A discharge tray for loading thereon sheets to be discharged at a predetermined discharge angle by a discharge roller pair is provided. The discharge tray includes a loading surface provided at a predetermined first inclination angle with respect to a discharge direction of a sheet by the discharge roller pair so that a top of the sheet discharged by the discharge roller pair comes into contact with the loading surface, and a guide unit provided on the loading surface at a second inclination angle with respect to the loading surface so as to partially lift up the loaded sheet from the loading surface.

A sheet transport device includes a transport unit, a load section, and a sheet accommodation section. The transport unit has a transport path along which a sheet read at a read position is transported to an output unit. The sheet output by the output unit is loaded onto the load section. The sheet accommodation section is disposed downstream in an output direction of the sheet from an inner wall surface extending upward adjacent to the load section and has a recess capable of accommodating a sheet of a predetermined minimum size. A retrieval space through which the sheet accommodated in the sheet accommodation section is retrievable is provided by exposing the transport path in a direction opposite to a loading direction of the sheet.

A sheet discharge device includes a discharge member, a discharge tray and a stopper. The discharge tray includes a groove and a fixed magnetic body. The groove is formed along a discharge direction. The fixed magnetic body is disposed at a predetermined position along the groove. The stopper includes a guide piece, a contact piece and a moving magnet body. The guide piece is engaged with the groove in a slidable manner. With the contact piece, the leading edge of the sheet is allowed to be come into contact. The moving magnetic body generates a magnetic force in a direction in which the moving magnetic body and the fixed magnetic body are attracted each other. When the guide piece is slid along the groove and the moving magnetic body reaches the predetermined position, a resistance is applied to a sliding movement of the guide piece by the magnetic force.

A scanner including a medium discharging apparatus includes a discharge tray including a first tray configured to receive a front end of a medium discharged by a discharge roller pair and allow placement of the medium therein, and a second tray that is located downstream of the first tray in a medium discharge direction and configured to allow placement of the medium therein, the discharge tray being configured to switch between a first posture in which the first tray and the second tray form a first angle 1, and a second posture in which the first tray and the second tray form a second angle 2 smaller than the first angle 1, without changing the posture of the first tray with respect to the discharge roller pair.

A sheet feeding apparatus includes a sheet supporting portion including a supporting surface, an abutment portion against which a leading edge of the sheet abuts, a feeding rotator configured to feed the sheet, and a first friction member provided on the supporting surface so as to face the feeding rotator. The first friction member includes a first friction surface having a static friction coefficient greater than that of the supporting surface, a trailing end supporting portion configured to support a trailing end portion of the sheet curved upward, and a second friction member disposed upstream of the first friction member in the sheet feeding direction on the supporting surface. The second friction member includes a second friction surface which has a static friction coefficient greater than that of the supporting surface and is configured to be in contact with the sheet supported by the supporting surface.

A sheet feeding device includes a sheet loader, a sheet feeder, and an end fence. The sheet loader is configured to load a sheet bundle including sheets. The sheet feeder is configured to feed an uppermost sheet of the sheet bundle loaded on the sheet loader. The end fence is disposed movable in a sheet feeding direction of the uppermost sheet and is configured to contact a trailing end of the sheet bundle in the sheet feeding direction to regulate a position of the trailing end of the sheet bundle. The end fence includes an elastic body configured to contact the trailing end of the sheet bundle at a portion other than at least an upper portion of the end fence.

A printing apparatus includes: a sheet discharge tray having an upstream portion tilted to extend downward in a direction of gravity; an upper member limiting a height of a space above the sheet discharge tray; a full sensor configured to detect an upstream end of a top sheet of sheets stacked on the sheet discharge tray; a counter configured to count a number of the sheets discharged onto the sheet discharge tray; and a controller. The controller determines whether to stop discharging of the sheets to the sheet discharge tray, based on a detection result of the full sensor upon the sheets to be stacked on the sheet discharge tray including only sheets each with uniform thickness and based on a count value of the counter upon the sheets to be stacked on the sheet discharge tray including a sheet with thickness varying partly.

In a sheet feeder that feeds a sheet to an image forming apparatus, a sheet placing table has a placement surface on which a sheet is placed and is inclined downward toward a downstream side in a sheet feeding direction. A sheet detecting unit has an operation piece that presses a leading end of the sheet toward an upstream side in the sheet feeding direction with predetermined pressure. A regulating member is arranged in a vicinity of an end part of the sheet placing table on the upstream side in the sheet feeding direction. The regulating member regulates movement of the sheet to the upstream side in the sheet feeding direction and has regulating portions having different heights from the placement surface of the sheet placing table. The regulating portions are arranged so that the heights are increased toward the upstream side in the sheet feeding direction.

A discharge tray for loading thereon sheets to be discharged at a predetermined discharge angle by a discharge roller pair is provided. The discharge tray includes a loading surface provided at a predetermined first inclination angle with respect to a discharge direction of a sheet by the discharge roller pair so that a top of the sheet discharged by the discharge roller pair comes into contact with the loading surface, and a guide unit provided on the loading surface at a second inclination angle with respect to the loading surface so as to partially lift up the loaded sheet from the loading surface.

A sorting device includes a base portion and a tray portion. The tray portion is supported on the base portion to be reciprocatable between a first shift position, where the tray portion is located at one side in the sheet width direction, and a second shift position, where the tray portion is located at the other side in the sheet width direction. The tray portion has a cutout portion. The cutout portion is formed by cutting away, with a predetermined width, an end part of the tray portion in the sheet width direction inward across the tray portion. With the tray portion at the second shift position, the cutout portion is located below one side end edge of the sheet in the sheet width direction, of sheets stacked on the tray portion.