In one aspect, the present disclosure is directed to a sheet material dispenser. The dispenser can include support for supporting a supply of the sheet material, and a feed roller arranged along a feed path of the sheet material downstream from the supply of sheet material that is operable to pull the sheet material from the supply of sheet material for feeding thereof. Additionally, the dispenser can include a controller that is in communication with the feed roller and includes programming for monitoring rotation of the feed roller during a dispensing cycle for feeding a selected length of the sheet material from the supply of sheet material. A material supply monitoring system further can be in communication with the controller, and operative to detect a number of rotations or an angle of rotation of the supply sheet material during at least a series of dispensing cycles.

A coater includes a coating device and a rotator. The coating device is configured to apply a coating liquid on a sheet material. The rotator is configured to contact a coated surface of the sheet material to which the coating liquid is applied in the coating device. The rotator has a plurality of fine particles on a circumferential surface of the rotator.

A medium transport apparatus includes a first roller configured to transport a medium, a second roller configured to transport the medium at a different position, in the transport direction of the medium, from the first roller, the second roller including a rotary shaft parallel to a rotary shaft of the first roller, and a bearing portion configured to contact with both the rotary shaft of the first roller and the rotary shaft of the second roller in an area in an extending direction of the rotary shaft, within which the transported medium passes.

A bearing body according to the present invention includes first and second support surfaces inclined so as to slope upward from a side on the imaginary central vertical plane passing through an axis of a rotating shaft to be supported toward one and the other outer sides in the width direction of the rotating shaft. First and second transitional regions that respectively make transitions from the first and second support surfaces to a first and end surface of the bearing body on one side in the axial direction of the rotating shaft have a curved shape projecting obliquely upward such that an orientation of a normal line changes from a perpendicular direction to a parallel direction with respect to the axis of the rotating shaft toward one side from the other side in the axial direction of the rotating shaft.

A conveying apparatus includes: a first roller and a second roller configured to convey a print sheet while nipping the print sheet at a nip pressure; an adjustor supporting the first roller and the second roller in a manner capable of adjusting an inter-axial distance between the first roller and the second roller, the adjustor being configured to apply a biasing force biasing the second roller toward the first roller and capable of adjusting the biasing force; and a controller configured to control the nip pressure by driving the adjustor to adjust the biasing force.

In one aspect, the present disclosure is directed to a sheet material dispenser. The dispenser can include support for supporting a supply of the sheet material, and a feed roller arranged along a feed path of the sheet material downstream from the supply of sheet material that is operable to pull the sheet material from the supply of sheet material for feeding thereof. Additionally, the dispenser can include a controller that is in communication with the feed roller and includes programming for monitoring rotation of the feed roller during a dispensing cycle for feeding a selected length of the sheet material from the supply of sheet material. A material supply monitoring system further can be in communication with the controller, and operative to detect a number of rotations or an angle of rotation of the supply sheet material during at least a series of dispensing cycles.

An automated product dispenser for dispensing a product from a supply of product is provided. The automated product dispenser includes a chassis assembly, a drive assembly, and an isolation member. The chassis assembly includes a chassis frame, and the drive assembly includes a motor, a drivetrain, and a drivetrain housing. The isolation member mounts the drive assembly to the chassis assembly such that the drive assembly is substantially spaced apart from the chassis frame. A related method of inhibiting vibration transmission in an automated product dispenser also is provided.

A first conveyance member reverses a sheet received from a first conveyance path. Second through fourth conveyance members are disposed on a second conveyance path and convey a sheet from the first conveyance member toward the first conveyance path. A restriction portion is capable of restricting driving force of a first driving source from acting on a sheet through the second conveyance member. A controller executes a first operation and a second operation. In the first operation, a second driving source stops driving the third and fourth conveyance members while a first sheet is being nipped at the fourth conveyance member, and a second sheet is conveyed to be abutted with the third conveyance member. In the second operation, the second driving source starts driving the third and fourth conveyance members while the restriction portion restricts driving force of the first driving source from acting on the second sheet.

A system and control method for determining an amount of paper product dispensed from a dispenser or remaining in the dispenser is provided. The paper product is initially loaded in the dispenser as a paper product formation, such as a roll or stack of the product. At defined intervals, a digital image of an aspect of the paper product formation in the dispenser is taken and transmitted to a digital imager processor. A feature of the digital image that changes as the paper product formation decreases in size as the paper product is dispensed is analyzed and compared with a predetermined value of the feature at a predefined size of the paper product formation to determine an amount of the paper product dispensed or remaining in the dispenser.

There is provided a sheet conveyance device that includes a first conveyance roller and a second conveyance roller that are arranged at a position other than a center in a direction of sheet width in a sheet conveyance path, a roller selector that selects the first conveyance roller or the second conveyance roller as a roller to convey a sheet, and a controller that causes the roller selector to select the first conveyance roller or the second conveyance roller. The first conveyance roller is made of a material that causes a speed of the sheet conveyed by the first conveyance roller in contact with the first conveyance roller to be higher than a rotation speed of the first conveyance roller. The second conveyance roller is made of a material that causes a speed of the sheet conveyed by the second conveyance roller in contact with the second conveyance roller to be lower than a rotation speed of the second conveyance roller.