A sheet conveying device includes a sheet detection unit and a position adjusting mechanism. The position adjusting mechanism is disposed on a downstream side of the sheet detection unit in a sheet conveying direction in the sheet conveying path, includes an adjusting roller pair, and performs skew correction and positional displacement correction of a sheet, while conveying the sheet. The sheet conveying path includes a first conveying roller pair disposed on an upstream side of the position adjusting mechanism in the sheet conveying direction, and a curved part disposed between the adjusting roller pair and the first conveying roller pair, which curves in an S shape so as to be convex in a front and back side direction of the sheet alternately at different positions in the sheet conveying direction. The adjusting roller pair nips and conveys the sheet together with the first conveying roller pair.

A sheet discharge device includes: a sheet discharge portion; a sheet stacking portion having a sheet stacking surface for stacking a sheet discharged from the sheet discharge portion; and a stopper in the sheet stacking portion against which, for alignment, the leading end of the sheet discharged from the sheet discharge portion is thrust. The stopper has a support portion, a restricting portion, and an urging mechanism. The restricting portion is supported pivotally on a pivot shaft on the support portion, and is arranged either in a retracted position to lie flat substantially horizontally along the sheet stacking surface or in a restricting position to stand upright substantially vertically to the sheet stacking surface. The urging mechanism urges the restricting portion, when in retracted position, in a direction from restricting position to retracted position and, when in restricting position, in a direction from retracted position to restricting position.

A sheet conveying device, which is included in an image forming apparatus, includes a pair of rotary bodies configured to convey a sheet and correct a positional deviation of the sheet, a pair of downstream side sheet conveying bodies disposed downstream from the pair of rotary bodies in a sheet conveying direction and configured to convey the sheet, and a detector configured to detect separation of the pair of rotary bodies. The pair of rotary bodies moves the sheet by moving from a home position on a sheet conveyance passage through which the sheet passes. The pair of rotary bodies moves to the home position while the pair of downstream side sheet conveying bodies is conveying the sheet, in response to detection of the separation of the pair of rotary bodies by the detector.

An example stacking system comprises a stacking member movable between a first position in which the stacking member is configured to partially support a first stack of printed substrates, and a second position in which the stacking member is disengaged from the first stack. A receptacle positioned below the stacking member is configured to hold a second stack of printed substrates. A controller is configured to cause the stacking member to move between the first position and the second position when the first stack satisfies a criterion, thereby depositing the first stack into the receptacle on top of the second stack.

The image forming apparatus includes a transfer section that transfers an image to a sheet; a sheet conveying member that is provided on an upstream side of the transfer section in a conveying direction of the sheet and that conveys the sheet; and a hardware processor that controls displacement of the sheet conveying member such that the sheet is displaced in a width direction of the sheet. The hardware processor causes a detector that detects an edge of the sheet in the width direction to detect the edge of the sheet after displacement of the sheet conveying member has been started, and causes the displacement to be terminated on the basis of the detected result such that the edge of the sheet reaches a target position.

A sheet stacker includes a pair of sheet holders, a sheet leading-edge aligner, a sheet stacking member, and control circuitry. A downstream side of the pair of sheet holders in a conveyance direction of a conveyed sheet is lowered along the conveyance direction. Each one of the pair of sheet holders is movable in an orthogonal direction to the conveyance direction. The pair of sheet holders hold both side-end portions of the sheet in the orthogonal direction. The sheet stacking member is disposed below the pair of sheet holders. A downstream side of the sheet stacking member in the conveyance direction is lowered along the conveyance direction. The sheet stacking member stacks the sheet dropped from the pair of sheet holders after a leading edge of the sheet is aligned by the leading-edge aligner. The control circuitry controls operations of the leading-edge aligner and the pair of sheet holders.

A sheet stacking device is provided with a hopper unit configured to stack a sheet, a feeding unit configured to feed out the sheet to the hopper unit, a distance detection unit configured to detect an inter-sheet distance, in the vertical direction, between a rear end portion of the sheet that is preceding and a tip end portion of the sheet that is subsequent, and an output unit configured to output a behavior stabilization command for the sheet based on the inter-sheet distance.

A postprocessing apparatus includes a horizontal alignment plate, a binder, a tray, and a shift actuator assembly. The horizontal alignment plate is positioned to align sheets in a sheet width direction. The binder binds sheets to form bound sheet bundles. The bound sheet bundles are stacked on the tray. The shift actuator assembly shifts the bound sheet bundles in the sheet width direction. A postprocessing controller controls the shift actuator assembly to shift the bound sheet bundles such that swollen portions of the bound sheet bundles are shifted inward of the horizontal alignment plate in the sheet width direction when the processed sheets are piled on the tray to the vicinity of the horizontal alignment plate.

A sheet aligning device includes a support member, a regulation member, a regulation member moving mechanism, and an alignment member. The support member supports leading ends of sheets. The regulation member is connected to the support member and is provided to face an inclined tray in such a way as to define a sheet entry space in which the leading ends of the sheets enter. The regulation member moving mechanism is configured to, each time a sheet is conveyed onto the inclined tray, move the regulation member in a separating direction to widen the sheet entry space, and then in an approaching direction to narrow the sheet entry space. The alignment member aligns the sheets by abutting on rear ends of the sheets.

A device for offsetting sheets as they are conveyed in a paper path toward a stacker includes a narrow channel mounted to a set of linked arms which when moved in a process direction (upstream-downstream) articulate in a cross process direction (inboard-outboard) to register the sheets at various locations for stacking or finish processing. The linked arms keep the channel parallel to the paper path at all times regardless of inboard-outboard offset.