Patent ID: 7850168

Claim:
A recording medium discharge mechanism positioned between an original capturing portion arranged in a device upper portion and a feeding portion arranged in a device lower portion of an image forming apparatus, comprising: a recording medium placement surface being a bottom surface of a discharge space, the discharge space having an open portion laterally to a downstream side in a recording medium discharge direction and receiving the recording medium that has undergone image formation in an image-forming portion of the image forming apparatus, wherein a discharge direction length of the recording medium placement surface is shorter than a length of a paper cassette of the feeding portion arranged to hold one or more types of recording media used in the image forming apparatus; a side wall member being provided at the downstream end portion in the recording medium discharge direction of the recording medium placement surface, wherein the side wall member is rotatably supported to rotate around a rotational axle extending in a horizontal direction perpendicular to the recording medium discharge direction, and is capable of moving between an upright state that closes the open portion of the downstream side in the recording medium discharge direction in the discharge space and a laid flat state in which the placement surface for placing a discharged recording medium is extended toward the downstream side in the recording medium discharge direction; and a coil spring being provided between the side wall member and a side face of the image forming apparatus, the side face being located below the recording medium placement surface and continuing from the downstream end portion in the recording medium discharge direction of the recording medium placement surface, wherein the side wall member is arranged to receive a biasing force by the coil spring so as to rotate from the laid flat state to the upright state, and wherein the side wall member is configured to move from the upright state to the laid flat state against the biasing force by the coil spring only upon receiving an external force from the recording medium having a discharge speed greater than a predetermined speed or having a hardness greater than a predetermined hardness when the recording medium has been discharged to the discharge space in the upright state of the side wall member that closes the open portion, and the side wall member is also configured to move to the upright state with a lower end surface of the side wall member abutting on the recording medium placement surface due to the biasing force by the coil spring when the recording medium placed on the recording medium placement surface has been removed in the laid flat state of the side wall member.