To form a web conveying path that bends and conveys a web, a web conveying device has: a plurality of foil supporting members that are disposed at prescribed intervals in a conveying direction of the web and that support a surface of the web that is being conveyed; a foil extending member stretched between the foil supporting members, which pulls an end of the web downstream in the conveying direction of the web such that the web extends from a starting point to an end point of the web conveying path that is formed by the foil supporting members; and a moving mechanism that moves the foil extending member from the starting point to the end point of the web conveying path.

A curl straightening device includes an endless belt, a curl straightening roller, a nip width adjusting mechanism, and a guide member. The curl straightening roller makes pressure contact with an outer peripheral surface of the endless belt, forming a nip portion, and straightens curl of the sheet which passes through the nip portion. The nip width adjusting mechanism moves the curl straightening roller in a direction away from or close to the endless belt so as to change a nip width. The mechanism includes a supporting holder of the curl straightening roller, and a rotationally moving portion that rotationally moves the roller supporting holder for moving the curl straightening roller. The guide member includes a pair of hanging members that are hung from both ends of the curl straightening roller so as to keep the guide member in constant position and posture relative to the curl straightening roller.

The invention relates to a sheet depositing arrangement. The sheet depositing arrangement comprises at least one sheet depositing apparatus having a sheet stacking chamber for creating a sheet stack, and a sheet extraction device which in turn has a sheet transporting means that is drivable in a direction of circulation, a sheet delivery region for delivering the sheets to be stacked to the sheet stacking chamber, a sheet stacking region, provided downstream of the sheet delivery region, for stacking the sheets to be stacked into the sheet stacking chamber, and a return region, provided downstream of the sheet stacking region. Furthermore, the sheet depositing apparatus has a sheet retaining device with at least one sheet retaining element, arranged adjacent to the sheet stacking region, for preventing at least one sheet to be stacked from being drawn into the sheet extraction device from the sheet stacking chamber by the sheet transporting means.

A sheet aligning mechanism includes first and second conveyance mechanisms disposed on first and second sides of a sheet conveyance path, respectively. A nip is formed between the first and second conveyance mechanisms. The first conveyance mechanism includes a first roller, a second roller, and a first conveyance belt wound around the first and second rollers. The first and second rollers are configured to rotate in a first direction along a sheet conveying direction for sheet conveyance, and stop rotation or rotate in a second direction opposite to the first direction for sheet alignment. The first conveyance belt includes an extended region between the first and second rollers in an extending direction inclined with respect to the sheet conveying direction, such that a width of the sheet conveyance path becomes narrower towards the nip in the sheet conveying direction.

A system has first and second winding drums and a core feeder for inserting a core into a winding nest for forming a convoluted roll. The leading edge of the web is engaged with a threading belt and directed around the first winding drum and through the winding nest to a position where the leading edge is beyond where the core feeder inserts the core into the winding nest thus providing an excess portion of the web between the leading edge and the core feeder core insertion position. A thread-up core is inserted into the winding nest and rotated with the winding drums so that the excess portion moves around the thread-up core. The leading edge is separated from the threading belt, the excess portion of the web is wound around the thread-up core, and the web from the supply is wound around the thread-up core.

A transfer transporting device includes multiple rollers, an endless belt, a pair of support members, and a pair of unloading members. The rollers include a driving roller and a driven roller. The driving roller is disposed closer to an image carrier that has a toner image formed thereon and that holds the toner image. The driven roller is disposed apart from the driving roller downstream in a sheet transport direction. The endless belt is wound around the rollers. The pair of support members each have an outer wall surface facing a side end surface of the belt. The pair of support members are disposed on both sides of the belt to rotatably support a rotation shaft protruding from side end surfaces of the driving roller. The pair of unloading members are interposed between the outer wall surfaces of the pair of support members and the side end surfaces of the driving roller. The pair of unloading members each reduce, while being in contact with a corresponding one of the side end surfaces of the belt, a driving load on the driving roller further than in a case where the side end surfaces of the belt come into direct contact with the outer wall surfaces. The image carrier and the belt hold therebetween a sheet transported thereto to transfer the toner image on the image carrier to the sheet, and transport the sheet downstream.

A curl straightening device includes an endless belt, a curl straightening roller, a nip width adjusting mechanism, and a guide member. The curl straightening roller makes pressure contact with an outer peripheral surface of the endless belt, forming a nip portion, and straightens curl of the sheet which passes through the nip portion. The nip width adjusting mechanism moves the curl straightening roller in a direction away from or close to the endless belt so as to change a nip width. The mechanism includes a supporting holder of the curl straightening roller, and a rotationally moving portion that rotationally moves the roller supporting holder for moving the curl straightening roller. The guide member includes a pair of hanging members that are hung from both ends of the curl straightening roller so as to keep the guide member in constant position and posture relative to the curl straightening roller.

The curl straightening device includes supporting rollers, an endless belt, a curl straightening roller, and a contact member. The supporting rollers are disposed rotatably about a shaft extending in a direction orthogonal to a conveying direction of the sheet. The endless belt is stretched across the supporting rollers, and circulates in the conveying direction. The curl straightening roller makes contact with an outer peripheral surface of the endless belt between the supporting rollers so as to form a nip portion, and straightens curl of the sheet which passes through the nip portion. The nip portion is shaped so that the endless belt curves along a peripheral surface of the curl straightening roller. The contact member is disposed to oppose a center portion of the curl straightening roller in an axial direction, and makes contact with the curl straightening roller so as to prevent deformation of the curl straightening roller.

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.

According to an example, printed media stack alignment may include actuating a belt and a paddle to shift first and second sheets to a stopper position represented by register of the first and second sheets against a stopper. The stopper may be actuated to shift the first and second sheets to an eject position, where the eject position is intermediate to a sheet deposit position and the stopper position. The belt and the paddle may be actuated to shift the first sheet, the second sheet, and a third sheet received at the sheet deposit position to the stopper position. The stopper may be actuated to shift the first, second, and third sheets to the eject position. Further, an ejector may be actuated to eject a stack including the first, second, and third sheets from the eject position.