The invention relates to a product stacking device for forming product stacks (12 a-k) of product groups (14 a-k) consisting of products (16 a-k), which lie flatly and/or are brought into a shingled product arrangement (64 a-k), during a transportation movement (28 a-k). The product stacking device includes at least two stack contact surfaces (20 a-k), which are provided in order to form the product stack (12 a-k) by reducing a spacing (24 a-k) between the stack contact surfaces (20 a-k), the stack contact surfaces lying opposite one another in a product group direction (26 a-k).

A sheet alignment device includes a driven roller, a drive roller, a displacement driving device, an information acquisition portion, and a displacement control portion. The drive roller is configured to rotate in a first rotation direction and in contact with an upper surface of each of sheets conveyed onto a tilt tray, to feed the sheets toward a base end portion of the tilt tray. The drive roller is configured to rotate in a second rotation direction and in contact with an uppermost surface of the sheets, to discharge the sheets from the tilt tray. The displacement control portion is configured to, when the drive roller rotates in the first rotation direction, control a holding position of the drive roller in accordance with the number of the sheets on the tilt tray and thickness information of each of the sheets acquired by the information acquisition portion.

According to an embodiment, a sheet processing apparatus includes a transport unit and a holding unit. The transport unit transports a first sheet to a first position. The transport unit transports a second sheet, which is transported after the first sheet, to a second position displaced to the upstream side of a sheet transport direction relative to the first position. The transport unit transports a third sheet, which is transported after the second sheet, to a third position displaced to the downstream side of the sheet transport direction relative to the second position. In the case where the second sheet is transported to the second position, the holding unit holds the first sheet at the first position. In the case where the third sheet is transported to the third position, the holding unit holds the second sheet at the second position.

A sheet post-processing device comprises: a processing tray; a discharge tray; and a discharge rollers pair. The discharge rollers pair is constituted by a discharge roller which contacts the uppermost surface of sheets stacked in the processing tray and a discharge roller which contacts the lowermost surface of the sheets stacked in the processing tray). The sheet post-processing device discharges a sheet from the processing tray to the discharge tray by rotating the discharge rollers pair in the forward direction, and causes the sheet to be drawn into the processing tray by rotating the discharge roller in the reverse direction in a state in which the rotation of the discharge roller is stopped.

A sheet processing device can prevent a folded sheet bundle from being opened upon accumulation to prevent a reduction in accumulation amount thereof. The sheet processing device includes a pair of pressing rollers pressing a folding loop of a folded sheet bundle in a thickness direction, a support unit mounted to a device frame and supporting a plurality of rows of the pressing roller pairs such that intervals therebetween in the row direction are reduced stepwise, and a gripper member that makes the folding loop of the folded sheet bundle pass through the support unit in a direction that the intervals of the plurality of rows of pressing roller pairs in the row direction are reduced stepwise. The folded sheet bundle passes through the support unit by the gripper member to cause the folding loop to be sequentially pressed by the plurality of rows of pressing roller pairs.

According to one embodiment, a sheet post-processing apparatus includes: a standby unit configured to put a sheet on standby, the standby unit including a tray member on which the sheet is placed; a corrugation forming unit configured to form a corrugation in a direction orthogonal to a conveying direction on the sheet in the standby unit, the corrugation forming unit integrally provided with the tray member; and a processing unit disposed below the standby unit and configured to process the sheet supplied from the standby unit, wherein the corrugation forming unit includes: a projecting roller projecting upward from a conveyance reference plane in the standby unit; and a housing unit configured as a part of the tray member to house the projecting roller below the conveyance reference plane.

A conveyor, including: receiving trays; a conveyance mechanism; and a support supporting the trays, wherein at least one tray except a lowermost tray is supported so as to be selectively positioned at one of a receiving position and an upper position, wherein at least one lower tray except an uppermost tray includes a protruding portion attached to a tray body so as to be selectively positioned at one of a protruding position and a retracted position, and wherein the conveyor includes a force transmitting mechanism for effectuating at least one of (a) a retracting movement of the protruding portion of one of the at least one lower tray from the protruding position to the retracted position caused by an upward movement of an adjacent upper tray disposed just above and immediately adjacent to the one of the at least one lower tray from the receiving position to the upper position.

A paper money processing device is provided with: a storage unit for forming a storage space in which paper money is layered and stored; a conveyance mechanism for conveying paper money to the storage unit; and a movable piece capable of emerging and sinking the storage space, the movable piece being provided in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the paper money conveyed by the conveyance mechanism. Conveyance is stopped in a position where the trailing end part of the paper money to be conveyed to the storage unit by the conveyance mechanism is facing the moveable piece, the trailing end part of the paper money in a position facing the moveable piece is thereafter moved to the storage space side and the paper money is layered and stored in the storage space by the emerging/sinking operation of the movable piece.

A dual-stage rapid sheet stacking system is provided. In one embodiment, the dual-stage rapid stacker comprises a landing platform and a first actuator configured to control a vertical position of the landing platform. A vertical position sensor is configured to monitor the vertical position of the landing platform. A CPU is configured to receive a signal from the vertical position sensor and, in response to the received signal, to send a corresponding command to the first actuator such that the first actuator maintains a minimum sheet drop distance. A sliding catch tray unit, is mounted on a plurality of suspension rails. The dual-stage rapid sheet stacking system comprises a second actuator configured to receive commands from the CPU to control a horizontal position of the sliding catch tray unit. The dual-stage rapid sheet stacking system is configured to stack a plurality of sheets on the landing platform and then discharge, a plurality of sheets through the sliding catch tray unit.

A sheet stacking apparatus including a control portion is configured to execute: a first mode in which the control portion causes a bundle forming portion to form a bundle of sheets including a sheet supported by a first placement portion and a sheet placed on a second placement portion; and a second mode in which a downstream end portion of a bundle of sheets formed in the second mode is positioned upstream of a downstream end portion of a bundle of sheets to be formed in the first mode, and wherein the control portion sets a maximum number of sheets constituting a bundle of sheets which the control portion causes the bundle forming portion to form in the second mode to be smaller than a maximum number of sheets constituting a bundle of sheets which the control portion causes the bundle forming portion to form in the first mode.