Sheet handling apparatus

A sheet handling apparatus comprising:

• a conveying path to convey a sheet;
• a processing portion to perform a predetermined process on the sheet while conveying the sheet on the conveying path;
• an upstream-side separable roller pair that is arranged at a certain distance from the processing portion on an upstream side in conveying direction, the upstream-side separable roller pair being adapted to feed the sheet conveyed on the conveying path into the processing portion by holding the sheet with a nip and rotating;
• an upstream-side separating mechanism to separate the upstream-side separable roller pair;
• a downstream-side separable roller pair that is arranged at a certain distance from the processing portion on a downstream side in conveying direction, the downstream-side separable roller pair being adapted to convey the sheet by holding the sheet fed from the processing portion with a nip and rotating;
• a downstream-side separating mechanism to separate the downstream-side roller pair;
• and
• a controller to control the upstream-side separating mechanism and the downstream-side separating mechanism such that the upstream-side separable roller pair is separated before processing is started with the processing portion on a sheet that is conveyed on the conveying path, and the downstream-side separable roller pair is brought into contact after processing with the processing portion on that sheet has finished.