Sheet discharging device

Abstract

A sheet discharging device includes a sheet discharging section which discharges sheets, and a sheet discharging tray including a stacking wall portion on which discharged sheets are stacked. The stacking wall portion includes a first wall portion having a first surface which becomes higher in a direction in which sheets are discharged, and a second wall portion connected to an upstream end of the first wall portion in the sheet discharging direction and having a second surface including at least one of a horizontal surface, an inclined surface having a smaller gradient than that of the first surface, and an inclined surface having a gradient opposite to that of the first surface.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-201875, filed Jul. 11, 2005, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates to a sheet discharging device mounted in, for example, an auto document feeder in an image forming apparatus to discharge loaded sheets to a sheet discharging tray or the like. [0004] 2. Description of the Related Art [0005] Some image forming apparatuses such as copiers are provided with an auto document feeder (ADF). The auto document feeder takes out each of the documents (sheets) stacked in a sheet feeding tray and feeds it to a read position in the image forming apparatus. Then, after an image is read, the auto document feeder discharges the sheet to a sheet discharging tray. The auto document feeder is thus provided with a sheet...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0014] The present invention provides a sheet discharging device that can reliably improve the alignment of discharged sheets on a sheet discharging tray without imposing a heavy load on the sheets and without the need to increase the size of the entire device.

[0019] The present invention reliably improves the alignment of discharged documents on the sheet discharging tray without imposing a heavy load on the sheets and without the need to increase the size of the device.

Problems solved by technology

One problem with the conventional sheet discharging device is that a variation in document discharging speed, document size, or the like suppresses the alignment of documents on the sheet discharging tray, that is, the alignment of discharged sheets.

The main cause of the suppressed alignment of discharged sheets is that the leading end of a discharged document hangs down owing to gravity and comes into contact with the surface of the documents already discharged onto the sheet discharging tray, thus moving the documents on the sheet discharging tray.

However, the inclined sheet discharging tray requires an increase in the vertical size of the sheet discharging tray and thus in the size of the device.

However, a marked corrugation significantly stresses the document, which may thus be damaged.

However, the movability of the leading end wall prevents the alignment of discharged documents from being improved unless the position of the leading end wall adjusts to the document size.

Images