An apparatus includes a first drive unit configured to rotate a roll sheet supported by a roll support unit in a predetermined rotation direction to feed the sheet into a conveyance path, an abutment portion provided so as to be capable of abutting against an outer peripheral surface of the roll sheet at a first position, and a rotation member provided so as to be capable of abutting against the outer peripheral surface at a second position. The first drive unit rotates the roll sheet in the direction to introduce, into the conveyance path, a leading edge of the sheet having passed between the first and second positions. The apparatus further includes a second drive unit configured to rotate the rotation member in a direction in which a slack of the sheet is formed between the first and second positions.

A winding condition generating apparatus includes: an input unit; an output unit; and a condition calculation unit. A winding condition calculation unit includes a learning model created by machine learning using a combination of a winding parameter and a winding condition in producing a wound web that satisfies a target winding quality as training data, and calculates a winding condition of a new wound web using the learning model, from a winding parameter of a new wound web input through the input unit. The output unit outputs the winding condition. The winding parameter includes a web width, a web transport velocity, and a web winding length. The winding condition includes a tension of the web at the start of winding and a tension of the web at the end of winding.

A printing apparatus (printer) is provided in which a base material is conveyed by a roll-to-roll method and feedback control is performed on a tension imposed on the base material, and which includes a control unit, a first drive motor (front drive motor) configured to control a speed of conveyance of conveying the base material, and a second drive motor (feeding motor, rear drive motor, winding motor) configured to control the tension imposed on the base material. In a case where a conveyance operation for conveying the base material is stopped based on detection of a foreign object, and when a speed of the first drive motor is at a predetermined value or less, the control unit stops the tension control performed by the second drive motor.

A liquid ejection apparatus includes a conveying unit, a winding unit, a printing unit, and a rotation control unit. The conveying unit is configured to intermittently convey a printing medium by a predetermined feed amount. The winding unit is configured to wind the printing medium conveyed by the conveying unit. The printing unit is configured to perform printing on the conveyed printing medium. The rotation control unit is configured to control the winding unit to rotate in a winding direction at a predetermined timing after the conveying unit has started to convey the printing medium intermittently, and then cause the winding unit to rotate in a reverse direction opposite to the winding direction.

An inkjet recording apparatus includes a feeding-side motor, an inkjet recording unit, a winding-side motor, a feeding-side roll-diameter measuring unit, a winding-side roll-diameter measuring unit, and a motor drive controller. Based on a relationship between motor rotating speeds and roll diameters under conveyance of the recording medium at a specified conveyance speed, the motor drive controller determines a first rotating speed corresponding to a feeding-side roll diameter measured by the feeding-side roll-diameter measuring unit and moreover determines a second rotating speed corresponding to a winding-side roll diameter measured by the winding-side roll-diameter measuring unit to drive the feeding-side motor at the first rotating speed and moreover drive the winding-side motor at the second rotating speed.

A material dispenser comprising a housing, a mounting for a roll of material to be dispensed, and a material level indicator, in which said mounting comprises a first support member for rotationally supporting a first side of a roll of material to be dispensed in a plane, in which said material level indicator comprises an arm rotationally mounted to said dispenser at a pivot point, said arm comprising a visual indicator member at a first end thereof and a lateral abutment axially displaced from said visual indicator member for engaging with said first side of said roll of material, in which said arm is rotatable about said pivot point between a first position in which said arm is substantially parallel with said plane and said lateral abutment traverses said plane, and a second position in which said arm is arranged at an angle to said plane, and said lateral abutment and said visual indicator member are laterally displaced.

A sheet feeding device includes a support, a rotation driver, a guide, a support shaft, a biasing member, a leading end sensor, a roller, an outer diameter sensor, and circuitry. The circuitry causes the rotation driver to rotate a spool in a winding direction to determine a timing at which a signal change rate exceeds a change rate threshold as a passing time at which a leading end of a continuous sheet passes through the leading end sensor, causes the rotation driver to rotate the spool by a rotation angle in the winding direction, from the passing time, to position the leading end of the continuous sheet at a feeding start position, and rotates the spool in a feeding direction to feed the continuous sheet from the feeding start position along a guide portion. Further, the circuitry changes the change rate threshold based on an outer diameter of a roll.

The measured winding diameter values Ds1(d) corresponding to the conveying distance d are measured by measuring the diameter of the printing medium M wound on the unwinding roll 71 by the diameter sensor 77. The measured winding diameter values Ds1(d) are smoothed by the low-pass filter to extract the smoothed winding diameter values Ds_avg1(d). By calculating the value of the diameter based on the initial diameter value Do1, the thickness value Tm and the conveying distance of the printing medium M, the calculated winding diameter values Dc1(d) are calculated. An operation of calculating the difference Ddiff1(d) between the calculated winding diameter value Dc1(d) and the smoothed winding diameter value Ds_avg1(d) while compensating for the delay by the low-pass filter is performed whereby the differences Ddiff1(d) are calculated. The calculated winding diameter value Dc1(d) are corrected by the differences Ddiff1(d).

A converting line has a unwind machine with a load station assembly and a vertical movement assembly. The load station assembly rotatably supports a roll as the web is unwound during a first portion of an unwind cycle. The vertical movement assembly rotatably supports the roll during movement between lowered and raised positions during a second portion of the unwind cycle. A lower brake assembly controls rotation of the roll in the load station assembly, and an upper brake assembly controls rotation of the roll with the roll in the vertical movement assembly. With the roll rotatably supported in the load station assembly, the converting line control generates signals for the lower brake assembly to control an unwind rotation rate of the roll. With the roll rotatably supported by the vertical movement assembly, the control generates signals for the upper brake assembly to control the unwind rotation rate.

A system for decurling a web from a roll of material comprises rollers, a decurling station actuator, a sensor, and a controller. The rollers are configured to pull the web along a path with an angle. The decurling station actuator is configured to shift one of the rollers relative to the other rollers to adjust the angle of the path. The sensor is configured to sense a characteristic of the roll of material and generate sensor data. The controller is configured to receive a signal representative of the sensor data and direct the decurling station actuator to shift one of the rollers based at least in part on the sensor data.