Patent ID: 7775520

Claim:
A paper sheet conveyance apparatus for conveying a paper sheet, picked up from a paper sheet feeding section, through a conveyance path, comprising: a thickness detecting section to detect a thickness of either a single paper sheet or overlapping paper sheets, which includes a conveyance paper sheet and an overlap paper sheet, currently conveyed in the conveyance path; a first suction device, disposed at a first position within the conveyance path, to adsorb the conveyance paper sheet currently passing through the first suction device; a second suction device, disposed at a second position substantially opposing to the first position within the conveyance path, to adsorb the overlap paper sheet currently passing through the second suction device; an overlapping conveyance path that is branched from the conveyance path; and a control section to conduct controlling operations in such a manner that, when the overlapping paper sheets are conveyed into the conveyance path from the paper sheet feeding section, the first suction device and the second suction device are activated to separate the conveyance paper sheet from the overlap paper sheet, so as to introduce the conveyance paper sheet and the overlap paper sheet into the conveyance path and the overlapping conveyance path, respectively; wherein the control section activates the second suction device, when an overlapping conveyance of the overlapping paper sheets is detected, based on the thickness detected by the thickness detecting section.