A method for moving a stack of products by a robot. The robot has an articulated arm and at least one gripper disposed on the articulated arm for gripping the stack of products. The stack of products is turned, before being moved by the robot, with a pivoting device that is separate from the robot. The stack of products is turned about a horizontal axis and the stack of products, while out of the horizontal orientation, is aligned and/or straightened in one direction and/or straightened in two mutually orthogonal directions and/or vibrated and/or aerated and/or modified from a fanned-out stack of products to become an unfanned stack of products. The robot then takes the stack from the pivoting device and subsequently moves the stack.

The invention discloses a sheet processing machine with an alignment plate at the input. The sheets are piled against the plate, and during each machine cycle, the bottommost sheet is extracted and delivered to a gripper bar of the machine. The alignment plate can move precisely longitudinally and diagonally to adjust the position and the skew of the sheet for correct positioning in the gripper bar. The alignment plate is guaranteed to be kept vertical by using a pair of synchronized linear actuators on each side of the plate. The machine can adapt to varying sheet thickness by adjusting the gap below that plate thanks to a motorized gauge. To even better position the sheets, a set of abutments is provided after the plate, and at a fixed distance to the plate. The abutments are pivoting to get out of the way of the gripper bar when needed.

A carton handling system for a carton blank magazine. The carton handling system includes a carriage assembly with a carton handling tool. The carriage assembly moves the carton handling tool in two axes of motion to receive a slug of carton blanks and to position the slug of carton blanks in the carton blank magazine. The carton handling system further includes a finger carried on the carton handling tool. The carton handling tool is movable to engage the finger with an underside of a fallen carton blank lying at an end of an advancing stack of blanks in the carton blank magazine so as to lift the fallen carton blank against a preceding blank at the end of the advancing stack of blanks. The carton handling tool is also movable to position the slug of carton blanks at an endmost blank in the advancing stack of blanks.

A sheet binding device includes a processing tray, a movable reference plate, a stapling portion, a movement portion, a slide member, and a slide spring. When the stapling portion in an inclined state is moved from a reference position to a stapling position, the movable reference plate moves from an initial position, and when orientation of the stapling portion is shifted from the inclined state to a parallel state, the movable reference plate returns to the initial position. When the orientation of the stapling portion is shifted from the parallel state to the inclined state while the stapling portion is moved from the stapling position to the reference position, the movable reference plate moves from the initial position, and the stapling-side engagement portion separates from the movable engagement member, thereby causing the movable reference plate to return to the initial position.

A post-processing device includes an alignment section on which a plurality of recording media are stacked, a medium receiving section to which a plurality of recording media are discharged, a conveyance section that conveys a stack of a plurality of recording media stacked on the alignment section to the medium receiving section, and a single drive section that drives the conveyance section, wherein the conveyance section includes a gripping part that grips the plurality of recording media stacked on the alignment section, a gripping-part conveyance section that moves the gripping part in a state of gripping the plurality of recording media in a sheet ejection direction directed from the alignment section toward the medium receiving section, and a reciprocation mechanism that reciprocates the gripping-part conveyance section in a direction parallel to the sheet ejection direction.

A tamping apparatus includes a loader that has a shape of a plate extending from a first end to a second end and having a cutout at the first end, and that is configured to load media on a loading surface that is one plate surface, a support that is disposed near the second end and supports the media loaded onto the loading surface, and a tamper that is disposed near the first end of the loader and is switchable between a tamping position where a movement member reciprocates along the loading surface to tamp ends of the media near the first end and a withdrawal position where the movement member is withdrawn to a back side of the loader relative to the loading surface through the cutout.

When performing an alignment process on a sheet loaded on the processing tray in a state where a front end of the sheet is protruded from a discharge outlet above a discharge tray, the control unit performs a front end alignment process in which a pair of discharge tray cursors sandwich the front end of the sheet protruded above the discharge tray in the width direction, and a rear end alignment process in which the pair of processing tray cursors sandwich a rear end of the sheet on the processing tray in the width direction.

A medium discharge device includes a loading stand configured to be loaded with a medium onto which a liquid was ejected by a printing device, a regulation unit that is movable between a regulation position at which a position of the medium discharged to the loading stand is regulated and a retraction position retracted from the regulation position, and a second control unit that controls the movement of the regulation unit. The second control unit determines the retraction position, based on an amount of the liquid ejected onto the medium by the printing device.