A method for franking mail items fed to a franking machine. The mail items are drawn from the underside of a stack for separation or are fed individually on a conveying section upstream of the franking machine to a printing unit for franking, after franking, are discharged in the opposite direction from the printing unit. The mail items are fed via a diverter section to the conveying section, after franking, are conveyed via the diverter section which is switched over to change the conveying direction into a depositing apparatus below the diverter section. The mail items are guided in the opening region of the franking machine into the printing position and are returned out of the printing position. The printing position of a mail item fed to the printing unit is determined by a print head movement-controlled from a readiness position pursuant to the format length of the mail item.

A medium processing device includes a conveyance guide that forms first, second and third conveyance paths that intersect, a blade configured to be rotatable around a blade center point, and that switches a conveyance route of the medium by connecting any two of the three conveyance paths with each other, and a first pair, second pair and third pair of conveyance rollers that are rotatable and are configured to hand off the medium between two conveyance paths connected by the blade. The first pair of conveyance rollers includes a first roller and a second roller. The second roller is closer than the first roller to the third pair of conveyance rollers. A radius of the second roller is larger than a radius of the first roller. A first center holding distance is different from one or both of a second center holding distance and a third center holding distance.

To provide an image forming apparatus having a sheet processing apparatus installed in an in-body space, capable of discharging sheets of different sizes without interfering with discharge operation of the sheet processing apparatus in a compact configuration. An image forming apparatus has a sheet binding unit disposed in an in-body space part thereof, a first conveying path for conveying the sheet discharged to the in-body space part toward the sheet binding unit, and a second conveying path for conveying the sheet discharged to the in-body space part toward a second stack tray that stacks thereon the sheet vertically below a first stack tray disposed outside the in-body space part. The second conveying path extends, inside the in-body space part, substantially horizontally between an image forming part and the sheet binding unit.

To provide an image forming apparatus having a sheet processing apparatus installed in an in-body space, capable of discharging sheets of different sizes without interfering with discharge operation of the sheet processing apparatus in a compact configuration. An image forming apparatus has a sheet binding unit disposed in an in-body space part thereof, a first conveying path for conveying the sheet discharged to the in-body space part toward the sheet binding unit, and a second conveying path for conveying the sheet discharged to the in-body space part toward a second stack tray that stacks thereon the sheet vertically below a first stack tray disposed outside the in-body space part. The second conveying path extends, inside the in-body space part, substantially horizontally between an image forming part and the sheet binding unit.

A medium conveyance path switching device include: a support unit located at a branch point of a conveyance path at which a conveying direction for a medium converges from three directions; a gate assembly including gates to guide the medium to different conveyance paths at the branch point; and a rotation mechanism configured to selectively rotate the gates. The support unit includes: a first support piece having a first through-hole portion; a second support piece having a second through-hole portion and disposed on one side of the first support piece; a third support piece having a third through-hole portion and disposed on the other side of the first support piece; a first bending connection part pivotably connecting one end of the first support piece and the second support piece; and a second bending connection part pivotably connecting the other end of the first support piece and the third support piece.

A sheet processing apparatus laminates a partially joined two-ply sheet and a sheet medium inserted in the two-ply sheet. The sheet processing apparatus includes a heat presser, an information acquisition device, and control circuitry. The heat presser heats and presses the two-ply sheet and the sheet medium. The information acquisition device acquires information on the two-ply sheet and the sheet medium. The control circuitry sets a fixing temperature of the heat presser in accordance with the information of the two-ply sheet and the sheet medium acquired by the information acquisition device.

A folding apparatus includes: a folding unit configured to fold a recording medium at an intermediate portion in a transport direction of the recording medium; an upstream roller pair disposed on an upstream side in the transport direction of the recording medium with respect to the folding unit, and configured to transport the folded recording medium toward the folding unit with a fold as a leading end; and a downstream roller pair disposed on a downstream side in the transport direction of the recording medium with respect to the folding unit, and configured to sandwich and transport the recording medium sandwiched between the upstream roller pair, the downstream roller pair being configured to apply a transport force to a portion of the recording medium that is connected to a portion of the recording medium that is sandwiched between the upstream roller pair.

A container member includes a container body that contains a recording medium and that tilts such that a leading edge of the contained recording medium is higher than a trailing edge, and a leading edge restriction portion that comes into contact with a portion of the leading edge except for at least a first end portion and that restricts a position of the leading edge.

A container member includes a container body that contains a recording medium and that tilts such that a leading edge of the contained recording medium is higher than a trailing edge, and a leading edge restriction portion that comes into contact with a portion of the leading edge except for at least a first end portion and that restricts a position of the leading edge.

A transportation apparatus includes a plurality of transportation members that are arranged in a transportation direction for a medium and transport the medium, a plurality of actuators that drive the plurality of transportation members, and a processor that controls the plurality of actuators in such a manner as to increase transportation velocities of the plurality of actuators in order from actuators for driving transportation members on a downstream side in the transportation direction to actuators for driving transportation members on an upstream side in the transportation direction.