Patent ID: 8011659

Claim:
A sheet transport direction switching device, comprising: a rotary guide member including a guide passage for passing a sheet to be transported, and pivotally movable about an axis of a support shaft extending in a direction orthogonal to a sheet transport direction to such a posture as to align an exit of the guide passage with at least one of two discharge destinations; a stepping motor for changing the posture of the rotary guide member; a motor controller for controlling a rotation of the stepping motor by supplying an energizing current through a coil to the stepping motor; and a lead end in-timing acquirer for acquiring a timing when a lead end of the sheet enters an entrance of the guide passage, wherein the motor controller is operable to perform, in a state that the exit of the guide passage is aligned with at least one of the two discharge destinations, an in-timing retaining operation of retaining a rotated position of the stepping motor by supplying an energizing current of a first current value to the stepping motor at the timing, acquired by the lead end in-timing acquirer, when the lead end of the sheet enters the entrance of the guide passage, and a pass timing retaining operation of reducing the energizing current to a second current value smaller than the first current value when the lead end of the sheet passes the guide passage.