Disclosed herein is a sheet-folding apparatus which includes transporting rollers, folding rollers, a pushing member provided between the transporting rollers and the folding-rollers, and a guide unit for guiding the sheet to the folding-roller pair by using the pushing member.

A sheet conveyance apparatus includes a cover unit, a base unit, a roller unit configured to be detachable from the cover unit, and comprising a roller configured to convey the sheet along a conveyance path and a holder comprising an arm portion configured to extend in a width direction orthogonal to a sheet conveyance direction, a cam configured to swing the holder by rotating, and a cover member configured to be openable and closable with respect to the cover unit and configured to cover at least a portion of the arm portion against the conveyance path in a closed state, the cover member being opened by being pressed by the arm portion in a case where the roller unit is detached from the cover unit.

An image forming apparatus includes a main body housing, an openable/closable part, a sheet feeding tray, an image forming device, a sheet feeding roller, a first coupling, a drive gear, a second coupling, a biasing member, and a link mechanism. The first coupling is provided in the sheet feeding roller. The second coupling is provided coaxially with the drive gear, rotatable following the drive gear, slidable relative to the drive gear in an axial direction and capable of fitting to the first coupling. The biasing member biases the second coupling to the first coupling to connect the second coupling to the first coupling. The link mechanism disconnects the second coupling from the first coupling against a biasing force of the biasing member so as to block a transmission of the drive force with an opening of the openable/closable part.

A sheet feed device includes: a tray provided in a device body in a manner capable of being pulled out and having a loading part that is moved up and down; an extension part attached to the device body to support a portion of a sheet to be fed through the tray; a lifting mechanism that has a lifting/lowering part for moving the loading part up and down and a driving part for lifting and holding the loading part via the lifting/lowering part; and a disconnecting part that disconnects the lifting/lowering part and the driving part when an uncoupling operation is accepted in a state in which the tray is accommodated in the device body.

A sheet feed device comprises a first conveyance path and a second conveyance path which are different sheet conveyance paths, and a conveyance path merging section for merging the first conveyance path and the second conveyance path together. At least one of the first conveyance path and the second conveyance path includes an upstream side roller that feeds sheet to downstream side in a conveyance direction. The conveyance path merging section comprises a conveyance roller pair that conveys the sheet fed from the first conveyance path and the second conveyance path through a nip; a variable mechanism that makes an arrangement angle of one roller of the conveyance roller pair to the other roller thereof variable; and a transmission mechanism that transmits a driving force from the upstream side roller provided in one of the first conveyance path and the second conveyance path to the variable mechanism.

To correct a posture of a paper sheet inserted from various positions and angles to a normal transport state without causing any deformation due to contact with a side wall while transporting the paper sheet continuously and non-intermittently. A drive-side unit (20) includes at least one drive roller (25) that is supported rotatably about a shaft orthogonal to a normal paper-sheet transport direction and axially movably, an elastic biasing member (40) that elastically biases the drive roller in an axial direction, and a cam mechanism (50) that transmits a driving force from a driving source to the drive roller, and operates when an external force exceeding a predetermined value in a direction other than a normal transport direction is applied to the paper sheet transported by the drive roller, so as to change an axial position of the drive roller against an elastic biasing force, and a driven-side unit (100) includes a driven roller that changes a transport grip between the drive roller and a paper sheet according to a change of an axial position of the drive roller.

A paper sheet storage device includes a storage space in which paper sheet is stored; a mounting table that is provided in the storage space and on which the paper sheet is accumulated and placed; a support base that supports the mounting table; a first lifting lowering mechanism that lifts and lowers the mounting table between a high position and a low position relative to the support base; and a second lifting lowering mechanism that lifts and lowers the support base in the storage space. The support base and the first lifting lowering mechanism are disposed within a projection area in which the mounting table is projected on a plane orthogonal to a lifting lowering direction in which the support base is lifted and lowered by the second lifting lowering mechanism.

Provided is a sheet folding apparatus for folding sheets, including: a feeding-roller pair; a loop-forming space provided downstream from the feeding-roller pair, for forming a sheet loop; a pushing member for pushing the looped sheet; a folding-roller pair for nipping a prescribed part of the sheet pushed by the pushing member, thereby to fold the sheet; and a path provided between the feeding-roller pair and the folding-roller pair, for guiding the sheet fed from the feeding-roller pair toward the loop-forming space.

A feeding device to transport a recording medium includes a main body having a drive source, a tray that is rotatably attached to the main body and on which the recording medium is to be loaded, a handling mechanism provided on the tray, an operation arm portion attached to the main body, and an operation lever provided on the tray so as to face the operation arm portion. The handling mechanism handles the recording medium. The operation arm portion moves in one direction along a rotation axis of the tray by a driving force from the drive source. The operation arm portion moves in the one direction so that the operation arm portion abuts on the operation lever and transmits the driving force to the operation lever so that the operation lever is pushed. The driving force received by the pushed operation lever is transmitted to the handling mechanism.

A media retraction system includes a loadstop shaft rotatable about an axis thereof, and a loadstop paddle rotatably coupled with and slidably mounted on the loadstop shaft such that the loadstop paddle is slidable about the axis of the loadstop shaft.