Patent ID: 8485523

Claim:
A sheet sorter, comprising: a sheet discharge tray; a sheet conveyance unit configured to convey sheets in a conveyance direction and configured to be shifted in a shift direction extending along a sheet plane and intersecting the conveyance direction, so as to sort the sheets loaded onto the sheet discharge tray from the sheet conveyance unit; and a sheet pressing guide configured to contact and press the sheets, configured to move together with the sheet conveyance unit in conjunction with the sheet conveyance unit moving in the shift direction, and configured to contact a topmost sheet among the sheets loaded on the sheet discharge tray only at a downstream edge of the topmost sheet in the conveyance direction, wherein the sheet pressing guide has a forward end and a rear end in the conveyance direction, wherein the rear end of the sheet pressing guide is disposed so that the sheet pressing guide is swingable in a vertical direction relative to the sheet conveyance unit and so that the forward end of the sheet pressing guide dangles toward the sheet discharge tray under a weight of the sheet pressing guide itself, and wherein the sheet discharge tray comprises a penetration portion configured to allow the forward end of the sheet pressing guide to penetrate into the sheet discharge tray below a loading face of the sheet discharge tray on which the sheets are loaded.