A sheet conveying device includes an aligning roller and a sheet guide. The aligning roller is configured to rotate in a forward direction along a sheet conveying direction, and stop rotation or rotate in a reverse direction to align a sheet conveyed thereto with a nip formed with the aligning roller. The sheet guide is disposed along a sheet conveyance path extending to the nip in the sheet conveying direction, and movable between a first position at which the sheet conveyance path has a first width in a thickness direction of the sheet and a second position at which the sheet conveyance path has a second width in the thickness direction less than the first width. The sheet guide is at the first position when the aligning roller stops rotation or rotates in the reverse direction and at the second position when the aligning roller rotates in the forward direction.

A folding device for a disposable hygiene article includes: a first conveying portion along a first path; a second conveying portion along a second path extending in a direction intersecting with the first path; a folding mechanism to fold the disposable hygiene article between the first and second conveying portions; a driving mechanism connected to the folding component, to drive the folding component by performing reciprocating linear motion along the direction of the second path between a folding and retracted positions; and a guiding mechanism in an extension direction of the first path or by using the first path as a reference, a front end portion of the article to an opposite side of the second conveying portion. The driving mechanism includes at least one pulley directly connected to a servo motor and a synchronous belt wrapped around the outer circumference of the pulleys in a looping path.

A packer forms stacks of segments cut from a web of material. The packer has a shoe that contacts the segment and pushes the segment onto the stack. A follower is operatively connected to the shoe. A drive shaft is operatively connected to a motor. A drive crank is operatively mounted to the drive shaft operatively pivotally connected to the follower. A motion control assembly is configured for synchronized motion with the drive shaft. The motion control assembly has a member operatively connected to the follower. When the drive shaft rotates, the drive crank moves the follower toward and away from a face of the segment and the motion control assembly operates in a manner to move the follower toward and away from a leading edge of the segment.

A sheet conveying device includes an abutment that abuts on a sheet conveyance path through which a sheet is conveyed. A holder supports the abutment and pivots to move the abutment between an abutting position where the abutment abuts on the sheet conveyance path and a retracted position where the abutment retracts from the sheet conveyance path. A biasing member applies a biasing force to the abutment. The biasing force moves the abutment from the retracted position toward the abutting position. A restrictor restricts motion of the abutment against the biasing force at the abutting position. An adjuster adjusts the biasing force applied to the abutment situated at the abutting position.

A sensor unit includes a first housing constituting a first conveying face of a sheet conveying passage, a second housing constituting a second conveying face arranged opposite the first conveying face with a predetermined gap, an edge detection sensor detecting a side edge along the sheet conveying direction, and a gap adjuster supporting the first housing movably in a direction in which the size of the gap increases. When, with the first housing arranged at the first position, a sheet with a thickness greater than a reference value passes through the sheet conveying passage, the first housing moves in the direction in which the size of the gap increases as the sheet enters the sheet conveying passage, to allow the passage of the sheet.

A sheet conveying apparatus includes a sheet conveyance section, a roller pair unit, first and second guides, and a movable guide including an upstream portion extending upstream in the sheet conveying direction with respect to the nip portion and a downstream portion extending downstream in the sheet conveying direction with respect to the nip portion. The roller pair unit nips the sheet, warps the sheet in a case where a leading end of the sheet conveyed by the sheet conveyance section comes into contact with the roller pair unit, and conveys the sheet. The first guide opposes a first side of the sheet and guides the sheet. The second guide opposes a second side of the sheet. The movable guide opposes the first side of the sheet and moves in such a manner that the downstream portion of the movable guide moves closer to or away from the second guide.

A sheet conveying device includes a sheet conveyor, a guide, a rotary conveyor, a gripper, and an adjuster. The sheet conveyor is configured to convey a sheet. The guide is configured to guide the sheet conveyed by the sheet conveyor. The rotary conveyor is disposed downstream from the guide in a sheet conveyance direction. The gripper is mounted on the rotary conveyor, the gripper configured to grip a leading end of the sheet. The adjuster is configured to adjust a sheet entering range of the gripper to which the leading end of the sheet enters, along with conveyance of the sheet conveyor, in a direction intersecting a sheet surface.

A sheet conveying device includes an abutment that abuts on a sheet conveyance path through which a sheet is conveyed. A holder supports the abutment and pivots to move the abutment between an abutting position where the abutment abuts on the sheet conveyance path and a retracted position where the abutment retracts from the sheet conveyance path. A biasing member applies a biasing force to the abutment. The biasing force moves the abutment from the retracted position toward the abutting position. A restrictor restricts motion of the abutment against the biasing force at the abutting position. An adjuster adjusts the biasing force applied to the abutment situated at the abutting position.

An image forming apparatus includes: as a conveyance to convey an object formed with an image, an upstream-side conveyance path; an intermediate conveyance path connected to a downstream end part of the upstream-side conveyance path via a first bent part; and a downstream-side conveyance path connected to the intermediate conveyance path via a second bent part, wherein the second bent part is bent to a side opposite to the first bent part, on an inner side of a bend of the first bent part, a friction reducing part capable of abutting with the object conveyed in the first bent part is provided, and the intermediate conveyance path includes: a pair of guide parts forming the intermediate conveyance path; and a friction reducing part that is provided on both a pair of the guide parts and is capable of abutting with the object conveyed between a pair of the guide parts.

The present invention is to provide a sheet binding apparatus capable of performing stable pressure-bonding binding processing. A sheet binding apparatus includes a moving means configured to move at least one of the first binding portion and the second binding portion to bring the first binding portion and the second binding portion into pressure contact with each other, and a plurality of peeling members configured to apply peeling force in a direction opposite to a pressure-bonding direction to peel off a bound portion of the sheets stuck to the surface when the first binding portion and the second binding portion are separated by the moving means after pressure-bonding binding processing is performed. Here, the peeling force is applied by the plurality of peeling members at different timings.