1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paper feeding apparatus for an image forming machine such as a copying machine or a laser printer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a conventional copying machine, in a place where the lateral width of the copying machine body is restricted for installation, in order to insert or to take out a paper feeding hopper 3 such as a paper feeding cassette from the front side (right side in FIG. 1), a so-called front loading cassette type has been employed, wherein, as shown in FIG. 1, the paper feeding hopper 3 such as the paper feeding cassette is inserted and taken out freely from the axial direction 61 of a roller shaft 2 of a paper feed roller 2 relative to the paper feed roller 1 supported rotatably by the image forming machine body. Papers 4 are biased upward by means of springs 22.
In the prior art aforementioned, when the paper feeding hopper 3 placed on a drawer is used as it is, as shown in FIG. 1, the papers 4 are moved in parallel to the axial direction 61 of the paper feed roller 1 and caught by the paper feed roller 1 as shown by reference numeral 4a, thus causing a slack in the paper feeding hopper 3 and jamming during feeding of the paper.
Also, such a problem is encountered that a paper feeding hopper for a drawing mechanism has to be newly designed, resulting in high cost.