Patent ID: 6963722

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: image forming means for forming an image on a sheet and feeding the image-formed sheet; sheet stacking means for stacking the image-formed sheet to be discharged; and offset mounting means for shifting a plurality of sheet bundles on sides in a sheet bundle takeout direction and in a direction opposite thereto, and mounting the offset bundles onto said sheet stacking means, wherein said sheet stacking means and said offset mounting means are disposed in a space between an upper surface of a main body of said image forming apparatus and a reader disposed above said main body, and offset and mount sheets discharged from said main body, wherein when no sheet bundle is on said stacking means said offset mounting means shifts a first sheet bundle of a job on the side in the sheet bundle takeout direction, and when there is a sheet bundle of a preceding job on said sheet stacking means, said offset mounting means shifts said first sheet bundle in a direction opposite to that of the sheet bundle of the preceding job, wherein said offset mounting means includes shifting means for shifting a sheet in a direction crossing a sheet discharging direction, and the sheet bundles are offset through control by said shifting means, wherein said offset mounting means is disposed on an upstream side of said sheet stacking means, and further comprises conveying means for conveying the sheet bundles to said sheet stacking means, and wherein said offset mounting means further comprises a sheet stacking base onto which sheets are temporarily stacked and wherein said shifting means serves also as aligning means for conducting width-direction alignment of sheets on said sheet stacking base.