A sheet processing apparatus which vertically conveys a sheet and performs sheet processing, the sheet having a folded part at a middle portion thereof and being in a vertical state with the folded part up and an edge part down, and the apparatus including: a supporting section which supports the folded part of the sheet from below; a sandwiching section which sandwiches both sides of the sheet supported by the supporting section; and a control section which controls the sandwiching section to execute a first sandwiching operation of sandwiching the sheet, to release the first sandwiching operation, and thereafter to execute a second sandwiching operation of sandwiching the sheet again.

The present invention is to provide a sheet feeding apparatus to feed a sheet including a pressing member that presses and regulates one end in the width direction of sheets on a stack tray, an urging member that urges the pressing member, and an urging force changing mechanism that changes an urging force of the urging member in accordance with a sheet thickness, the urging force changing mechanism provides a pressing force in accordance with a sheet kind, so that sheets can be reliably aligned and fed in an appropriate posture.

The present invention is to provide a sheet feeding apparatus to feed a sheet including a pressing member that presses and regulates one end in the width direction of sheets on a stack tray, an urging member that urges the pressing member, and an urging force changing mechanism that changes an urging force of the urging member in accordance with a sheet thickness, the urging force changing mechanism provides a pressing force in accordance with a sheet kind, so that sheets can be reliably aligned and fed in an appropriate posture.

A control system for pressing an abutting object against an abutted object includes: a mechanical device including a motor and causing a force from the motor to act on the abutting object to displace the abutting object toward the abutted object, a driving device driving the motor according to an inputted operation amount, a measuring device measuring a physical amount related to displacement of the abutting object, and a controller. The controller executes: a position control process to calculate the operation amount to be inputted to the driving device, a reaction force estimation process to estimate a reaction force acting on the abutting object, and a compliance control process to correct the operation amount which is calculated in the position control process and to be inputted to the driving device by a compliance control based on an estimate value of the reaction force estimated in the reaction force estimation process.

A control system for pressing an abutting object against an abutted object includes: a mechanical device including a motor and causing a force from the motor to act on the abutting object to displace the abutting object toward the abutted object, a driving device driving the motor according to an inputted operation amount, a measuring device measuring a physical amount related to displacement of the abutting object, and a controller. The controller executes: a position control process to calculate the operation amount to be inputted to the driving device, a reaction force estimation process to estimate a reaction force acting on the abutting object, and a compliance control process to correct the operation amount which is calculated in the position control process and to be inputted to the driving device by a compliance control based on an estimate value of the reaction force estimated in the reaction force estimation process.

A sheet transport device includes: a curved sheet transport path; multiple transport roller pairs disposed in the sheet transport path; multiple driving sources that drive the multiple transport roller pairs; multiple load detectors that detect the loads of the multiple driving sources; and a control unit that controls the driving speed of at least one of the driving sources such that detection results obtained by the load detectors are within a predetermined range in accordance with the position of the leading end of a sheet.

A sheet conveyance apparatus is equipped with a first rotator, a second rotator conveying a sheet together with the first rotator, a cam member changing a position of the second rotator with respect to the first rotator, a drive unit rotating the cam member, and a load portion applying load on a rotation of the cam member. The load portion includes a contact member having a cam surface formed on a side surface in an axial direction of the cam member, an abutment member capable of abutting against the cam surface, and a biasing member biasing one of the contact member and the abutment member toward the other, a biasing force of the biasing member converted into a force, applying load to the rotating cam member, by the cam surface opposing to a rotating direction in which the cam member is driven by the drive unit.

A sheet conveyance apparatus is equipped with a first rotator, a second rotator conveying a sheet together with the first rotator, a cam member changing a position of the second rotator with respect to the first rotator, a drive unit rotating the cam member, and a load portion applying load on a rotation of the cam member. The load portion includes a contact member having a cam surface formed on a side surface in an axial direction of the cam member, an abutment member capable of abutting against the cam surface, and a biasing member biasing one of the contact member and the abutment member toward the other, a biasing force of the biasing member converted into a force, applying load to the rotating cam member, by the cam surface opposing to a rotating direction in which the cam member is driven by the drive unit.

In a cam mechanism including a pressurization member, a pressurization target member and a pressurization force generation member, a cam, a first member that moves the pressurization member by rotation of the cam and applies a pressurization force generated by the pressurization force generation member to the pressurization member, a second member that changes the pressurization force of the pressurization force generation member by the rotation of the cam are provided, wherein the cam includes a plurality of cam outer peripheral surfaces at different position in a rotational axis direction, and a first cam outer peripheral surface among the plurality of cam outer peripheral surfaces does not act on the first member in a positional relationship where at least a part of the first cam outer peripheral surface overlaps the first member.

A separation member separates a sheet, conveyed by a separation roller in a conveying direction, from remaining sheets supported by a support member. At least one of a first guide and a second guide is a movable guide which moves in a width direction orthogonal to the conveying direction to increase and decrease a distance therebetween. An urging member is retained, at one end thereof, by a base portion in an elastically deformed state and urges the separation member toward the separation roller. In response to the movable guide decreasing the distance between the first guide and the second guide, an engaging mechanism reduces elastic deformation of the urging member by moving the base portion in a first direction. In response to the movable guide increasing the distance, the engaging mechanism moves the base portion in a second direction opposite to the first direction.