An image forming apparatus includes a drawer unit, a sheet inverting unit, a sheet guide plate, and a projection. The drawer unit is drawable from an apparatus body. The sheet inverting unit is disposed in the apparatus body, and pulls a sheet into a lower portion of the drawer unit to invert the sheet. The sheet guide plate is disposed on the sheet inverting unit to face the drawer unit, and includes a recess extending in a pull-out direction of the drawer unit that crosses a direction in which the sheet is transported. The projection protrudes toward the recess from a portion of a lower surface of the drawer unit facing the sheet guide plate near a pull-out start point in the pull-out direction and on a rear of a transport area of the sheet.

A pair of regulating guides is disposed on both sides of a conveying belt in a sheet width direction Y, each having a support surface that supports an end edge in the width direction of the sheet conveyed while being nipped by the conveying belt and balls and a guide surface that faces the end edge of the sheet in the width direction. Each of the pair of regulating guides is movable to a first guide position at which the end edge of the sheet in the width direction is supported by the support surface and guided by the guide surface and to a second guide position at which the end edge of the sheet in the sheet width direction is supported by the support surface and which is retracting further away from the end edge in the sheet width direction than the guide position.

The present invention is to provide a configuration facilitating removal of a sheet stopped on a conveying belt. In a sheet conveying apparatus that conveys a sheet using a conveying belt and balls, a sheet may be jammed and stopped on the conveying belt. In this case, it is difficult for a user to take out the sheet through a take-out port if the sheet is nipped by conveying roller pairs disposed upstream and downstream relative to the conveying belt in a sheet conveying direction. Thus, conveying roller pairs and the conveying belt are operated such that the sheet, which is stopped on the conveying belt and hence should be taken out through the take-out port, is brought into a state of being nipped only by the conveying belt and balls.

The present invention is to provide a configuration facilitating removal of a sheet stopped on a conveying belt. Regulating guides are disposed on both sides of a conveying belt in a sheet width direction Y and can guide both end edges in the sheet width direction of a sheet S conveyed while being nipped by the conveying belt and the balls. A take-out port is provided on the side closer to the regulating guide in the sheet width direction Y, through which a sheet stopped on the conveying belt is taken out. A guide moving part moves the regulating guides. When a sheet is stopped on the conveying belt, the guide moving part moves the first and second regulating guides such that the regulating guide is retracted to a position at which a support surface does not support a first sheet end edge.

The present invention is to provide a configuration capable of stably conveying a sheet irrespective of the basis weight of the sheet. A pair of regulating guides is disposed on both sides of a conveying belt in a sheet width direction Y, each having a support surface that supports an end edge in the width direction of the sheet conveyed while being nipped by the conveying belt and balls and a guide surface that faces the end edge of the sheet in the width direction. Each of the pair of regulating guides is movable to a first guide position at which the end edge of the sheet in the width direction is supported by the support surface and guided by the guide surface and to a second guide position at which the end edge of the sheet in the width direction is supported by the support surface.

The apparatus is capable of handling sheets of various lengths while suppressing an increase in apparatus size, wherein each of a pair of regulating guides is movable to a guide position at which an end edge of a sheet in a sheet width direction can be guided by a guide surface and to a retracting position retracting further away from the sheet width direction end edge than the guide position. For sheets S1 and S2 each having a first sheet length, the pair of regulating guides is made to reach the guide position from the retracting position in a state where the front end of the sheet is located between upstream and downstream ends of the guide surface. For a sheet S3 having a second sheet length that is longer than the first length, the pair of regulating guides is made to reach the guide position from the retracting position.

A postprocessing apparatus includes a horizontal alignment plate, a binder, a tray, and a shift actuator assembly. The horizontal alignment plate is positioned to align sheets in a sheet width direction. The binder binds sheets to form bound sheet bundles. The bound sheet bundles are stacked on the tray. The shift actuator assembly shifts the bound sheet bundles in the sheet width direction. A postprocessing controller controls the shift actuator assembly to shift the bound sheet bundles such that swollen portions of the bound sheet bundles are shifted inward of the horizontal alignment plate in the sheet width direction when the processed sheets are piled on the tray to the vicinity of the horizontal alignment plate.

A loading unit includes a processing tray, alignment units, and a paddle. In the processing tray, a medium is placed. The alignment units are disposed an interval in a Y direction to align a downstream tip end in a positive A direction of the medium. The paddle moves the medium that has been fed onto the processing tray toward the alignment units. A coefficient of friction of a contact surface of the alignment unit is higher than a coefficient of friction of a front face of the alignment unit, and the contact surface is positioned downstream of the front face in the positive A direction.

The present invention discloses a card-feeding device and a badge and card printer. The card-feeding device comprises: a base on which cards are stacked, a card outlet being provided at one end of the base; a rotary card-feeding mechanism which is located below the bottommost card and provided with a rotary swing arm and a push rod provided on the rotary swing arm, the push rod pushing the bottommost card towards the card outlet as the swing arm rotates; and a roller card-feeding mechanism which is installed between the rotary card-feeding mechanism and the card outlet and provided with a roller with an outer edge protruding from the top surface of the base, the bottommost card being transported to the card outlet when the roller rotates.

A postprocessing apparatus includes a horizontal alignment plate, a binder, a tray, and a shift actuator assembly. The horizontal alignment plate is positioned to align sheets in a sheet width direction. The binder binds sheets to form bound sheet bundles. The bound sheet bundles are stacked on the tray. The shift actuator assembly shifts the bound sheet bundles in the sheet width direction. A postprocessing controller controls the shift actuator assembly to shift the bound sheet bundles such that swollen portions of the bound sheet bundles are shifted inward of the horizontal alignment plate in the sheet width direction when the processed sheets are piled on the tray to the vicinity of the horizontal alignment plate.