Sheet collating device for accumulating sheets from at least one hopper, comprising: a lower transport path and an upper transport path; a switchable guide for directing the sheets from the at least one hopper to the lower or the upper transport path; left and right upper drive shafts connected to a right and a left upper drive pulleys supporting a pair of upper belts, a drive direction of the pair of upper belts being changed dependent on what transport path of the upper and lower transport paths is selected; first and second lower drive shafts connected to a right and a left lower drive pulleys supporting first and second pairs of lower belts; and a first series of right paddles mounted on the first pair of lower belts and a first series of left paddles mounted on the second pair of lower belts for registering a collated set of sheets.

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.

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.

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 sheet conveying apparatus including: a pair of inlet rollers; a pair of outlet rollers; a pair of movable rollers disposed between the inlet rollers and the outlet rollers; a moving unit configured to move the movable rollers; a pair of upstream rollers disposed between the inlet rollers and the movable rollers; a pair of downstream rollers disposed between the movable rollers and the outlet rollers; a first conveyance belt passed over a first inlet roller, a first outlet roller, a first movable roller, a first upstream roller, and a first downstream roller; and a second conveyance belt passed over a second inlet roller, a second outlet roller, a second movable roller, a second upstream roller, and a second downstream roller. A diameter of the pair of upstream rollers and a diameter of the pair of downstream rollers are smaller than a diameter of the pair of movable rollers.

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.

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 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.

There is provided a sheet storage device including a regulation unit that includes a first contact portion configured to contact a stacking unit, and a second contact portion configured to contact a facing member. The first contact portion contacts the stacking unit in a state of being urged toward the stacking unit. The second contact portion contacts the facing member in a state of being urged toward the facing member.