A paper returner is placed in the vicinity of an end portion of a hopper for stacking a plurality of sheets of paper which faces a paper feeding roller, so as to be pivotable between a first position where the paper returner constitutes a part of the paper transporting passage, and a second position where the paper returner is isolated from the paper transporting passage. A separation pad is provided on a first face of the paper returner. The separation pad has a friction coefficient which is higher than a friction coefficient of the first face of the paper returner. The paper returner is placed at the first position so that a top sheet of paper in the hopper is abutted against the paper feeding roller, and is separated from other sheets of paper by the separation pad. The paper returner is placed at the second position so that the first face of the paper returner returns sheets of paper, which are entered in the paper transporting passage-together with the sheet of paper to be fed, to the hopper.
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/866,868 filed May 30, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,708,969; the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
A paper supply device for reliably delivering sheets of paper one at a time from a stock of multiple sheets even when the leading ends of the sheets are not neatly aligned together. This paper supply device M1 has a paper insertion part 11 for holding a plurality of sheets of paper S; a rotationally driven supply roller 20 having a fan-shaped profile including a circular arc part 23 and a bowed part 24; a pressure member 30 for resiliently urging the paper S to the supply roller 20 surface; a pressure member control mechanism 37 for displacing the pressure member 30 to a position separated from the supply roller 20 when the bowed part 24 is opposite the pressure member 30; a separation pad 40 being resiliently urged toward the trailing end of the stacked paper and having a rotating free end that pivots freely to change the angle of contact of the separation pad with the leading edge of the paper S and a pad control mechanism 47 for displacing the separation pad 40 to a position for aligning the ends of the paper S when the bowed part 24 opposes the pressure member 30.
A sheet feeding roller has an outer circumferential face which includes a generally flat portion and a curved portion. A first pivotable member is movable between a first position and a second position in accordance with the rotation of the sheet feeding roller. The first pivotable member has a first contact face and an extended member extended from a free end portion of the first pivotable member toward a downstream side of a sheet feeding direction. The first pivotable member is moved to the second position when a sheet medium is placed between the sheet feeding roller and the first pivotable member. The first pivotable member is returned to the first position when a trailing end of the sheet medium faces the flat portion of the sheet feeding roller while the extended member of the first pivotable member comes in contact with the sheet medium.
