Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Nobuo Koike

Nobuyuki Morii

Takashi Komada

Nobuyoshi Tomioka

A stapling apparatus used with a sheet sorter having a plurality of bins comprises a stapler-head which is moved along one side edge of the bins toward one of predetermined positions at which the stapler-head confronts the one side edge of the bins. A sheet attracting unit is also moved along the one side edge of the bins toward one of predetermined positions at which the sheet attracting unit confronts the one side edge of the bins. The sheets stacked on one of the bins are chucked by the sheet attracting unit and moved by the sheet attracting unit outwardly from one side edge of the bin to a position at which the stapler-head becomes able to staple the sheet. The sheet attracting unit being movable along the one side edge of each of the bins and able to be stopped at each of predetermined positions at which the sheet attracting unit confronts the one side edge of the bins. Movable fences are provided on the bins, respectively, for aligning the sheets on the respective bins. A fence releasing mechanism is provided for releasing each of the fences in accordance with the movement of the stapler-head along the one side edge of the bins.

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Ena, Japan

Nobuo Koike