A perforated non-woven fabric having at least one fiber layer that has a plurality of through holes. The total area of the through holes accounts for 1080% of the total area of the perforated non-woven fabric; the opening of the through holes is flat with the surface of the perforated non-woven fabric; and the density of through holes on the perforated non-woven fabric is 3/cm.sup.2100/cm.sup.2. The fiber density at the edge of each through hole is similar to or the same as the fiber density in other areas of the perforated non-woven fabric. The fiber surrounds the through hole, and only the surface of the fiber is bonded to each other.

In a sheet processing apparatus including a guide member that rotates by contact with a sheet processing unit, collision of the sheet processing unit with the guide member in a rotating state is avoided. A sheet conveyance apparatus includes: sheet processing units that move along one movement path intersecting a conveyance direction of a sheet; guide members that each include a fixed end rotatable about a rotation center line and support the sheet from below; a biasing member that biases the guide member so as to return to an original orientation in which a part of the guide member is located on the movement path; and a collision determination unit that determines, before at least one of the sheet processing units is moved and based on a movement start position and a target position of a movement target sheet processing unit and a size and an orientation before start of movement of the guide member, whether or not there is a possibility of occurrence of collision of the movement target sheet processing unit with the guide member in a rotating state.

In a sheet processing apparatus including a guide member that rotates by contact with a sheet processing unit, collision of the sheet processing unit with the guide member in a rotating state is avoided. A sheet conveyance apparatus includes: sheet processing units that move along one movement path intersecting a conveyance direction of a sheet; guide members that each include a fixed end rotatable about a rotation center line and support the sheet from below; a biasing member that biases the guide member so as to return to an original orientation in which a part of the guide member is located on the movement path; and a collision determination unit that determines, before at least one of the sheet processing units is moved and based on a movement start position and a target position of a movement target sheet processing unit and a size and an orientation before start of movement of the guide member, whether or not there is a possibility of occurrence of collision of the movement target sheet processing unit with the guide member in a rotating state.

A cutting equipment trims strips of webs in movement by means of a stationary trimming blade and a rotating cylinder with a mobile trimming blade during transversal cuts and separation of basic sheets. The rotating cylinder includes a sector with suction openings connected to a vacuum source, which retains the strips by suction and drags the strips up to a collector of the trimmed strips. The cutting equipment cuts and separates transversal strips of two webs overlapped in adherence jointly to the cutting of the basic sheets. To this end, a perforating device perforates a row of holes on the first web adjacent to an edge of the sheets: a first web is positioned with the row of holes in front of the suction openings, while the strip of the second web is retained and dragged by suction through the holes of the first web up to the collector of the trimmed strips.

A sheet processing machine includes a processing device including a processing blade; a drive shaft related to an operation of the processing blade; a shaft drive motor; a rotational position detection unit that detects a rotational position of the drive shaft; a width direction drive motor that moves the processing device; and a control unit, in which the control unit controls the shaft drive motor so that the drive shaft is at a predetermined rotational position based on the rotational position of the drive shaft detected by the rotational position detection unit, and controls the width direction drive motor so that the processing device moves to a predetermined processing position while the drive shaft maintains the predetermined rotational position.

A sheet processing machine includes a processing device including a processing blade; a drive shaft related to an operation of the processing blade; a shaft drive motor; a rotational position detection unit that detects a rotational position of the drive shaft; a width direction drive motor that moves the processing device; and a control unit, in which the control unit controls the shaft drive motor so that the drive shaft is at a predetermined rotational position based on the rotational position of the drive shaft detected by the rotational position detection unit, and controls the width direction drive motor so that the processing device moves to a predetermined processing position while the drive shaft maintains the predetermined rotational position.

Systems and methods utilizing stationary and/or moveable cutting components provide limited interference with web processing operations, such as pad spin and pitch alteration. Heat, laser, fluid, or mechanical cutting operations may be used, including respectively, a heated element (e.g., wire, ribbon, bar, or embossing or perforating element) that may be triggered inductively, water or steam jets, or improved knife/anvil cooperation.

Systems and methods utilizing stationary and/or moveable cutting components provide limited interference with web processing operations, such as pad spin and pitch alteration. Heat, laser, fluid, or mechanical cutting operations may be used, including respectively, a heated element (e.g., wire, ribbon, bar, or embossing or perforating element) that may be triggered inductively, water or steam jets, or improved knife/anvil cooperation.

The apparatus includes: a conveyance directional processing part for performing processing along the conveyance direction onto the sheet, the conveyance directional processing part being constructed such that at the same position in the conveyance direction, a plurality of processing machines of two or more types are aligned in a width direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction and provided in a freely attachable and detachable manner; a condition input part through which processing conditions in the conveyance directional processing part are inputted; a display part for displaying the processing conditions; and a processing machine selection control part for acquiring types and arrangement of the processing machines to be provided in the conveyance directional processing part such that the processing conditions may be satisfied and then displaying the acquired types and arrangement on the display part.

Embodiments of a system and a method for manufacturing a gypsum board can be used to produce a gypsum board having at least one perforated cover sheet via a cover sheet perforator system. The cover sheet perforator system can include a perforator roller is disposed downstream of a forming station along a machine direction, a roller support frame for rotatably supporting the perforator roller such that its rotational axis extends along the cross-machine direction, and a motor arranged with the perforator roller to rotate the perforator roller about the rotational axis. The drive motor can be adapted to rotate the perforator roller with a tangential speed substantially equal to the line speed to produce a series of perforation holes in an upwardly-facing cover sheet as the gypsum board moves past the perforator roller.