Patent ID: 7845629

Claim:
A sheet take-out apparatus comprising: a take-out belt having many holes configured to make contact with a sheet supplied to a take-out position at one end in a stacking direction and moving in a face direction; a motor configured to permit the take-out belt to move at various speeds; a suction portion configured to suck in air from a rear side opposite to the take-out position of the take-out belt, act a negative pressure on the sheet supplied to the take-out position via the many holes, and absorb the sheet to the take-out belt; a conveying structure configured to receive, hold, restrict, and furthermore convey the sheet absorbed to the take-out belt and taken out on a conveying path extending on a downstream side of the take-out position in a take-out direction; a first detection portion configured to detect that the sheet taken out on the conveying path is received by the conveying structure; a second detection portion configured to detect the sheet on a downstream side of the first detection portion in a sheet conveying direction; a gap sensor provided on the conveying path between the take-out position and the first detection portion configured to detect gaps between the sheets taken out on the conveying path; and a control portion configured to control a moving speed of the take-out belt to almost the same speed as a conveying speed by the conveying structure, when detecting a leading edge of the sheet taken out on the conveying path in the conveying direction by the first detection portion, control a suction operation by the suction portion so as to at least decrease the negative pressure acting on the take-out position, control the motor so as to reduce the moving speed of the take-out belt, and when further detecting the leading edge of the sheet in the conveying direction via the second detection portion without detecting a gap between the sheet and a succeeding sheet, control the suction operation by the suction portion so as to increase the negative pressure and control the motor to reduce furthermore the moving speed of the take-out belt.