A raw material supply device for a separator of a secondary battery includes a conveyor for causing an end portion of the supplied raw material to move to an end portion of the existing raw material; and a bonding unit for bonding the end portion of the supplied raw material and the end portion of the existing raw material. The raw material supply device may automatically bond the existing raw material and the supplied raw material by using ultrasonic waves with respect to the raw material for the separator of the secondary battery in the form of a roll.

A holder assembly includes a base, a drive assembly coupled to the base, a motive source connected to the drive assembly, a vertical force applicator connected to the drive assembly along a connection edge thereof, and a gripping member coupled to the base, the gripping member having a contact surface coupled to a vacuum source, wherein the drive assembly has a first position with the flattening member engaged with the contact surface and a second position with the flattening member positioned away from the contact surface.

A gripper, which removes blanks from a web of material lying flat, includes gripping elements which can each be actuated separately. The gripping elements are mounted independently of one another in a frame so as to be displaceable perpendicularly to a reference plane parallel to the web of material. The gripping elements are set against the web of material and actuated in a takeover position of the gripper aligned with respect to the blank by means of a control device. In addition to the gripping elements located inside the contour line, there are also other gripping elements adjacent to the blank and located outside the contour line that are set against the material web as downholders. Gripping elements within the contour line of the blank are actuated and retracted from the material web, taking along the blank, before the gripper is lifted off the material web from the takeover position.

The present invention relates to a cover member for a storing means, a respective storing means and a gripping system, comprising said storing means. Further, the present invention relates to a method for gripping and separating stacked flat elements. The cover member is adapted for being installed on a top side of a storing means for storing a stack of multiple flat elements 100 having a predefined size. The cover member 1 defines a first opening 13 having a rim portion 13a, 13b, wherein the first opening 13 is adapted to be associated with at least one gripping unit 30, so that the gripping unit 30 can access the storing means for gripping and removing a flat element 102 through the first opening 13, when the cover member 1 is installed on the top side of the storing means 10. The first opening is sized so that a gripped flat element 102 abuts the rim portion 13a, 13b when being removed through the first opening 13 from the storing means, so as to be bend and separated from an underlying flat element 104.

Provided is a sheet folding apparatus including: a stacking unit configured to be stacked with a paper stack; a feeding roller configured to come into contact with a surface of the uppermost sheet of the paper stack and feed sheets in a feeding direction; and a sheet separating mechanism configured to separate the uppermost sheet of the paper stack from the remaining sheets. The sheet separating mechanism has a suction unit that sucks and pulls the uppermost sheet of the paper stack upward in upstream in a feeding direction and an injection mechanism that separates the uppermost sheet from the remaining sheets by injecting air toward a predetermined region including an end face in upstream in the feeding direction of the paper stack including the uppermost sheet. The injection mechanism has a rotary injection unit configured to inject air to change a first injection direction oriented to the predetermined region.

A folding device for a flat blank has a plurality of bearing blocks arranged in a row in a first direction, the mutual distance of which can be changed by a drive device and each of which has a support surface for the blank by a holding device. A plurality of folding blades are arranged at a distance next to one another in the first direction, at least one of the folding blades being arranged between immediately adjacent bearing blocks. The folding blades can be adjusted by changing a mutual distance with an additional movement component perpendicular to the blank. Adjacent bearing blocks are coupled in terms of movement via a linkage. The folding blade arranged between adjacent bearing blocks is connected to the linkage so a change in distance between the bearing blocks can be transferred by the linkage to the folding blade for the adjustment thereof.

The invention relates to a gripping head (15) for insert sheets (11) for inserting between rows of folding boxes (3) in a receptacle (2), characterized in that it comprises: at least one first aspiration element (17a, 17b) designed to grasp an insert sheet (11), at least one second aspiration element (18a, 18b) designed to grasp an insert sheet (11), at least one linear element (19a, 19b) on which at least the first aspiration element (17a, 17b) is mounted and able to slide, a controllable actuating mechanism (20), designed to displace at least the first aspiration element (17a, 17b) by sliding on the at least one linear element (19a, 19b) into a position of grasping in which the at least one first aspiration element (17a, 17b) and the at least one second aspiration element (18a, 18b) are positioned at a spacing from each other in order to grasp an insert sheet (11).

The present invention relates to a cover member for a storing means, a respective storing means and a gripping system, comprising said storing means. Further, the present invention relates to a method for gripping and separating stacked flat elements. The cover member is adapted for being installed on a top side of a storing means for storing a stack of multiple flat elements 100 having a predefined size. The cover member 1 defines a first opening 13 having a rim portion 13a, 13b, wherein the first opening 13 is adapted to be associated with at least one gripping unit 30, so that the gripping unit 30 can access the storing means for gripping and removing a flat element 102 through the first opening 13, when the cover member 1 is installed on the top side of the storing means 10. The first opening is sized so that a gripped flat element 102 abuts the rim portion 13a, 13b when being removed through the first opening 13 from the storing means, so as to be bend and separated from an underlying flat element 104.

The present invention relates to a method of stacking individual sheets and a stacking machine for handling individual sheets, the stacking machine comprising a frame assembly (13) including support columns (711, 811) for supporting the delivery station (70), the transfer station (80) and the elevation station (82). The delivery station has a delivery table and the transfer station including a handling arm (85) is movable from a first position above the delivery table to a second position above the elevation station. The handling arm includes a holding member (86) for contacting the sheets individually and transferring the sheets individually from the delivery table to the elevation station and releasing the sheets individually at the elevation station. The elevation station has a platform for collecting the individual sheets and the platform is moved vertically from a first level to a second level for allowing the sheets to be stacked on top of the one another.

A recording-material-transporting device includes a suction unit that suctions a recording material included in a recording-material stack from above, the suction unit including a movable member that moves upward when pushed from below by the recording material moving upward with the suction, the suction unit being movable in an intersecting direction intersecting a vertical direction and moving the suctioned recording material in the intersecting direction, at least a part of the movable member serving as an outside advancing part that advances to an outside of a perimeter of the recording-material stack with the movement of the suction unit in the intersecting direction; and a restricting part that restricts a downward movement of the outside advancing part when the outside advancing part is free of support by the recording material from below.