An elastic roller is capable of elastic deformation at low load, lightweight and low-cost, and the surface speed of the roller has been made stable. At a drawing showing the view from the side of pipe 2 and flange 3 which make up roller 1, roller 1 which has pipe 2 and flange 3 is supported by shaft 8 which is inserted therein along axis 8a of shaft 8, the situation being such that elastic deformation occurs upon being pressed downward by pressure P from pressure-applying body 11 above pipe. None of the four outermost ribs 7a disposed in outermost gap 6a between outermost ring 4a of flange 3 and middle ring 4b which is mutually adjacent thereto and toward the interior therefrom is present in the upper portion of pipe 2.

A sheet conveying device includes a supporting shaft, a rotating unit removable from an installation portion, a movable shaft, and an interlocking device. The rotating unit includes first and second ends, a holding member that holds a rotating body that conveys a sheet. The supporting shaft supports the rotating unit at the first end in an axial direction of the rotating body. The movable shaft is movable in the axial direction and supports the second end. The interlocking device moves the movable shaft per the rotating unit movement. Where the rotating unit is to be moved at a moving amount towards a side in which the rotating unit separates from the supporting shaft as part of removing the rotating unit from the installation portion, the interlocking device moves the movable shaft in the axial direction at a moving amount that is larger than the moving amount the rotating unit.

A paper separating roller, including a shaft body, a first friction member and a second friction member is provided. The first friction member covers a first surface of an outer periphery of the shaft body. The second friction member covers a second surface of the outer periphery of the shaft body, wherein the first friction member and the second friction member are formed of two different materials. With the design of the friction members being formed of composite materials, the paper separating roller has the advantages of two different material features at the same time, such that a wider range of performance capabilities can be achieved.

A sheet feeding apparatus includes a sheet supporting portion including a supporting surface, an abutment portion against which a leading edge of the sheet abuts, a feeding rotator configured to feed the sheet, and a first friction member provided on the supporting surface so as to face the feeding rotator. The first friction member includes a first friction surface having a static friction coefficient greater than that of the supporting surface, a trailing end supporting portion configured to support a trailing end portion of the sheet curved upward, and a second friction member disposed upstream of the first friction member in the sheet feeding direction on the supporting surface. The second friction member includes a second friction surface which has a static friction coefficient greater than that of the supporting surface and is configured to be in contact with the sheet supported by the supporting surface.

A sheet conveying apparatus includes a rotation member unit, a supporting shaft and a moving shaft to support the rotation member unit, a locking unit to lock the moving shaft, and an engaged portion. The rotation member unit includes an engaging portion and a sheet conveyance rotation member held by the engaging portion. When the moving shaft is at a first position, the moving shaft and the supporting shaft support the rotation member unit. When the moving shaft is moved away from the supporting shaft to a second position at which the rotation member unit is not supported by the supporting shaft, the moving shaft is locked at the second position by the locking unit after moving from the first position to the second position, and the rotation member unit is held by the engaged portion in a state in which the engaging portion engages with the engaged portion.

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 paper feed roller that can prevent paper sheet transport failure caused by accumulation of paper powder for a long period of time is provide. This paper feed roller includes a shaft body and an elastic body layer formed on the outer periphery of the shaft body. Unevenness are formed by protrusions on the circumferential surface of the elastic body layer. The protrusions are arranged on the circumferential surface of the elastic body layer in a direction different from an axial direction. The gap between a row of protrusions which extends in the direction different from the axial direction and a row of protrusions which is parallel to the row of protrusions is a continuous recess, i.e., a groove, and the width of the groove is greater than the distance between the protrusions in the row of protrusions which extends in the direction different from the axial direction.

There is provided a roller including: a shaft, and an elastic body portion that is provided on an outer peripheral surface of the shaft, in which the elastic body portion includes a plurality of first recessed portions which are provided on one side of the roller in a shaft mounting direction at intervals in a circumferential direction of the roller and each have a bottom portion, and a plurality of second recessed portions which are provided on the other side of the roller in the shaft mounting direction at intervals in the circumferential direction of the roller and each have a bottom portion, and in which each of the first recessed portions is positioned between the adjacent second recessed portions in the circumferential direction of the roller in the side view of the roller in the shaft mounting direction.

A sheet feeding apparatus includes a sheet supporting portion, a rotary feeding member configured to feed the sheet, a regulating portion configured to regulate a position of the edge portion, and a force applying portion that is provided separately from the rotary feeding member. The force applying portion contacts the sheet supported on the sheet supporting portion upstream in a conveyance direction of the rotary feeding member and applies a force to turn the sheet fed by the rotary feeding member.

A sheet conveying apparatus includes a rotation member unit, a supporting shaft, and a moving shaft to detach the rotation member unit supported by the supporting shaft and the moving shaft. The rotation member unit includes a conveyance rotation member to convey a sheet, and a holding member including an engaging portion to engage with an engaged portion provided to a sheet conveying apparatus main body in a direction perpendicular to the supporting shaft axial direction. The supporting shaft supports one end side of the rotation member unit in the axial direction and the moving shaft supports another end side of the rotation member unit in the axial direction and moves in the axial direction. When the engaging portion engages with the engaged portion when the rotation member unit is not supported by the supporting shaft and the moving shaft, the rotation member unit is held by the engaged portion.