A conveyance device includes a tray on an upper surface of the conveyance device and an upper guide below the tray. The tray receives a sheet, and the upper guide defines a conveyance path in which the sheet is conveyed. The upper guide is movable together with the tray to open the conveyance path.

A sheet conveyance apparatus includes a rotary member and an opposing member to convey a sheet in a conveyance nip, and an abutting member abutting a surface of the rotary member, which is supported between a first position and a second position with respect to the abutting member. When the sheet is not passing through the conveyance nip the rotary member is positioned at the first position and abuts the opposing member, and when the sheet is passing through the conveyance nip the rotary member is positioned at the second position which is more separated from the opposing member than the first position. The abutting member abuts the rotary member regardless of which of the first position and the second position the rotary member is positioned at, and the opposing member and the abutting member are supported so they do not move in a radial direction of the rotary member.

A sheet transport system for moving a sheet in a transport direction while adjusting a position of the sheet in a lateral direction normal to the transport direction to a target position, includes first and second pinch roller sets spaced apart from one another in the transport direction, each pinch roller set including two pairs of pinch rollers spaced apart from one another in the lateral direction, each pair forming a nip for pinching and driving the sheet with an individually controllable speed; a detection system for detecting a position of the sheet in the lateral direction while the sheet is pinched by the first pinch roller set; and a control system configured for carrying out the following actions: by controlling the speeds of the pinch rollers of the first pinch roller set before the sheet has reached the second pinch roller set, rotating the sheet by a first rotation angle for adjusting a given reference point on a leading part of the sheet to its target position; and when the sheet has left the first pinch roller set and while the reference point travels along a path segment that is symmetric with respect to the second pinch roller set, rotating, by controlling the speeds of the pinch rollers of the second pinch roller set, the sheet by a second rotation angle for aligning a leading edge of the sheet in the lateral direction.

A recording material processing apparatus includes a processing tray, a detecting unit, a stapling unit, an instructing unit, a control unit, a switching unit, and a notifying unit. The detecting unit detects recording material placed in the processing tray. The stapling unit executes a stapling process for the recording material placed in the processing tray. The instructing unit outputs a stapling process execution instruction. Upon receipt of the execution instruction in a state in which the detecting unit has detected a recording material inserted in the processing tray from an outside of a main body of a main body apparatus, the control unit cause the stapling process to be executed. The switching unit switches a position of the stapling unit among a plurality of positions. The notifying unit provides notification of a placement position of the recording material in the processing tray corresponding to each of the plurality of positions.

A discharging device includes an aligning unit for aligning stacked sheets as a sheet bundle, a discharging unit for discharging the sheet bundle, a discharged tray on which the sheet discharged by the discharging unit is stacked, and a support unit. The support unit supports the sheet bundle from below by extending in a sheet discharging direction of the sheet bundle while the sheet bundle is discharged to the discharged tray and to be accommodated in a direction opposite to the sheet discharging direction at timing when the discharging unit finishes discharging the sheet bundle.

A sheet feeding device includes a sheet feeding portion, a side end regulating portion, a feeding portion, first and second feeding roller pairs, an abutment member, an obliquely feeding roller pair, and first and second contact-and-separation mechanisms. Feeding of a long sheet is stopped after the sheet is fed to an upstream side of the second feeding roller pair by the feeding portion, and then is resumed in a state in which the first feeding roller pair is changed from a separated state to a feedable state and in a state in which the obliquely feeding roller pair is put in a separated state, and then the sheet is fed to the second feeding roller pair. A short sheet fed by the first feeding roller pair is obliquely fed by the obliquely feeding roller pair and then is fed to the second feeding roller pair.

An image forming apparatus includes: a first opening/closing member that can move between a first opening position in which the first opening/closing member opens an inside of a body of the image forming apparatus, and a first closing position in which the first opening/closing member closes the inside of the body of the image forming apparatus; a second opening/closing member that can move around a rotation shaft and between a second closing position in which the second opening/closing member closes an opening formed in the first opening/closing member, and a second opening position in which the second opening/closing member opens the opening, the second opening/closing member being removably attached to the body of the image forming apparatus; and a supported portion that is provided in the first opening/closing member so as to be supported on a support portion of the second opening/closing member, as defined herein.

A sheet conveying device includes a sheet skew corrector to correct a skew of a leading end of a sheet inclining from a sheet conveyance direction and a pair of registration rollers disposed upstream of the sheet skew corrector in the sheet conveyance direction. The pair of registration rollers freely contacts and separates from each other. The pair of registration rollers conveys the sheet downstream of the sheet skew corrector in the sheet conveyance direction when driven at a prescribed time. A pair of conveyance rollers is placed upstream of the pair of registration rollers in the sheet conveyance direction. The pair of conveyance rollers continuously sandwiches the sheet from when the sheet with the skew corrected is sandwiched by the pair of registration rollers to when a trailing end of the sheet passes between the pair of conveyance rollers.

A sheet conveying device includes a sheet detection unit and a position adjusting mechanism. The position adjusting mechanism is disposed on a downstream side of the sheet detection unit in a sheet conveying direction in the sheet conveying path, includes an adjusting roller pair, and performs skew correction and positional displacement correction of a sheet, while conveying the sheet. The sheet conveying path includes a first conveying roller pair disposed on an upstream side of the position adjusting mechanism in the sheet conveying direction, and a curved part disposed between the adjusting roller pair and the first conveying roller pair, which curves in an S shape so as to be convex in a front and back side direction of the sheet alternately at different positions in the sheet conveying direction. The adjusting roller pair nips and conveys the sheet together with the first conveying roller pair.

A sheet conveying device, which is included in an image forming apparatus, includes first and second sheet conveying bodies to contact each other, a cover to move relative to an apparatus body of the image forming apparatus, and a connecting body to connect the cover and the second sheet conveying body. The second sheet conveying body separates from the first sheet conveying body along with an opening movement of the cover. The connecting body includes a first connecting portion connected to the cover and a second connecting portion connected to the second sheet conveying body. At least one of a connection with the cover and a connection with the second sheet conveying body is released when the cover is closed. The connecting body is brought into connection with the cover or the second sheet conveying body.