A device for treating substrates has a separation system, with which processed substrates can be separated into one or more waste parts and at least one blank. The device for treating substrates offers improved flexibility. The separation system comprises a transport cylinder and a stripping cylinder associated therewith. The transport cylinder is able to secure replaceable packing, along with first and second openings which, when the packing is secured, are covered at least partially by perforations that may be formed in the packing. A first air supply supplies air to the first openings and a second air supply supplies air to the second openings independently of the supply of the air to the first openings. The first and the second air supply are switchable between a suction air supply and a blower air supply.

A sheet stacking system includes a conveyor having a discharge end, a hopper at the discharge end configured to receive the sheets ejected from the discharge end and guide the sheets as they fall in a cascade path onto a platform associated with the hopper, the falling sheets forming a main stack on the platform, the hopper including a backstop facing the discharge end of the conveyor such that the sheets ejected from the discharge end impact against the backstop before forming the main stack, and a first accumulator having at least one first support extending through the backstop and shiftable from a retracted position to an extended position, the at least one first support being movable vertically relative to the backstop in the extended position from a raised location outside the cascade path to a lowered location in the cascade path.

An example printing apparatus in accordance with the present disclosure may comprise a platen (10) on which print media may advance and which may comprise a hole (20) that is open towards a print media advance surface and in fluid communication with a vacuum source (40) and with a pressure sensor (50). In implementations of the apparatus a control unit (60) may detect the presence of print media at the hole (20) if the pressure sensor (50) measures an air pressure below a predetermined threshold.

Aspects of automated fabric picking are described. In one embodiment, a system includes a textile cutter including a tabletop upon which textile panels can be cut out from a textile sheet, a textile panel picker, and a computing device. The textile panel picker includes a flexible transport tube, a transport tube transfer arm to position the flexible transport tube over the tabletop and the textile panels, a textile hopper to collect the textile panels, and a pneumatic pump assembly to evacuate air from the textile hopper and through the flexible transport tube. The computing device identifies and tracks the textile panels on the tabletop, directs the transport tube transfer arm to position the flexible transport tube over the textile panels, and directs the pneumatic pump assembly to generate suction to pull the textile panels through the flexible transport tube and into the textile hopper.

A system for creating sets of cards is provided, and includes: a card supply means; a card moving system; a card collecting means to collect a set of cards, each card collecting means of the plurality of card collecting means being provided under the conveyor belt at different positions along the direction of movement of the conveyor belt; a card identifying means to identify the cards carried by the card moving system; and a controlling means to assign each of the identified cards carried by the card moving system to a card collecting means. For each card collecting means, a releasing means is positioned at the same position along the direction of movement of the conveyor belt, the controlling means being adapted to activate the releasing means positioned at the card collecting means when a card passes the card collecting means it is assigned to.

Methods and apparatuses for moving and/or transferring discrete articles are described. In particular, the methods and apparatuses relate to flexible arrangements to move and/or transfer discrete articles that vary in size and/or shape with minimal to no change in equipment.

The present application discloses a post-processing apparatus including a second tray which receives a sheet stack ejected from a first tray, a pushing mechanism including a pushing portion which pushes the sheet stack against the second tray, a motion detector which detects a motion of the pushing mechanism, and a controller including an ejection controller which controls an ejector. When the ejector ejects the sheet stack, the pushing mechanism moves the pushing portion in a first direction away from the second tray. When the ejector finishes ejection of the sheet stack, the pushing mechanism moves the pushing portion in a second direction which is opposite to the first direction. Unless the motion detector detects the motion of the pushing mechanism moving the pushing portion in the first direction when the ejector ejects the sheet stack, the ejection controller executes interruption control of stopping the ejection of the sheet stack.

A sheet conveyance apparatus includes a rotary drive member configured to rotate by receiving transmission of driving force from a driving source, a driven rotary member arranged with a predetermined distance in a sheet conveyance direction from the rotary drive member, an endless belt member supported on the rotary drive member and the driven rotary member, and configured to be rotated by a rotation of the rotary drive member, and a guide member configured to guide a sheet conveyed by the belt member. The guide member is mounted to a shaft configured to support the rotary drive member, and the rotary drive member is supported on the shaft in a rotatable manner with respect to the shaft.

The disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for uncut material detection while lifting from an automated cutting table select pieces of thin, flexible material. The apparatus comprises a structured energy source and a structured energy sensor. The structured energy can be used to detect undesired lifting of a peripheral portion of the flexible material resulting from the presence of uncut material.

The sheet postprocessing device includes a sheet conveyance path, a sheet tray, a carry-in guide, a processing part, a discharge member, a blower device, and an intermediate conveyance part. The sheet tray includes an upstream-side stacking part. The intermediate conveyance part is provided at a position within a range from the upstream-side stacking part to the downstream-side stacking part in a conveyance direction, and allows a sheet to pass therethrough below the processing part. The intermediate conveyance part is made up by including an upstream part including a first clearance through which the sheet passes, and a downstream part placed on a downstream side of the upstream part and including a second clearance through which the sheet passes. A size of the second clearance in a planar direction perpendicular to a surface of the sheet is wider than a size of the first clearance in the planar direction.