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.

Method for calibrating a vacuum level for a web-based printer, comprising the steps of: transporting a medium over a medium support surface comprising vacuum holes for applying a suction force to the image receiving member; applying a suction force to the medium; sensing the advancement of the medium for generating advancement data; comparing the advancement data to a reference; and adjusting the suction force based on the comparison between the advancement data and the reference.

The present invention further provides an image forming apparatus.

A platen disposed at a position at which the platen faces a printing head includes a contact portion that comes into contact with a recording medium, a non-contact portion that does not come into contact with the recording medium, and an ink receiving portion that receives ink ejected to beyond the recording medium. A recessed portion is formed between the ink receiving portion and the contact portion in the width direction of the recording medium so as to be lower than the contact portion in the vertical direction. A supply portion that supplies air to the recessed portion is formed upstream of the recessed portion in the conveyance direction of the recording medium.

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 conveying device includes a restrictor disposed at a predetermined distance from a surface of a sheet material conveyed along a sheet-material conveyance path. The restrictor includes a sheet-material opposing portion that opposes the sheet-material conveyance path. The sheet-material opposing portion is movable to a downstream side in a sheet-material conveyance direction.

A conveying device includes a blower and a conveyor. The blower blows air to a sheet material. The conveyor conveys the sheet material through a blowing region of the blower. The conveyor includes a surface movable member and a presser. The surface movable member conveys the sheet material with movement of a surface of the surface movable member, with a back side of the sheet material supported with the surface movable member. The presser presses at least a portion of a leading end of the sheet material toward the surface movable member in at least an area from a position upstream from the blowing region in a conveyance direction of the sheet material to a position in the blowing region of the blower.

A conveying device includes a blower, a conveyor, and an upstream blower. The blower blows air to a sheet material. The conveyor includes a sandwiching unit to sandwich the sheet material, and conveys the sheet material to a blowing region of the blower. The upstream blower blows air toward a downstream side in a conveyance direction of the sheet material, from an upstream side of the blowing region in the conveyance direction of the sheet material to the blowing region.

According to one embodiment, a tablet printing apparatus includes: a conveyer configured to convey a tablet along a line; an applicator head including a plurality of nozzles arranged in a direction crossing the conveyance direction of the tablet conveyed by the conveyer, configured to perform printing on the tablet by ejecting a liquid from the nozzles; and a controller configured to control the ejection of the liquid from the nozzles of the applicator head. The length of an array of the nozzles in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction is equal to or longer than the length of the tablet in the direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction. The controller is further configured to control switching of a nozzle used for printing on the tablet among the nozzles by a plurality of sections determined in advance.

A platen disposed so as to face a printing head includes a third support portion. A second suction hole is formed in an area through which a recording medium passes at least beyond the third support portion in the width direction of the recording medium or downstream of the third support portion in the conveyance direction. A supply port is formed between the third support portion and the second suction hole. Air is sucked into the second suction hole and supplied toward the recording medium through the supply port.

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.