding and separation rollers.

A sheet feeding device includes a lift plate, a feeding portion, a lifting member lifting the lift plate, a motor coupled to a pivot shaft serving as the pivot fulcrum of the lifting member, a control portion, and an encoder outputting a pulse signal according to the rotation of the pivot shaft. The encoder includes a rotary member and an optical sensor. The control portion recognizes the remaining quantity of sheets on the lift plate based on the count value of the pulse signal. When the motor stops being driven, the control portion thereafter does not count the pulse signal until a predetermined period elapses.