Movable tray sheet sorter

Claim 1

A sorter for sequentially moving a plurality of vertically stacked storage sections having vertical walls to a sheet reception position by moving means which is moved upon reception of a rotational force of driving means and for automatically sorting sheets discharged from an image forming apparatus into said plurality of storage sections, wherein said moving means is disposed inside a wall surface in a widthwise direction of each storage section, the widthwise direction being perpendicular to a sheet travel direction, said driving means is disposed in a space below said storage sections, the space being away, along the sheet travel direction, from a front end of one of said plurality of storage sections which opposes a sheet reception position, said sorter further comprises a support frame having a wall surface and wherein said moving means comprises a link body including one link member pivotally supported on the wall surface of the support frame extending along the wall surface in the widthwise direction of each storage section, said link body extends to any position backward from the front end of each storage section and is connected to an uppermost one of the storage sections, said sorter further comprising a plurality of regulating members, each regulating member for connecting a storage section including said uppermost storage section to an adjacent one of said storage sections and for regulating a distance between two adjacent storage sections, a connecting position of said regulating member is located near the front end of each storage section with respect to at least a support point for stacking and supporting said plurality of storage sections.