A station (100, 110) for inspecting rolled strips wound in coils, comprises: a first pair of mutually opposed pinch rolls (3, 4), adapted to receive and feed a rolled strip (1) from a coil (10); a carriage (7) sliding between a first start position, near said first pair of pinch rolls (3, 4), and a second end position, said sliding carriage (1) comprising a gripping member to grasp said rolled strip (1) coming from said first pair of pinch rolls (3, 4), said carriage allowing the strip to be unwound without contact with a surface (S1) to be inspected.

A feed device includes: a feed tray configured to accommodate a roll, in which a medium is rolled in a roll shape, rotatably; a housing configured to support the feed tray installable; and a pull-back mechanism configured to pull back the medium unrolled from the roll in a direction orthogonal to a rotation axis of the roll in conjunction with an outward movement of the feed tray from the housing in the direction orthogonal to the rotation axis of the roll.

A damp sheets dispenser, including a compartment, for housing therein a damp roll, the compartment including: an openable cover, for inserting the damp roll into the compartment therethrough, and for closing the compartment, for dispensing the damp roll therefrom; a slit, for dispensing from damp roll therethrough at the closed state of the compartment; two rotatable cylinders disposed filling the slit, at the closed state of the compartment, for dispensing the damp roll therethrough; at least one sealing, for sealing the openable cover to surfaces of the compartment disposed adjacent thereto, thereby at the closed state, the compartment seals the damp roll housed therewithin, thereby maintaining the damp roll damped.

An opening radial dimension is set as a radial direction permissible dimension K of the metal coil as expressed by the following equation or lower. $K=\frac{\mathrm{Yp}Z}{2\mathrm{EI}}{R}^2\left(-\sin \cos \right)$ Wherein: K is a radial direction permissible dimension at the load action point position in mm; Yp is a yield stress of the metal sheet, in kgf/mm.sup.2; Z is a section modulus of the metal sheet, in mm.sup.3; R=(a metal coil radius r)(the plate thickness t of the metal sheet), in mm; E is a Young's modulus of the metal sheet, in kgf/mm.sup.2; I is a second moment of area of the metal sheet in mm.sup.4; and is an angle in radians about the axis of the metal coil from the load action point to the nearest restraining roll along a rewind direction of the metal coil.

A rolled material dispenser; including a roll supporting structure that supports a plurality of rolls of material, each roll of material having a width and a long axis, the roll supporting structure supporting the rolls of material with the long axes parallel and with a free end of the rolled material extending downwardly from each of the of rolls. The dispenser includes a pinch roller assembly located beneath the roll supporting structure. The pinch roller assembly is movable in a direction perpendicular to the long axes of the rolls of material and the pinch rollers have a second long axis oriented parallel to the first long axis. A conveyor is positioned below the pinch roller assembly and a material cutter assembly facilitates cutting the rolled material.

A dispenser having a feed roller that at least partially engages sheet material to facilitate dispensing thereof, and a cutting mechanism disposed within a chamber defined by a body of the feed roller. The cutting mechanism comprising a cutting blade and at least one movable support connected thereto. The at least one support further is operatively connected to the body of the feed roller and is actuated with rotation thereof to move the cutting blade into and out from one or more openings defined along the body of the feed roller to at least partially cut or perforate a selected portion of the sheet material as the sheet material is dispensed.

A roll sheet in which a continuous sheet is wound in a roll form is caused to rotate in a forward direction to supply the sheet to a printing unit. First and second sensors are arranged at positions facing an outer circumferential surface of the roll sheet and deviated in an axis line direction of the roll sheet. Outputs of the first and second sensors are changed in accordance with a distance to the sheet of the roll sheet. A rotation direction of the roll sheet is switched from a forward direction to a reverse direction on the basis of the outputs of the first and second sensors while the roll sheet is being rotated in the reverse direction.

Automatic sheet feeding of an installed roll is performed more reliably. To this end, a leading end F of a sheet is detected on the basis of a change in an output value of a sensor while causing a roll R to rotate in a winding direction using the sensor capable of detecting a distance to the sheet separated from the roll R. After the detection, the roll R is caused to rotate in a feeding direction, and a feeding state of the sheet is determined on the basis of the change in the output value of the sensor.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet supplying apparatus which is capable of winding the sheet tightly. A sheet supplying apparatus according to the present invention includes a driving unit configured to cause a roll including a wound consecutive sheet to rotate in a first direction for feeding the sheet or a second direction opposite to the first direction, a sensor that detects a leading end portion of the sheet separated from an outer circumferential surface of the roll, and a contact body that presses the outer circumferential surface, in which, before the sheet is fed, in a state in which the contact body presses the outer circumferential surface, the driving unit causes the roll to continuously rotate in the second direction until a detection cycle of the leading end portion by the sensor is smaller than a predetermined value.

A sheet feeding apparatus is provided which restrains a borne rolled sheet from being deflected to allow the sheet to be reliably fed. The sheet feeding apparatus includes a holder configured to hold the rolled sheet so as to be rotated; and a rotator configured to bear an outer periphery of the rolled sheet held by the holder from below in a direction of gravity, the rotator rotating with the rolled sheet while feeding.