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.

According to one embodiment, a paper feeding mechanism includes a tray, a first roller, a second roller, a third roller, and a guide member. The tray supports a sheet. The first roller picks up the sheet from the tray. The second roller conveys the sheet picked up by the first roller. The third roller forms a nip that sandwiches the sheet between the second roller and the third roller. Relative positions of the third roller and the first and second rollers are set such that a convey reference surface of the sheet that is in contact with the first roller and the second roller and a flat surface of the nip are disposed on substantially the same flat surface. The guide member is between the nip and the first roller and intersects the convey reference surface.

According to an embodiment, a paper feed device includes: a tray that has a support surface on which a sheet is placed and is capable of entering a first state and a second state. The first state is a state for placing the sheet on the support surface. The second state is a state for taking out the sheet from the support surface toward a downstream side in a conveying direction and for putting the sheet in an inclined posture heading upward on the downstream side in the conveying direction than an upstream side in the conveying direction.

A sheet conveyer having a sheet tray, a tray-driving mechanism, a conveyance guide, a feed roller, a separator, a conveyer, a conveyer-driving mechanism, a controller, and a sheet sensor to detect sheets on the sheet tray, is provided. The conveyer-driving mechanism includes a transmission-active portion and a transmission-passive portion. A conveying velocity to convey the sheets by the conveyer is higher than a conveying velocity to convey the sheets by the feed roller and the separator. The transmission-active portion and the transmission-passive portion are rotatable about a transmission axis. The transmission-passive portion rotates passively by being pushed by the transmission-active portion. After the sheet sensor detects absence of the sheets, and before the transmission-passive portion starts rotating passively, the controller conducts a specific action to move the sheet tray downward by controlling the tray-driving mechanism.

A sheet feeding apparatus is disclosed. This sheet feeding apparatus includes: a feeding roller configured to feed sheets; a conveying roller configured to convey the sheets fed by the feeding roller; a separation roller configured to form a nip portion by being pressed on the conveying roller, and to separate one by one the sheets at the nip portion, the sheets being conveyed by the conveying roller; a guide configured to guide the sheets fed by the feeding roller to the nip portion; and a holder configured to hold the separation roller and the guide, and to be detachably attachable to the sheet feeding apparatus. The guide adheres to the holder and the separation roller is replaceable on the holder that has been removed from the sheet feeding apparatus.

A sheet feeding apparatus includes a swing shaft to swingably support a support member, an urging member to urge a rotary separation member toward a rotary feeding member, a frame member including a first support portion to fix a first end portion of the swing shaft and a second support portion to movably support a second end portion of the swing shaft, and an adjustment mechanism having an extended opening formed in the second support portion and a fixing member configured to fix the second end portion of the swing shaft to a frame member through the extended opening. The extended opening is extended in a vertical direction and the second end portion of the swing shaft can be fixed at a plurality of positions which vary in the vertical direction to the second support portion with the fixing member.

A sheet separation device includes a sheet separator and a conveyor. The sheet separator separates a non-bonding portion of a two-ply sheet in which two sheets are overlapped and bonded together at a bonding portion of the two-ply sheet. The conveyor conveys the two-ply sheet toward the sheet separator while bending the two-ply sheet in a direction that intersects a conveyance direction of the two-ply sheet.

A sheet conveyance apparatus includes a drive transmission mechanism configured to transmit a driving force from a driving source to a rotary conveyance member. The drive transmission mechanism includes a shaft, a first rotary member supported on the shaft and configured to rotate by being driven by the driving source, a second rotary member supported on the shaft and configured to rotate the rotary conveyance member, a drive transmission member provided movably in an axial direction of the shaft, and configured to transmit the driving force between the first rotary member and the second rotary member, and a moving unit configured to move the drive transmission member to a transmission position and a release position. The drive transmission member engages the first and second rotary members with each other at the transmission position, and releases engagement of the first and second rotary members at the release position.

A sheet feeding apparatus includes a document tray configured to support a document, a pickup roller configured to feed the sheet supported on the document tray, a separation roller pair configured to separate the sheets fed by the pickup roller one by one, a paddle arranged between the pickup roller and the separation roller pair in a sheet feeding direction and feeding the sheet supported on the document tray, and a drive motor capable of driving the pickup roller, the separation roller pair and the paddle. The paddle feeds the sheet supported on the document tray with a conveyance force weaker than the pickup roller.

An image recording apparatus for recording an image on a sheet includes a recording section which records the image on the sheet in a transport passage for transporting the sheet in a transport direction and multiple plates which are spaced apart from each other in a widthwise direction. These multiple plates include a first type of plate and a second type of plate. Plates of a first type of plate are configured to overlap a sheet when viewed in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction and the widthwise direction, while plates of the second type of plate do not.