An image forming apparatus includes, an image forming portion configured to form a toner image on a sheet using printing toner and apply powder adhesive on the sheet, a fixing portion configured to heat the toner image formed on the sheet and the powder adhesive applied on the sheet by the image forming portion and fix the toner image and the powder adhesive to the sheet, and a bonding portion configured to bond the sheet with the powder adhesive by reheating the sheet having been heated by the fixing portion. The bonding portion is arranged above the image forming portion.

A sheet processing apparatus includes an entry portion, a sheet conveyance path extending from the entry portion, a skew correction roller pair that contacts a leading edge of a sheet conveyed in a predetermined direction from the entry portion to correct skew of the sheet, and a receiving path. The skew correction roller pair conveys the skew-corrected sheet in a direction opposite the predetermined direction. The receiving path branches from the sheet conveyance path from the entry portion to the skew correction roller pair to receive the sheet conveyed in the direction opposite the predetermined direction.

A system for making a sheet of paper into a folded article is disclosed that includes multiple folding units and a turn unit for changing the travel path of the folded article. At least one of the folding units creates a fold in the folded article in a direction that is perpendicular to a fold created by another one of the folding units. The turn unit alters the travel direction of the folded article so that downstream folding units can be arranged in a manner that saves floor space. Also disclosed herein is a method of folding a sheet of paper that includes conveying the sheet of paper along perpendicular travel paths after the sheet of paper has been folded.

Sheet product dispensers and methods are provided. A sheet product dispenser includes a loading station for sheet material, a sheet feeding mechanism configured to feed the sheet material, a presentation station for presenting one or more discrete sheet products to an end user, a sensor downstream of the feeding mechanism and upstream of the presentation station configured to detect a presence of the discrete sheet products, and a controller configured to facilitate dispensing of the one or more discrete sheet products in response to a signal, and to determine and store data associated with the dispensing of the sheet products.

The present application provides a tucker fold dispenser for folding and dispensing a sheet of material. The tucker fold dispenser may include an outer shell, a removable roller cassette positioned within the outer shell, a paper path therethrough, a number of loading rollers positioned about the paper path, a number of folding rollers positioned about the paper path, and a tucker bar mechanism positioned about the folding rollers.

Sheet collating device for accumulating sheets from at least one hopper, comprising: a lower transport path and an upper transport path; a switchable guide for directing the sheets from the at least one hopper to the lower or the upper transport path; left and right upper drive shafts connected to a right and a left upper drive pulleys supporting a pair of upper belts, a drive direction of the pair of upper belts being changed dependent on what transport path of the upper and lower transport paths is selected; first and second lower drive shafts connected to a right and a left lower drive pulleys supporting first and second pairs of lower belts; and a first series of right paddles mounted on the first pair of lower belts and a first series of left paddles mounted on the second pair of lower belts for registering a collated set of sheets.

An apparatus for forming and sorting informational items comprises a folding unit, a conveyor belt, a camera, a controller, and a diverter assembly. The folding unit forms a folded article from a sheet of paper. The conveyor belt transports the folded article. The camera captures an image of the folded article as it passes by the camera. The controller receives and processes the image, and the diverter assembly causes the folded article to move off of the conveyor belt when the controller determines that the folded article fails to satisfy at least one predetermined criteria.

A printing system comprises: a printing unit configured to print an image on a sheet; and a control unit configured to control to perform creasing at a first pressure at a portion, corresponding to an edge of a spine cover, of the sheet on which the printing unit has printed the image, and perform creasing at a second pressure different from the first pressure at a portion of the sheet that corresponds to a hinge.

A machine for folding sheets receives a stream of sheets. A first folding unit is followed by a further unit. The first folding unit has at least one buckle plate and at least two folding rollers to fold the sheets. A monitoring device checks the stream for defects. A control unit activates a removal device for removing waste products when a defect is detected. The monitoring device is disposed at the entry region of the buckle plate and monitors the stream in the buckle plate. The removal device is disposed downstream of the first folding unit and upstream of the further unit. The system, which is suitable for industrial folding machines, reliably detects unusable waste products in the folding process even before production might be affected.

In a printing system capable of supplying a sheet of a job having undergone print processing by the printing unit of a printing apparatus to a post-processing unit capable of executing at least a specific type of post-processing among a plurality of types of post-processes, when the target job requires the specific type of post-processing, the printing apparatus is inhibited from executing print processing of the job without explicitly determining a sheet necessary for the print processing of the job by a user using a user interface unit. When the target job does not require the specific type of post-processing, the printing apparatus is permitted to execute print processing of the job without explicitly determining a sheet necessary for the print processing of the job by the user using the user interface unit.