A sheet processing apparatus includes a stacking unit configured to stack a plurality of sheets, an alignment unit including a supporting portion on which the sheets are loaded, the alignment unit being configured to align positions of the sheets loaded on the supporting portion, and a bonding unit configured to bond the sheets loaded on the supporting portion to each other. The alignment unit is configured to align a position of the second sheet stack with the first sheet stack. The bonding unit is configured to heat and pressurize the second sheet stack aligned by the alignment unit such that sheets of the second sheet stack are bonded to each other with the adhesive and the first sheet stack and the second sheet stack are bonded to each other with the adhesive.

A post-processing apparatus includes a guiding unit that faces a placement surface onto which sheets are transported and stacked as a stack of sheets and that is capable of changing a gap in a thickness direction of the stack of sheets, the guiding unit being configured to guide the sheets which are transported, and a controller that controls a size of the gap and a change pattern of the gap.

A sheet conveying apparatus, including: a support portion configured to support a second sheet different from a first sheet among a plurality of sheets when the first sheet located undermost among the plurality of sheets conveyed by a conveyance portion is placeable on a placement portion; and a restriction unit configured to bring the second sheet into a first state in order to restrict downward movement of the second sheet at a restriction position located downstream of a support position at which the support portion supports the second sheet when the first sheet is placeable on the placement portion, and to bring the second sheet into a second state in order to remove or reduce a restriction force for restricting the downward movement of the second sheet to less than a restriction force in the first state after bringing the second sheet into the first state at the restriction position.

A buffer means includes a buffer unit that makes paper sheets temporarily stand by and a paper stacking unit that intermittently conveys paper sheets and sucks the trailing edges of the paper sheets to stack the paper sheets stepwise and make them temporarily stand by.

A sheet alignment device includes a driven roller, a drive roller, a displacement driving device, an information acquisition portion, and a displacement control portion. The drive roller is configured to rotate in a first rotation direction and in contact with an upper surface of each of sheets conveyed onto a tilt tray, to feed the sheets toward a base end portion of the tilt tray. The drive roller is configured to rotate in a second rotation direction and in contact with an uppermost surface of the sheets, to discharge the sheets from the tilt tray. The displacement control portion is configured to, when the drive roller rotates in the first rotation direction, control a holding position of the drive roller in accordance with the number of the sheets on the tilt tray and thickness information of each of the sheets acquired by the information acquisition portion.

Disclosed herein is a sheet processing apparatus comprising a sheet tray configured to hold a bundle composed of the sheets fed from conveyance rollers, a wait path configured to keep waiting following sheets upstream the conveyance rollers, an accumulating tray configured to hold a sheet bundle, delivery rollers configured to nip the sheet bundle mounted on the sheet tray and the following sheets, to set off from one another, and to deliver them to the accumulating tray, and to switch back the following sheets to the sheet tray, and a conveyance member configured to convey the following sheets from the sheet tray.

A dump gate system having a pair of belts configured for rotation in opposite directions and spaced apart to define a gap between the belts. Fins extend outward from the belts. The fins may support an item in the gap when the belts are in a loading position. Each belt may have a tapered section extending from the top of the belt to a lower section of the belt. Each belt may taper toward the other belt in the tapered section to gradually reduce the width of a gap between the belts from the top of each belt to the lower section. The lower sections of the belts may be generally parallel to each other. A drive system may be configured to rotate the belts to move the fins from an initial loading position to a final loading position while items are fed into the gap for support by the fins.

A sheet processing apparatus includes a sheet processing unit that processes a sheet placed on a placing tray, a discharge roller that discharges the sheet processed on the placing tray to a stacking tray, a conveyance roller that discharges a sheet to the placing tray or conveys a subsequent sheet from upstream to downstream of the discharge roller and switchback-conveys the subsequent sheet upstream again, and a standby path (branch path) that keeps the sheet switched back by the conveyance roller on standby. The subsequent sheet is conveyed to a downstream side of the discharge roller by the conveyance roller and then returned to an upstream side again by switchback conveyance. During the switchback conveyance, the discharge roller nips and discharges the sheets on the placing tray to the stacking tray.

In accordance with an embodiment, a sheet processing apparatus comprises a processing tray configured to load sheets to which a post processing is executed; a pair of alignment plates arranged on the processing tray at a predetermined interval and configured to move in a direction orthogonal to a sheet conveyance direction and align the sheets on the processing tray in the sheet width direction; and a controller configured to control the pair of the alignment plates to move towards each other to first alignment positions at which the sheets are aligned in the direction and stop, and control the pair of the alignment plates to move towards each other to second alignment positions without moving the pair of the alignment plates in a reverse direction to align the sheets.

According to an aspect of an embodiment, a paper sheet storage device includes a holding member that includes a loading region into which a paper sheet is loaded; a storing member that is disposed adjacent to the holding member and that is used to store the paper sheet; a carrier unit that, in a state in which at least a single pair of carrier belts is abutting against both sides of the paper sheet, carries the paper sheet into the loading region; and a pressing mechanism that presses the paper sheet, which has been carried into the loading region, inside the storing member. In the paper sheet storage device, at the time of pressing of the paper sheet by the pressing mechanism, the carrier unit releases the abutment of one of the carrier belts with respect to the paper sheet.