Copying apparatus having a sorter with a sheet stapling function

摘要

In a copying apparatus having a sorter with a sheet stapling function; the sorter has a plurality of bins capable of independently moving up or down, wherein sheets are sorted into the bins sequentially from the top bin to the bottom bin; the bins are moved down to a position where sheets are taken by take-out rollers for transporting them to a stapling unit after the sorting operation; and the bins other than those assigned for the number of copy sets are moved down to the take-out position during the sorting operation. Further, a copying apparatus has a controller which inhibits a copying machine from starting to operate when both a non-sorting mode and a stapling mode are selected at a time and when the input number of copy sets is more than 2, and may cancel the stapling mode during the sorting operation in the stapling mode and continue the sorting operation even after canceling the stapling mode. The controller may inhibits the stapling operation when the size of sheet being stored into the bins differs from the size of sheet selected at the start of the copying operation.