An image forming apparatus includes a housing, a sheet conveyor, a sheet stacker, and circuitry. The sheet conveyor is configured to convey a sheet on which liquid is applied. The sheet stacker is configured to stack the sheet conveyed by the sheet conveyor. The circuitry is configured to control conveyance of the sheet. The circuitry is configured to cause the sheet conveyor to expose the sheet on which the liquid is applied, to an outside of the housing, and convey the sheet to the sheet stacker.

A first transport path is put into a first state capable of transporting a paper sheet when a first portion and a second portion engage with each other, and put into a second state in which the second portion is swingable with respect to the first portion about a first swing axis extending in a direction orthogonal to a first direction and horizontal when engagement between the first portion and the second portion is released. A contact portion comes into contact with the second portion, thereby engaging the second portion with the first portion when a second unit in which the first transport path is in the second state is moved in a second direction opposite to the first direction.

A sheet conveyance apparatus includes a controller controlling a driver to cause a guide to start rotation in a state in which a trailing end in a sheet conveyance direction of a preceding sheet conveyed by a roller pair having a first roller and a second roller such that the trailing end of the preceding sheet is moved from the position above a first guide to a position between a second guide and a sheet support by the rotation of the guide and that a succeeding sheet conveyed by the roller pair subsequently to the preceding sheet passes the position above the first guide after the rotation of the guide. The first roller is rotated by a driving force supplied from a driving source, and the guide rotates about a rotation axis of the first roller while rotating relatively to the first roller.

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 sheet discharge device includes a discharge unit including a drive roller, to be rotated by a drive source driving force, a driven roller to be driven by the drive roller, and a static elimination unit located downstream from the discharge unit in a sheet discharge direction. The discharge unit discharges a sheet out of a discharge nip portion between the drive roller and the driven roller. The static elimination unit eliminates electric charge from the sheet to be discharged. The static elimination unit includes a static elimination cloth having electroconductive fiber and facing the sheet to be discharged and includes a support member supporting the static elimination cloth. The static elimination cloth is located so that a static elimination plane of the static elimination cloth, constituting a virtual plane facing the sheet, is substantially parallel to a virtual tangent line extending from the discharge nip portion.

A reading apparatus includes a reader, a conveyor, motors and a hardware processor. The reader reads a surface of a recording medium with an image formed. The conveyor includes rollers disposed along a conveyance path that passes through a reading area of the reader, and conveys the recording medium being laid across the rollers. The motors rotate the rollers. The hardware processor controls operations of the motors such that the rollers located farther downstream in a conveyance direction of the recording medium rotate faster. As to at least one motor of the motors, the hardware processor switches between and performs a first control to adjust a rotational speed and a second control to adjust a torque, depending on an operating state of the motor.

A sheet discharge apparatus includes a stack portion, a reversing unit configured to reverse a reversing sheet, a support member configured to support a lower surface of the reversing sheet, a discharging unit configured to discharge a discharging sheet from the apparatus body, a pivotable member arranged above the stack portion, and a detector configured to output a detection signal that changes according to a pivot angle of the pivotable member. When viewed in a sheet width direction perpendicular to the first conveyance direction, a pivoting locus in which the pivotable member pivots overlaps the support member.

A sheet discharge device includes: at least one processor; a conveyance unit configured to convey a sheet along a conveyance path; a discharge unit to which the sheet is discharged; a storage unit that is provided in a middle of the conveyance path and temporarily stores the sheet; an alignment unit provided in the discharge unit and configured to align the sheet in a width direction intersecting a convey direction of the sheet, in which the processor is configured to change a method of aligning the sheets by the alignment unit between a case where storage control for storing the sheets in the storage unit is performed and a case where the storage control is not performed.

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 pair of conveyance rollers are arranged for signatures. The signatures is conveyed through the pair of conveyance rollers to a stacking unit while being sandwiched from both sides thereof between the pair of conveyance rollers. In response to passage of a signature for a sheet stack through the pair of the conveyance rollers, the conveyance rollers is switched from conveyance rotation to intermittent rotation to cause the pair of the conveyance rollers to keep the signatures for a next sheet stack from being conveyed to the stacking unit. In response to the stacking unit becoming ready to receive the signatures for the next sheet stack, the conveyance rollers is switched from the intermitted rotation or the stop to the continuous rotation to cause the pair of the conveyance rollers to convey to the signatures to the stacking unit.