Patent ID: 7954817

Claim:
A sheet stacking device connected with an image forming apparatus for stacking a recording sheet delivered from the image forming apparatus, the sheet stacking device comprising: (a) a rack for stacking the recording sheet, which descends in accordance with a stacking amount of recording sheets thereon and descends from a stacking position where the recording sheet is stacked to a removal position where the recording sheet is removed, (b) a stacking path through which the sheet delivered from the image forming apparatus is conveyed to be stacked on the rack; (c) a discharge path through which the recording sheet is discharged downstream of the sheet stacking device in a conveyance direction of the recording sheet, and is conveyed to a rack of a second sheet stacking device; (d) a conveyance path switching device for switching a sheet conveyance path between the stacking path and the discharge path; (e) a conveyance path change button for instructing a change of the sheet conveyance path; and (f) a controller for controlling the sheet stacking device, wherein when the conveyance path change button is turned on while a printing job execution is in progress, the controller controls the conveyance path switching device to switch the sheet conveyance path from the stacking path to the discharge path, and when the sheet conveyed through the discharge path is continued to be stacked on the rack of the second sheet stacking device, the controller controls the rack of the first sheet stacking device to descend to the removal position of the recording sheet after a continuous stack of recording sheets to the rack of the first sheet stacking device is completed.