INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

This application is based on and claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2020-98320 filed on Jun. 5, 2020, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to a sorting device that is mounted in a sheet discharge space in an image forming apparatus, and relates also to an image forming apparatus provided with such a sorting device.

Sheet post-processing devices are generally used that can perform processing such as binding, i.e., stacking a plurality of sheets having images formed on them by an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a printer, or the like and then binding the bundle of the stacked sheets together with a staple; punch hole formation, i.e., forming punch holes (perforations) in sheets with a punch hole forming device; and sorting (classifying) sheets into separate bundles.

Inconveniently, attaching such a sheet post-processing device to a side surface of an image forming apparatus causes the image forming apparatus to require an installation space as much larger as the attached sheet post-processing device. To avoid that, in a known image forming apparatus, a sheet post-processing device is disposed slidably in a space (in-body discharge space) that is formed inside the apparatus main body by a document reading portion, a printing portion, and a sheet feeding portion.

SUMMARY

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a sorting device is mounted in a sheet discharge space in an image forming apparatus, wherein the sheet discharge space is open at the front of the image forming apparatus and at the downstream side of it in the sheet discharge direction and wherein the sorting device is mounted so as to be insertable or extractable at the downstream side of the image forming apparatus. The sorting device includes a base portion, a tray portion, and a flexible member. The base portion is mounted integrally with the tray portion so as to be insertable or extractable along the top surface of the bottom portion from the downstream side in the sheet discharge direction. The tray portion is supported on the base portion so as to be reciprocatable in the sheet width direction orthogonal to the sheet discharge direction. The base portion has, on an upstream part of it in the sheet discharge direction, a base inclined portion inclined upward from upstream side toward the downstream side. With the base portion mounted on the bottom portion, the base inclined portion faces, with a predetermined gap, a bottom inclined surface provided in an upstream part of the bottom portion in the discharge direction, the bottom inclined surface being inclined upward from upstream side toward the downstream side. The flexible member is attached to the base inclined portion, and fills the gap between the base inclined portion and the bottom inclined surface.

