Sheet post-process apparatus and waiting tray

A waiting tray for use in a sheet post-process apparatus, for temporarily retaining a transported sheet in a waiting mode and releasing the support, making it possible to drop the sheet on a processing tray, the waiting tray comprising:

• left and right lower face support members which support left and right lower faces in a sheet transport direction during retention in a waiting mode and release the support of the left and right lower faces during release of the retention, a width of an opening portion formed between both of the members being widely formed at a distal end side compared with a proximal end side in a transport direction of a sheet transported to the waiting tray;
• drive means for opening the left and right lower face support members to widen the width of the opening portion;
• sensor means for sensing the sheet transported to the waiting tray;
• and
• control means for driving the driver device based on the sense signal of the sensor means, and
• the control means controls the drive means so that both of the support members are opened to an extent such that the width of the opening portion is narrower than the sheet width at the proximal end side in the transport direction of the sheet and is wider than the sheet width at the distal end side thereof and so that the sheet is dropped from the sheet distal end to the processing tray without being retained in a waiting mode.

A sheet post-process apparatus, the apparatus comprising:

• waiting means for temporarily retaining a transported sheet in a waiting mode, and releasing the retention to drop the sheet;
• processing means for bundling sheets dropped from the waiting means to carry out predetermined processing, and ejecting the sheets;
• and
• storage means for holding the bundle of sheets processed and ejected on the processing means,
• wherein the waiting means comprises:
• left and right lower face support means for supporting left and right lower faces in a sheet transport direction during retention in a waiting mode and releasing the support of the left and right lower faces during release of the retention, a width of an opening portion formed between both of the means being widely formed at a distal end side compared with a proximal end side in a transport direction of a sheet transported to the waiting means;
• drive means for opening the left and right lower face support means to widen the width of the opening portion;
• sensor means for sensing the sheet transported to the waiting means;
• and
• control means for driving the driver device based on the sense signal of the sensor means, and
• the control means controls the drive means so that both of the support members are opened to an extent such that the width of the opening portion is narrower than the sheet width at the proximal end side in the transport direction of the sheet and is wider than the sheet width at the distal end side thereof and so that the sheet is dropped from the sheet distal end to the processing tray without being retained in a waiting mode.