(57) A sheet feeding cassette for use in an image forming apparatus, like a printer, a
copier, a facsimile device or the like, with a bottom plate (17) which is rotatable
up and down while being biased upward, and an end fence (19, 42, 54), which includes
an end fence main body (21) that is attached to the sheet feeding cassette (2) and
movable in a direction along a feeding direction of sheets (S) loaded on the bottom
plate (17), a fixing device (22) that fixes the end fence main body (21) at any desired
position in the sheet feeding cassette (2), and a sheet pressing element (23) that
presses against trailing edges in a sheet feeding direction of the sheets (S) loaded
on the bottom plate (17). The sheet pressing element (23) is provided to the end fence
main body (21) and movable in the sheet feeding direction, and protrudes from the
end fence main body (21) forward in the sheet feeding direction when the sheet pressing
element (23) moves in the sheet feeding direction. The end fence (19, 42, 54) further
includes a biasing device (24, 43, 55) that biases the sheet pressing element (23)
in a direction in which the sheet pressing element (23) moves forward in the sheet
feeding direction, and a bias force switching device (25, 44, 56) that switches between
a biasing condition in which a bias force of the biasing device (24, 43, 55) is exerted
on the sheet pressing element (23) and a non-biasing condition in which a bias force
of the biasing device (24, 43, 55) is not exerted on the sheet pressing element (23)
.
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