A vacuum belt conveyor sequentially delivers sheet articles to a digital printer. The sheets are held in position by vacuum on the underside of the sheets through apertures in the belts and covered by the sheets. A plurality of independent plenums on the underside of the belt have chambers respectively communicating with rows of apertures extending along the belt. Vacuum is selectively applied from a manifold only to the plenum chambers that supply apertures that are covered by the sheets so that the ink from the printer will not be directed from its intended position on the sheet by vacuum from adjacent uncovered belt apertures. The sheets are fed to the conveyor in synchronism with the conveyor speed by a timed feeder so that the sheets are carried by the conveyor with a predetermined gap between the sheets and no belt apertures in the gap. A sensor counts the apertures in the belt and activates the feeder at predetermined time intervals.

A media transport system includes a belt with a plurality of rows of holes, a vacuum plenum, and a shutter. The belt is positioned over the vacuum plenum carries a plurality of media over the vacuum plenum. A row of holes in the belt includes inter-copy gaps that separate media on the belt and the inter-copy gaps include no holes in the belt. The shutter includes a solid member that prevents a flow of air between the vacuum plenum and a portion of the belt positioned above the first shutter and a first aperture formed through the solid member that is aligned with the row of holes in the belt.

A holding member is configured to hold a feed member and movable up and down. A lever member is configured to pivot on a pivot shaft and includes a contact portion configured to be in contact with the holding member. An elastic member is connected to the lever member and configured to urge the holding member downward through the lever member. The elastic member is disposed such that, when viewed in an axial direction of the pivot shaft of the lever member, a distance from the pivot shaft to a line of action of a force applied by the elastic member to the lever member in a case where the feed member is located at a first position is shorter than a distance from the pivot shaft to the line of action in a case where the feed member is located at a second position below the first position.

A holding member is configured to hold a feed member and movable up and down. A lever member is configured to pivot on a pivot shaft and includes a contact portion configured to be in contact with the holding member. An elastic member is connected to the lever member and configured to urge the holding member downward through the lever member. The elastic member is disposed such that, when viewed in an axial direction of the pivot shaft of the lever member, a distance from the pivot shaft to a line of action of a force applied by the elastic member to the lever member in a case where the feed member is located at a first position is shorter than a distance from the pivot shaft to the line of action in a case where the feed member is located at a second position below the first position.

A method and an apparatus for holding down a sheet on a feed table of a sheet-processing machine include a lowerable smoothing bar which can be driven according to a speed profile in time with the sheet-processing machine, which results in a targeted deflection of the smoothing bar. The deflection is preserved for the purpose of smoothing the sheet from the middle to the side.

A method and an apparatus for holding down a sheet on a feed table of a sheet-processing machine include a lowerable smoothing bar which can be driven according to a speed profile in time with the sheet-processing machine, which results in a targeted deflection of the smoothing bar. The deflection is preserved for the purpose of smoothing the sheet from the middle to the side.

A printer includes a print station; a media transport mechanism arranged for conveying print media on a transport path past the print station, the transport mechanism having a support surface for supporting the media; and a vacuum device arranged for attracting the media against the support surface on a section of the transport path downstream of the print station. The vacuum device is divided, in the direction along the transport path, into at least two segments in which the media are attractable with different non-zero suction pressures.

Disclosed is a film discharging device including a supply unit configured to supply a film product, a branch unit including a branch conveyer configured to transfer a film product supplied from the supply unit, and a conveyer rotating member configured to selectively guide the branch conveyer passing through the branch conveyer to any one of a predetermined first branch path and a predetermined second branch path by rotating the branch conveyer in a predetermined forward direction or a reverse direction opposite to the forward direction to change an alignment angle of the branch conveyer, a first discharging unit configured to discharge the film product guided to the first branch path, and a second discharging unit configured to discharge the film product guided to the second branch path.

A sheet feeding apparatus includes a sheet stacking portion, a lift plate, an actuating segment, driving unit, a sheet feeding portion, a first detecting portion, a remaining amount detection portion. The remaining amount detection portion includes a detection piece, a link mechanism, a second detecting portion, a controller. The link mechanism couples together the driving shaft and the detection piece at a coupling position attained by pivoting the lift plate through a predetermined angle from a lower limit position in rotation direction, so as to let the driving shaft and the detection piece rotate together. The second detecting portion senses whether or not the detection piece is present. The controller determines the remaining quantity level of the stacked sheets according to whether or not the second detecting portion is detecting the detection piece being present.

A sheet feeding apparatus includes a sheet stacking portion, a lift plate, an actuating segment, driving unit, a sheet feeding portion, a first detecting portion, a remaining amount detection portion. The remaining amount detection portion includes a detection piece, a link mechanism, a second detecting portion, a controller. The link mechanism couples together the driving shaft and the detection piece at a coupling position attained by pivoting the lift plate through a predetermined angle from a lower limit position in rotation direction, so as to let the driving shaft and the detection piece rotate together. The second detecting portion senses whether or not the detection piece is present. The controller determines the remaining quantity level of the stacked sheets according to whether or not the second detecting portion is detecting the detection piece being present.