A sheet conveying device includes a separation member, a second conveyance member, a third conveyance member, and a first drive control portion. The separation member separates a sheet in contact with a first conveyance member from another at a first position where the first conveyance member comes into contact with the sheet. The second and third conveyance members are respectively downstream of the first and second positions. The first drive control portion stops driving the first conveyance member (1) after the leading edge of the sheet reaches the second position and before the trailing edge of the sheet passes through the first position when the sheet length is not exceeding a specific distance based on a distance between the first and third positions and (2) after the leading edge reaches the third position and before the trailing edge passes through the first position when the length exceeds the specific distance.

A sheet conveying device includes a separation member, a second conveyance member, a third conveyance member, and a first drive control portion. The separation member separates a sheet in contact with a first conveyance member from another at a first position where the first conveyance member comes into contact with the sheet. The second and third conveyance members are respectively downstream of the first and second positions. The first drive control portion stops driving the first conveyance member (1) after the leading edge of the sheet reaches the second position and before the trailing edge of the sheet passes through the first position when the sheet length is not exceeding a specific distance based on a distance between the first and third positions and (2) after the leading edge reaches the third position and before the trailing edge passes through the first position when the length exceeds the specific distance.

A mail processing system utilizes a conveyor to shingle or de-shingle mailpieces as they move through the processing system and utilizes belts to move the mailpieces. A first shingling conveyor moves a first mailpiece to overlap with a second mailpiece to create shingled mailpieces. A second shingling conveyor moves a first mailpiece away from a second mailpiece to de-shingle them to create singulated mailpieces. A camera takes images of the mailpieces in the conveyor and image analysis software is used to determine dimensional aspects of the mailpieces that are used to control the belt speeds to move mailpieces with respect to each other. A mail processing system may include a mail processing station that scans addresses, applies postage and/or weighs the mailpieces. Mail may be de-shingled prior to being weighed and then re-shingled for subsequent processing, or mail may be shingled prior to passing through a scale if weighing is not necessary.

A machine (100) for unstacking objects (10) includes a belt mechanism (110, 120, 121, 130) having a conveyor belt (110), a first drive mechanism (115) for driving the conveyor belt (110), a second drive mechanism (120, 121) for shifting the conveyor belt (110) between a forwarded position and a retracted position, and a third drive mechanism (130) for adjusting a height position of the conveyor belt (110). Further, the machine (100) includes a gripper mechanism (150, 160) having a gripper (150) and a fourth drive mechanism (160) for moving the gripper (150) between different height positions. A controller of the machine (100) is configured to control the gripper mechanism (150, 160) to grip an end portion of an uppermost object (10) of a stack (20) and lift the end of the uppermost object (10), to control the second drive mechanism (120, 121) and the third drive mechanism (130) to position a forward end of the conveyor belt (110) below the lifted end portion of the uppermost object (10), and to control the first drive mechanism (110) and the second drive mechanism (120, 121) to operate in a coordinated manner by shifting the conveyor belt (110) towards the forwarded position while at the same time driving the conveyor belt (110) in a backwards direction to draw the uppermost object (10) onto the conveyor belt (110).

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for transporting items of media along a transport path. The apparatus comprises at least one clamp member to apply a clamp force to a bunch of media items located between a support surface and said clamp member, wherein said clamp member is selectively moveable towards or away from said support surface to apply a predetermined clamp force to the bunch of media items.

An image forming apparatus having a printer for printing an image on a sheet fed from an external sheet feeding apparatus sets the sheet feeding apparatus as a sheet feed source of the sheet to be used by the printer for printing and in accordance with the setting, makes a notification so as to notify a user to set a feeding parameter in the sheet feeding apparatus.

A tiltenator of a media separator module (integrated within a valuable media depository) adaptively controls pressure maintained against a bunch of media as individual items from the bunch are fed through the media separator module.

A mail singulator system determines a position of an optical panel to automatically adjust a loading conveyor speed to prevent stacked and overlapped mailpieces in the singulator and large gaps between mailpieces. The optical panel is configured between the front mailpiece of a mail stack on the loading conveyor and the optical sensor. The optical panel changes position with the pressure exerted by the mail stack and provides signals to the controller to adjust the conveyor speed. An optical sensor may detect a far threshold position or limit distance to increase the speed of the conveyor and may detect a near threshold position of limit distance to reduce the speed of the conveyor. The optical panel may have a low friction surface to allow the mail to slide into the conveyor and an optical surface to allow reliable optical sensor detection of the optical panel position.

An assembly (100) and method for bottoming feeding sheets from a stack of sheets to a top-feed sheet feeding mechanism (F) on a device (P), such as a copy machine. The assembly (100) includes a sheet feeder (200), a transport arm (300), and a final height adjustment block (420) translatably attached to and extending along the distal end (302) of the transport arm (300) for limited transverse (T) translation relative to the machine direction (MD).

A multichannel paper feeding system in connection to a vertical storage is disclosed. The multichannel paper feeding system includes a main loop transport device, an internal loop transport device, a plurality of take-out devices, and a plurality of take-out conveyor belts, all of which are disposed between the vertical storage and a cutting machine. The main loop transport device transports a paper roll placed on a main loop rack from the vertical storage to the internal loop transport device, where a main push rod then pushes the paper roll onto an internal loop rack, and the internal loop transport device transports the internal loop rack next to a take-out conveyor belt. The take-out device moves the paper roll from the internal loop rack to the corresponding take-out conveyor belt so that the paper roll can be transported further downstream to a post-processing station for cutting or packaging. Through the internal loop transport device, not only can more take-out conveyor belts be added and may the post-processing production be increased, the transport quality of the paper rolls is also enhanced.