A sheet processing apparatus includes a processing tray; a conveyance roller for conveying a sheet towards a downstream side in a sheet conveyance direction; a pinch roller for moving between a first position away from the conveyance roller and a second position close to the conveyance roller, and to sandwich the sheet with the conveyance roller at the second position when the sheet is conveyed by the conveyance roller. The apparatus further includes an extruding member for extruding an upstream end of the sheet from the upstream side towards the downstream side to convey the sheet placed on the processing tray. The apparatus additionally includes a controller for conveying the sheet with the extruding member after the sheet is conveyed by the pinch roller and the conveyance roller when the sheet on the processing tray is conveyed to the downstream side in the sheet conveyance direction.

A post-processing device includes a discharge port through which a sheet is discharged, an intermediate tray, a discharge tray and an air sending part. The air sending part includes an upper air sending member, an upper switching member, a lower air sending member, a lower switching member and a controller. The upper air sending member generates a downward air flow from above the discharge port. The upper switching member is distributable the air flow generated by the upper air sending member to above the intermediate tray and to above the discharge tray. The lower air sending member generates an upward air flow from below the discharge port. The lower switching member is distributable the air flow generated by the lower air sending member to below the intermediate tray and to above the discharge tray. The controller controls the upper switching member and the lower switching member.

The invention provides a delivery system and layered stacking device for paper packages. The layered stacking device comprises a upper layer mechanism, a lower layer mechanism, and a pushing mechanism. The upper layer mechanism protrudes to an outlet of a delivery device to receive at least two paper packages. The paper packages will be stacked and neatly arranged on the upper layer mechanism. When the lower layer mechanism is raised to a first height and therefore close to the outlet, the upper layer mechanism will be withdrawn from the outlet of the delivery device, thereby the lower layer mechanism will receive the stacked paper packages that are dropped from the upper layer mechanism. Afterwards, when the lower layer mechanism is fallen to a second height, the pushing mechanism will push the stacked paper packages on the lower layer mechanism to a feeding device next the lower layer mechanism.

A sheet binding processing apparatus includes a transport section transporting a bunch of sheets in a transport direction, a sheet discharge outlet to discharge the bunch of sheets transported from the transport section, a placement section to place the bunch of sheets discharged from the discharge outlet, a manual set section enabling a bunch of sheets inserted in a direction different from the transport direction to be set, a press member pressing the bunch of sheets placed on the placement section or on the manual set section to bind, a drive section applying a pressing force to the press member, and a control section controlling the drive section to make the pressing force applied to a binding member higher in the case of binding the bunch of sheets placed on the placement section than in the case of binding the bunch of sheets set from the manual set section.

A stacker includes a medium stacking portion for receiving and stacking a medium processed and discharged by a processing unit, a medium butting portion for aligning the medium by contacting a leading end of the medium, and a paddle that includes a feeding portion and is for transporting the medium received by the medium stacking portion in a direction toward the medium butting portion by rotating. Furthermore, the stacker has a first mode in which the paddle stops in a state in which the feeding portion does not contact the medium on the medium stacking portion and a second mode in which the paddle stops in a state in which the feeding portion comes into contact with the medium on the medium stacking portion and is deformed.

Conveying belts 1A and 1B have stopping members 6A and 6B. After a sheet bundle is placed on a placement area of the conveying belts, a driving control part controls a guide driving part 4 so that a regulating guide 2 sandwiches the sheet bundle from both sides in the width direction, controls a belt driving part 3 so that the stopping member 6B is made to abut on a first end surface of the sheet bundle and a second end surface is made to abut on the stopping member 1A, and thereafter, controls the driving parts 3 and 4 so that the sheet bundle is conveyed along the regulating guide 2 in a state of being sandwiched from the front and the back by the stopping members 6A and 6B.

In order to display information for rejected paper sheets in an easily recognizable manner, the paper sheet handling apparatus includes: a transport path configured to transport paper sheets; a recognition unit configured to recognize the paper sheets transported in the transport path; a reject unit configured to stack rejected paper sheets discharged from the transport path based on a recognition result by the recognition unit; and a display unit configured to display information for rejected paper sheets in a manner which is different for a case where the number of the rejected paper sheets stacked in the reject unit can be determined, and for a case where the number of the rejected paper sheets stacked in the reject unit cannot be determined.

The postprocessing device includes: a stapling unit for stapling a sheet bundle with a staple; a discharge tray to which a bound sheet bundle bound with the staple is to be discharged; a moving member movable in both a direction of approaching the discharge tray and a direction of going away from the discharge tray; and a control section for, when the bound sheet bundle has been discharged, driving the moving member to execute a process of making the moving member hit against the bound sheet bundle or against the discharge tray.

A sheet processing apparatus for processing a sheet includes a conveying path in which a sheet is conveyed; a setting portion including an opening formed in a cover, a setting face supporting a lower face of a sheet bundle inserted through the opening from an outside of the sheet processing apparatus, and a regulating face which regulates a position of the sheet bundle; a stack portion on which sheets are stacked; a binding unit which is configured to bind a sheet bundle set on a sheet setting area; and a punching unit being configured to be movable in the sheet width direction, the punching unit including a punching portion which forms a punch hole. In the sheet width direction, the sheet setting area is arranged as being overlapped with a moving area of an end of the one side of the punching unit in the sheet width direction.

To allow easy access to a jammed sheet when a sheet jam occurs in a sheet processing device installed inside the body of an image forming apparatus. An image forming apparatus is provided with a sheet binding unit that applies binding to sheets. The sheet binding unit has a carry-in port for receiving a sheet to be conveyed to a sheet carry-in path formed thereinside and an openable cover for opening the carry-in port. The end portion of the openable cover on the carry-in port side and an end portion of an operation part for inputting an operational item for the operation carried out in the image forming apparatus are arranged spaced apart from each other at a predetermined distance.