Image forming apparatus having a movable sheet receiving tray

An image forming apparatus, comprising:

• a control panel through which copy conditions necessary to produce completed copies are input;
• a main body;
• an image forming device, provided in said main body, which forms images on papers to produce the completed copies;
• a tray, provided in said main body, which receives and stacks thereon the completed copies produced by said image forming device;
• a sheet transporting device which transports the completed copies from said image forming device to said tray;
• a controller which controls said image forming device and said sheet transporting device in accordance with said input copy conditions so that the completed copies are produced and then stacked on said tray;
• and
• a support mechanism which movably supports said tray in a first position inside of said main body where the completed copies are received and stacked thereon and a second position outside of said main body where the completed copies can be manually removed therefrom.

An image forming apparatus for producing completed copies, comprising:

• a main body;
• an image forming device, provided in said main body, which forms images on papers to produce the completed copies;
• a sheet receiving device, provided inside of said main body, which receives and stacks the completed copies produced by said image forming device;
• a first sheet transport path which transports the completed copies from said image forming device to said sheet receiving device;
• a second sheet transport path which discharges the completed copies outside of said main body;
• a selector which selects one of said first sheet transport path and said second transport path;
• and
• a support mechanism which movably supports said sheet receiving device in a first position inside of said main body where the completed copies are received and stacked thereon when said first sheet transport path is selected and a second position outside of said main body where the completed copies can be manually removed therefrom.

An image forming apparatus for producing completed copies, comprising:

• an image forming device which forms images on papers to produce completed copies;
• a tray, provided under said image forming device, which receives and stacks the completed copies produced by said image forming device;
• a sheet transport path which transports the completed copies from said image forming device to said tray;
• and
• a support mechanism which movably supports said tray in a first position where the completed copies are received and stacked thereon and a second position remote from said first position where the completed copies can be manually removed therefrom.

An image forming apparatus, comprising:

• a control panel through which copy conditions necessary to produce completed copies are input;
• an image forming device which forms images on papers to produce the completed copies;
• a tray, provided under said image forming device, which receives and stacks thereon the completed copies produced by said image forming device;
• a sheet transporting device which transports the completed copies from said image forming device to said tray;
• a controller which controls said image forming device and said sheet transporting device in accordance with said input copy conditions so that the completed copies are produced and then stacked on said tray;
• and
• a support mechanism which movably supports said tray in a first position where the completed copies are received and stacked thereon and a second position remote from said first position where the completed copies can be manually removed.

An image forming apparatus for producing completed copies, comprising:

• an image forming device which forms images on papers to produce the completed copies;
• a sheet receiving device, provided under said image forming device, which receives and stacks the completed copies produced by said image forming device;
• a first sheet transport path which transports the completed copies from said image forming device to said sheet receiving device;
• a second sheet transport path which discharges the completed copies outside of the apparatus;
• a selector which selects one of said first sheet transport path and said second transport path;
• and
• a support mechanism which movably supports said sheet receiving device in a first position where the completed copies are received and stacked thereon and a second position remote from said first position where the completed copies can be manually removed therefrom.

A method of producing completed copies by an image forming apparatus, comprising the following steps of:

• forming each image on paper to produce completed copies by an image forming device provided in a main body of the image forming apparatus;
• providing a tray movably supported at a first position inside the main body and at a second position outside the main body;
• transporting completed copies from said image forming device to said tray supported at the first position so as to stack them in said tray as a set;
• and
• manually removing the set of the completed copies in a lump from said tray at the second position.