An autoloading shingle feeder that singulates an associated stack of media into associated individual articles. The autoloading shingle feeder includes a housing including a base, at least one loading belt with a loading surface that defines a horizontally extending loading plane. The autoloading shingle feeder also includes at least one feeding belt that is distinct from the at least one loading belt and includes a feeding surface that defines a feeding plane. The autoloading shingle feeder also includes a carriage assembly that limits vertical movement of the associated individual article when the associated individual article moves from the at least one loading belt to the at least one feeding belt. The carriage assembly includes at least one separator plate including a pressure portion that linearly extends in the loading direction for direct sliding contact with the associated individual article.

A document feeding device includes a feeding unit feeding documents from a batch of documents on a placing tray, a separation member in pressure contact with the feeding unit and separating documents one by one, a separation swinging member supporting the separation member and displaceable in a thickness direction of the batch of documents, and a movable member supported as to be displaceable with respect to the separation swing member in the thickness direction of the batch of documents, and entering a space formed between the separation member and a document.

At least one mobile part included in a plate separator is configured movable between a first position and a second position, which is different from the first position. At least one biasing portion biases the at least one mobile part toward the first position. The at least one mobile part includes a contact portion that comes into contact with the top plate when a plate holder lifts the top plate upward. The at least one mobile part is configured to be moved toward the second position as being pushed by the top plate when the top plate in contact with the at least one contact portion is moved further upward, thereby allowing an upward movement of the top plate.

A document feeder assisting device includes a document stacker to stack a document to be conveyed toward a feed port of an automatic document feeder, a pressing device to press the document toward a document placement surface of the document stacker, and a conveyance device to convey the document. The document is stacked on the document placement surface exposed above with the pressing device moved.

A device for separating a lowermost sheet from a stack, having a hopper for holding the stack and a pushing device arranged underneath the hopper and having a pushing element capable of being moved linearly back and forth, of which the pushing edge is movable relative to the bearing plane of the stack in the hopper, wherein the projection for positive conveying of this pushing edge changes with respect to the bearing plane.

A medium feeding device includes a medium placement portion on which a bunch of media is placed, a feed roller that feeds a lowermost medium of the bunch of media placed on the medium placement portion, a separation roller that is provided at a position facing the feed roller and separates a medium from the bunch of media, and a plurality of restricting portions that are provided on an upstream side of a nip position between the separation roller and the feed roller at an interval in a medium width direction which is a direction intersecting a medium feeding direction and come into contact with leading ends of upper media of the bunch of media excluding at least the lowermost medium such that the leading ends are restricted from coming into contact with the separation roller regardless of whether the separation roller is deformed or not.

A sheet feeding device includes: a stacker that stacks sheets of paper; a suction conveyor disposed vertically above the sheets stacked in the stacker for sucking and conveying the sheets; a blower that blows air onto the sheets; and a regulating member disposed on a downstream side of the suction conveyor in a conveyance direction, facing an outlet of the sheets of the suction conveyor and projecting vertically upward, wherein the suction conveyor includes: horizontal portions provided on both ends in a width direction; and a recess provided in an intermediate portion and recessed vertically above the horizontal portions, and a lower limit of a projection height of the regulating member is set so that, when there is a vertical gap between a vertical upper end portion of the regulating member and the horizontal portions, a length of the gap is less than twice a thickness of the sheets.

A paper feeding device includes a pickup roller mechanism disposed at an entrance of a paper feeding path, and a separation mechanism disposed to a rear end of the pickup roller mechanism. The pickup roller mechanism includes a first pickup unit positioned at the entrance of the paper feeding path, a second pickup unit mounted to a rear end of the first pickup unit, and a third pickup unit disposed to a rear end of the second pickup unit. The second pickup unit includes a first driving gear. The third pickup unit includes a second driving gear, and a transmission belt looped around an outer periphery of the first driving gear and an outer periphery of the second driving gear.

A media processing device includes: a hopper for supporting a stack of media units (e.g. cards), the hopper including (i) a gate wall configured to abut leading edges of the media units and (ii) an outlet defined at an end of the gate wall; a pick roller at the outlet for engaging an outer one of the media units in the stack and dispensing the outer media unit from the hopper to a media processing path; the gate wall including a flexible gate at the outlet, the flexible gate configured to deflect toward the media processing path responsive to the outer media unit being driven into the flexible gate by the pick roller, wherein the outer media unit deflects when passing by the flexible gate, permitting the outer media unit to be dispensed from the hopper.

A document feeder assisting device includes a document stacker to stack a document to be conveyed toward a feed port of an automatic document feeder, a pressing device to press the document toward a document placement surface of the document stacker, and a conveyance device to convey the document. The document is stacked on the document placement surface exposed above with the pressing device moved.