To provide a sheet stacking apparatus and image forming system capable of improving alignment characteristics also in the case where an aligning section is not able to act on a sheet discharged onto a stacking tray, the sheet stacking apparatus and image forming system include a stacking tray stacking discharged sheets, a pair of aligning sections capable of shifting in a width direction to align the width direction crossing a direction in which the sheet to stack on the stacking tray is discharged, and a control section that controls a relative position of the aligning sections and the sheet to discharge so that one of the pair of the aligning sections regulates a shift of the sheet stacked on the stacking tray to one direction side in the width direction, when a sheet with a predetermined width in the width direction of the sheet is discharged to the stacking tray.

An agitator for agitating sheets of material passing through a sheet transport device that has upper and lower guide sections defining a sheet transport path therebetween. The agitator includes first and second sets of rollers each having a roller axis of rotation and a width, and the rollers are mounted to at least one holder such that the axes of rotation of the rollers are radially spaced from a line and such that rotating the at least one holder around the line causes the rollers to orbit around the line. At least one support supports the holder for rotation around the line, and the set of first rollers is spaced from the set of second rollers in the direction of the line by a distance greater than the width of the rollers. Also a sheet transport device including the agitator.

A toothed roller includes: a wheel having teeth on a peripheral surface; and holders that hold n wheels, which satisfy condition 1 and condition 2 described below, such that the n wheels are stacked in an axial direction, n being a natural number of 2 or more. Condition 1 is Pr=Pt/n, where Pr is a tooth pitch of the toothed roller and Pt is a tooth pitch of the wheel. Condition 2 is such that a minimum value of sums of angles each formed by a reference tooth and another reference tooth adjacent thereto in a circumferential direction of one to n wheels is greater than 180 degrees, where one of the teeth is a reference tooth, one of the n wheels is a reference wheel, and wheels having reference teeth near to the reference tooth of the reference wheel are second to nth wheels sequentially.

The invention relates to an output unit for a provision individually per track of sheet material for placing beneath products fed on two or multiple tracks, in particular beneath food portions, said output unit comprising a draw-in device that is configured to draw in individually per track a respective one material web of the sheet material per track and that in particular has at least one driven draw-in shaft and at least one draw-in pressure unit; a separation device that is configured to separate the sheet material from the material webs; and an ejection device that is configured to discharge sheet material on two or multiple tracks and that comprises a driven ejection roller and an ejection counter-unit that forms an ejection gap for the sheet material together with the ejection roller, wherein the ejection roller is jointly associated with at least two tracks.

The invention relates to an output unit for a provision individually per track of sheet material for placing beneath products fed on two or multiple tracks, in particular beneath food portions, said output unit comprising a draw-in device that is configured to draw in individually per track a respective one material web of the sheet material per track and that in particular has at least one driven draw-in shaft and at least one draw-in pressure unit; a separation device that is configured to separate the sheet material from the material webs; and an ejection device that is configured to discharge sheet material on two or multiple tracks and that comprises a driven ejection roller and an ejection counter-unit that forms an ejection gap for the sheet material together with the ejection roller, wherein the ejection roller is jointly associated with at least two tracks.

A vacuum roller system and a method of operation the vacuum roller system can include an assembly of interdigitated rollers, and a vacuum system, wherein the assembly of interdigitated rollers is operably connected to the vacuum system to move sheets of media through a downstream dryer in a printer, wherein a vacuum is drawn between individual rollers among the assembly of interdigitated rollers so that the vacuum is distributed across a sheet of media and is split around the individual rollers. The spacing between the individual rollers among the assembly of interdigitated rollers is variable to vary the vacuum.

A toothed roller includes: a wheel having teeth on a peripheral surface; and holders that hold n wheels, which satisfy condition 1 and condition 2 described below, such that the n wheels are stacked in an axial direction, n being a natural number of 2 or more. Condition 1 is Pr=Pt/n, where Pr is a tooth pitch of the toothed roller and Pt is a tooth pitch of the wheel. Condition 2 is such that a minimum value of sums of angles each formed by a reference tooth and another reference tooth adjacent thereto in a circumferential direction of one to n wheels is greater than 180 degrees, where one of the teeth is a reference tooth, one of the n wheels is a reference wheel, and wheels having reference teeth near to the reference tooth of the reference wheel are second to nth wheels sequentially.

A toothed roller includes: a wheel having teeth on a peripheral surface; and holders that hold n wheels, which satisfy condition 1 and condition 2 described below, such that the n wheels are stacked in an axial direction, n being a natural number of 2 or more. Condition 1 is Pr=Pt/n, where Pr is a tooth pitch of the toothed roller and Pt is a tooth pitch of the wheel. Condition 2 is such that a minimum value of sums of angles each formed by a reference tooth and another reference tooth adjacent thereto in a circumferential direction of one to n wheels is greater than 180 degrees, where one of the teeth is a reference tooth, one of the n wheels is a reference wheel, and wheels having reference teeth near to the reference tooth of the reference wheel are second to nth wheels sequentially.

A post-processing device includes a loading unit on which a sheet is loaded, a first transport unit configured to apply, to the sheet loaded on the loading unit, a transport force toward an alignment unit, a second transport unit located between the first transport unit and the alignment unit, and configured to apply, to the sheet, a transport force toward the alignment unit, a control unit configured to control rotation operation of the second transport unit, and a post-processing unit configured to perform post-processing on the sheet transported to the alignment unit, wherein the post-processing unit is configured to execute a plurality of types of the post-processing, and the control unit is configured to control the rotation operation of the second transport unit in accordance with the type of the post-processing.

A post-processing device includes a loading unit on which a sheet is loaded, a first transport unit configured to apply, to the sheet loaded on the loading unit, a transport force toward an alignment unit, a second transport unit located between the first transport unit and the alignment unit, and configured to apply, to the sheet, a transport force toward the alignment unit, a control unit configured to control rotation operation of the second transport unit, and a post-processing unit configured to perform post-processing on the sheet transported to the alignment unit, wherein the post-processing unit is configured to execute a plurality of types of the post-processing, and the control unit is configured to control the rotation operation of the second transport unit in accordance with the type of the post-processing.