A fold-enhancing device includes a pressing member, at least one retaining member, and a moving mechanism. The pressing member presses against a fold line of a recording-medium bundle folded into a booklet shape. The recording-medium bundle is obtained by stacking multiple sheets of recording media. The retaining member retains the recording-medium bundle and is provided at a position located away from the fold line in a direction intersecting the fold line and not in contact with the pressing member. The moving mechanism moves the pressing member and the retaining member in a direction extending along the fold line.

Disclosed is a device for loading a bound product, the device holding a product without the product sagging, which has been completed by punching various objects to be bound and then binding same by means of a coil spring, reversing the moving direction to a loading location and thereby enabling neat and stable stacking in a zigzag state without having the coil springs come in contact with one another. A device for loading a bound product, according to the present invention, comprises: a supporting frame unit for providing a distance for the movement of a bound product from a binding location to a loading location; a transfer unit having upper and lower gears, which are axially mounted on one side of the frame unit, a driven gear, which is axially mounted on the other end, a moving belt, for connecting the lower gear and the driven gear, a power belt, which is connected to the upper gear, and a first driving motor, for transmitting power to the power belt; an LM guide having a rail, which is mounted on the frame unit in the length direction, and a block; a reversing unit having a supporting plate, which is fixed on the block of the LM guide and the moving belt, a pinion, of which the upper end is rotatably and axially mounted on the supporting plate, a first cylinder, for operating a rack gear that interlocks with the pinion, and a rotating plate which is fixed on the lower end of the pinion; and a holding unit having a support and a second cylinder which is mounted on the rotating plate of the reversing unit and has a pressure member coupled to the front end thereof so as to hold a bound product.

Disclosed is a device for loading a bound product, the device holding a product without the product sagging, which has been completed by punching various objects to be bound and then binding same by means of a coil spring, reversing the moving direction to a loading location and thereby enabling neat and stable stacking in a zigzag state without having the coil springs come in contact with one another. A device for loading a bound product, according to the present invention, comprises: a supporting frame unit for providing a distance for the movement of a bound product from a binding location to a loading location; a transfer unit having upper and lower gears, which are axially mounted on one side of the frame unit, a driven gear, which is axially mounted on the other end, a moving belt, for connecting the lower gear and the driven gear, a power belt, which is connected to the upper gear, and a first driving motor, for transmitting power to the power belt; an LM guide having a rail, which is mounted on the frame unit in the length direction, and a block; a reversing unit having a supporting plate, which is fixed on the block of the LM guide and the moving belt, a pinion, of which the upper end is rotatably and axially mounted on the supporting plate, a first cylinder, for operating a rack gear that interlocks with the pinion, and a rotating plate which is fixed on the lower end of the pinion; and a holding unit having a support and a second cylinder which is mounted on the rotating plate of the reversing unit and has a pressure member coupled to the front end thereof so as to hold a bound product.

A post-processing apparatus comprises a first processing tray on which fed paper is placed; a paper binding section configured to bind a plurality of sheets of paper stacked on the first processing tray into one bundle; a second processing tray which a plurality of paper bundles bound on the first processing tray are sequentially conveyed to and placed on; a paper bundle gluing section configured to coat glue at a given position of the top surface of a first paper bundle placed on the second processing tray before a second paper bundle is placed on the first paper bundle; a pressing section configured to press and bind the first paper bundle with the second paper bundle between which glue is coated; and a control section configured to control the timing for conveying the second paper bundle onto the first paper bundle after the glue is coated.

The present invention is to provide a sheet bundle binding device having both a staple binding unit and a staple-free binding unit, capable of performing binding in two stages of proper binding and temporary binding so as to obtain a desired binding force and to easily remove some sheets from a bound sheet bundle. A binding control section determines, based on user's settings, whether or not to perform first binding in which a first sheet bundle Sb1 is subjected to the proper binding using the staple binding unit or staple-free binding unit and determines whether or not to perform second binding in which a second sheet bundle obtained by accumulating additional sheets on the first sheet bundle is subjected to the temporary binding using the staple-free binding unit so as to control binding forces with which the first and second sheet bundles are bound.

To provide a sheet bundle binding device capable of easily removing some sheets from a sheet bundle that has been subjected to staple-free binding. A corner Sc of a first sheet bundle Sb1 accumulated on a processing tray 24 is pressed and deformed between crimping toothed parts 54 and 55 of a staple-free binding unit 51 to bind the first sheet bundle Sb1 with a first binding force. Then, a corner of a second sheet bundle Sb2 obtained by accumulating additional sheets Sh2 on the first sheet bundle Sb1 is pressed and deformed between the crimping toothed parts 54 and 55 of the staple-free binding unit 51 to bind the second sheet bundle Sb2 with a second binding force smaller than the first binding force. Thus, the additional sheets can easily be removed from the second sheet bundle Sb2.

A method for applying at least one enclosing element to a flat product composition wherein the enclosing element is subsequently applied around a selected edge of the product composition in a perpendicular manner with respect to said edge so as to rest against the product composition. A reliable operation that is independent of the type of enclosing element is achieved in that the selected edge of the product composition is moved forward along a transporting path, the enclosing element is held ready at a specified point of the transporting path so as to intersect the transporting path, the selected edge of the product composition is moved past the specified point, and at the same time the selected edge drives the enclosing element that is held ready.

A post-processing apparatus comprises a first processing tray on which fed paper is placed; a paper binding section configured to bind a plurality of sheets of paper stacked on the first processing tray into one bundle; a second processing tray which a plurality of paper bundles bound on the first processing tray are sequentially conveyed to and placed on; a paper bundle gluing section configured to coat glue at a given position of the top surface of a first paper bundle placed on the second processing tray before a second paper bundle is placed on the first paper bundle; a pressing section configured to press and bind the first paper bundle with the second paper bundle between which glue is coated; and a control section configured to control the timing for conveying the second paper bundle onto the first paper bundle after the glue is coated.

A square back processing unit performs a square back process on the sheet bundle and includes a pair of clamp portions. The sheet bundle subjected to the square back process by the square back processing unit is discharged to a sheet bundle discharge unit. A cover unit is provided downstream of the square back processing unit in the conveyance direction such that a child access probe according to a safety standard IEC 62368-1 does not reach the pair of clamp portions in a case where the child access probe is inserted from an outside of the sheet processing apparatus.

A printing control apparatus performs binding processing for binding a plurality of sheets without using a staple to enable a user to easily separate a sheet from a sheet bundle after the binding processing. The printing control apparatus causes a binding unit to perform a binding processing for binding a plurality of sheets without using a staple, and then controls the binding unit to perform a binding processing for binding the plurality of sheets and a sheet different from the plurality of sheets.