Patent ID: 8447223

Claim:
A sheet conveying apparatus comprising: a reference surface that is elongated in a sheet conveying direction and against which a side edge of a sheet abuts; an inclined surface which is provided upstream in the sheet conveying direction of the reference surface and which is inclined in a width direction intersecting with the sheet conveying direction so that an edge of the sheet is guided, wherein the inclined surface intersects the reference surface at an intersection; a sheet guide portion which is provided along the reference surface and the inclined surface and which has an upper portion and a lower portion, wherein the sheet guide portion guides a sheet between the upper portion and the lower portion; an oblique conveying unit which skew conveys the sheet so as to abut the side edge of the sheet against the reference surface, and a sheet passage portion which has an upper guide and a lower guide, wherein a sheet passes between the upper guide and the lower guide; wherein the sheet passage portion has an upstream area provided at a position corresponding to the inclined surface in the sheet conveying direction and a downstream area provided at a position corresponding to the reference surface in the sheet conveying direction; wherein a gap in the upstream area between the upper guide and the lower guide in a thickness direction of the sheet is wider than a gap between the upper portion and the lower portion of the sheet guide portion in the thickness direction of the sheet, wherein a gap in the downstream area between the upper guide and the lower guide in the thickness direction of the sheet is narrower than the gap in the upstream area between the upper guide and the lower guide in the thickness direction of the sheet; wherein a position of an upstream edge of the downstream area in the sheet conveying direction is provided downstream of the intersection in the sheet conveying direction.