A sheet conveying apparatus includes first and second roller members fixed to a rotatable shaft, a first follower roller that cooperates with the first roller member to form a conveying nip, and a second follower roller that cooperates with the second roller member to form a conveying nip. The first and second roller members have outer periphery cut-away parts and the first and second follower rollers are moveably supported and can be biased to home positions. If the first roller member cut-away part faces the first follower roller, the first follower roller is biased to move toward a home position while the nip of the second roller member nips and conveys a sheet. If the second roller member cut-away part faces the second follower roller, the second follower roller is biased to move toward a home position while the nip of the first roller member nips and conveys a sheet.

A sheet conveyance apparatus includes a storage unit storing a sheet, a conveyance member to convey a sheet, a support shaft portion, and a separation unit. The support shaft portion has one end fixed to a main body of the sheet conveyance apparatus and the other end as a free end that is not fixed to the main body. The separation unit pinches and conveys a sheet with the conveyance member and separates a plurality of sheets stored in and fed from the storage unit one by one. The separation unit includes a separation member that is supported by the support shaft portion and rotatable with the support shaft portion, and a holding member to hold the separation member. By moving the holding member in an axial direction of the support shaft portion, the separation unit is removed from the apparatus with the holding member holding the separation member.

A conveyor for transporting sheets along a path from an input end to a discharge end includes a main frame, an upper conveyor deck supported by the main frame and having a plurality of belts and a lower conveyor deck supported by the main frame and having a plurality of wheels supported by a plurality of shafts. The transport path is defined by the contact surfaces of the plurality of belts in the first contact region and the contact surfaces of the plurality of wheels in the second contact region, and the conveyor is configured such that the sheets make direct contact with the contact surfaces of the plurality of belts and make direct contact with the contact surfaces of the plurality of wheels when the sheets move along the transport path. The lower conveyor deck is shiftable laterally relative to the upper conveyor deck.

A buffer apparatus configured to hold a stack of sheets includes an input, first and second side guides each having a face facing transverse to the travel direction, and a backstop facing the input and spaced from the input in the travel direction. The first side guide, second side guide and backstop define a hopper for holding a plurality of the sheets. First and second retractable supports are shiftable from first positions in which a first portion of the respective retractable support projects a first distance into the hopper and a second position in which the first portion of the respective retractable support projects a second distance into the hopper or does not project into the hopper, the second distance being less than the first distance. The at least one second retractable support is located between the input and the at least one first retractable support.

A device for separating cards in single sheet includes: a support frame, and a driving shaft movably mounted on the support frame, a separating wheel being provided on the driving shaft. The driving shaft is movable freely up and down on the support frame, and an elastic component is provided between the driving shaft and the support frame. The elastic component has one end fixed to the support frame, and another end mounted on the driving shaft, which allows the separating wheel to always keep a downward pressure to cards under the action of an elastic force. The elastic component in contact with the driving shaft provides downward pressure to the driving shaft, thus the separating wheel always keeps downward pressure to the cards under the action of the elastic force.

A processing machine includes at least one processing unit configured as at least one shaping unit following, in a transport direction of a substrate, at least one processing unit configured as at least one application unit. Additionally, at least one transport unit is arranged between the at least one application unit and at least one succeeding processing unit. The at least one transport unit includes a plurality of transport elements that are arranged one behind the other in the transport direction. At least one transport element is axially adjustable based on detection of at least one image-producing element of a substrate by at least one sensor for substrate alignment.

A processing machine includes at least one further processing unit following at least one processing unit configured as an application unit in a transport direction of a substrate. At least one transport unit is arranged between the at least one processing unit configured as an application unit and the at least one succeeding processing unit. The at least one transport unit includes a plurality of transport elements arranged one behind the other in the transport direction. The plurality of transport elements are individually axially adjustable, or the plurality of transport elements are groupwise axially adjustable.

A paper sheet transport apparatus (10) includes transport member that is slidable along the widthwise direction of a transport path (11) (e.g., a drive roller (36) and a driven roller (38)), and a paper sheet detection unit (inlet-side paper sheet detection sensor (70)) that is arranged on an upstream side of the transport member in the paper sheet transport direction along the transport path (11) and detects the position of the paper sheet in the widthwise direction of the transport path (11). A control unit (80) calculates an amount of movement of the transport member based on the position of the paper sheet in the widthwise direction of the transport path (11) detected by the paper sheet detection unit and a previously set predetermined position of the paper sheet in the widthwise direction of the transport path (11).

The pinch roller mechanism comprises: a slider which is supported by a rail movably in a left-right direction; a roller support member which moves in an up-down direction while being supported by the slider, and a pinch roller which is rotatably supported by the roller support member. The slider includes a window that exposes the pinch roller diagonally upward on the upstream side in the conveyance direction.

A paper sheet transport apparatus (10) includes transport member that is slidable along the widthwise direction of a transport path (11) (e.g., a drive roller (36) and a driven roller (38)), and a paper sheet detection unit (inlet-side paper sheet detection sensor (70)) that is arranged on an upstream side of the transport member in the paper sheet transport direction along the transport path (11) and detects the position of the paper sheet in the widthwise direction of the transport path (11). A control unit (80) calculates an amount of movement of the transport member based on the position of the paper sheet in the widthwise direction of the transport path (11) detected by the paper sheet detection unit and a previously set predetermined position of the paper sheet in the widthwise direction of the transport path (11).