Sheet feeding apparatus, and image forming apparatus, image reading apparatus and communication apparatus using the sheet feeding apparatus

Abstract

An object of the invention is to provide a sheet feeding apparatus of a simple structure which is capable of stacking discharged sheets in a discharged-sheet stacker in an aligned manner without performing any complicated operation even when the sheet size is changed. The common sheet guide is removably attached to the cassette and comes in contact with the sheets stacked in the cassette and the sheets stacked in the stacker. When the sheets in the cassette are replaced with sheets of a different size, as the common sheet guide is moved to come in contact with the edges of the sheets, the common sheet guide is located at the position capable of coming in contact with the edges of the sheets stacked in the stacker. Therefore, it is possible to restrict the movement of the sheets stacked in the stacker and to align the sheets with each other.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A sheet feeding apparatus comprising: 
 an apparatus body for inserting sheets fed thereto and discharging the sheets;    a feed sheet stacking section, mounted to the apparatus body, for stacking sheets to be fed to the apparatus body; and    a discharged-sheet stacking section, mounted to the apparatus body, for stacking sheets discharged from the apparatus body,    wherein the feed sheet stacking section includes a feed sheet stack plate on which the sheets to be fed are stacked so that an almost entire bottom surface of the stack of the sheets is supported by the feed sheet stack plate,    the discharged-sheet stacking section includes a discharged-sheet stack plate which extends substantially parallel to the feed sheet stack plate and on which the discharged sheets are stacked so that an almost entire bottom surface of the stack of the sheets is supported by the discharged-sheet stack plate, and    a common sheet guide is provided on an upstream side from the feed sheet stack plate in a sheet insert direction and on a downstream side from the discharged-sheet stack plate in a sheet discharge direction, the common sheet guide being movable in the sheet insert direction and the sheet discharge direction, for guiding sheets by coming in contact with edges of the sheets stacked in the feed sheet stacking section and edges of the sheets stacked in the discharged-sheet stacking section.    
     
     
         2 . The sheet feeding apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the feed sheet stacking section and the discharged-sheet stacking section are arranged at an upper position or a lower position relative to each other, the sheet stacking section arranged at the upper position is mounted so as to be angularly displaced relative to the sheet stacking section arranged at the lower position, thereby enabling supply and removal of sheets relative to the sheet stacking section arranged at the lower position.  
     
     
         3 . The sheet feeding apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the feed sheet stacking section and the discharged-sheet stacking section are arranged at an upper position or a lower position relative to each other, at least one of the sheet stacking sections being mounted to the apparatus body so as to be capable of being pulled out from the apparatus body, thereby enabling supply and removal of sheets relative to the sheet stacking section arranged at the lower position.  
     
     
         4 . An image forming apparatus which utilizes the sheet feeding apparatus of  claim 1 .  
     
     
         5 . An image reading apparatus which utilizes the sheet feeding apparatus of  claim 1 .  
     
     
         6 . A communication apparatus which utilizes the sheet feeding apparatus of claim  1 .