A stacking unit includes a processing tray, an alignment section, a transport section, and a moving section. The processing tray has a placement area in which one or more paper sheets are placed. The alignment section aligns leading edges of the paper sheets. The transport section transports the paper sheets to the alignment section. The moving section moves the paper sheets in ±X directions. The alignment section includes: a first alignment surface having a first friction coefficient; and a second alignment surface having a second friction coefficient. The second alignment surface is positioned upstream of the first alignment surface in a +A direction and closer to a center of the placement area in the ±X directions than the first alignment surface is.

A sheet storage apparatus includes a sheet housing portion, a handle for drawing the sheet housing portion, and a cover member. The sheet housing portion is drawably disposed in the apparatus main body and configured to house a sheet. The cover member is mounted to an end portion of the sheet housing portion in a drawing direction and having, in a portion facing the handle, a recess toward a sheet housing portion. A contact portion configured to come into contact with the sheet housing portion is disposed at a position corresponding to a portion in which the recess is formed, on a facing surface of the cover member, the facing surface facing the sheet housing portion.

A paper feed tray includes a cassette, a regulation plate which is slidably attached to the cassette, a cover provided to the regulation plate, a locking portion which is covered with the cover and engages with the cassette to fix a position of the regulation plate, and a lever. The lever includes a coupling portion coupled with the locking portion, a depression portion configured to be depressed toward one side in a direction of sliding of the regulation plate, and an intermediate portion provided between the coupling portion and the depression portion. The lever operates the locking portion to be disengaged from the cassette upon the depression portion being depressed toward the one side. The cover includes an extension extending while facing the intermediate portion. A space, which is open at a tip to which the extension extends, is formed between the extension and the intermediate portion.

According to one embodiment, the sheet conveying device includes a tray, an elevating mechanism, a conveyance roller, and a resistance member. The tray stacks a plurality of sheets. The elevating mechanism lifts and lowers the tray in the stacking direction of a plurality of sheets. The conveyance roller conveys the plurality of sheets in the conveyance direction from the upper side in the stacking direction. The resistance member comes into contact with the leading ends of the plurality of sheets in the conveyance direction. The resistance member imparts a sliding resistance larger than that of the sheet stacking surface of the tray to the leading ends of the plurality of sheets that are lifted and lowered by the elevating mechanism.

An image forming apparatus includes an output unit to which a recording medium on which an image has been formed is output, the output unit including an output unit body, and an extension portion that is disposed on the output unit body so as to be extendable from the output unit body in an output direction of the recording medium, the extension portion including a handle portion that is recessed in a direction away from a back surface of the recording sheet so as allow a finger to be hooked in a direction in which the extension portion is extended in the output direction of the recording medium, the back surface being a surface that is in contact with the output unit body, and a protrusion that protrudes toward the back surface of the recording medium from the extension portion.

A sheet feed cassette monitor includes an actuator with another end portion, a detecting circuit, a plurality of protrusions, a signal monitoring circuit, and a signal determining circuit. When the one end portion is in contact with a paper sheet, the other end portion swings in a first direction. When the one end portion is not in contact with the paper sheet, the other end portion swings in a second direction opposite direction to the first direction. The detecting circuit detects the swinging of the other end portion on the actuator. The plurality of protrusions are convexly installed in an asymmetric manner with respect to a putting-in/taking-out direction of the feed cassette. The signal determining circuit determines a presence/absence state of the paper sheet housed in the sheet feed cassette and an open/close state of the sheet feed cassette based on a pattern of change in the monitored signal.

An image reading apparatus includes a first stacking unit, a feeding unit, a reading unit, a second stacking unit onto which a document whose image is read by the reading unit is discharged, a rotating shaft, and protrusions. The first stacking unit includes a sheet stacking surface on which the document is stacked and includes an abutment portion on which one end portion of the document abuts. The feeding unit feeds the document stacked on the first stacking unit in a feed direction. The reading unit reads an image of the document conveyed by the feeding unit. The rotating shaft extends in the feed direction and supports the first stacking unit so as to be rotationally movable. The protrusions extends in a direction at a predetermined angle with respect to the feed direction, is arranged on the sheet stacking surface, and protrudes from the sheet stacking surface.

A sheet feeding device includes: an accommodating unit having a placement surface on which the stack of sheets is mounted; an inclined member having an inclined surface inclined relative to the placement surface to extend in an inclined direction and a back surface opposite the inclined surface; a sheet pick-up unit for feeding an uppermost sheet in the stack of sheets toward the inclined member; and a sheet separating member provided on the inclined surface. The sheet separating member includes a plurality of separation pieces and a support portion those made of resin. The support portion supports the separation pieces at positions closer to the back surface than to the inclined surface so that the separation pieces are movable away from the placement surface in the inclined direction and toward the back surface in a normal direction of the inclined surface independently from one another.

A sheet feed device includes a housing, a tray, a feed roller, an arm, a pad, and a protruding portion. The housing has a sheet conveyance path. The tray includes a bottom plate having a sheet support surface that supports a sheet. The sheet conveyance path extends upward from the sheet support surface. The feed roller rotates about a rotational axis and feeds the sheet supported on the sheet support surface in a first direction. The arm rotatably supports the feed roller. The arm swingably moves about an axis parallel to the rotational axis of the feed roller. The pad is disposed on the bottom plate. The pad has a higher friction coefficient than a friction coefficient of the sheet support surface. The protruding portion protrudes upward from the sheet support surface at a position shifted from the pad in a second direction opposite from the first direction.

A paper sheet storage apparatus (1) includes: a placement mount (10) on which bills (B), i.e., an example of paper sheets, are placed; a leading-edge position restriction guide (20) that restricts the position of the leading edge portion of a bill (B) in an entering direction (D) in which the bill (B) advances when being transported onto the placement mount (10); and a sensor (30) that detects the presence/absence of an accumulation space (S) for bills (B) that is located above the placement mount (10). The sensor (30) detects the presence/absence of an accumulation space (S) by using detection light (L) emitted to a space between a first position (P1) that is located on an opposite side of the leading-edge position restriction guide (20) from the bills (B) on the placement mount (10) and a second position (P2) below the first position (P1) that is located on an opposite side of the bills (B) on the placement mount (10) from the leading-edge position restriction guide (20).