A binding member includes: an upper tooth that has an upper tooth form for forming unevenness in a bundle of recording materials; and a lower tooth that has a lower tooth form for forming unevenness in the bundle of recording materials and that forms a pair with the upper tooth. At least one of the upper tooth form and the lower tooth form is formed such that, in a sectional shape, a groove is formed in a trough portion of a concave portion of a tooth form and a length of an inclined portion which comes into contact with the bundle of recording materials is made small compared to a case where the inclined portion of the tooth form has reached a bottom of the trough portion.

A sheet binding processing apparatus includes a transport section transporting a bunch of sheets in a transport direction, a sheet discharge outlet to discharge the bunch of sheets transported from the transport section, a placement section to place the bunch of sheets discharged from the discharge outlet, a manual set section enabling a bunch of sheets inserted in a direction different from the transport direction to be set, a press member pressing the bunch of sheets placed on the placement section or on the manual set section to bind, a drive section applying a pressing force to the press member, and a control section controlling the drive section to make the pressing force applied to a binding member higher in the case of binding the bunch of sheets placed on the placement section than in the case of binding the bunch of sheets set from the manual set section.

An image forming apparatus includes: a needleless binding device configured to form a recessed or raised impression as a needleless binding part by performing needleless binding on a bundle of sheets; an environment sensor; and a controller configured to perform, based on a value detected by the environment sensor, control to display a confirmation image requesting a user to make confirmation on the needleless binding prior to execution of the needleless binding.

A recording medium post-processing device includes a binding unit and a hole forming unit. The binding unit performs a binding process on a recording medium bundle. The hole forming unit performs a hole forming process in a region of recording media that constitute the recording medium bundle including a part of a binding region in which the binding process is performed.

A sheet processing apparatus includes a conveying portion, a stack portion on which sheets are stacked, a first binding portion moving in a crossing direction crossing a conveying direction, a first regulating portion regulating a position of a sheet bundle stacked on the stack portion in the crossing direction, a first rack moving in the crossing direction with the first regulating portion, a first pinion forming a rack-pinion mechanism with the first rack, a second regulating portion regulating a position of a sheet bundle stacked on the stack portion in the crossing direction, a second rack moving in the crossing direction with the second regulating portion, a second pinion forming another rack-pinion mechanism with the second rack, a third regulating portion regulating a position of a sheet bundle stacked on the stack portion, and a second binding portion which binds a corner portion of a sheet bundle without a staple.

The present apparatus is provided with a placement tray (processing tray) to place sheets to undergo binding processing, and a bind unit that is able to shift along an end edge of sheets on the placement tray and that binds a plurality of sheets as a single bunch, where in the bind unit, a needle bind unit for performing binding processing on a bunch of sheets with a needle and a needleless bind unit for performing binding processing without a needle are provided together in a shift direction of the bind unit, and a length of the needleless bind unit is configured to be shorter than a length of the needle bind unit in the shift direction of the bind unit. By this means, provided is the apparatus capable of miniaturizing the entire apparatus, with the needle bind unit and needleless bind unit provided together.

A binding processing device includes a first pressing member including: a first convex portion; a first concave portion; and a first connection portion which is provided between the first convex portion and the first concave portion; and a second pressing member including: a second convex portion; a second concave portion; and a second connection portion which is provided between the second convex portion and the second concave portion. In a state in which the first convex portion of the first pressing member and the second concave portion of the second pressing member come in contact with each other at the first connection portion and the second connection portion, the first connection portion contacts with the second connection portion and a gap is formed between the first convex portion and the second concave portion along a pressing direction of the first and second pressing members. In a state in which a sheet bundle is sandwiched between the first pressing member and the second pressing member, an increased section having an increased thickness of each sheet of the sheet bundle is formed in the gap. The increased section is pressed by the first convex portion and the second concave portion.

There is provided a binding member. An upper toothed part having projections and recesses for forming irregularities in a bundle of recording materials. A lower toothed part having projections and recesses for forming irregularities in the bundle of recording materials and forming a pair with the upper toothed part. In at least one of the upper toothed part and the lower toothed part, in a cross section shape of the toothed part, the recesses of the toothed part have depressed areas depressed from virtual lines which are extensions of inclined surfaces of the toothed part.

A sheet processing apparatus includes a binding portion binding a plurality of sheets stacked on a sheet stacking portion as a bundle by deforming the sheets without a staple. The sheet processing apparatus further includes a moving member moving the sheet bundle bound at a binding position by the binding portion from the binding position and a restricting member restricting the move of the sheet bundle such that a distance between the sheet bundle and the moving member is kept to be less than a predetermined distance in moving the sheet bundle by the moving member.

A binding processing device includes: a needle binding unit that forms a needle binding portion that binds a paper bundle using a needle; a needleless binding unit that forms a needleless binding portion that binds the paper bundle without using a needle; and a plurality of exit rolls that exit the bound paper bundle. A distance between the needleless binding portion and a center of the plurality of exit rolls is equal to or longer than a distance between the needle binding portion and the center.