Patent ID: 8870176

Claim:
A sheet processing apparatus comprising: a stacking unit configured to stack conveyed sheets; an aligning unit configured to align the sheets stacked on the stacking unit in a sheet conveying direction; a binding unit configured to move along an end portion of a bundle of the sheets on a binding portion side and perform a binding process for the bundle of the sheets that have been aligned by the aligning unit; a pressing unit configured to press the bundle of the sheets at the end portion thereof on the binding portion side; an interlocking unit configured to move the pressing unit in association with a motion of the binding unit; and a moving mechanism configured to move, another one of the pressing members symmetric to the one of the pressing members, when the pressing unit includes a plurality of pressing members and one of the pressing members moves in association with the binding unit, wherein the moving mechanism includes: first and second pressing members configured to press both end portions of the bundle of the sheets; a third pressing member configured to press a center portion of the bundle of the sheets; a first support member configured to support the first and second pressing members in a slidable manner in a direction perpendicular to the sheet conveying direction; an elastic biasing unit configured to elastically bias each of the first and second pressing members toward the third pressing member; and a driving unit including a driving source configured to cause the binding unit to reciprocate in the direction perpendicular to the sheet conveying direction, wherein the interlocking unit includes: an engaging member configured to move by being engaged with the binding unit when the binding unit moves and is configured to be brought into contact with one of the first and second pressing members so that the engaging member integrally moves with the one of the first and second pressing members when the binding unit moves; and a connecting unit configured to allow another one of the first and second pressing members to perform an operation that is symmetric to a moving operation of the one of the first and second pressing members along the first support member.